Here’s how conspiracy theories start. Fox News airs a segment saying that liberals have launched a war on Thanksgiving and they want to change the name. So Trump, of course, brings it up in a campaign rally shortly after he watches the segment, and he makes a really big deal about it. The next day, on Fox & Friends, they ponder over where on earth Trump could’ve come up with the idea that there’s a war on Thanksgiving. Maybe, they say, it’s because there was a rumor that Obama wanted to change it back in 2015 or so? So not only did the Fox network manage to distance itself from being the source of the rumor, but then they manage to tie it to Obama! And now, a good chunk of Trump’s base thinks that there’s a war on Thanksgiving. Yikes.

Here’s what happened in politics for the week ending December 1…

Shootings This Week:

There were NINE mass shootings in the U.S. this week (defined as killing and/or injuring 4 or more people). Shooters kill 8 people and injure 41 more.

1. In Brownsville, FL, two shooters kill 2 people and injure 2 more in a drive-by shooting.
2. In the Bronx, a shooter fires into a crowd in the middle of the day and injures 5 people (including 2 children).
3. In Amarillo, TX, a shooter injures 7 people at the Hogg Penn nightclub.
4. In Hensley, AR, a shooter injures 5 people, leading to a 7-hour standoff.
5. In New Orleans, LA, a shooter injures 10 people near the French Quarter after the Bayou Classic football game.
6. Hours later, again in New Orleans, a shooter kills 2 people and injures 2 more in the 7th Ward.
7. In Aurora, IL, a shooter kills 1 person and injures 5 more. The young man who died survived a previous gunshot wound when he was just 3 years old.
8. In Cotton Valley, LA, a shooter kills 2 people and injures 3 more at The Vibe nightclub.
9. In Kalamazoo, MI, a shooter holds a family hostage and then kills 1 and injures 3. The injured were all police officers responding at the scene, so I’m not sure if that qualifies as a mass shooting?

Russia:

1. A federal court rules that top presidential advisers cannot ignore congressional subpoenas. This is for Don McGahn’s case where he was subpoenaed to appear before the House, but Trump claimed executive privilege. The court rules that he must testify and that “no one is above the law.” This could affect White House officials who’ve so far refused to cooperate with the impeachment hearings, but it’s also likely to get appealed.

• • The DOJ then asks a federal court to temporarily suspend the ruling through the appeals process.

2. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy releases an ad praising Trump. The ad includes stock Russian footage. McCarthy is infamous for saying that there are two people he knows get paid by the Russians—Trump and former Representative Dana Rohrabacher (D-CA). (And since Lev Parnas‘s indictment, we know McCarthy also got paid by the Russians.)
3. Ohio Secretary of State Frank laRose announces that Ohio elections systems were the target of a cyberattack earlier this month. The attack was tracked back to a Russian-owned firm, and seemed to be looking for soft targets.

Legal Fallout:

1. The Supreme Court grants an emergency stay on a lower court ruling that said Trump’s accounting firm had to share the financial records requested by Congress. This signals that they will hear the case, and could delay the release, if any, of Trump’s tax returns until mid-January.
2. As part of the New York District Attorney’s investigation into the hush money payments to Trump’s mistresses, David Pecker, head of America Media Inc., has been meeting with prosecutors. Michael Cohen is also cooperating with the investigation.
3. Documents regarding Trump Tower in New York show that Trump inflated numbers to make the property look better to lenders, and deflated numbers to make it look worse for tax purposes.
4. People who work for Representative Duncan Hunter (R-CA) testify that his wife was in charge of the finances, and that Duncan was unaware of any misspending of campaign funds. It’s notable that Hunter won re-election in 2018 despite being indicted on 60 counts.

Impeachment:

Including all this info just makes this too long, so I moved it out into its own post. You can skip right over to it if that’s your focus.

Courts/Justice:

1. Legal cases around Trump’s finances and his disputes with Congress appear to be headed to the Supreme Court, which will clearly test the court’s neutrality. This court wants to appear nonpartisan.

• • The court will hear arguments on December 13 to determine whether to add Trump’s request to block the release of his financial documents to their docket.
  • The court already placed a temporary hold on a court ruling that the House Oversight and Reform Committee has the authority to see Trump’s financial documents.
  • The case over whether Don McGahn can testify to Congress is also likely to make it to the Supreme Court.

