The Conversation -- May 14, 2024
A few late links today, including one by Michelle Goldberg of the NYT & a couple about the luxury resort adventures of Judge Aileen Cannon.
Louisa Loveluck of the Washington Post: "Israeli tanks moved deeper into Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on Tuesday, pushing closer to the dense urban centers President Biden has warned Israel against invading, and prompting one of the largest civilian exoduses of the seven-month war."
Anatoly Kurmanaev of the New York Times: "Russian security agents detained a senior general early Tuesday, widening a purge of the country's sprawling Defense Ministry amid President Vladimir V. Putin's broader shake-up of his government. Lt. Gen. Yuri Kuznetsov, who oversaw the ministry's personnel department, was detained on an accusation of 'large-scale' bribery, Russia's Investigative Committee, a federal law enforcement agency, said in a statement on Tuesday."
It's another Trump day in a downtown Manhattan courtroom, and New York Times reporters are there to keep us up to speed. Since Trump can't get regular people to come support him, he has been showing up lately with his own Toady Parade. Maggie Haberman tells us that today's special show horses are to include House speaker Mike Johnson, North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, Reps. Byron Donalds & Cory Mills of Florida, & Vivek Ramaswamy, some of whom are veepstakes contenders. Also Eric & Lara Trump, and two advisers, Boris Epshteyn and Alina Habba. Neil Vigdor reports that Liz Cheney wrote on X, "Have to admit I'm surprised that @SpeakerJohnson wants to be in the 'I cheated on my wife with a porn star' club. I guess he's not that concerned with teaching morality to our young people after all." But Haberman writes that Mikey hasn't showed up yet.
Jonathan Swan: "Trump's allies have taken to publishing on social media their own pro-Trump accounts of the courtroom proceedings. [Vivek] Ramaswamy has already posted on X that he will be sharing live updates from the courtroom." ~~~
~~~ Maggie Haberman: "... lawyers with the defense are allowed to have phones, but members of the general public are not. The Trump team has been pressing the rules on this for weeks now, and a political ally live-tweeting from the courtroom is a whole new thing."
Haberman: "Susan Hoffinger, one of the prosecutors, has returned to questioning Michael Cohen, asking him about meeting with Trump in January 2017 and discussing getting reimbursed for his payment to Stormy Daniels. Cohen is being shown an email sent a month later by Jeffrey McConney, the Trump organization's controller, about the 'invoices.'"
Jonah Bromwich: "Michael Cohen is now describing meeting with Trump in the Oval Office in February 2017.... He ... said Trump asked him to 'deal with Allen,' meaning Weisselberg, who had arranged the repayment plan for the hush money. Trump also said, Cohen testified, that he'd receive a check for both January and February.... At the meeting, Trump showed direct knowledge of the repayment plan, per Cohen's testimony just now.... That was a really key piece of testimony -- ... in prosecutors' own statement of facts, this is the only time that Trump is actually said to have confirmed the repayment plan, which prosecutors say involved the payments being illegally disguised."
Haberman: "[Cohen] is going over the monthly invoices he created, which described him as having been paid for 'services rendered,' and testifying that they were false records. He stresses they weren't valid legal fees, but 'reimbursements.'... Michael Cohen is going through check stubs for the first two checks and saying the descriptions of them were 'false.' Cohen says both Eric Trump, who is sitting in the courthouse, and Allen Weisselberg signed the first two, from the former president's revocable trust account. At some point, it switched to Trump's personal account."
Susanne Craig: "Cohen is being asked about the invoices one by one. 'Is that a false record,' he is asked over and over. 'Yes ma'am,' he typically responds."
Haberman: "There's mountains of documentary evidence that Cohen was paid for legal services he didn't actually provide, and that these were reimbursements. The question of what Trump knew relies mostly on Cohen's testimony."
Bromwich: "Michael Cohen is being asked about some additional work he did for the Trump Organization, some of it legal work, including for the Trump Organization's general counsel, Alan Garten. Cohen is saying he didn't expect to be paid for that work and did not send invoices for it. Trump's lawyers have indicated that they may argue that Cohen was doing real legal work, and was being paid for that. So this may be an example of the prosecution seeking to air an argument before the defense can."
Haberman: "Susan Hoffinger is now walking Michael Cohen again through his testimony from yesterday about 'monetizing' his role as Trump's personal lawyer by using it to attract other clients. Cohen confirms he did. Much of this feels like inoculation against what Cohen is going to face during cross-examination.... Michael Cohen is now being asked about his House testimony in connection with the Russia investigation.... Cohen notes that the Trump Organization was paying for his lawyer, and that he was part of a joint defense agreement. Cohen testifies he felt he 'needed' the protection of the sitting president at the time."
