The Washington Post offers tips on how to keep your EV battery running in frigid temperatures. The link at the end of this graf is supposed to be a "gift link" (from me, Marie Burns, the giftor!), meaning that non-subscribers can read the article. Hope it works: https://wapo.st/3u8Z705
Tuesday
May072024
The Conversation -- May 7, 2024
Erica Green & Michael Shear of the New York Times: "President Biden on Tuesday condemned a 'ferocious surge of antisemitism' in the United States following the Oct. 7 Hamas attack against Israel and said people were already forgetting the deadliest day for Jews since the Holocaust. Speaking at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum's Days of Remembrance, Mr. Biden tied the anti-Jewish sentiment that led to the Nazi effort to exterminate Jews directly to Oct. 7. 'This ancient hatred of Jews didn't begin with the Holocaust,' he said. 'It didn't end with the Holocaust, either.'"
** Judge Aileen Drops the Gavel. Katelyn Polantz, et al., of CNN: "Judge Aileen Cannon has indefinitely postponed ... Donald Trump's classified documents trial in Florida, citing significant issues around classified evidence that would need to be worked out before the federal criminal case goes to a jury. In an order Tuesday, Cannon cancelled the May trial date and did not set a new date."
Constant Méheut of the New York Times: "Ukraine's security services said on Tuesday that they had foiled a Russian plot to assassinate President Volodymyr Zelensky and other top military and political figures. Two Ukrainian colonels accused of participating in the plot have been arrested on suspicion of treason. The Ukrainian domestic intelligence agency, the S.B.U., said in a statement that the plot had involved a network of agents -- including the two colonels 00 that was run by Russia's Federal Security Service, or F.S.B., the main successor agency to the K.G.B. According to the Ukrainian agency, the agents working at Russia's direction were tasked with identifying people close to Mr. Zelensky's security detail who could take him hostage and later kill him."
The New York Times is liveblogging developments in the Trump 2016 election interference case. ~~~
Maggie Haberman: "We are heading into the Manhattan Criminal Courthouse. Trump posted on Truth Social an angry message saying he had just learned who the next witness is and that his lawyers had 'no time' to prepare. Within thirty minutes, Trump had removed the post, likely because it risked prosecutors saying it violated the gag order."
William Rashbaum: "Stormy Daniels, the porn star at the heart of Trump's hush money trial is in the courthouse and is expected to testify today."
Haberman: "This is the first time Trump will have to be face to face with Daniels and hear her accusations. He has continued to deny that an affair took place. This trial, unlike the other three criminal trials he's facing, is personal for him in a very specific way, and Daniels has spoken about him and his physicality publicly in a humiliating manner."
Jonah Bromwich: "Even though Stormy Daniels's name hasn't yet been called, we are already right into it. The implication of this argument is that Daniels will testify about having had sex with Trump. Susan Hoffinger, a prosecutor, is arguing that these details are key to the case -- and that this issue has already been settled. She says that details that are too salacious will not be admitted, but that the story is 'significant' and important to prosecutors in terms of Daniels's credibility."
Haberman: "Susan Necheles, one of Trump's lawyer, begins by objecting to Stormy Daniels testifying, including 'any details' of any 'sexual act.'"
Jesse McKinley: Justice Merchan concedes that Daniels's may have 'credibility issues,' but that it's up to the jury to determine that.... The first witness today is Sally Franklin, who works at Penguin Random House, a publisher."
Bromwich: "Sally Franklin is a custodial witness ... and she will testify about two books that Trump wrote, including 'Trump: How to Get Rich' and 'Trump: Think Like a Billionaire,' both of which were published by Ballantine, a Penguin Random House imprint."
Kate Christobek: "Rebecca Mangold, the prosecutor, is prompting Sally Franklin to read Trump's written words from these books, including the following passages: 'For many years, I've said that if someone screws you, screw them back,' and, 'When somebody hurts you, just go after them as viciously and as violently as you can. Like it says in the Bible, an eye for an eye.'"
Haberman: "Now, Sally Franklin is walking the court through a chapter of a book in which Trump, in his own words, describes his frugality, including looking over bills to 'make sure I'm not being overcharged.' The goal is to invalidate the idea that he could have been unaware of what he was paying Michael Cohen, or what the money was for."
Swan: "The prosecution is effectively using Trump himself as a witness here. In his own words -- as laid out in his books -- Trump is describing how he keeps a focus on minute details and watches every penny that leaves his accounts, a core part of the prosecution's case against him. He's also describing how he sees sexual potential in random women that he encounters."
Haberman: "Todd Blanche, one of Trump's lawyers, is now cross-examining Sall Franklin, leaning into his customary line of defense: distancing Trump from the book published under his own name and trying to suggest that Meredith McIver, the ghost-writer who worked for him, was behind the language, as opposed to Trump."
Swan: "There's an irony here with Trump's counsel trying to cast doubt over whether Trump wrote his own books. Trump himself has always insisted -- falsely -- that all of the words printed in his name are his. During the White House years, Trump aides would implausibly claim on the record that Trump's speeches were written by him."
Bromwich: "We have arrived at perhaps the most significant excerpt, as Trump writes in one of his books about the importance of personally signing checks. He wrote that he did not like to allow a computer to sign a check, because when the boss did it himself, it showed employees he was attending to the details. Some of the false documents at issue in the case are checks, some of them with Trump's signature. This is tough evidence for the defense."
Haberman: "Sally Franklin, on re-direct, is testifying about one of Trump's books that he was directly involved in, as a way of dispelling the defense's argument that someone else's work was behind it."
Bromwich: "'The people call Stormy Daniels,' Susan Hoffinger says."
