Tag: dan coates

Week 106 in Trump

Posted on February 5, 2019 in Politics, Trump

Trump gave two interviews this week, one seemingly spur of the moment to the New York Times and one on Face The Nation the day of the Super Bowl. I’m not going to talk about them here, because I feel we didn’t hear much that was new. Here are links to each, in case you’re interested: New York Times and Face The Nation.

Here’s what happened in politics last week…

Border Wall/Shutdown:

  1. Nancy Pelosi invites Trump to give his State of the Union address on the House floor on Tuesday, February 5, on the floor of the House.
  2. Trump continues to push the wall in public, but is staying out of the congressional negotiations on a border security plan.
  3. Trump says there must be funding for a wall, Pelosi says there won’t be funding for a wall, and the White House is still preparing a declaration of national emergency.
  4. Despite all the work to make the wall sound like a physical barrier or a fence and not a wall, Trump keeps reiterating that a WALL is a WALL.
  5. If you remember, last year the Supreme Court ruled that the Trump administration could bypass environmental and impact studies for the border wall. Now, bulldozers are lined up outside the National Butterfly Center in Texas, waiting to destroy the protected habitat.
    • The habitat is home to 240 varieties of butterflies and 300 species of birds, and most of the areas people come to see will be behind the wall.
    • The wall here is envisioned to be 30 feet tall and made of concrete and steel, with a 150 foot enforcement zone in which all vegetation will be cleared.
    • CBP maps show that the construction would cut through the National Butterfly Center, a state park, and a 100-year-old Catholic church.
    • Legal action is still pending on all this.
  1. Last year, the Republican-held Congress required that CBP not build fencing in the Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge, but didn’t do the same for the Lower Rio Grande Valley National Wildlife Refuge. So it’s expected that the wall will also cut through there.
  2. You know why the government can override environmental regulations here? Because of laws created after 9/11. The terrorists are winning.

Russia:

  1. Even though Trump canceled a planned meeting with Putin at the G20 in Buenos Aires last year after Russia opened fire on Ukraine naval ships, it turns out they did have a brief meeting with only Melania and Putin’s interpreter in attendance. Regardless of the innocence of this meeting, the lack of White House staff allowed the Russian press to spin it in Russia’s favor.
  2. Roger Stone pleads not guilty to all seven counts on which he’s charged—witness tampering, obstruction, and making false statements.
  3. After sanctions are lifted against Oleg Deripaska’s businesses, one of Deripaska’s companies appoints Christopher Burnham, a member of Trump’s transition team in the State Department, to their board of directors.
  4. A Kremlin-backed scheme to spread disinformation about the Mueller investigation fails because it was too farfetched. They claimed to have obtained all of Mueller’s database regarding the Russia investigation, but had only obtained what was revealed in court through a request for discovery by Russian company Concord. The trove also included fake documents to make it look like Mueller’s team is doing sloppy work.
  5. A district judge considers implementing a gag order on Roger Stone like she did with Paul Manafort and Rick Gates. Her reason: “This is a criminal proceeding and not a public relations campaign.”
  6. The Trump administration announces they’re pulling the U.S. out of the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty with Russia because Russia isn’t holding up their end of the deal. (Funny. I just realized that’s always the case when Trump pulls out of an agreement. He thinks everyone is using the U.S.)
    • The treaty is regarded as a crucial moment for arms control during the Cold War. It got rid of over 2,600 missiles, and is key to Europe’s security strategy.
    • Putin says that’s fine, and pulls Russia out of the treaty in response. So now Russia can design new previously banned weapons. He also says Russia won’t start any more talks on nuclear arms control.
    • China criticizes the moves saying they’re bad for global security. China also says they wouldn’t join an expanded version of the treaty themselves, so there you are.
  1. Senate investigators conclude that the phone calls Donald Trump, Jr. made to a blocked number before and after the 2016 Trump Tower meeting were not to his father, but instead were to long-time business associates.
  2. The NRA denies they played an official role in a 2015 trip to Moscow to meet with Russian nationals. Emails and photos say otherwise. Maria Butina helped them with their travel arrangements and organized meetings with Kremlin officials.

Legal Fallout:

  1. Mike Pence has said he was unaware of Michael Flynn’s ties to Turkey and working as a foreign lobbyist. Now we learn that Elijah Cummings sent a letter to Pence about Mike Flynn during the transition in November of 2016. Cummings says he received a receipt confirming the transition team received the letter, so either Pence knew about Flynn, or his transition team kept it from him.
  2. Facebook says they’ve removed as many as 2.8 billion fake accounts over the past year.

