This was a sad week in Congress, with Representative Elijah Cummings passing away. I was hoping the House could put aside the acrimony between the parties for a little while to mourn his passing, but really it just continues to intensify. Even if the House can’t do it, maybe we can all take a little time to remember that some things are more important than politics.

Here’s what happened in politics for the week ending October 20…

Shootings This Week:

1. How sad is it that it’s a good sign that there were only four mass shootings in the U.S. this week (defined as killing or injuring four or more people)? Condensed version: Shooters kill two people and injure 18.

Russia:

1. The Justice Department confirms that neither Donald Trump Jr. nor former White House Counsel Don McGahn were even called to testify before Robert Mueller’s grand jury. The federal judge who revealed the information as part of an ongoing case finds it perplexing because both men were significant to the investigation.

• • Lawyers involved in the probe say that Trump Jr. likely said he’d claim the Fifth anyway, and Mueller elected not to grant him immunity to force his testimony.

2. Russia is already working on influencing the 2020 elections by creating a network of social media accounts designed to look like political groups in swing states. Seriously folks. Don’t fall for this again. If you don’t recognize a group, either learn about it or ignore it.

Legal Fallout:

1. Oh so quietly, the State Department closes its investigation into Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server without delivering any criminal charges.

• • They found 38 current or former employees might have violated security procedures with possible instances of classified information being inappropriately transmitted.
  • They also found that these employees did their best to implement security policies.
  • Even though none of these employees were sanctioned, each can appeal and provide explanations for what they did.
  • Much of the information in question was classified after the fact, which makes the job of determining violations that much more difficult.
  • The report concludes that “there was no persuasive evidence of systemic, deliberate mishandling of classified information.”

2. New York State passes a law that allows state prosecutors to bring charges against people who receive presidential pardons for related crimes.
3. Trump’s lawyers argue once against that he can’t be investigated by any prosecutor because he is president.
4. Trump’s reluctance to release his taxes goes back to his 2013 presidential bid, where he was ready to release his taxes until an advisor warned him against it.
5. Deutsche Bank tells a court that they don’t have any of Trump’s personal tax returns.
6. ProPublica obtains additional financial documents for Trump’s businesses that bolster accusations that the organization reported expenses, profits, and occupancy differently depending on the purpose of the documents. For example, they inflated profit and occupancy on things like loan documents, but deflated them for New York tax purposes. They manipulated expenses in the reverse.
7. In the middle of accusing the Bidens of benefiting from foreign governments, Trump announces next year’s G-7 Summit will be at his Doral resort in Miami. After leaders on both sides criticize this for being self dealing, Trump reverses that plan. But he blames the media and Democrats.
8. Remember when it came out two years ago (though it seems like a decade) that the National Enquirer had a vault of stories about Trump that they didn’t publish but held on to just in case? Ronan Farrow says that the Editor in Chief at the time shredded a bunch of that information.

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.

International:

Syria/Kurds:

1. Trump announces sanctions against Turkey in response to their attacks on Syria. He’ll also end negotiations on a trade deal and double tariffs on Turkish steel imports.
2. The negative consequences of Trump’s decision to withdraw troops from Syria were immediate. Within a week:

• • Turkey started bombing the Kurds.
  • Tens of thousands of Kurdish families were forced to flee.
  • The Kurds switched sides to work with Assad.
  • Hundreds of ISIS prisoners detained in Kurdish camps escaped.
  • American troops were not only fired at by Turkish forces, they were also trapped by Turkey’s roadblocks.
  • Turkey has control of around 50 U.S. nuclear weapons at an airbase in Turkey. If we remove them, we pretty much end our alliance with Turkey; if we leave them, Turkey could use them. Erdogan recently said it’s unacceptable that Turkey isn’t allowed to have nuclear weapons.
  • Turkey pushed more than 20 miles into Syria, and Russia moved in to fill the void left by our troops.

3. The move handed a win to four of our adversaries—Russia, Iran, Assad’s government, and ISIS. Both Russia and Iran support the Assad regime.
4. Erdogan asks for international support in fighting the Kurds.
5. The House votes 354 to 60 for a resolution opposing Trump’s decision to withdraw troops from Syria.
6. Trump says he was right to let Turkey attack the Kurdish fighters, because sometimes like two kids you have to let them fight and pull them apart. Tell that to the families mourning their dead children. Tell that to the tens of thousands who’ve been forced to flee their homes.
7. As U.S. troops pull out of Syria, the Air Force conducts an airstrike on a U.S. munitions bunker to prevent the munitions from falling into the hands of combatants.
8. Kurdish forces likewise destroyed their facilities and equipment before vacating the area.
9. The U.S. and Turkey agree to a cease-fire at the Syrian border. The Turkish military is allowed to remain there, basically giving Turkey’s President Erdogan what he wants.