Healthcare:

1. Pennsylvania legislators are pushing a poorly-written bill that would force healthcare providers to arrange for burials or cremations of fetal remains. You’d think this would only apply to abortions, but the way it’s written, it also includes fertilized eggs that fail to attach to the uterus and are flushed from the system. Which is about 50% of fertilized eggs. I’m not sure how they’ll enforce that one. Looks like they’re trying to top Ohio for having the least scientific understanding of the birds and the bees.
2. Purdue Pharma asks a Canadian court to put a temporary hold on all court cases against them in Canada while they settle all the cases against them in the U.S. A U.S. bankruptcy judge already granted them a temporary reprieve from cases in the U.S.
3. Trump is working to reverse some of Obama’s regulations on nursing homes. The regulations were put in place to safeguard elderly and dementia patients from abuse and from being over-medicated. The administration says that reversing the rules will save nursing homes around $600 million per year, but the new rules don’t require them to put that money toward improving care.
4. The overall life expectancy in the U.S. has declined for three consecutive years. Death rates for young and middle-aged adults have been rising for a decade from causes like suicide, drug overdoses, liver disease, and more.

• • The highest jump in death rates from 2010 to 2017 was for people age 25 to 34. Their death rate increased by 29%.

• • Along with the causes listed above, obesity is another big cause. Obesity in childhood brings a plethora of health problems as we get older. 40% of Americans are obese. 71.6% are overweight. 20% of American kids are obese.

International:

1. Trump surprises troops in Afghanistan with a Thanksgiving visit. He also announces that he’s resumed peace talks with the Taliban.
2. The Trump administration takes steps to substantially reduce U.S. contributions to NATO. Trumps wants to reduce our share to 15% from 22%. Compare that to Germany, which pays 14.8% despite having a much smaller economy than the U.S. Trump will meet with NATO leaders at the summit at the beginning of December.
3. A terrorist attack in London leaves two people dead and several others injured. The attacker uses a knife, and is shot by police. Two bystanders fight the attacker using a fire extinguisher and a nearby narwhal tusk.
4. Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi announces he’ll tender his resignation the day after 40 Iraqi protestors are killed in an attack against the Iranian consulate there. Mahdi was reportedly handpicked by Iran for his position, and the protestors are fighting against Iran’s influences in Iraq’s government.
5. The Iranian government continues their brutal crackdown on protestors. At least 180 people have been killed after protests rose up against a dramatic increase in gas and oil prices. Some estimate the death toll is as high as 450. At least 2,000 people are wounded and 7,000 detained. This is the worst unrest there since the Islamic Revolution in 1979. The government partially restores internet access, and information is finally coming out of the country about what’s going on.
6. Trump signs a bill that authorizes sanctions against Chinese and Hong Kong officials responsible for human rights violations during the pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong. He also signs a bill banning the sales of tear gas and rubber bullets to the Hong Kong police.
7. Fresh protests break out in Hong Kong after pro-democracy candidates swept local elections. People marched in front of the U.S. consulate there to show gratitude for the U.S. passing the bills supporting their rights.
8. In France, protests break out on Black Friday against Amazon. Activists protest the consumerism represented by Amazon and its cost to the environment.
9. Trump says he’ll designate Mexican drug cartels as terrorists.
10. The White House releases $105 million in military aid to Lebanon, which had been held up over a dispute between members of the National Security Council. Some thought the aid would help Iran-backed members of government. Protests in Lebanon, started over tax reform, have been ongoing since mid-October.

Legislation/Congress:

1. Trump signs a bipartisan bill making animal cruelty a federal felony. The bill bans intentional crushing, burning, drowning, suffocating, impalement or other serious harm to animals, birds, reptiles, and amphibians. The law also bans animal cruelty videos and pictures.

Border Wall/Shutdown/National Emergency:

1. Homeland Security endorses We Build The Wall, the group founded by veteran Brian Kolfage to privately build a wall at the southern border. Kolfage is on a mission to save Texas from “illegals.” He says the butterfly “freaks” at the National Butterfly Center are standing in his way, and even accuses them of being part of an international butterfly smuggling ring.

• • Trump signed legislation earlier this year to exempt the refuge from any border wall plans.

2. Trump puts Jared Kushner in charge of building the border wall. Kushner, in turn, is trying to expedite the process of confiscating private property to get it done.

Family Separation:

1. The Department of Homeland Security’s inspector general releases a report that finds the DHS didn’t have the technology or necessary systems in place to allow them to track the children they separated from their parents at the southern border.