Courts/Justice:

  1. The Senate Judiciary Committee postpones the hearing for Trump’s nominee for Attorney General, William Barr, because of Democrats’ concerns over how he’ll handle Mueller’s investigation.
  2. A recent poll shows Ruth Bader Ginsburg is the most popular Supreme Court justice currently seated on the bench. Surprisingly—22% of respondents couldn’t name one justice sitting on the court.

Healthcare:

  1. A new VA policy allows veterans to choose a private physician if they have to drive more than a half hour to get to a VA facility. Previously, the rule was 40 miles.

International:

  1. The Trump administration places sanctions against Venezuela to pressure Maduro to step down.
  2. We learn from John Bolton inadvertently exposing notes on a legal pad ON LIVE TV that the administration is thinking about sending 5,000 troops to Colombia (which neighbors Venezuela). Colombia’s government says they don’t know what the note means.
  3. The U.S. government sends humanitarian assistance to Venezuela through USAID.
  4. The U.S. indicts major Chinese tech company Huawei on charges of lying to government officials and to business partners in an alleged scheme to pay employees to steal trade secrets. The indictment claims that:
    • Huawei’s founder and his daughter (the company’s CFO) lied to the FBI about dealing with Iran (to work around sanctions).
    • Employees received bonuses for stealing trade secrets.
  1. The UK’s House of Commons narrowly votes to have Theresa May renegotiate the Irish border issue with the EU as part of the Brexit agreement.
  2. The EU says there’s no more negotiating. Take it or leave it. No pun intended.
  3. Nissan cancels their plans to start production of a new car model in Britain, citing uncertainties around Brexit as a reason.
  4. The Senate passes an amendment to state opposition to Trump’s decision to remove U.S. troops from Syria and Afghanistan. It passes with bipartisan approval (68 to 23)
  5. U.S. Intelligence officials testify before the Senate Intelligence Committee in their annual worldwide threats hearing. Their testimony contradicts almost everything Trump says about national security. Here’s how:
    • Trump says North Korea isn’t a nuclear threat anymore.
      Intelligence officials say North Korea likely won’t give up their nuclear weapons.
    • Trump says Russia might not have meddled in our 2016 elections.
      Intelligence officials say Russia was so successful at it that they continued it in 2018 and will continue it into 2020.       They say this is our second most pressing challenge right behind cybersecurity.
    • Trump says a wall on our southern border is the most pressing security need (a national emergency even).
      Intelligence officials didn’t even mention that.
    • Trump says ISIS has been defeated.
      Intelligence officials say the group is weakened, but       it’s also returned to its “guerrilla warfare roots.”
    • Trump says Iran is continuing to build nuclear weapons.
      Intelligence officials say Iran is still in compliance with the JPOA, so is not building nuclear weapons.
    • Trump mocks climate change and calls it a hoax.
      Intelligence officials say it’s one of our greatest national and global security threats.
  1. In response, Trump trashes his intelligence leaders in a series of tweets, suggesting they should go back to school. But after they all meet, Trump says they’re more in agreement than it seems.
  2. One area of agreement between Trump and his intelligence officers is China, which both think is a major threat. But Trump thinks the threat is economic (trade) while intelligence officials think the threat is military and corporate espionage. They also say China is using cyber attacks to influence U.S. elections. (Dammit China and Russia! Stay out of our business.)
  3. Senior intelligence briefers say Trump is a danger to American security with his stubborn disregard for their security assessments. Two briefers say they’ve been warned not to give Trump information that contradicts his public stances because it makes him angry.
  4. Trump says that he’s free to ignore his intelligence officials and instead rely on his own beliefs. Which is technically true, but maybe not the most informed path. Trump also says he doesn’t want intelligence officials sharing their views with Congress.
  5. One major thing from the hearings that potentially got lost in all the conflict is the assessment that China and Russia are more closely aligned than at any time since the 1950s.
  6. The UK, France, and Germany form a new company to help them get around Trump’s Iran sanctions. The new company would avoid the U.S. banking system and thus would not be subject to the sanctions.