• • Even so, just hours later, there were gunfire and shelling at the border.
  • A condition of the cease-fire is that the U.S. withdraw the threat to impose sanctions on Turkey.
  • The agreement gives Erdogan things he hasn’t been able to get during years of negotiations with the U.S., including the removal of Kurdish forces from the border and a buffer zone at the border of Turkey and Syria.
  • A Turkish official says they were surprised by how easy the negotiations were. “We got everything we wanted,” he said, also indicating that the U.S. just wanted to save face.
  • Trump brags about Mike Pence getting the cease-fire… which we wouldn’t have had to get if Trump wouldn’t have abandoned he Kurds in the first place.

10. Trump sends a childish letter to Erdogan, warning him against slaughtering the Kurds. He ends with, “Don’t be a tough guy. Don’t be a fool! I will call you later.”

• • You can read it here.
  • Erdogan reportedly tossed the letter in the trash.

11. Here’s the kicker. Sources in Turkey say that Erdogan was bluffing—asking for much more than he wanted while expecting to get only a small piece of it. But he got it all, and now he might be in over his head with a 20-mile buffer zone, international condemnation, and potential sanctions.

Other International:

1. Chinese President Xi Jinping says those seeking to divide China (referring to Hong Kong protestors, I would guess) will be smashed to pieces. Protestors hold U.S.-themed protests after a violent series of weekend rallies.

• • Police again use tear gas and water cannons filled with a blue dye that stings, but also hit innocent bystanders with it. Protestors continue to vandalize businesses and public property.
  • Protestors attend a rally in support of the U.S. Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act, which is awaiting congressional approval in the U.S. The act would require the State Department to provide an annual assessment of whether “China has eroded Hong Kong’s civil liberties and rule of law.”
  • The U.S. is looking at legislation that would restrict certain exports, such as the tear gas officers use on protestors in Hong Kong.

2. U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson secures a withdrawal agreement with the EU, which he now has to sell to Parliament.

• • And then Parliament delays the vote for three months, and requires Parliament to pass legislation implementing Johnson’s plan before the vote to approve. I’m confused about that one.
  • Johnson sends the EU an unsigned letter requesting an extension, but he also sends a second signed letter disapproving of an extension.
  • Brexit is still scheduled for Halloween.
  • Meanwhile, protestors have been marching in London in support of a second Brexit referendum.

Legislation/Congress:

1. After the House votes to rebuke Trump’s Syria decision, Democratic leadership meets with Trump and some Cabinet members. The meeting is at Trump’s behest, but then he says Democrats wanted the meeting.

• • Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer push Trump to reveal his strategy for Syria. At one point, Trump says that we don’t need to worry about terrorists 7,000 miles away.
  • As things get heated, Trump says to Pelosi, “You’re just a politician. A third-grade politician.”
  • Pelosi asks Trump why he withdrew troops from Syria, which gave Putin a toehold in northern Syria. She ends by asking, “why do all roads lead to Putin?” And then she walks out, and Schumer follows.
  • Both Trump and Pelosi assert the other one had a meltdown, though he looks pretty melty in the picture.

2. INSERT PHOTO HERE
3. Rand Paul blocks a vote in the Senate on the House-passed resolution condemning Trump’s abandonment of our Kurdish allies in Syria. Mitch McConnell says he wants the Senate to pass an even stronger resolution than the one passed in the House.

Border Wall/Shutdown/National Emergency:

1. For the second time, Trump vetos a bill that passed both houses of Congress that would put an end to his declaration of national emergency to build the wall at the border. He vetoed a similar bill seven months ago. Seven months. Some emergency.

Travel Ban/Immigration/Discrimination:

1. A British family traveling through Canada accidentally entered the U.S. on an unmarked road a few months ago. ICE detains them for more than a week in “frigid” and “filthy” conditions according to a complaint they filed with DHS. DHS says the family entered the U.S. on purpose.
2. Two HUD officials say they knowingly delayed hurricane relief funds for Puerto Rico despite missing a legally mandated deadline. Of the 18 states hit by natural disasters whose funding deadline was the same, only Puerto Rico’s was delayed.

• • The officials (and Trump) defend the delay saying there were financial irregularities and corruption in Puerto Rico. In other words, the same old trope that they can’t manage their money.