Kate Christobek: "Trump looks directly at Cohen on the witness stand as he says that he lied for Trump 'out of loyalty and in order to protect him.'"
Bromwich: "Michael Cohen has reached the part of his story where news of his payment to Stormy Daniels has broken into the public sphere. This was the beginning of the end for Trump and Cohen.... Michael Cohen, in text messages he is reading aloud in court, instructed Keith Davidson, who was the lawyer for Stormy Daniels, to 'write a strong denial' from Daniels, saying that she had not had an affair with Trump.... Susan Hoffinger, the prosecutor, brought up the joint defense agreement that Michael Cohen was part of, which meant the lawyer defending him was aligned with Trump's lawyers. She makes sure Cohen tells the jurors it was an advantage for Trump, as well as for Cohen. Cohen is now testifying about the statement by Stormy Daniels in which she denied having had a 'sexual and/or romantic affair' with Trump. Her lawyer at the time, Keith Davidson, testified that this statement was technically true, because they didn't have a full affair. Prosecutors have apparently decided not to take that line: They just call Daniels's statement false."
Haberman: "Cohen is now being asked about the complaint letter he received from the Federal Election Commission about his payment to Stormy Daniels, which was filed by a good-government group after The Wall Street Journal published an article revealing the payment. He says his response to the commission was not false, but it was misleading."
Bromwich: "As Michael Cohen continued his denial tour in regard to the hush money, we are seeing he was texted by Jay Sekulow, a lawyer for Trump. The text says 'Client says thanks for what you do.' Cohen leaves no doubt in his testimony that 'client' in the text refers to Trump, thanking Cohen for the denials."
Haberman: "Michael Cohen says he told David Pecker, the former publisher of The National Enquirer, that [Trump] told [him] that the federal investigation Cohen faced would be 'taken care of' by Jeff Sessions, then the attorney general."
Bromwich: "Michael Cohen is now testifying that he continued to deal with Stormy Daniels in early 2018 with Trump's backing and blessing. He says that the president asked him to get a temporary restraining order against Daniels. And he says that Keith Davidson, who had been Daniels's lawyer up until that point, told him that he was no longer representing her. Her new lawyer was Michael Avenatti.... Michael Cohen is now describing the F.B.I.'s raid on his Park Avenue hotel room in April 2018. He says federal agents took his cell phones -- including the one with the recording on it that jurors already heard -- and many of his documents. He says he was frightened, despondent and angry.... Cohen testifies that Trump [phoned him right after the raid and] said: 'Don't worry. I'm the president of the United States. There's nothing here. Everything's going to be OK. Stay tough. You're going to be OK.' He says it was the last time they spoke....
"Michael Cohen is now reading tweets from April 2018 in which Trump defended him and attacked reporters, including Maggie Haberman. Trump says in the tweets that he doesn't see Cohen lying or making up stories, 'despite the horrible Witch Hunt and the dishonest media!'"
Christobek: "Michael Cohen ended the first portion of the morning session by saying that it was his understanding that Trump wanted him to refrain from cooperating with the government and 'certainly not to provide information or flip.'"
Bromwich: "Michael Cohen is testifying again after the courtroom took a short break. 'Distraught, nervous, concerned' are the emotions he describes having felt as he met at the Loews Regency on Park Avenue with a new lawyer, Robert Costello, a criminal defense lawyer who Cohen had been told was very close with Rudy Giuliani. This was immediately after the F.B.I. raided his hotel room there, and so Cohen's emotions were in tumult.... Cohen testifies that Costello told him not to reach out to Trump directly. So while Costello and Giuliani formed a link between Trump and Cohen, they also acted as a buffer.... We are seeing an email from Costello to Cohen from April 2018, in which Costello informs Cohen that Giuliani has just joined the Trump legal team."
Haberman: "Cohen says he was told Costello had worked for Giuliani at the Southern District of New York. By this time, Giuliani was about to become a lawyer for Trump on the Mueller investigation. Cohen testifies that Costello told him this would be a way to have a 'backchannel' to Trump."
Bromwich: "Michael Cohen is testifying, with emails on the screen, that Robert Costello, his new lawyer, was continuing a fierce pressure campaign to keep Cohen loyal to Trump. Cohen says he understood Costello to be telling him not to cooperate with law enforcement in the wake of the F.B.I. raid.... Michael Cohen was in the midst of testimony about weighing whether to retain loyalty to Trump, painting it as a very difficult decision, as he considered whether he would be loyal to his family, his country or Trump. As he was speaking, Vivek Ramaswamy and a number of the other politicians here supporting Trump today walked back in the room. It was a remarkable moment, but Cohen seemed mostly unfazed. He kept testifying."