• • Immigration officials knew they couldn’t track them and yet still went forward with their plans to separate more than 26,000 children.
  • They knew this as early as November 2017.
  • The report also calls the “zero tolerance” policy that led to the separation ineffective. Thousands of detainees were still released into the U.S.

Travel Ban/Immigration/Discrimination:

1. A review of government websites and archives shows that in the years under Trump, they’ve removed anti-discrimination information along with data and resources for the LGBTQ community.

• • The changes are scattershot over about 57% of agencies, showing a lack of coherent policy.
  • Crucial information for LGBTQ and HIV-positive people was removed from pages for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity, and the Department of Health and Human Services.
  • The changes don’t reflect actual policy, which Trump has had trouble changing.

2. Trump signs an executive order creating a White House task force to address the issue of missing and murdered Indigenous women (MMIW). This comes right as Senator Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) introduces the Republican version of the Violence Against Women Act, which would roll back the 2013 provisions that made it easier for Native law enforcement officers to bring non-Native abusers to justice. Ernst’s version would give those non-Native abusers a way out.

• • Native American women face the highest rate of violence of any other group in the U.S., and 97% of that violence is at the hands of a non-Native person.

3. Alaska state officials have been denying same-sex couple certain marriage benefits even though their ban on same-sex marriage was overturned in 2014.
4. Over the past few months, the DHS has arrested 90 additional students who signed up for the fake university they set up in Detroit. That brings the total arrested to about 250, mostly immigrants from India. The students arrived legally with student visas, but because the university was a fake one created by federal agents, they lost their immigration status.

• • This is just another example of ICE’s egregious tactics being used under all administrations. This sting operation started in 2016, preying upon people who thought they were taking legitimate steps to be in the U.S.

5. This one got past me earlier this year: In 2016, parents of female students at a charter school had to sue to allow their girls to wear pants. The school had a dress code of skirts for girls. IN FREAKING 2016!

• • This spring, the parents won their suit, and now the girls can wear pants or shorts, and they can run around the playground just as freely as the boys without being hindered by obsolete dress codes.

• • The final ruling on the case this week finds that the dress code violates Equal Protection, and permanently blocks the school from establishing or enforcing a similar provision.
  • PS: I thought this was settled decades ago.

6. Private prison company GEO Group could face financial issues after all of the known banks providing loans to the company agree to divest and end ties with GEO. Some of those banks have also committed to not funding the private prison industry altogether, with most cutting ties with CoreCivic as well
7. Trump orders national parks to deploy some of their park rangers to the southern border to patrol for illegal border crossings. This is a way of getting around congressional funding for his efforts there. But this leaves park visitors without the resources they rely on and puts them at more risk. National parks are already underfunded and short-staffed.
8. The House Oversight and Reform Committee brings a lawsuit against Attorney General William Barr and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross to enforce the subpoenas they filed earlier to get information about the decision to add a citizenship question to the census.

Climate:

1. Exxon Mobile knew as long ago as 1982 that atmospheric CO2 is a major cause of global warming. At that time, they even predicted accurately that atmospheric CO2 would reach 415 parts per million, causing the global temperature to rise about 0.9 degrees Celsius by 2019. CO2 levels reach 415 ppm in May, and the temperature rise crossed 0.9 degrees Celsius this year as well.
2. Climate scientists warn that we might be reaching a tipping point on climate change, meaning that some impacts of global warming will become unstoppable. They also warn of a cascade of tipping points. Some of these potentially irreversible events include:

• • Ice melting in the east and west Antarctic ice sheets, the Greenland ice sheet, and Arctic sea ice
  • Thawing of the permafrost
  • Loss of rainforests
  • Death of coral reefs
  • Changes in the flow of the gulf stream

3. A new UN report on climate change says temperatures could rise by as much as 3.9 degrees Celsius by the end of the century. We’ve already warmed by nearly 1 degree, and the process will speed up because of the cascade of tipping points above.
4. During the Yale Bowl, hundreds of Yale and Harvard students and alumni storm the field to demand the schools divest from fossil fuels, private prisons, and Puerto Rican debt. The protest delays the start of the second half of the game.

Budget/Economy:

1. An analysis of bailout payments made to farmers finds that 10% of recipients received 50% of the money. The payments, of course, went mostly to larger and more wealthy farms.

Elections:

1. Texas Republicans accidentally email Democrats their blueprint for winning in 2020 and their plans for dealing with Trump’s polarizing nature. This gave away their negative ad strategy for 12 target districts and their timeline for rolling out websites that will bash their Democratic opponents.