Climate:

1. For the first time in 10 years, a Florida Senate committee is scheduled to meet to talk about climate change and its impact on the state. They conclude that they lost a decade where they could’ve prepared for climate change.

• • One Republican attendee says he understands why there haven’t been a lot of conversations around this, but doesn’t mention that for most of Governor Rick Scott’s term, the words “climate change” were banned.
  • Sea level rise has been and continues to be a major issue for Florida, with sunny-day flooding a regular occurrence.

2. 2019 is the second hottest year on record through September. It will likely end up being the second hottest year right behind 2016.
3. The Trump administration proposes opening up more than half of Alaska’s Tongass National Forest to logging. This would require a reversal or waiver of Bill Clinton’s roadless rule.

Budget/Economy:

1. Last week, we heard that the U.S. and China had come to an interim trade agreement, but now China wants to hold more negotiations before they’ll sign on to it.
2. U.S. and European trade negotiators fail to reach a deal, so the Trump administration imposes new tariffs on $7.5 billion worth of EU products.
3. The numbers are in, and U.S. manufacturing has shrunk over two consecutive quarters. September’s contraction was the sharpest since the Great Recession.

Elections:

1. A judge issues an emergency injunction to restore 165,000 Kentucky residents to the active voter rolls. They were placed on the inactive rolls after fewer than two cycles of federal elections. This comes just in time for next month’s elections!
2. A Florida judge rules that the state cannot force ex-felons to pay all their fines and fees before being able to vote if they are too poor to pay.

• • Last year, Florida residents overwhelmingly passed Amendment 4, giving felons who have served their time automatic voting privileges. The Florida legislature tried to weaken the amendment by passing a law saying they have to pay their fines and fees before they can vote.

3. A pro-Trump group called American Priority holds an event at Trump’s Doral resort in Miami. At the event, they play a video on a loop of a fake Trump killing journalists and Trump’s political opponents. If you’re wondering why people are wary of Trump supporters, look no further.

Miscellaneous:

1. Retired four-star admiral Bill McRaven writes an op-ed, the gist of which is that Trump is attacking and destroying our republic from within. Here’s a quote:

• • “We are not the most powerful nation in the world because of our aircraft carriers, our economy, or our seat at the United Nations Security Council. We are the most powerful nation in the world because we try to be the good guys. … But, if we don’t care about our values, if we don’t care about duty and honor, if we don’t help the weak and stand up against oppression and injustice — what will happen to the Kurds, the Iraqis, the Afghans, the Syrians, the Rohingyas, the South Sudanese and the millions of people under the boot of tyranny or left abandoned by their failing states?”
  • He says another four-star general told him last week, “I don’t like the Democrats, but Trump is destroying the Republic!”
  • Here’s the full op-ed.

2. Trump’s former Secretary of Defense James Mattis jokes that he’s the Meryl Streep of generals after Trump called him the “world’s most overrated general.” As we know, Trump says Meryl Streep is the world’s most overrated actor.

• • Mattis also pokes fun at Trump’s bone spurs and his love for fast food.
  • He also laments the tone of politics today, saying, “We have scorched our opponents with language that precludes compromise and we have brushed aside the possibility that the person with whom we disagree might actually sometimes be right.”
  • He also refers to our Kurdish allies and the U.S. troops working by their sides.

3. Retired four-star Marine general John Allen says Trump has blood on his hands “for abandoning our Kurdish allies.” He also says that the crisis at the Syrian border was completely foreseeable. Allen is the one who warned there would be blood if Trump were elected.
4. Retired four-star Army general Joseph Votel says the decision to abandon the Kurds threatens our other partnerships around the globe when we need them the most because our enemies are more sophisticated and determined than ever.
5. Following yet another sting video by Project Veritas (I thought these guys were in jail?), Trump threatens to sue CNN.

• • CNN says none of the people in the video are CNN journalists, and the guy who took the video and says he’s a CNN insider, Cary Poarch, was actually a freelance satellite truck operator who was contracted by CNN.
  • Some of the people in the video were media coordinators, which is a very junior position. Cary had drinks with them, they didn’t always know they were being filmed, and they thought they were just talking with a work friend. And that could ruin their careers. Super shady.

6. Acting Secretary of Homeland Security Kevin McAleenan resigns after just six months on the job. He’s the fourth DHS secretary to serve under Trump. McAleenan complained about the tone, message, and approach of Trump’s immigration policies.
7. One out of every 14 political appointments made by Trump is a lobbyist. There are four times as many lobbyists working for Trump than worked for Obama.