Family Separation:

  1. In a lawsuit launched by ACLU against ICE over family separations at the border, ICE files documents that not don’t deny that there are probably thousands more separated kids than initially reported. The filings also show that the administration thinks it would take too long to find all the people separated from their families because there was never any tracking system.
    • Of note, I see lawsuit filings over family separations in March of 2018, so family separations were happening long before Jeff Sessions announced it as policy.

Travel Ban/Immigration/Discrimination:

  1. Decades ago, Muslims settled in an area they called Holy Islamberg in upstate New York to get away from the dangers and temptations of the city. Now, conspiracy theorists and anti-Muslim groups smear the town as dangerous extremists, a jihadist training camp, a terrorist sleeper cell. Why is this news now? Because this week, police arrest four young men who were plotting an attack on the town. They confiscate 23 guns. This is the second recent threat against the town that police have thwarted in recent years.
  2. While Trump keeps pounding on the need for better border security, CPB and ICE haven’t really hired many new agents. Trump signed an order two years ago calling for 5,000 new CPB agents and 10,000 new ICE officers, but there hasn’t been an increase in numbers (for several reasons—the vetting and training processes, an inability to justify the hiring surge, high attrition rates, and so on).
  3. A Maryland State’s Attorney says her office will stop prosecuting marijuana possession regardless of quantity or prior crimes. If you’re wondering why this falls under “Discrimination,” check out the second paragraph here to see the real reason more African Americans than Caucasians are in jail for marijuana possession when both groups use pot at roughly the same rate.
  4. We’re not the only country arguing over asylum policies. In the Netherlands, police aren’t allowed to enter a church during an ongoing service to carry out police business. So a church there held a 24/7 prayer service for 97 days to protect one family from being deported. The service ends this week when the government agrees to a rule change that gives asylum seekers another chance.
  5. The U.S. flags the passports of at least two activists and two journalists working with the asylum seekers at the border. All four are detained by Mexican authorities and denied entry into the country. One resides in Tijuana, but is a U.S. citizen. She was denied access to her 10-month-old son, who was in Tijuana at the time. Another was separated from her husband and daughter while she was questioned. Her daughter sobbed so hard they let them stay in the interrogation room together.
  6. A day after Virginia Governor Ralph Northam ignites pro-life anger by describing in medical and practical terms what happens with a non-viable birth, his college yearbook page surfaces showing a picture of a man in blackface and a man in a KKK costume.
    • Northam take responsibility and apologizes, and that’s not enough—Democrats call for him to resign. Then he says doesn’t think it’s him and says he won’t resign. He does admit to using shoe polish on his face in a Michael Jackson imitation contest.
    • Should he resign, Lt. Governor Justin Fairfax, who is African American, would become governor. But the same site that published Northam’s yearbook also published information about claims of sexual assault against Fairfax. Fairfax says the sexual encounter in 2004 was consensual.
  1. The Department of Health and Human Services changes its rules so that religious foster-care and adoption agencies can discriminate against people they feel don’t agree with their religious teachings.
    • South Carolina’s governor previously signed an executive order that would allow Miracle Hill Ministries to discriminate, but the HHS rule overrode the governor’s EO. So HHS changed their rules.
    • Miracle Hill has previously refused to work with Jewish people and same-sex couples. This all goes back to the Supreme Court’s Hobby Lobby decision that supports exemptions to equality guidelines when they go against an organizations closely held religious beliefs.
  1. The Pentagon plans to send 3,500 additional troops to the southern border to help build and reinforce 160 miles of concertina wire fencing.
  2. Undercover Homeland Security agents end a sting operation where they created a fake university to snare foreign nationals who then enrolled in order to get or maintain student visas. DHS hired people to recruit the foreign citizens to enroll in the university. The sting results in the arrest of eight recruiters and could result in the deportation of dozens of “students.”

Climate/EPA:

  1. Another polar vortex hits the Midwest, and Trump wonders where that global warming is when you need it. Some researchers say global warming causes the polar vortex, but not all are convinced. The important thing to remember here is that weather is not the same thing as climate.
  2. The EPA says they won’t set limits on the amounts of perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) and perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) allowed in our drinking water. Both are linked to cancer, thyroid disease, and immune issues.
  3. Compared to last year, there are 30 fewer lawmakers who are skeptical of any part of climate change than last year. That includes whether climate change is happening, whether it’s a danger, and whether it’s manmade. Deniers make up nearly 30% of Congress, and between them they’ve averaged around a half million in donations from the fossil fuel industry.
  4. France announces a new goal to double their renewable energy capacity within 10 years.
  5. The Bureau of Land Managements moves forward with their sales of oil and gas leases near sacred Native American sites, including the Chaco Culture National Historical Park. Processing those energy leases is one thing that didn’t slow down during the shutdown.