McKinley: "Daniels is quickly walking through some of her early biography: raised in Baton Rouge, wanted to be a veterinarian, editor of her high school newspaper."
Bromwich: "As Stormy Daniels talks about moving from stripping to acting in adult films, she is continuing to talk very, very quickly.... Susan Hoffinger, the prosecutor, guides Stormy Daniels toward talking about writing and directing adult films."
Haberman: "Stormy Daniels is now going through her résumé, including mainstream movies she appeared in like 'The 40-Year-Old Virgin.'"
McKinley: "The prosecution is drawing out other work experience, including directing music videos, doing comedy, writing books and making podcasts, perhaps to show that she is more than just an adult film actress."
Haberman: "Stormy Daniels is now describing the golf tournament at Lake Tahoe in 2006 where she met Trump. In a notable line, she says she knew that he was 'as old or older than my father.... Daniels is recounting interactions with Trump after meeting him, and then getting a message he wanted to have dinner with her. She is asked to point him out in the courtroom, and she does by his navy jacket, pointing directly at him. He sits with no reaction.... Susan Hoffinger, the prosecutor, is asking about Trump inviting Daniels to dinner. Daniels says that she was approached by 'Keith,' meaning Keith Schiller, Trump's ominpresent bodyman. She says he took her number, though she refused the invitation initially."
Bromwich: "Stormy Daniels says that the first person she mentioned the dinner invitation to was her publicist...."
McKinley: "Daniels recalls that her publicist urged her to go to the dinner, and asked her: "'"What could possibly go wrong?"'"
Bromwich: "Stormy Daniels is now talking about meeting Trump for dinner. She says that when he first emerged from his hotel suite, he was wearing 'silk or satin' pajamas, which Daniels compared to those often sported by Hugh Hefner. She asked him to change, and he returned in more standard dress clothes."
Haberman: "... Trump ... can't stand feeling or appearing weak or powerless. But that's exactly what he is here as Daniels is describing, in extensive detail, an encounter he continues to maintain didn't happen."
Christobek: "Stormy Daniels says that Trump took an interest in the business aspects of her industry and asked about unions, residuals, and health insurance, as well about S.T.D. testing."
Bromwich: "Stormy Daniels says that during her dinner with Trump, she asked about his wife. He told her, she says, not to worry because the two did not 'even sleep in the same room.' Trump and Melania were married in 2005, the year before this encounter.... Stormy Daniels says she asked Trump during their dinner: 'Are you always this rude? Are you always this arrogant and pompous? Like you don't even know how to have a conversation.'"
Swan: "Trump clearly mouths 'bullshit' as Stormy Daniels recalls playfully spanking him with a rolled-up magazine, and saying he was much more polite afterwards."
McKinley: "Stormy Daniels says that Trump told her she reminded him of his daugh[t]er, presumably Ivanka. 'She's smart and blonde and beautiful and people underestimate her as well,' Daniels said Trump remarked."
Bromwich: "Stormy Daniels now takes on the defense's argument about her directly, saying that it was Trump himself who invited her to come on 'The Apprentice,' not the other way around. This is fascinating, because we have seen many times the way that Trump accuses his adversaries of the same faults that he's accused of. Here, Daniels is suggesting she wasn't the one trying to use 'The Apprentice' -- he was, for sex.... Her derision toward Trump is very clear, and the tension in the courtroom during her testimony about him is the highest it has been at this trial so far."
Bromwich: "... the judge, in a rarity, admonishes the prosecutors, specifically Susan Hoffinger, saying that the level of detail they're eliciting from Stormy Daniels is unnecessary."
Haberman: "Stormy Daniels is talking about going to the bathroom in Trump's hotel suite and seeing a 'leather-looking' toiletry bag on the counter. She says she saw Old Spice and 'manicure stuff' that was gold. Daniels keeps chuckling as she describes the scene, as if she's giving an interview."
Bromwich: "Stormy Daniels says she came out of the bathroom and found that Trump was in the bedroom, waiting for her, in his boxer shorts and a T-shirt. She had been planning to go, she said. He was seated on the bed, between her and the exit.... Daniels is describing a remarkably intense encounter, and says that the room spun in slow motion and the blood left her hands and feet. She says that Trump did not act particularly threatening but blocked her access to the door to the bedroom. Then she says she 'blacked out,' though she did not take alcohol or drugs. At this point, the judge -- who has sustained one objection and seems unusually angry -- called for a sidebar. He sustains another objection."
Haberman: "'What did I misread to get here,' she describes thinking. She says she tried to leave and he blocked her path, but not in a threatening manner."
Bromwich: "The defense has been objecting to many questions and the judge has been sustaining a lot of them. He is not happy about this testimony.... Susan Hoffinger, the prosecutor, is now asking Stormy Daniels about having had sex with Trump, which Trump denies. 'Did you at some point end up on the bed having sex with him?' Hoffinger asks. Daniels says yes. When she describes the position they were in, the defense objects, and the objection is sustained."
Haberman: "Daniels says that while she didn't object in the moment, she also didn't enjoy it, and that she felt there was an 'imbalance' in the power dynamic between the two. [MB: Also, as McKinley wrote earlier, Trump was 60 at the time; Daniels 27.]... Stormy Daniels continues to walk the prosecutors through the encounter. She says Trump didn't wear a condom. 'Did you say anything about it?' Susan Hoffinger, the prosecutor, asks. 'No,' Daniels replies, adding, when asked why not, 'I didn't say anything at all.' She describes it as brief, and repeats that she did not say no at any point...."