Haberman: "Michael Cohen is now reading aloud the tweets Trump put out when Cohen pleaded guilty, saying that he felt 'very badly for Paul Manafort and his wonderful family' and praising Manafort for refusing to 'break.' 'Such respect for a brave man.' It is absolutely remarkable that the sitting president was tweeting these things."
Bromwich: "We also see Trump's tweets attacking Cohen. He says that if anyone is looking for a good lawyer, he doesn't recommend Cohen. He contrasts Cohen with Manafort, a loyal ally, and criticizes Cohen again for 'breaking.'... As Susan Hoffinger, the prosecutor, asked Michael Cohen about committing federal crimes, she also emphasized the key themes of the prosecution's case, asking him to testify that he committed them on Trump's behalf."
Haberman: "Michael Cohen is now talking about his 2019 testimony before the House of Representatives, one hearing of which was televised.... During that hearing, he sealed his split with Trump, calling him a racist and a con man who was unfit for office.... Michael Cohen is now discussing his meetings with Robert Mueller, the special counsel investigating the Trump campaign's possible ties to Russia. There is a divide between how Mueller's office viewed Cohen and how the federal prosecutors at the Southern District of New York, who charged him initially, did. Mueller's office declared him helpful. The S.D.N.Y. team, not so much.... Michael Cohen is being asked, over an objection by the defense, about how he was sent home on furlough from federal prison in 2020, during the height of the coronavirus pandemic. He was ultimately returned to prison because he was planning to publish a book later that year and refused to sign a letter saying he would decline to publish anything. A judge later called the move 'retaliatory' by the federal government, and he was freed."
Bromwich: "Michael Cohen is now testifying about having met with various law enforcement agencies, including the Manhattan district attorney's office. His story is coming full circle and becoming a bit meta, as he talks about cooperating with these prosecutors."
Haberman: "Hoffinger ... asks if Michael Cohen has sought a reduction for his sentence, and if he asked the district attorney's office for help. The answer to both questions is yes. Hoffinger makes clear that the Manhattan district attorney's office was willing to provide a letter to help him, but the Southern District's prosecutors -- who deeply dislike Cohen -- wouldn't accept it.... Hoffinger makes clear that Cohen continued to testify and help the case despite not getting what he wanted."
Bromwich: "In 2023, during Michael Cohen's testimony at Trump's civil fraud trial, the defense was able to trip him up while asking him about one of his federal guilty pleas. There, he seemed to suggest that he wasn't actually guilty of one of the crimes he had pleaded guilty to. Ever since, Trump's lawyers have accused him of perjury. Susan Hoffinger is now seeking to air that out, by asking Cohen about it here today. He says now he did not dispute the underlying facts of the case, but believed -- and still does -- that he should not have been criminally prosecuted for that specific offense."
Haberman: "Susan Hoffinger is going through a lengthy list of all that Michael Cohen has lost financially. This is similar to something Stormy Daniels said, when pushed on cross-examination about whether she had money to gain by coming forward. She said that she had also lost a lot.... Hoffinger ... is now detailing a lawsuit that Trump filed against Michael Cohen in Florida, well after the presidency. Ultimately Trump decided not to be deposed and the case was dismissed. But that suit was widely seen as an attempt at intimidation."
Bromwich: "In a sidebar this morning, according to a transcript of the morning session that we've just seen, prosecutors told the judge ... Michael Cohen will be their final witness...."
Haberman: "[Todd] Blanche indicated during the sidebar that the defense's only witness, if they were to call one, would be an expert, and that they would not be able to call that person until Monday. Recall that one of Blanche's goal is to stretch out the trial. Blanche also said that no decision had been made about whether Trump will take the stand for the defense."
Bromwich: "Todd Blanche ... will cross-examine Michael Cohen. He begins by asking Cohen whether or not they have spoken before.... Blanche starts by saying Cohen went on TikTok and called him a 'crying little shit.'"
Haberman: "Cohen says that it sounds like something he would say, but the prosecutors object and the judge sustains it.... Todd Blanche now asks Michael Cohen if he has been following what's been happening in this trial. Cohen says yes, to some extent, and Blanche asks if he knows details about the jury selection process. Another objection from the prosecution, and it's sustained."