Budget/Economy:

  1. The government won’t guarantee that over 1,000,000 federal contractors will receive any back pay from the shutdown, and these are already some of the lowest paid government workers (like janitors, guards, cooks, and so on).
  2. The Senate introduces a plan to repeal the estate tax entirely. Currently, no estate tax is paid for the first $22 million of an inherited estate.
  3. Foxconn announces changes to the Wisconsin campus that Paul Ryan worked so hard to secure. They’re moving away from manufacturing and instead will be a research center.
  4. The House passes a 2.6% pay raise for federal civilian workers. In December, Trump froze any raises for non-military federal workers.
  5. Rutger Bregman, who’s written about history, philosophy, and economics, speaks at Davos and lambasts the wealthy audience for not being willing to talk about taxes, which he says is the only way we know to fight the growing inequality. He says “It feels like I’m at a firefighters conference and no one’s allowed to speak about water.”
    • Ken Goldman, former CFO of Yahoo, denounces the speakers on the forum saying it was one-sided and demanding answers besides higher taxes (and sort of proving the point).
    • Winnie Byanyima, the executive director of Oxfam International, counters Goldman by talking about the lack of dignity in certain jobs and the powerlessness of workers, including those in the U.S. that have brought our unemployment so low.
  1. The economy added 304,000 new jobs last month, but the unemployment rate bumped up to 4%. This could be because people who were furloughed at the time might have reported (mistakenly) that they were unemployed.
  2. Government data shows that new orders for U.S. goods dropped in October and November last year, which suggests a slowdown in manufacturing. A new survey indicates things might’ve picked up again a bit in January.

Elections:

  1. Another state lawmaker switches party from Republican to Democrat. This time it’s New Jersey State Senator Dawn Addiego, who says “the party which once echoed the vision of Ronald Reagan no longer exists.”
  2. In recent weeks Texas flagged 95,000 registered voters for citizenship reviews. Now they’re saying that a substantial number of those flagged shouldn’t have been, and they’re working to remove those names. Apparently the Secretary of State neglected to check how many of these people had become citizens since last applying for a driver license as a non-citizen.
    • The list went back to drivers licenses issued in 1996.
    • Most of those flagged are Latino (shocking, I know).
    • The governor of Texas hasn’t stopped the operation from moving forward despite the errors.
    • The media spread headlines supporting Trump’s accusations of massive voter fraud, which has now turned out to not be the case.
  1. Mitch McConnell criticizes the House Democrats’ bills to make Election Day a federal holiday. He calls it a power grab. And he’s right. When everyone can vote, it’s a power grab by the people 😉

Miscellaneous:

  1. The first tornado in 80 years hits Havana, Cuba.
  2. The Pentagon drafts plans to create a space force under the Air Force rather than as a fully independent military branch as initially envisioned.
  3. A jury awards Rand Paul nearly $8,000 in medical costs, $200,000 for pain and suffering, and another $375,000 in punitive damages from when his neighbor attacked him at his home in 2017.
  4. Trump appoints Rear Adm. Ronny Jackson to be his chief medical adviser. Jackson was once Trump’s nominee for VA secretary, but couldn’t get through the confirmation process due to misconduct allegations. Trump also pushes for Jackson to receive his second star, but the previous allegations against him are still under investigation.
  5. There are three more mass shootings this week in Chicago, San Diego, and Houston. In total, they leave four dead and 13 injured.
  6. A White House staffer leaks three months worth of Trump’s schedules, which show an inordinate amount of time for “Executive Time.” I’m not going to report too much here because who knows what Executive Time actually is.
  7. Like another powerful woman before her (who I won’t name), Nikki Haley charges $200,000 to give speeches.

Polls:

  1. The U.S. falls from 16th to 22nd in the Corruption Perceptions Index (meaning we’re perceived as being more corrupt this year than last year).

Things Politicians Say:

“I think God calls all of us to fill different roles at different times and I think that he wanted Donald Trump to become president, and that’s why he’s there.”

~Sarah Huckabee Sanders to CBN’s David Brody and Jennifer Wishon

Week 78 in Trump

Posted on July 23, 2018 in Politics, Trump

At least one of these guys looks happy.