Bromwich: "Daniels is testifying about a few details that corroborate her story, including who she talked to about the initial encounter, as well as further discussions with Trump, who called her 'honeybunch.'... Merchan sustains a defense objection. Susan Hoffinger, the prosecutor, objects, saying that Daniels's answer was directly responsive to her question. Then, the judge again scolds Daniels, telling her again to keep her answers short and to the point. He then reverses himself and overrules the objection. We've rarely seen Merchan this openly annoyed -- and when we do, he often seems to work to rein himself in after the fact."
Christobek: "Stormy Daniels is now testifying about meeting with Trump at Trump Tower in 2007. She says she was greeted warmly, and although the meeting was brief, he introduced her to everybody, and at one point they took selfies."
Bromwich: "Daniels says that another 2007 meeting, in Los Angeles, was the last time she saw Trump in person -- before today, presumably -- and that he in no way stressed that she should keep their encounter secret."
Swan: "Trump has claimed he had nothing to do with Stormy Daniels, just as he has nothing to do with any of the women who've made claims against him. But the cumulative testimony extracted from this line of questioning is that Stormy Daniels met with Trump on multiple occasions, with dozens of witnesses. Daniels also describes multiple phone calls with Trump -- some of which had witnesses because Daniels says she put Trump on speaker phone for sport while her friends were present. The jury has also been shown phone contact logs from Daniels's phone and from Trump's assistant's phone."
Haberman: "Stormy Daniels is now being asked about being threatened in a parking lot by someone while she was in Las Vegas with her daughter. Her voice shakes as she talks about it, and explains she didn't report it because it would have been upsetting to the person she was in a relationship with at the time.... The testimony we've heard so far firmly puts Stormy Daniels in Trump's orbit during a sustained period of time."
Bromwich: "Stormy Daniels is laying out the specifics of the hush money deal -- a really important part of her testimony, after a lot of details that were difficult to follow, as she skipped through meetings and dates and years as the prosecution guided her toward 2016. She said that if she were to violate the agreement, it would cost her a million dollars every time she did so.... Daniels is testifying that she was not motivated by money, and says she didn't negotiate the hush-money deal because she didn't care about the figure. The hush money is at the heart of the case, and she was eventually paid $130,000. I can imagine it being very hard for jurors to accept that Daniels did not want money.... Daniels said she was not paid on time, and that in 2016, she wasn't sure why. 'He just kept making excuses,' she said. At first she clarified that the 'he' in question was Michael Cohen, who paid the hush money. But then she changed her answer and testified that it was 'Trump' who delayed the payment -- more specifically, Trump speaking to Cohen, who was speaking to her then-lawyer Keith Davidson. That was an interesting moment, almost as if Daniels was trying to make the prosecution's case for them." [Lunch break.]
Bromwich: "The defense is moving for a mistrial. This is not unusual for Trump's lawyers -- in his civil fraud trial, his lawyers asked that a mistrial be called several times. They were unsuccessful.... The judge was very unhappy with this morning's testimony and Blanche is objecting to specific details.... Todd Blanche is done and Susan Hoffinger, a prosecutor, stands up. She says that Daniels's story is important for motive and intent, to illustrate what the defendant, Trump, didn't want the public to know before the election.... The judge has declined to declare a mistrial. While he acknowledged that some of the evidence that came in was more than he would have liked -- 'better left unsaid,' is how he put it several times -- he takes as much issue with the defense as with the prosecution. This must come as a major relief for prosecutors. And I can imagine that they might wish the jury was in the room right now. Justice Merchan reminds the defense that 'the remedy is on cross-examination.'..."
Bromwich: "Stormy Daniels has begun to testify again. It's clear that the prosecutor, Susan Hoffinger, asked her behind closed doors to start giving shorter answers. She is sticking far more closely to the questions being asked, and her testimony -- about the hush-money deal -- is speeding along. She just testified that her lawyer, Keith Davidson, received $130,000. After he and her manager took fees, she ended up with about $96,000, she says.... Daniels, referring to a Wall Street Journal article that mentioned her while discussing another hush-money deal, says she did not comment for the article, honoring the terms of the deal she had reached through her lawyer, Keith Davidson. She's very different -- and so far, more helpful to prosecutors -- in this afternoon session."
Haberman: "Stormy Daniels is now being asked about a statement she signed denying having had an affair with Trump, given to her by her lawyer and dated Jan. 10, 2018. This is the same statement that Trump recently posted on Truth Social had been 'JUST FOUND.'... Daniels makes it clear that she didn't want to sign the statement, and that it wasn't true."
Bromwich: "Stormy Daniels says that once her story became public, her life exploded into 'chaos -- suddenly I was front and foremost everywhere,' she says."
Haberman: "Daniels is now walking through the portion of the story where [Michael] Cohen tried to make her adhere to the non-disclosure agreement, while, she says, he was talking about the case to people. She hired [Michael] Avenatti to get her out of the N.D.A. and she told her story to Anderson Cooper on '60 Minutes.'"
Bromwich: "She then testifies that Cohen filed a temporary restraining order against her, seeking to keep her from speaking.... Stormy Daniels is saying her lawyer, Michael Avenatti, filed a defamation claim against Trump against her wishes. She says she wished he had not done so because she felt it was too risky. (Avenatti, a risk-taker by nature, was sentenced to prison in 2022 for stealing from Daniels.)"
Swan: "As Stormy Daniels was testifying about her defamation claim against Trump, the former president appeared for a while to be solidly asleep."
Haberman: "A Trump post on Truth Social, in which he called Stormy Daniels 'horseface,' is currently on the screens in the courtroom. It's from March 2023, as the Manhattan district attorney's office was preparing to indict Trump in this case. Trump insists he hasn't seen Daniels since encountering her on a golf course and taking a picture with her 18 years ago. Daniels is now reading the Truth post aloud."
Bromwich: "The direct examination is over and here comes what is liable to be a very tense cross-examination by Susan Necheles, one of Trump's lawyers."