Bromwich: "Michael Cohen is asked about another damning quote, in which he said Trump belonged in a cage, 'like an animal,' using an expletive that makes the sentiment even more forceful. 'I recall saying that,' Cohen says."
Haberman: "Michael Cohen is asked if the prosecutors have repeatedly asked him to stop talking about the case. 'Yes,' he says.... Todd Blanche is now arriving at his point: that Michael Cohen says he doesn't 'recall' having had multiple conversations with the district attorney's office about not going on television, but he can recall with pristine detail conversations he said he had with Trump in 2016."
Bromwich: "Todd Blanche asks Michael Cohen if he has gone on television several dozen times. 'I have gone on television,' Cohen says. Blanche asks him if it's more than 20 times. 'It could be,' Cohen concedes. Blanche asks him if he has any doubt that he has gone on television more than 20 times, and Cohen allows, that no, he has no doubt he has gone on television more than 20 times.... And after talking about these appearances and his podcast, Blanche asks Cohen if it's fair to say he talks about Trump in every single appearance and episode. Cohen says yes.... 'Do you want President Trump to get convicted in this case?' Todd Blanche asks. 'Sure,' Michael Cohen responds."
Craig: "As Michael Cohen testifies, Trump has dropped his head repeatedly and appears to be struggling to stay awake."
Haberman: "Todd is now seeking to portray Michael Cohen as, essentially, Trump's stalker. One thing that was clear to people around the Trump Organization for years was how badly Cohen wanted head-pats from Trump, and how Trump went out of his way to humiliate Cohen.... Cohen tries to parry Blanche's questions about his past praise of Trump. 'At that time, I was knee-deep into the cult of Donald Trump, yes.'... [Blanche is asking Cohen about a number of topics: the Steele Dossier, Trump Tower Moscow, his cooperation, with Mueller, etc.] This is incredibly hard to follow and Todd Blanche is all over the place."
Bromwich: "Blanche is now asking Cohen about his curiosity about an investigation into Trump. He is suggesting, essentially, that Cohen's cooperation with prosecutors was driven by self-interest, and that it was tainted.... Todd Blanche is jumping around as he describes different investigations into Trump involving Michael Cohen."
Haberman: "The testimony, which is now focused on Cohen’s initial supervised release from prison, has slowed to a crawl. And it's not entirely clear where Blanche is going with his questions."
Bromwich: "Michael Cohen just testified that he has never met the Manhattan district attorney, Alvin Bragg. This is genuinely surprising: Cohen is the star witness in the biggest case of Bragg's career and all signs indicate that Bragg has supervised this investigation closely.... As Todd Blanche, Trump's lawyer, began his cross-examination of Michael Cohen earlier today, he asked whether Cohen had called him a nasty name on TikTok. Soon afterward, there was a sidebar, out of earshot of jurors. At that sidebar, according to a transcript we just received, Justice Merchan asked Blanche: 'Why are you making this about yourself?'"
~~~~~~~~~~
It's primary election day today in Maryland, West Virginia and Nebraska.
Ben Protess, et al., of the New York Times: "Narrating the prosecution's case in tell-all detail, [Michael] Cohen testified that Trump in 2016 had personally directed him to pay off a porn star and had approved a dubious reimbursement plan.... Over nearly five hours of testimony, Mr. Cohen painted a damning portrait of his relationship with Mr. Trump, decoded their shady vernacular and spotlighted the conduct at the center of the first criminal trial of an American president: the silencing of women who had stories of sex with Mr. Trump to tell and to sell.... [Cohen] brought the case's architecture into focus, offering firsthand corroboration of what jurors have heard from other witnesses. He also wove a sprawling cast of characters into a single narrative, saying that Mr. Trump, bent on winning the presidency, had orchestrated the coverup of scandalous stories." The AP's report is here.
Perry Stein & Devlin Barrett of the Washington Post: "Here are key takeaways from Cohen's Monday testimony."
The Smoking Gun: ~~~
~~~ Earlier in the trial, Trump Org. comptroller Jeff McConney identified Weisselberg's handwriting on the document and said he recognized it because "I've been looking at his handwriting for 35 years." According to Maddow, the prosecutor asked Michael Cohen how he could identify Weisselberg's handwriting on the document, and Cohen said, "Because I saw him write it."
New York Times reporters liveblogged Monday's testimony in the Manhattan criminal trial of Donald Trump. See yesterday's Conversation for details. Links to transcripts of the trials, up to last Friday's proceedings are here. Links to exhibits begin here.