Confused about all the Russia kerfuffle and whether Trump believes our intelligence agencies over Putin? John Hartzell’s tweet pretty much sums up the cleanup process after the joint press conference:

“Today, Trump lied, lied about lying, changed his mind, lied about changing his mind, changed his mind about lying, blamed someone else for something he did, lied about blaming someone else, took a breath, and lied.”

Even though intelligence agencies presented Trump with proof of Russian interference from the start, he has always muddied the waters to make sure that people continue to question the findings of our own intelligence agencies. It’s the reason he can never come up with a clear and cogent response to questions about it.

Russia:

There’s so much Russia news this week that I have to break it out into sub-sections. So here goes.

Trump/Putin Summit:

  1. Trump and Putin hold a two-hour summit, followed by a controversial press conference that sets off a worldwide firestorm. I’ll just start by saying that Russian officials call the summit and press conference major success for Putin, while Trump receives massive criticism back at home.
  2. What did they discuss at the summit? Trump says war and peace, Syria, Ukraine, and Israel (Putin loves Bibi, apparently). But no one really knows for sure.
  3. There was no one in attendance in the Trump/Putin summit except translators, so we have no official record of what happened. There was no joint statement so we don’t know what they agreed on.
  4. Here are some press conference highlights of what Trump says (remember this is just days after the indictment of 12 Russian intelligence agents for hacking the DNC and after Dan Coates told us that there are warning signs of more hacking):
    • When asked about Russian interference in the 2016 elections, Trump refuses to support our own intelligence agencies, and instead says Putin’s denials were forceful and credible.
    • He denies collusion and calls the Russia investigation a disaster for the U.S. Even though the Russia investigation has spawned state investigations and resulted in 32 indictments, 5 guilty pleas, and over 100 charges.
    • Trump suggests that our intelligence agencies (specifically Dan Coates) are not credible and are conspiring against him. Even though Coates told him that Russia was behind the hacking of the DNC servers, Trump doesn’t see any reason why Russia would do that and it could be anybody else.
    • Trump blames the U.S. for our current relationship with Russia, calling the U.S. foolish (and ignoring Russia’s attacks on Georgia, Crimea, and Ukraine; their actions in Syria; the poisonings in England; and the downing of the Malaysian passenger jet). Trump sees the U.S. and Russia as morally equivalent.
    • Trump brings up his electoral win, claiming incorrectly that it’s harder for a Republican to win the electoral college than a Democrat. In reality, Democrats need an extra margin of about 11% of the popular vote.
    • He brings up Hillary’s emails again, along with a debunked conspiracy theory about a Pakistani DNC staffer who was arrested. He adds that Russia would never let this happen in their country.
    • Trump calls Putin a good competitor, not an adversary… just after he called the EU one of our biggest foes.
    • He is impressed by Putin’s offer to have Mueller share his evidence on the 12 indicted Russian officials if we allow Russia to interrogate U.S. officials. This would give Russia a view into how our intelligence agencies work and what their capabilities are.
    • Trump also considers handing over Michael McFaul, a former U.S. ambassador to Russia, and Bill Browder for questioning. Putin has long wanted Bill Browder, who exposed the corruption in the Russian government that led to the Magnitsky Act. Side note: Browder is no longer a U.S. citizen, so we can’t really hand him over anyway.
  1. Here‘s some of what Putin says:
    • Russia has never interfered in a U.S. election and they never will.
    • Putin supports Trump in his assertion that there was no collusion.
    • Putin says he knows nothing about any kompromat, claiming he didn’t even know Trump was in town during the Miss Universe pageant. Uh-huh. Even though he cancelled a meeting with Trump during that time.
  1. Later, in an interview with Fox News’ Chris Wallace, Putin says that our efforts to isolate Russia have failed.
  2. Putin also says he misspoke when he said that Clinton received $400 million from associates of Bill Browder and that it was $400,000 (the actual number is closer to $18,000).
  3. A member of Russia’s parliament says that Russian intelligence stole the 2016 presidential election right out from under the noses of U.S. intelligence.
  4. In a follow-up interview with Sean Hannity, Trump reiterates that Putin says there’s no collusion and that Putin is very, very strong on that. Trump also says Mueller’s Russia investigation is a “phony, witch hunt deal” and that Putin thinks it’s a shame.