Christobek: "Necheles asks Daniels: 'Am I correct that you hate President Trump?' Daniels responds: 'Yes.' Necheles continues: 'And you want him to go to jail?' Daniels responds: 'I want him to be held accountable.'"
Bromwich: "Susan Necheles, Trump's lawyer, is now pushing Stormy Daniels on her desire for money. She says that Daniels went into pornography for money, and asks her, again, 'You wanted more money, right?' Daniels retorted: 'Don't we all want to make more money in our jobs?'... Then Necheles moves on to posts that Daniels made about wanting Trump to be imprisoned, including one saying that she would 'dance down the street' if he was selected to go to jail."
Haberman:We just witnessed something that felt like a grade school back-and-forth. Susan Necheles gets Stormy Daniels to acknowledge she had mocked Trump's looks on Twitter, and Daniels replies, 'Because he made fun of me first.' Necheles says that one of them started it, but 'you both continued it.'"
Bromwich: "Susan Necheles ... is trying to make Stormy Daniels look like a liar. But many of her questions have to do with money and Daniels is making it clear that she is not necessarily wealthy. So instead of this line of questioning working to impeach her credibility, as intended, it's coming off as a lawyer for a very rich person going after someone with less money for having less money."
Swan: "Trump's lawyer ... has successfully established that Stormy Daniels is refusing a court order to pay legal fees to Trump, which she was ordered to do six years ago after her defamation lawsuit against him was dismissed. But the jury knows that Trump is vastly wealthier than Daniels, so it is unclear how compelling they will find it that she has declined to give him money."
Bromwich: "Susan Necheles ... is trying to make Stormy Daniels look like a liar by bringing up her book excerpts, making it seem as if she has changed her story of having had sex with Trump. Daniels is fighting back and providing more context.... Necheles accuses Daniels directly of seeking to extort Trump through the hush-money deal. 'False,' Daniels said. 'That's what you did, right?' Necheles repeats. 'False!' Daniels says, almost yelling in the courtroom." [Court adjourns.]
The Trials of Trump, Ctd.
Ben Protess, et al., of the New York Times: "After two weeks of enthralling jurors with stories of sex and scandal, prosecutors delved into the documents at the heart of Donald J. Trump's criminal trial on Monday, a pivotal turn in the case that came on the same day the judge held Mr. Trump in contempt and threatened to jail him.... Mr. Trump made the payment to his longtime fixer, Michael D. Cohen, reimbursing him for a $130,000 hush-money payoff to a porn star, Stormy Daniels, prosecutors say. Before Mr. Trump repaid Mr. Cohen, prosecutors say, he orchestrated a scheme to falsify the records.... And they used veterans of Mr. Trump's accounting department against him, calling on the Trump Organization's former controller, Jeffrey McConney, and its accounts payable supervisor, Deborah Tarasoff, to walk jurors through the records.... Mr. McConney also told jurors that much of the money for Mr. Cohen had come from Mr. Trump's personal bank account. The company sent nine of the checks to the White House for Mr. Trump to sign, Mr. McConney explained."
Jesse McKinley & Kate Christobek of the New York Times: "Donald J. Trump's Monday began with a grave warning from Juan M. Merchan, the judge presiding over the former president's criminal trial, threatening to imprison him if he continued to flout a gag order. Justice Merchan said that the fines levied against Mr. Trump -- $10,000 so far -- 'are not serving as a deterrent.' The judge said that 'therefore, going forward, this court will have to consider jail.'" The article includes more takeaways from yesterday's proceedings. Here's CNN's "takeaways" report.
Marie: Criminals seldom make written notes proving their intent to engage in an illegal conspiracy, But that's what happened here. As Andrew Weissmann pointed out on MSNBC, Exhibits 35 & 36 in the 2016 election interference case "are the bank statement showing [Michael] Cohen paid Stormy [Daniels] $130,000 hush money, and the notes by [Jeffrey] McConney (36) and [Allen] Weisselberg (35) calculating the amounts Cohen needs to be reimbursed to make him whole after disguising the reimbursements as legal fee income." Those notes, combined with testimony from McConney & Hope Hicks, make it clear, beyond a reasonable doubt, according to Weissmann, that Trump ordered the records to be falsified. It would be unthinkable for Weisselberg, on his own, to instruct staff to overpay Cohen or for Donald Trump to write checks making overpayments to Cohen (the checks were also entered evidence) and have no idea what the checks were for. ~~~
~~~ Jonathan Alter of the New York Times: "We're awaiting [Michael] Cohen's testimony that Trump knew that he was reimbursing Cohen $35,000 a month for hush money, not for vague legal services, and thus broke the law. But the circumstantial and documentary evidence precorroborating Cohen -- and lessening the impact of his multiple lies -- is now piled as high as Trump Tower."
Yesterday began another week of mandatory court dates for Donald Trump. New York Times reporters were there to tell us all about it. See yesterday's Conversation for details. ~~~
~~~ Links to previous transcripts, via the New York court system, are here.
Judge Aileen Makes Her Move. Alan Feuer of the New York Times: "Reversing one of her own decisions, the federal judge overseeing ... Donald J. Trump's classified documents case granted his request on Monday to postpone the deadline for a crucial court filing in the criminal proceeding, increasing the chance that any trial would be pushed past the November election. The ruling by the judge, Aileen M. Cannon, was made in a bare-bones order that contained no factual or legal reasoning. It did not schedule a new deadline but erased the one she had set almost a month ago ordering Mr. Trump's lawyers to file by Thursday a detailed list of the classified materials that they intend to introduce at the trial.... Judge Cannon's postponement of the filing deadline was merely the latest example of her acceding to Mr. Trump's attempts to delay the classified documents trial."