MEANWHILE, the decent President is doing his job:
Jonathan Yerushalmy of the Guardian: "Joe Biden has signed into law a bipartisan bill that bans the import of enriched uranium from Russia, in the latest effort by Washington to apply further pressure on Vladimir Putin over his invasion of Ukraine. The ban on imports of the fuel for nuclear power plants begins in about 90 days, although it allows the Department of Energy (DOE) to issue waivers in case of supply concerns, up until 2028. Russia is the world's top supplier of enriched uranium and about 24% of the enriched uranium used by US nuclear power plants come from the country."
Michael Forsythe & Gabriel Dance of the New York Times: "President Biden on Monday ordered a company with Chinese origins to shut down and sell the Wyoming cryptocurrency mine it built a mile from an Air Force base that controls nuclear-armed intercontinental ballistic missiles. The cryptomining facility, which operates high-powered computers in a data center near the F.E. Warren base in Cheyenne, 'presents a national security risk to the United States,' the president said in an executive order, because its equipment could be used for surveillance and espionage. The New York Times reported last October that Microsoft, which operates a nearby data center supporting the Pentagon, had flagged the Chinese-connected cryptocurrency mine to the federal Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, warning that it could enable the Chinese to 'pursue full-spectrum intelligence collection operations.' An investigation by the committee identified risks to national security, according to the president's order." CNBC's story is here.
Kayla Tausche of CNN: "President Joe Biden is increasing tariffs on $18 billion in Chinese imports across a handful of sectors deemed strategic to national security -- an attempt to cripple Beijing's development of critical technologies and instead prioritize US production. The increases will apply to imported steel and aluminum, legacy semiconductors, electric vehicles, battery components, critical minerals, solar cells, cranes and medical products. The new tariff rates -- which range from 100% on electric vehicles, to 50% for solar components, to 25% for all other sectors -- will take place over the next two years." The New York Times story is here.
Brad Plumer of the New York Times: "Federal regulators on Monday approved sweeping changes to how America's electric grids are planned and funded, in a move that supporters hope could spur thousands of miles of new high-voltage power lines and make it easier to add more wind and solar energy. The new rule by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, which oversees interstate electricity transmission, is the most significant attempt in years to upgrade and expand the country's creaking electricity network. Experts have warned that there aren't nearly enough high-voltage power lines being built today, putting the country at greater risk of blackouts from extreme weather while making it harder to shift to renewable sources of energy and cope with rising electricity demand. A big reason for the slow pace of grid expansion is that operators rarely plan for the long term, the commission said."
Caitlin Yilek of CBS News: "Jury selection began Monday in the corruption trial of New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez [D], who is accused of trading his political influence for cash, gold bars and a new Mercedes-Benz convertible. No jurors had been selected when court adjourned in the early evening."
Tom Dreisbach & Carrie Johnson of NPR (May 1): "Dozens of federal judges failed to fully disclose free luxury travel to judicial conferences around the world, as required by internal judiciary rules and federal ethics law, an NPR investigation has found.... Federal judges -- occasionally with family members or even their dog in tow -- traveled to luxury resorts in locations as far-flung as London; Palm Beach, Fla.; Bar Harbor, Maine; and the outskirts of Yellowstone National Park for weeklong seminars. The judges received free rooms, free meals and free money toward travel expenses.... First, within 30 days of an event, judges are required to file a form that details the host of the event and the entities that provided funding, as well as the speakers and topics of discussion.... Second, federal law requires that judges report the reimbursements they received for the events on an annual financial disclosure report." ~~~
~~~ Darrell Ehrlick of the Daily Montanan (May 7): Federal Judge Aileen "Cannon traveled twice recently to a luxury resort in Pray, Montana, to attend a conservative legal conference, but failed to disclose the trips, which some estimate cost in the tens of thousands of dollars apiece. Federal guidelines do not prohibit a sitting federal judge from taking luxury vacation, even paid for by another person or group, so long as they are disclosed and documented. Since NPR first reported the story, Cannon has amended a required filing, documenting the trip, but who paid for the travel remains unclear. The conferences, which she attended at Sage Lodge, were sponsored by the George Mason School of Law, a conservative leaning law school with deep ties to Leonard Leo and the Federalist Society." ~~~
~~~ See Akhilleus' commentary at the top of today's thread. He cites an article by Lucian Truscott of Salon.