• • PSA: Reading about their tactics (some of which I’m sure Democrats employ as well) makes me sad about how low the parties stoop to win, and even sadder by how the American public plays right into their hands, not just by letting it happen but by making those ploys succeed.

Miscellaneous:

1. Rick Perry says that Trump was chosen by God to lead this country. To be fair, Perry also thinks Obama was ordained by God for the presidency. Seriously people. Take responsibility for your vote. That’s how presidencies are decided.
2. Even before the departure of Richard Spencer from the DOD, high-ranking Pentagon officials felt Trump had a disregard for the chain of command in the military, and feared that the administration would continue to side with Fox News pundits over experienced military professionals on issues of national security.
3. The RNC denies they made a bulk purchase of Donald Trump Jr.’s new book, Triggered, but FEC records show they spent nearly $100,000 to purchase copies of the book a week before it was released.

• • Other conservative groups also made bulk purchases to help his book debut at #1 on the New York Times best seller list. At least nine conservative groups are helping with the sales of his book.
  • And just to keep it classy, Trump Jr. created a website, Trigger A Lib, where you can purchase copies of the books to send to people like Adam Schiff, Nancy Pelosi, Hillary Clinton, and so on.

Trump calls in to Fox & Friends and talks to them for 53 minutes straight, with no commercial breaks. Trump expresses so many lies on the show that even Fox & Friends hosts push back on some of what he says. He accuses witness David Holmes of lying (though Sondland corroborated Holmes’ story), he repeats his theory that Ukraine interfered in the 2016 elections (debunked by our intelligence community and State Department), and he says the whistleblower complaint was wrong (though Trump himself and the transcript he released corroborated most of the complaint). He accuses the Obama administration of spying on his campaign in 2016, though the IG report that’s about to come out reportedly disputes that. When Trump says he knows who the whistleblower is—and implies that the F&F hosts do, too—they try to steer him away from the topic.

Here’s what happened in politics for the week ending November 24…

Shootings This Week:

1. There were NINE mass shootings in the U.S. this week (defined as killing and/or injuring 4 or more people). Short version: shooters kill 5 people and injure 39 more.

Russia:

1. Paul Erickson, the former boyfriend of Russian agent Maria Butina, pleads guilty to money laundering and wire fraud.
2. The day after White House advisor Fiona Hill testifies that the conspiracy theory that Ukraine meddled in our 2016 elections is a “fictional narrative” that helps Russia, Trump promotes said theory on Fox & Friends. Trump says Ukraine did it to frame the Russians. All our intelligence agencies, as well as Trump’s own advisors, agree that Russia meddled in our elections and Ukraine did not. Even Republican Representatives in the impeachment hearings this week say that they know Russia interfered with our elections, and their own investigation bore that out.
3. Also, their CrowdStrike theory is way off the mark. Here’s what Trump said:

• • “They gave the server to CrowdStrike, which is a company owned by a very wealthy Ukrainian… I still want to see that server. The FBI has never gotten that server. That’s a big part of this whole thing.”

4. Here’s the truth (it’s easy to look it up): 


• • CrowdStrike was founded by two Americans and a Russian-born U.S. citizen. One American and the Russian-born U.S. citizen now own it.
  • The Kremlin-backed conspiracy theories about Ukraine have worked out to Russia’s advantage—they deflect the blame away from Russia.
  • By making this a partisan issue in the U.S., Russia has put U.S. support for Ukraine into question.

5. U.S. intelligence just briefed Senators and their aides on Russia’s efforts to reframe the narrative by blaming Ukraine for meddling in the elections. This is a smoke screen to shift the attention away from Russia. This has been going on for years.
6. Despite this, Republicans in the impeachment hearings continue to push this conspiracy theory. They do, however, change their tune about it after Fiona Hill testifies to the intelligence committee.
7. Russia’s strategy is to throw so much confusion into the mix that people don’t know what to believe. They want people to think it’s impossible to figure out who’s behind the misconduct.
8. According to intelligence officials, Russia used Oleg Deripaska to help spread the misinformation. You might remember him as the guy Mitch McConnell just did a big deal with to bring jobs to Kentucky.
9. A draft version of the DOJ inspector general’s report on the FISA warrant to surveil Trump campaign adviser Carter Page shows the IG didn’t find the anti-Trump bias he was looking for at the FBI. Here are some highlights:

• • There were errors and omissions in some of the documents.
  • A low-level employee altered an email to get a renewal of the warrant by adding factual information to the bottom of a thread. The IG didn’t feel that the changes impacted the validity of the application.
  • The FBI had enough evidence to open the Russia investigation.
  • Joseph Mifsud (who told George Papadopoulos he had dirt on Hillary) was not an FBI informant.
  • None of the evidence used to get the FISA warrant came from the CIA or, more importantly, from the Steele dossier.