Yes, Yes, Trump's Friends Seem Like Criminals, Too. David Fahrenthold of the New York Times: "The Conservative Partnership Institute, a nonprofit whose funding skyrocketed after it became a nerve center for... Donald J. Trump's allies in Washington, has paid at least $3.2 million since the start of 2021 to corporations led by its own leaders or their relatives, records show. In its most recent tax filings, the nonprofit's three highest-paid contractors were all connected to insiders.... Donations to the group are tax deductible, like gifts to a food bank or the American Red Cross.... By law, its money must serve the public good rather than private interests. The nonprofit has pushed those limits by entwining itself with only one faction of American politics. It pays high salaries to some of Mr. Trump's former officials, hosts retreats for Republican lawmakers at a rural compound and funds efforts to vet people and ideas for a second Trump term. Legal experts say these insider transactions also raise concerns about self-dealing.... 'There's no checks and balances,' said Michael West, a lawyer at the New York Council of Nonprofits." (Also linked yesterday.)
Ryan Nobles & Rebecca Kaplan of NBC News: "The House Judiciary Committee plans to prepare a resolution to hold Attorney General Merrick Garland in contempt of Congress for refusing to hand over the audio of President Joe Biden's interview with former special counsel Robert Hur, a source familiar with the committee's plans confirmed."
Presidential Race
Jennifer Bendery of the Huffington Post: "In one of his most bizarre interviews in recent memory, Donald Trump insisted abortion is 'not that big of an issue,' claimed Republicans are the 'party of fertilization' and said every legal scholar in the world supported overturning Roe v. Wade." Here's what Trump said about the "party of fertilization." You figure it out: "We want to help the women because they were going to end fertilization, which is where, when the IVF, where women go to the clinics and they get help in having a baby, and that's a good thing, not a bad thing. And we're for it a 100%. They tried to say that they weren't for it. They actually weren't for it and aren't for it as much as us, but women see that." As Bendery points out, "Republicans in Congress have long opposed women's access to IVF."
Lauren Sforza of the Hill: "Former Georgia Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan (R) revealed Monday he would be backing President Biden in November's election and criticized other Republicans who 'fall in line' with former President Trump. In an op-ed published in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Monday, Duncan wrote it is 'disappointing to watch an increasing number of Republicans fall in line behind' Trump. He said that he is left with no choice but to support Biden instead of the presumptive Republican nominee, whom he described as 'a man who has disqualified himself through his conduct and his character.... But the GOP will never rebuild until we move on from the Trump era, leaving conservative (but not angry) Republicans like me no choice but to pull the lever for Biden. At the same time, we should work to elect GOP congressional majorities to block his second-term legislative agenda and provide a check and balance,' Duncan wrote." The New York Times story is here.
Aaron Rupar, via digby, regurgitated some May 6, 2020, reports on Trump's reactions to the coronavirus crisis.
The New York Times' live updates of developments Tuesday on U.S. university campus protests are here.
David Bauder of the AP: "The New York Times and The Washington Post were awarded three Pulitzer Prizes apiece on Monday for work in 2023 that dealt with everything from the war in Gaza to gun violence, and The Associated Press won in the feature photography category for coverage of global migration to the U.S. Hamas' Oct. 7 attack on Israel and the aftermath produced work that resulted in two Pulitzers and a special citation. The Times won for text coverage that the Pulitzer board described as 'wide-ranging and revelatory,' while the Reuters news service won for its photography. The citation went to journalists and other writers covering the war in Gaza. The prestigious public service award went to ProPublica for reporting that 'pierced the thick wall of secrecy' around the U.S. Supreme Court to show how billionaires gave expensive gifts to justices and paid for luxury travel. Reporters Joshua Kaplan, Justin Elliott, Brett Murphy, Alex Mierjeski and Kirsten Berg were honored for their work." ~~~
~~~ Here's a full list of winners, via Axios.
~~~~~~~~~~
South Dakota. That Time I Shot My Puppy in the DMZ & Showed Up Li'l Kim While Brushing Off Macron. Or Something. Aaron Blake of the Washington Post: South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem's (R) "game attempt to proceed with a media tour promoting her book despite alleged inaccuracies and a story about killing her dog is a testament to the thoroughly Trumpian impulse to just push on through -- while avoiding facts.... Not only has Noem faced bipartisan backlash for her story about her young dog Cricket, but other anecdotes in the book have also been called into question in recent days. There's the meeting with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un that seems unlikely to have happened. And there is the meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron she says she canceled, and the threatening conversation with former United Nations ambassador Nikki Haley she says she recalled. (Representatives for Macron and Haley have rejected her accounts.) Through it all, Noem and her office have offered shifting accounts and, especially on the Kim story, proven bizarrely evasive." ~~~
~~~ Michael Schaffer of Politico Magazine: "Kristi Noem's story about killing her dog made headlines across America. But it wasn't news to people who worked on her first book, where the tale made it into a draft of the memoir before the publishing team nixed it. Then, as now, Noem wanted the story in because it showed a decisive person who was unwilling to be bound by namby-pamby niceties, while others on the team -- which included agents, editors and publicists at Hachette Book Group's prestige Twelve imprint, and a ghostwriter -- saw it as a bad-taste anecdote that would hurt her brand. The tale was ultimately cut, according to two people involved with the project. In other words, they produced a typical pre-campaign book, where the first rule is to do no harm." ~~~
~~~ Marie: IOW, even when normal people warned her that shooting your dog is not something to boast about, Gov. Kristi didn't get it. (OR, she thought Donald Trump would love it, and she could be right about that.)
~~~~~~~~~~
Israel/Palestine, et al.