** Michelle Goldberg of the New York Times explains Gov. Kristi Noem's (R-S.D.) pet-killing boasts in the context of the right-wing's cult of violence. "The story's inclusion makes more sense when you think about the kind of humans she's trying to impress. The ex-president and the people who surround him often seem drawn to violence and lurid displays of dominance.... [But Noem's effort failed because] successful vice signaling should have a certain intentionality. The conservative Washington Examiner, in an article about [the protagonist in 'American Psycho']'s appeal to young right-wing men, said, 'He wields control over himself and his surroundings, something many young men, especially conservatives, feel is unattainable to them.'"
Anupreeta Das & Santul Nerkar of the New York Times: "Melinda French Gates is leaving the behemoth foundation she and her former husband, Bill Gates, founded nearly a quarter-century ago to devote herself fully to her work on behalf of women and girls, which has been the focus of much of her recent philanthropy. Her move, announced on Monday, marks the end of an era for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation -- henceforth known as the Gates Foundation -- which she and her former husband founded in 2000 and transformed into a juggernaut that shook up the world of philanthropy and reshaped the fields of global public health and development."
~~~~~~~~~~
Arizona. Taylor Romine of CNN: "The Arizona Supreme Court delayed enforcement of the state's recently revived 1864 abortion ban, according to an order filed Monday. The order allows for a 90-day stay requested by the state's attorney general. Arizona Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs signed a repeal of the 1864 abortion ban on May 2, but the repeal will not be in effect until 90 days after the legislative session ends, CNN previously reported. The state's legislature is currently in session, meaning the Civil War-era abortion ban could come into effect for a brief period. The stay will be in effect through August 12 so Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes could consider a petition for certiorari to the US Supreme Court, the order said. Another stay could be filed again, according to the order.... On Monday, the court also denied a motion from Planned Parenthood Arizona asking the court to stay the 1864 abortion ban until the repeal of that law takes effect."
~~~~~~~~~~
Israel/Palestine, et al. CNN's live updates of developments Tuesday in the Israel/Hamas war are here: "The US has assessed that Israel has massed enough troops on the edge of Rafah to launch a full-scale incursion in the coming days, two senior administration officials told CNN. The White House believes an Israeli ground offensive in Rafah would be a mistake and is 'urgently' working toward a ceasefire. The US has urged Israel to connect its military operations to a 'clear' end game for its war against Hamas. About 450,000 have fled Rafah over the past week, the UN estimated. People are streaming out of the city following Israeli evacuation calls ahead of their ground offensive. In central Gaza, an Israeli airstrike on a residential building in the Nuseirat refugee camp has killed at least 13 displaced Palestinians and left families buried in the rubble, a hospital spokesperson told CNN." ~~~
~~~ The New York Times' live updates for Tuesday are here.
Ukraine, et al.
Isabelle Khurshudyan & Serheii Korolchuk of the Washington Post: "Russian glide bombs weighing half a ton each have been dropped repeatedly from aircraft on Vovchansk and neighboring border towns [in the Kharkiv region of Ukraine] for days. The sound of artillery shelling has been constant. Self-destructing drones can be heard buzzing overhead before crashing into vehicles.... The purpose of the Russian offensive was not immediately clear, but Ukrainian and Western officials say Moscow could be trying to expand a buffer zone to roughly six miles deep into Ukraine to limit Kyiv's ability to shell Russian villages across the border."
Michael Birnbaum of the Washington Post: "Secretary of State Antony Blinken met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Tuesday in Ukraine's capital, part of a mission to display Washington's continued support for the country's faltering war effort after months of congressional inaction choked off military assistance. The delay in aid weakened Ukraine's ability to repel renewed Russian attacks. Blinken's two-day trip is the first high-level visit by a Biden administration official since Congress last month approved a $61 billion aid package for Ukraine after seven months of obstruction by Republicans."
News Lede
New York Times: "Alice Munro, the revered Canadian author who started writing short stories because she did not think she had the time or the talent to master novels, then stubbornly dedicated her long career to churning out psychologically dense stories that dazzled the literary world and earned her the Nobel Prize in Literature, died on Monday night in Port Hope, Ontario, east of Toronto. She was 92."
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Judgey see, judgey do
Well, isn’t this special?
Guess which Trumpy judge, who has put both thumbs, elbows, knees, and entire posterior on the scale of Justice to protect the most criminal president* in history, has followed the example of the scofflaw supremes in hiding extravagant getaways?
“We’re talking about a luxury resort on 1,200 acres alongside the Yellowstone River just outside Yellowstone National Park. We’re talking about a lodge featuring rooms with stone fireplaces that go for upwards of $1,000 a night in high season, meals that include “house-cured meats from local ranches, garden-fresh produce from nearby farms, and, of course plenty of Northwest craft beers and spirits,” as the resort’s website describes the offerings.