Legal Fallout:

1. The Supreme Court puts a lower court ruling on hold that would’ve allowed the House to obtain Trump’s financial records. Until they rule on the case, Trump’s accounting firm doesn’t have to release the records.
2. Trump says he’ll release his “financial statement” (whatever that means) before the 2020 elections.
3. We all know there’s been a longstanding practice of appointing big political donors to ambassador posts, but I’m not sure it’s usually this straightforward. As billionaire Doug Manchester was waiting Senate confirmation for his post in the Bahamas, the RNC asked him to donate half a million dollars. Manchester forwarded the message to two Senate staffers indicating he’d be willing to donate more once confirmed.

• • Manchester later withdrew his nomination.

4. The two jail guards who were supposed to check on Jeffrey Epstein the night he committed suicide are charged with falsifying records and conspiring to defraud the U.S.

• • That night they were both browsing the web and spent about two hours sleeping. They were both working overtime shifts.

• • Security cameras show they never checked on Epstein.

5. American Oversight obtains emails under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) that show that Nikki Haley used an unsecured system to send classified information because she forgot her password. I only mention this because of the hypocrisy. I doubt anyone got their hands on the info who shouldn’t have.

Impeachment:

Including all this info just makes this too long, so I moved it out into its own post. You can skip right over to it if that’s your focus.

Healthcare:

1. Two Republican legislators in Ohio introduce a bill that would completely ban all abortions in the state. This is the same state where someone introduced a bill that suggested doctors can re-implant ectopic pregnancies into the uterus (they can’t).
2. Trump delays the ban on flavored e-cigarettes after meeting with advisors and lobbyists. They’re concerned about the political fallout among voters (instead of the health of voters).
3. Meanwhile, nine states are stepping up to ban vaping.

International:

1. Israel’s attorney general indicts Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in all three cases against him. The charges are for bribery, fraud, and breach of trust. The AG initiates the process of stripping Netanyahu’s parliamentary immunity.

• • Following the recent divided elections, neither Netanyahu nor his opponent Benny Gantz were able to form a government coalition.
  • Netanyahu refuses to step down as Prime Minister. He calls it a coup. Where’ve I heard that before?

2. Flooding and mudslides in Kenya kill 34 people. The region was experiencing a severe drought and is now experiencing heavy rains with flooding.
3. Mike Pence makes a surprise visit to American troops in Iraq ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday.
4. Mike Pompeo announces that the U.S. believes that the Israeli settlements in the West Bank are legal according to international law. For decades, the international consensus has been that the settlements are illegal. The Fourth Geneva Convention states it clearly:

• • “The occupying power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies.”

5. French President Emmanuel Macron questions whether the EU should abandon the U.S. and create their own military alliance.
6. Trump has asked both Japan and South Korea to pay more for the U.S. troops we maintain there. Meanwhile, South Korea and China agree to a security alliance, and the U.S. breaks off talks with South Korea over the demands for more money.
7. Britain’s Conservative Party accepted a £200,000 donation from the wife of one of Putin’s former finance ministers.
8. Boris Johnson blocks a report from the Parliament’s Intelligence and Security Committee about potential Russian interference in Britain’s elections. Remember England has elections coming up again.
9. The Pentagon’s inspector general releases their quarterly report, which concludes that Trump’s order to withdraw U.S. troops from northern Syria, which allowed Turkey to attack the Kurds there, also allowed ISIS to strengthen its position there.
10. Trump says he stands with the Hong Kong protestors for democracy but he also stands with Chinese President Xi Jinping. Meanwhile, both the House and Senate overwhelmingly (that means in a bipartisan way) pass a bill that would strip Hong Kong of its preferential trade status if China removes the freedoms guaranteed to Hong Kong residents.
11. Hong Kong voters turn out in record numbers to deal a defeat to pro-Beijing politicians in the district council elections. Pro-democracy candidates tripled their previous seats, taking nearly 90%.

Legislation/Congress:

1. Trump signs a bill that will continue funding autism programs to the tune of $1.8 billion over the next five years. The Autism Collaboration, Accountability, Research, Education and Support Act (CARES) will focus on helping people on the spectrum who age out of support programs and will prioritize rural and underserved areas.
2. The House Judiciary Committee moves forward a bill that would legalize marijuana at the federal level.