The Washington Post's live updates of developments Tuesday in the Israel/Hamas war are here: "The Israel Defense Forces said Tuesday that it had taken 'operational control' of the Gazan side of the Rafah crossing with Egypt. Wael Abu Omar, a Gaza border official, said travel and the flow of aid into the Strip 'stopped completely' as a result. Hamas said it agreed to a Qatari-Egyptian cease-fire proposal and Israel said it would send meditators to negotiate, renewing hopes for a pause in fighting even as Israel vowed to press on with its military operation in Rafah.... The IDF said Tuesday that it struck more than 50 targets in Rafah. A day earlier, the Israeli military ordered about 100,000 civilians in parts of Rafah to evacuate. The IDF described it as 'preparation for ground operations in the area.'" ~~~
~~~ The New York Times' live updates Tuesday are here. CNN's live updates are here.
From the Washington Post's live updates of developments Monday in the Israel/Hamas war: "Hamas informed Arab mediators that it would approve a Qatari-Egyptian cease-fire proposal, Ismail Haniyeh, the head of Hamas's political bureau, said in a statement Monday. While there has been no formal response from Israel, Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, an Israel Defense Forces spokesman, said in a briefing later Monday: 'We are considering any response and any answer in the most serious way and are pursuing every possibility for negotiations to return the hostages as quickly as possible.' He added that 'in parallel, we are continuing to maneuver in the Gaza Strip.'" (Also linked yesterday.)
Russia/Ukraine
Anton Troianovski of the New York Times: "Russia said on Monday that it would hold military exercises with troops based near Ukraine to practice for the possible use of battlefield nuclear weapons, a provocative warning aimed at discouraging the West from deepening its support for Ukraine. These weapons, often referred to as 'tactical,' are designed for battlefield use and have smaller warheads than the 'strategic' nuclear weapons meant to target cities. Russia's Defense Ministry said that President Vladimir V. Putin had ordered an exercise for missile, aviation and naval personnel to 'increase the readiness of nonstrategic nuclear forces to carry out combat missions.' The announcement of the exercise was Russia's most explicit warning in its more than two-year invasion of Ukraine that it could use tactical nuclear weapons there." A Reuters story is here.
John Ismay & Eric Schmitt of the New York Times: "A U.S. Army soldier has been detained by Russian authorities in the port city Vladivostok on charges of criminal misconduct, the State and Defense Departments said on Monday, adding what is likely to be another complication in the contentious relationship between Moscow and Washington. A military official identified the soldier as Staff Sgt. Gordon Black, 34, and said he was in the process of returning home to Fort Cavazos in Texas after being stationed in South Korea. He was apprehended on May 2, and Russia notified the State Department of the soldier's 'criminal detention' in accordance with international agreements between the two nations." ~~~
~~~ Courtney Kube & Moshen Gains of NBC News: "[Black] had finished his deployment and was heading back to the U.S. when he made a side trip to Vladivostok, Russia, to visit a woman he was romantically involved with, officials said. They added that he had traveled there without permission from his superiors and that he is being held in pretrial confinement. The soldier is accused of stealing from a woman, the officials said. It was not immediately clear whether it was the same woman he was visiting."
Robyn Dixon of the Washington Post: "In the gilded Andreyevsky Hall of the Grand Kremlin Palace where Russian czars were once crowned, Vladimir Putin on Tuesday swore the oath of allegiance on Russia's constitution at his inauguration for a fifth term as president. The traditional pomp and ceremony conveyed his might as Russia's supreme, uncontested leader for the past quarter-century. Bristling with optimism abut his ongoing war against Ukraine, Putin declared he would place Russia's security above all else and promised that the country would be victorious. A 30-gun salute followed his remarks."
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Reader Comments (25)
It’s not only Trump’s friends who seem like (are) criminals…
The same can be said for one of his judges (guess who).
When asked for specific judicial reasons for delaying a case that should already have been decided by perhaps a year or more, Judge* Cannon replied “Because I said so”.
Oh. Okay. Well I’m sure that’s reason enough for Fatty’s other criminal pals on the Supreme Court.
He’s always whining that he’s held to a different judicial standard than regular people. Boy, is he ever.
Anne Applebaum
"THE NEW PROPAGANDA WAR
Autocrats in China, Russia, and elsewhere are now making common cause with MAGA Republicans to discredit liberalism and freedom around the world.
autocratic regimes have slowly turned their repressive mechanisms outward, into the democratic world. If people are naturally drawn to the image of human rights, to the language of democracy, to the dream of freedom, then those concepts have to be poisoned. That requires more than surveillance, more than close observation of the population, more than a political system that defends against liberal ideas. It also requires an offensive plan: a narrative that damages both the idea of democracy everywhere in the world and the tools to deliver it."
Republicans and the Chinese Communist Party have a lot in common. This sounds like it could come directly from a Republican Party memo.
"In 2013, as Chinese President Xi Jinping was beginning his rise to power, an internal Chinese memo, known enigmatically as Document No. 9—or, more formally, as the Communiqué on the Current State of the Ideological Sphere—listed “seven perils” faced by the Chinese Communist Party. “Western constitutional democracy” led the list, followed by “universal human rights,” “media independence,” “judicial independence,” and “civic participation.”"
Gnome shoots for NRA top job.
Hey! There’s a surprise. After shooting her puppy AND her goat (because he smelled like a goat—who knew?), Kristi Noem, just like another Party of Traitors superstar, Sarah Palin, is ready to quit her job as gubernator of South Dakota and go “work” (wink-wink) for the NRA as it’s CEO.
Of course, the NRA has been reduced to a snarling shit show by current Grifter in Chief, Wayne-O LaPierre.
“South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem (R) pitched herself for a top NRA job as early as last fall, two sources told Axios.