It's called the Sage Lodge in Pray, Montana, and it’s where George Mason University sends gaggles of federal judges for a week-long “colloquium” every year or so. Paid for by the Law and Economics Center at the Antonin Scalia Law School, the ‘colloquium’ held at the Sage Lodge in 2021, for example, featured lectures on such subjects as ‘Woke Law!’ – and yes, the exclamation point is part of the lecture topic — by one Todd J. Zywicki, who is George Mason University Foundation Professor of Law at the Antonin Scalia Law School and a senior fellow at the Center for Monetary and Financial Alternatives of the Cato Institute. Another juicy topic covered at the Sage Lodge in 2021 was ‘Unprofitable Education: Student Loans, Higher Education Costs, and the Regulatory State,’ also featuring a lecture by Zywicki, a topic that rings what we might call a rather different bell after the Supreme Court struck down President Biden’s student loan forgiveness program last year.”
And now we’ve discovered that the Loose Cannon has been flying off to these extravagant junkets and NOT REPORTING them as she is required by law to do so.
“So why do we suppose Judge Cannon was so shy about who’s paying for her luxury trips and what she might have learned there? Oh, I don’t know … might it be because she didn’t want anyone to know about her links to the Leonard Leo wing of legal theory? Could it have been that she didn’t want it known that she had taken money from an organization that was in large part funded by billionaires friendly to the man whose case she was presiding over?”
Yes, Leonard Leo, ubiquitous as a deadly pathogen during the current pandemic of right-wing judicial ratfucking.
Arrogance and contempt for laws and rules that others all abide by is a feature of judges pushed upon an unsuspecting public by increasingly lawless, authoritarian, and Christian nationalist groups like Heritage and the Federalists.
A while back I mentioned that it seemed as if Cannon, whose early ham handed attempts to help out her lord and master, the Fat Fascist, had become suspiciously more sophisticated as she dragged out the case, indicating, I suspected, coaching from the truly talented ratfuckers and law breakers like those Leo pays to teach his Nazi judges the tricks of the authoritarian trade.
I’m more convinced than ever of this very real possibility.
Meanwhile, think of all the other “judges” hiding this information as they absorb the worst judicial skullduggery has to offer in a consolidated effort to remake the nation’s laws in the image of Federalist ideology.
Seems our loose cannon is tethered after all. Just not to the Constitution or rule of law. I wonder if she sees herself up on the high court someday as payback for helping the Orange Monster escape justice. She’s off to a good start.
Happy Mother’$ Day!
This past Sunday most of us celebrated Mother’s Day. The Fat Fascist had a big Mother’s Day bash for well-heeled MAGA donors and, um, some scantily clad very young women. But unlike the rest of us, Fatty’s Mother’s Day didn’t include include Melanie! The mother of his youngest son. His Mother’s Day greeting (such as it was) never even mentioned her.
It’s possible that Evangelical fave, Donald J. Adulterer, couldn’t remember who his current wife was (he’s cheated on so many). Or it could be that current wife Melanie was pissed about the trial in New York highlighting her despicable spouse’s dalliance with a porn star while she was home with the baby (not to mention his dissing her to said porn star in an effort to bed her).
In any event, Melanie was nowhere to be seen at the latest Marred A Lardo grift fest. But that left the field open for Fatty to pose with this young lady. (who probably reminded him of Princess Ivanka, the daughter he has declared he’d love to boink—whataguy). One observant commenter asked “Where’s the rest of her dress?”
But never fear. Melanie celebrated Mother’s Day in the traditional Trump fashion, with a brand new grift!
Yes, for just $245, you too can score a cheesy Melanie approved jewelry thingie, because it wouldn’t be a day of honest remembrance with a dishonest Trump with his or her hand in your pocket. Mother’s Day, Christmas, Fourth of July, fucking Arbor Day? So what? Every day is Scamday for this bunch of chiselers.
“But who cares about looks, eh? Over the years the Trump family has made it very clear that, as long as a payday is involved, optics aren’t important. They don’t really care. Do U? Every single one of them seems to have some sort of grift going at all times.”
What a bunch of scurvy, greedy wretches, the whole lot of them. Douchebags, dollar signs, and dickheads. And mothers.
@Akhilleus: Nothing to see here. This is Judge Aileen practicing to take her place as the holder of the Clarence Thomas Chair on the Supreme Court. You should know by now a right-wing justice can't do a proper job of overlooking the Constitution without all-expenses-paid luxury vacations. Oh shame on us for all the "nastiness and lies."