Travel Ban/Immigration/Discrimination:

1. Have you ever seen the AIDS quilt? It’s quite something to experience in person. It’s full of grief and sadness and lives cut short. And now the quilt’s paper archive is headed to the Library of Congress and the quilt itself will go back to San Francisco, where it started.
2. A judge blocks the Trump administration’s efforts to start up federal executions again, saying that the lethal injection procedure they want to use isn’t authorized by federal law. The DOJ plans to appeal the ruling.
3. A Manhattan judge denies Trump’s effort to dismiss the defamation case brought by Summer Zervos, opening the possibility that Trump might have to be deposed.
4. The American Medical Association formally opposes conversion therapy for members of the LGBTQ community. The group also urges the federal government to ban the procedure.
5. Representative Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) becomes the first female chair of the House Oversight Committee when she’s elected to the role previously held by Elijah Cummings.
6. We learn that after Lindsey Graham rebuked Turkish President Erdogan at the White House, White House staff asked him to go to the Senate and block the bill recognizing the Armenian genocide, which Graham then did. Graham says he went along just because it was poor timing to pass the bill while Erdogan was in the states.

Climate:

1. California Governor Gavin Newsom will ban all purchases by state agencies of new vehicles from the companies that backed Trump in the emissions dispute. General Motors, Toyota, Fiat Chrysler, and more will be affected by the ban, which will go into effect in January 2020.
2. Newsom also imposed new regulations on fracking, increasing audits for compliance with state law and prohibiting drilling activity near homes, schools, hospitals, and parks.
3. Two of the country’s largest coal plants began the process of shutting down this month. Regulations aren’t what forced the closures; economic pressures did.
4. Australia’s record-breaking drought and fires have killed over 1,000 koalas, putting them at risk of extinction.

Budget/Economy:

1. Hong Kong’s unemployment rate ticked up a bit, from 2.9% to 3.1%, partly attributable to a loss in tourism dollars because of the protests. Hong Kong is also in a recession.
2. The Trump administration is looking at ways to cut taxes again. This time, it’s a proposed 15% tax rate for the middle class, which would give Trump a strong message for the 2020 elections.
3. Amazon didn’t pay any taxes on $11,200,000,000 in profit from 2018.
4. A new study finds that more than two million Americans live without running water or indoor plumbing. They don’t even have wastewater treatment.
5. Trump signs a spending bill to keep the government funded through December 20.

Elections:

1. A federal judge strikes down a Florida law that says candidates from the party that most recently won the governor’s race were listed first on ballots. The judge says this listing gave that party a 5% advantage.

Miscellaneous:

1. Rumors abound that Mike Pompeo is planning to resign to pursue a Senate seat back in Kansas.
2. White House Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham says that outgoing Obama officials left nasty notes for their successors in the Trump administrations. Obama officials deny this and describe the notes of encouragement they left. Various White House staff have also mentioned the kind notes that Obama officials left for them. I tend to believe the latter since no one has mentioned this in three years.
3. A senior Trump official resigns after it was discovered that she lied multiple times on her resume, including creating a fake Time magazine cover with her face on it, lying about what she was doing on foreign trips, falsely claiming a degree, claiming she addressed the Republican and Democratic National Conventions, and more.
4. Navy Secretary Richard Spencer threatens to resign if Trump actually does pardon and reinstate a Navy Seal convicted of war crimes. Also, it turns out that Trump announced that he would do that on Twitter, not in an official notification. So Spencer says that nothing changes until he gets an official notification.

• • Pentagon Chief Mike Esper asks for the Navy Secretary’s resignation. Apparently Trump gave Esper a direct order to drop disciplinary action against a Navy Seal convicted of war crimes. Navy Secretary Richard Spence tried to negotiate a deal whereby the White House wouldn’t interfere in Naval justice if the Navy allowed Gallagher to keep his trident pin. Trump appeared to back down for a minute, but then we learn that Spencer was basically fired.
  • Spencer at one point said he was proceeding with disciplinary action because he didn’t believe that Trump’s tweets constituted a formal order.
  • Trump’s interference in this matter has raised concerns with the Defense Secretary, the Joint Chiefs of Staff Chair, and members of the military.

Polls:

1. 52.4% of Americans approve of starting the impeachment process. 42.3% disapprove. That gap is narrower when the question asked is whether to impeach and remove.