Why it matters: Noem offered to step down early as governor for the role, according to a person familiar with her conversation with former NRA CEO Wayne LaPierre.”
This makes sense because as Grifter in Chief of South Dakota (when does she have time to do any gubernator stuff? She’s always showing up at Fatty rallies and CPAC treason hootenannies, and going on Fox to say stupid shit.) she has to occasionally show up for work. Besides, hmmm let’s see: SD gubernator salary (after she gave herself a raise), $130,000. NRA Grifter in Chief salary: $980,000. Plus, private jets, $3,000 bathing suits, and all the puppies you can shoot, and scads of free gun stuff.
But wait…
“A spokesperson for Noem ‘unequivocally’ denied that the governor had a conversation with LaPierre.
‘She loves her job as Governor of South Dakota,’ Ian Fury told Axios.”
And Goobernor Gnome never lies. Just ask Kim Jong Un, Emmanuel Macron and all those kings and queens she has secret meetings with. Wait…is that some other R liar? They all blend together after a while. Hey, if Kristi wasn’t telling the truth about something, like say…if she said she was a great American and a good pet owner, would that be a mis-gnomer? Just askin’.
Guess we know now something we've long suspected.
It really is OK with Judge Aileen if a pretend POTUS steals public property.
She just too timid to say it aloud, or for that matter, to write it down.
Black Robes=A Black Box.
Donaldavich Trumpskyev, when informed that paramour and string-puller Vladimir Putin, had just sworn an oath of allegiance to the Russian constitution, remarked “Hey! Just like me! Wait…did you say ‘Oath’? I thought I swore an Oat to the Constitution. You’re saying that was supposed to mean something? Like, it was serious? Fuck me. No one said anything about it being serious.”
As the GQP remakes itself to closely mimic the Dear Leader, it’s clear, as in the state of Michigan, that the party is now a Trumpian cluster fuck all the way up and down.
Intra-party squabbles between old(er) school Republicans and bug-eyed, incompetent Trump traitors who don’t know Roberts Rules from “Mein Kampf” have become the order of the day.
“The problem, in short, is that the MAGA activists in charge are eating each other alive. States in which old-guard ‘establishment’ Republicans were run off—seemingly paving the way for unified efforts on behalf of Trump—are instead beset by resignations, lawsuits, and financial crises. Conflicts are ongoing in Nevada, Idaho, Arizona, and Georgia as well as Michigan, and are tearing apart smaller chapters at even more local levels.
It’s a perplexing state of affairs given that these Republicans are so united behind their presumptive nominee. But as I learned in Grand Rapids, Donald Trump’s wishes are sometimes beside the point to the people who followed him into the party. Their loyalties are to causes bigger—and stranger—than electing one person to the presidency.”
The Party has re-formed itself to resemble most Trump operations: croaked and weird, with the addition of Extra Stupid.
This is what we have to look forward to everywhere Fatty’s influence takes hold.
The Pots, the Kettles, and the Stoopid
Fatty’s criticism of Republican senator Jon Tester, whom he considers insufficiently loyal, as “fat” is stupid on several levels…
“Former president Donald Trump mocked Sen. Jon Tester’s weight at a fundraiser Saturday night in Palm Beach, Fla., comparing his appearance to that of a pregnant woman, according to a recording of the event obtained by The Washington Post.”
First, for the most overweight tub of blubber ex-president since William Howard Taft to call anyone fat is a hall of fame knee slapper.
Second, pregnant women are not fat. They’re pregnant. “Pregnant” doesn’t equal “fat”. Certainly not in the way “Trump” equals “moron”. One would think the guy who claims he heads up the Fertilizer Party, or whatever the hell he’s calling it now, would have some idea of what pregnancy is all about. Clearly not.
The whole thing is reminiscent of that time congressional beached whale, 300 lb. Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner (R-Natch), tried to make fun of an incredibly fit and healthy Michelle Obama for having a “big butt”.
The Stoopid is strong with these idiots.
AK, you said, "The Party has re-formed itself to resemble most Trump operations: croaked and weird, with the addition of Extra Stupid."
To your excellent description of Grifters Bathed in the Blood of the Lamb I would add, in all caps, unaccountable to anyone. The problem they face now that they have gathered a majority of the dim is that each of them is a control freak who feels he or she has the right to redefine the law when doing so suits Christian keeners or campaign contributors.
RAS,
That Document 9 thingie certainly sounds exactly like what you’d hear read aloud at CPAC by Trump loving authoritarians, to delirious applause.
Seems more than a little bit like “Plan 9 From Outer Space” which depicted zombies, raised from the dead by aliens, stalking humans. Look! I think I’m being followed by a thing that looks like Steve Bannon!
Wait, wait! Trump showed up for "dinner" in Hugh Hefner-style PJs??? But I'm sure his intentions were pure as the driven snow.
PJs? Oh Jesus! Did he look like this?
@Akhilleus: Ha ha! That photo has to memorialize another occasion where Trump had "dinner" with a young lady. According to Daniels, Trump's PJs were "silk or satin." Of course that doesn't mean they weren't printed with rubber duckies.
I have really fallen down on the job today-- I was late getting to my oatmeal and then I decided to eat outside on the porch, away from the patio, beset as it is with the hideous sounds of some outfit deleting a 200-year-old tree from a yard, as it happens in this hybrid old/newer neighborhood. I had no idea that Stormy herself was now in the palace of "justice" and that I could have found out all the sexy details of the creep ambushing her in his bedrooms undressed, after he directed her to use THAT bathroom during their "meeting." Old Spice, huh? I doubt if it actually covers up the general reek of that guy. But I am so bummed not to have been sitting breathless in front of the teevee, instead starting a new novel on the front porch. Thanks for the synopses. I still doubt if he will get jailed, or convicted, not with the corrupt high court, and especially with the simpering judge in Florida. Maybe he needs to reward HER with his "boxers" in a hotel room...Excuse me as I go throw up a little...