Press Conference Fallout:

  1. Reaction is swift, harsh, and bipartisan. Politicians from both sides reiterate that Russia isn’t our friend, there‘s no doubt that Russia interfered in our 2016 elections, and the interference campaign was organized by the Russian government.
  2. Even Fox News is highly critical, with the exception of Sean Hannity and Tucker Carlson.
  3. GOP critics use these words to describe the conference: tragic, disgraceful, bizarre, flat-out wrong, shameful, a propaganda win for Putin, and a missed opportunity to hold Russia accountable. Critics on the left call Trump’s response dangerous and weak.
  4. So Trump and the White House attempt some backpedaling… and then forward pedaling… and then backpedaling again:
    • Trump says he misspoke when he said he couldn’t see why Russia WOULD interfere, and says he meant to say WOULDN’T.
    • He accepts intelligence assessments that Russia interfered in our 2016 elections, but then adds that it could also be other people.
    • The next day Trump responds “no” to questions of whether Russia is still interfering, contradicting all of our intelligence agencies and the GOP-led Senate Intelligence Committee.
    • The White House tries to clarify by saying that Trump was saying “no” to answering any more questions, not “no” to whether Russia is still meddling. This could actually be true; it’s hard to tell.
    • Trump says he was very strong when admonishing Putin that he can’t interfere in our elections.
    • On Monday, Trump thinks Putin made an incredible offer to collaborate on investigations. On Wednesday, Trump says he’ll meet with his advisors to discuss handing over Browder, McFaul, and other government agents to Russia for questioning. And then on Thursday, Sarah Huckabee Sanders says Trump disagrees with the offer.
    • Trump says he believes Putin when he says he didn’t interfere, but then he says Putin must have known about the interference because he’s in charge of the country.
  1. Even Paul Ryan, who just the week before said we shouldn’t criticize Trump while he’s overseas (in reference to his NATO meetings), criticizes Trump’s words. Mitch McConnell reiterates that Russia is not our friend.
  2. European officials call Trump weak and say he can’t be counted on, though some NATO members do try to smooth things over.
  3. Democrats demand that Republican leaders (like they’re in a position to demand anything):
    • Strengthen sanctions against Russia
    • Force the security team that went to Helsinki with Trump to testify before Congress so we can learn about what was agreed
    • End their attacks on our intelligence agencies and Mueller
    • Extradite the 12 indicted Russian hackers.
  1. McConnell and Ryan consider additional Russia sanctions.
  2. The Russian Ambassador to the U.S. says the summit produced important verbal agreements. Russian officials and the Russian press start talking about all the agreements that were made, yet the American people have no idea what those are.
  3. The Russian Ministry of Defense says that they’re ready to implement all the summit agreements around global security.
  4. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov says the summit was fabulous, “better than super.”
  5. In contrast, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo refuses to talk to the press about it.
  6. House Intelligence Committee Democrats request a subpoena for the American interpreter, who was the only other American in the room at the meeting between Trump and Putin. The GOP leadership rejects that request.
  7. The whole thing incites protests in Washington, DC, including at the White House. These have been ongoing for a week now.
  8. Weeks before Trump’s inauguration, intelligence agencies presented him with proof that Putin personally directed the 2016 election interference. This proof included emails and texts from Russian military officers. Sources say Trump was “grudgingly” convinced.
  9. While Dan Coates is being interviewed by Andrea Mitchell, he finds out by tweet that Trump is inviting Putin to the White House in the fall. He appears to laugh at Trump at this point.
  10. At the same forum, Kirstjen Nielsen refuses to say she agrees with our intelligence community’s conclusion that Russia, specifically Putin, was behind the election interference. She’s the Secretary of HOMELAND SECURITY. Come on!
  11. Trump tries to blame Obama for Russian interference. Obama probably could’ve done more but in reality he was blocked by Mitch McConnell.
    • McConnell received the same intelligence briefing, so he knew what was going on leading up to the 2016 elections.
    • When Obama asked him to sign on to a bipartisan public statement about it, McConnell refused.
    • McConnell told Obama not to release the information and that he [McConnell] would consider any efforts to publicly challenge Russia “an act of partisan politics.”
    • Well played, Mitch; well played.