I'm pretty sure there is an asterisk in invisible ink in the judicial ethics rules that state there is a permanent exemption to the rules if you belong to the Federalist Society.
The Biden-Harris campaign took a look at Trump and Mothers Day, too.
I think I might have seen Trump trying to sell this special collectors series.
The state of Florida is taking another shuffle step to the right next month. Instead of lighting the Tampa Bay Skyline bridge with the "woke" colors of LGBT, this year it will be in red, white, and blue.
https://www.tampabay.com/opinion/2024/05/14/pride-bridge-rainbow-skyway-tampa-desantis/
Marie,
Hahaha. He truly is one of a kind. The one and only.
@RAS: Now, there a Trump collector series I could buy.
Those willing to stand behind the seamy Pretender during his dark courtroom days? Who could they be?
A gaggle of "all the best people?"
Must be. They sure make me gag.
Looks like Mike Johnson got the call up today to be a Trump mouthpiece and the opportunity to pray for him in person. North Dakota Gov. Burgum and Vivek Ramaswamy are also supposed to be at the trial today to raise Donnie's spirits.
Lawrence O'Donnell said last night that he saw over Donnie's shoulder that his lawyers had given him a bunch of printouts from lawyers saying how well his case was supposedly going for him to keep him awake and looking engaged.
I see Bible Mike is in court today, along with other Trump flunkies. Disorder in the court. Praise Jesus! Maybe he’ll ask the judge for a mistrial because in his Seven Mountain Christian Nationalist belief system, no man made laws come before the Bible and god sent Trump, his ill begotten son, to save us from horrible stuff like democracy.
Speaking of bibles, have Fatty’s lawyers insisted that witnesses swear on the Trump Approved Bible before testifying?
The judge is probably concerned about lightning bolts striking the witness box.
Heather Cox Richardson
"Today illustrated that the Democrats have become America’s cheerleaders, emphasizing how investment in the nation’s infrastructure has created jobs and rebuilt the country. This week, the Biden-Harris administration is touting its investments in rebuilding roads and bridges, making sure Americans have clean water, getting rid of pollution, expanding access to high-speed internet, and building a clean energy economy, contrasting that success with Trump’s eternal announcements of an “Infrastructure Week” that never came.
The White House today announced that it has awarded nearly $454 billion in funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, including more than 56,000 projects across more than 4,500 communities across the nation. Those include fixing more than 165,000 miles of roads and more than 9,400 bridges and improving more than 450 ports and 300 airport terminals. It has funded more than 1,400 drinking water and wastewater projects and projects to replace up to 1.7 million toxic lead pipes, as well as more than 8,000 low- and zero-emission buses. It has funded 95 previously unfunded Superfund projects to clean up contaminated sites. It has improved the electrical grid and funded 12,000 miles of high-speed internet infrastructure, and exposed internet junk fees."
All of these judges and elected officials who are taking bribes and all
those free trips and stuff that they don't report like the rules say they
should, they must all be racked with so much guilt that they can't
sleep at night.
I sleep like a baby (and no, I don't wear a Donnie Diaper).
Fatty Defense Fail #17
The “I wanted to protect Melanie” defense.
If the idea for describing serial sexual assault as “locker room talk” was indeed Melanie’s idea, then this defense is a bigger failure than Trump University.
They might try to posit that Mr. Mushroom Head’s horizontal tango with Stormy Daniels needed to be hidden from the gossamer sensibilities of Mrs. Christmas Sucks, but the Daniels’ In-Out was consensual. Grabbing MANY women by the p——y is much worse. If Melanie was okay with that, to the extent she was crafting a cover story (which was gleefully adopted), she couldn’t have taken much umbrage at his sleazy rubber duck PJ encounter with Daniels.
I mean, Mrs. I Really Don’t Care, is no Shirley Temple. She has done her fair share of soft core photo shoots. She knew what this Lard Ass Lothario was all about. She’s a grifting moocher who saw more moolah down the pike if she chipped in to help soften the disgusting Hollywood Access revelations.
So there goes that gambit.
Of course, Mr. and Mrs. Orange Monster could get on the witness stand and testify—on pain of perjury.
He won’t because he’s a coward. She won’t because, at this point, she’s likely had all the humiliation she can stomach, and is probably thinking “Fuck him. Let him stew.”
Any way you look at this disgusting scenario, it’s a disgrace. But the JD Vances are lining up to support the Dear Leader in his five-six weeks of need.
Losers, all. Disgraced failures. The amazing thing here is that the one person who comes out looking not so bad is the porn star.