Well, well, well. Which lies shall I stick to today?
The “I wrote every word in all those books” lie, or should I use the “Ghostwriters made up shit about me!” lie?
When your life is a skein of lies, eventually they all come together in a fast moving torrent. Which lie do I cling to today?
It gets to be like that Twilight Zone episode where two aliens looking for the smartest human to kidnap and bring back to their home world for study, meet a guy at a gas station who makes all sorts of outrageous claims about his personal brilliance. Having no concept of falsehoods in their culture, they believe every word (kinda like MAGAts—hey! Maybe they’re aliens too!) and decide to scoop him up and flying-saucer his lying ass off into space.
Aliens coming to drag off the Very Stable Genius is too much to hope for. We’ll have to take momentary pleasure in watching that lying prick squirm trying to decide which lie to tell today.
“Now Donald…did Stormy spank your fat ass with a copy of Playboy or the latest Forbes? Don’t lie! Honeybunch.”
Just a side note. I understand Judge Merchan wanted to ratchet down any possible salaciousness, but you just know Daniels was in schadenfreude nirvana relating as many embarrassing details as she could while the asshole who has spent years insulting and defaming her had to sit there, shut up, and take it, with steam coming out his ears.
Heh-heh.
Speaking of books and lying authors…
NewsAss host Eric Bolling, interviewing Kim Jong Un buddy and puppy killer, Kristi Noem, tried throwing her a lifeline by suggesting that stories about doggiecide were inserted in her (otherwise wonderful) book by some evil lib’rul editor who wanted to sully her MAGA wonderfulness.
Bolling was probably tipped off by the sudden appearance of multisyllabic words.
@Akhilleus: NYT reporters are claiming they can't imagine the point of Daniels' testimony. But, like you, I think it's obvious. Daniels is telling the story that Trump didn't want released to the public before the 2016 election. Apparently the judge was all upset about it, and some of the jurors looked away from Daniels. (They reportedly never look at Trump.)
Too bad, Donald, it took almost two decades, but this one little "indiscretion" finally caught up with you in a creepy NYC courtroom.
Too late. Aliens beamed-up DiJiT decades ago, and subbed a decaying pod person. But, they didn't think he was intelligent life ... they thought he was a fungal colony with ambient capacity.
MSNBC keeps inviting Robert Ray, Trump impeachment attorney and Ken Starr protege, on to discuss the Trump election fraud case is so frustrating to listen to. The fact that the networks reuse all these pieces of shit to give biased legal analysis is embarrassing.
“…the judge, in a rarity, admonishes the prosecutors, specifically Susan Hoffinger, saying that the level of detail they’re eliciting from Stormy Daniels is unnecessary.”
What? You mean the jurors didn’t get to hear about Mr. Mushroom Head?
(Tee-hee…)
If nothing else, the amount and level of detail, and the corroboration easily available make Trump’s hilarious assertions that none of this happened, that he never met Daniels, never had sex with her, never paid her off, never even heard of her appear obvious as the flimsy lies they are. It’s really his demand that he be seen as totally blameless and without fault that helps to kill his case.
He could have said “Yeah, I met her, I had dinner with her, but we never danced the prone polka” and maybe retained some reasonable doubt. But asserting that he never met her at all when there are dozens of pictures of them together at different times and places makes it impossible to give him the benefit of the doubt. But I dunno. He’s slithered out of plenty of tight spots before. He might do it again.
Maybe if the jury had met Mr. Mushroom Head…?
Besides everything else that's wrong with Trump, I am certain he has a serious health issue. That is the only reason I can think of that a person would fall asleep while he was sitting across from a porn star who was testifying against him in open court.
Marie,
Yeah, it’s gotta be more than just staying up late ranting on his broke-ass anti-social media thingie. The only exercise he gets is cheating at golf and scowling at people in court.
His diet has been horrible for decades. His stress level must be off the charts. I recently read an article about the deleterious effect anger has on blood pressure, heart health, and general well being. Fatty has been a stress-anger monster for years.
Likely, it’s his cushy lifestyle that has kept him above ground. He doesn’t have to do pretty much any of the things that impact normal people, cooking, cleaning, running errands…he has sycophantic lackeys to do all of that.
He also has a full time person who follows him around all day with a wireless printer, spitting out a constant stream of ass kissing, MAGA pieces culled from white supremacist, authoritarian sites to bolster his tracing paper thin ego and his generally cowardly personality. Even with all of those comforts, his system must be ready to crash.
Can’t happen too soon for me.
Fucker.
Just heard a piece on NPR about how the prosecution overreached and pissed off the judge with all the sleazy revelations today.
Fuck this. The sole—SOLE—source of sleazy, salacious, scumminess in this trial is Donald J. Fucking Trump.
The media and the judge are unhappy? Too over the top? Not polite enough?
Consider the source. It’s like complaining that World Wrestling Federation matches aren’t honest. Of COURSE they’re not! It’s a fucking scam. Testimony about Donald Trump lacks decorum? No kidding. Does fecal matter stink? Yes. It’s shit. You were expecting Chanel No. 5?
It’s Trump. Of COURSE it’s disgusting.
I can't wait to read today's transcript. It should be a real bodice-ripper...
Afternoon testimony is over. Fatty’s mouthpiece, it seems, tried to belittle Daniels, but Stormy sounds like a pretty tough broad. Just what Trump hates. A woman who will stand up to him and not buckle under his attacks.
The mushroom gets smaller by the minute.
Always be grifting