Other Russia News:

  1. The head of the NSA and U.S. Cyber Command says he’s directed both agencies to coordinate to fight any future interference in our elections by foreign powers. But they’re on their own; he hasn’t received any White House guidance on this.
  2. Federal agents arrest Maria Butina, a gun rights advocate who is charged with being an unregistered foreign agent (aka “spy”). She allegedly infiltrated the NRA and cozied up to GOP politicians to influence U.S. politics in the interest of Russia.
    • According to prosecutors, Butina tried to exchange sex for influence. She’s been living with Paul Erickson, a conservative political operative from South Dakota who is under investigation for fraud.
    • Her alleged co-conspirator in Russia is Alexander Torshin, who is currently under U.S. sanctions. They were trying to develop back-channel lines of communication between Russian and American officials.
    • Representative Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif) calls the indictment against Butina bogus. Does he protest too much? The affidavit implies that Butina was setting up a meeting between Rohrabacher and Torshin when Rohrabacher visited Russia in 2015.
    • The FBI has a proposal authored by Butina talking about how they can take power away from the Democrats in 2016 and give it to a (not named) party that will be more friendly to Russian interests. The influence campaign started with the NRA and CPAC.
    • It was Butina who secured invitations for Russian officials to attend the National Prayer Breakfast.
    • The affidavit also suggests that Russia had some influence on Trump’s selection for Secretary of State.
    • Butina was arrested when it appeared she was preparing to leave the country. She’s deemed a flight risk, so is being held without bail.
    • Russia’s foreign minister demands Butina’s immediate release.
  1. Twitter suspends the accounts of Guccifer 2.0 and DCLeaks after last week’s indictment of the Russian hackers.
  2. Trey Gowdy says there’s no good reason to impeach Rod Rosenstein.
  3. Mueller requests immunity for five witnesses in the Paul Manafort trial. He also releases over 500 pieces of evidence being used in the trial.
  4. Remember those Macedonian trolls who pushed pro-Trump, anti-Hillary, and conservative fake stories and conspiracy theories before the 2016 elections? It turns out the effort was started by a Macedonian attorney with the assistance of two American conservatives, Ben Goldman and Paris Wade (you might remember a profile done on them in 2016 describing them writing fake news stories out of their Long Beach apartment). Paris Wade is running for Nevada State Assembly.
  5. The data that Cambridge Analytica mined off Facebook was accessed by a server in Russia.
  6. Christopher Wray, head of the FBI, says Russia is very aggressive in election interference and that they’re actively creating discord and divisiveness in the U.S. right now.
  7. The DOJ releases highly redacted documents that were used to support the Carter Page FISA warrant application. This type of information is typically not made public.
  8. Trump claims that the redacted documents show that his campaign really was being illegally spied on, even though there’s nothing in the released documents that imply that.

Courts/Justice:

  1. I guess we’re cool with the FBI again? Jeff Sessions delivers an address to students at Federal Law Enforcement Training Centers (FLETC). These are members of federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies. Sessions says, “You and your brothers and sisters are in every corner of America, working 24 hours a day to courageously and faithfully protect this nation and our people. We are proud of you.”
  2. Republicans in the Senate pull Trump’s nomination for the 9th circuit court of appeals, Ryan Bounds, not because of Bounds’ racist writings, but because they don’t have enough votes to confirm him.
  3. Mitch McConnell says that if Democrats keep pushing for documentation around Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, he’ll delay the confirmation hearings until right before the midterms to hurt vulnerable Democrats in their re-election efforts.

Healthcare:

  1. A district court judge rules in Trump’s favor on changes to Title X regarding family planning grants. The changes move the emphasis from contraception and safe sex to abstinence and natural family planning (whatever that is). Because we all know that when you tell youngsters to abstain from sex, that’s what they do, right?

International:

  1. Trumps says that NATO members agreed to pony up way more money because he was so assertive. NATO members say, not. They’re just meeting the conditions of their 2014 agreement with the Obama administration.
  2. During the NATO summit, Trump reportedly praised authoritarian Turkish president Erdogan while criticizing our allies in Europe for needing to consult with their respective legislative branches before making policy decisions.
  3. Trump questions why we would come to the defense of a small country like NATO member Montenegro.
  4. While Trump meets with Putin, leaders from the EU and China meet and agree on a joint resolution as well as a commitment to keep the global system strong.
  5. Trump tells diplomats to initiate negotiations directly with the Taliban in Afghanistan. Previously, we’ve worked to include the Afghanistan government in these talks, but the Taliban only wants to talk to the U.S. government.
  6. Israel’s parliament passes a bill that defines Israel as the Jewish nation-state, where Hebrew is the official language and Jerusalem is the capital.
  7. And speaking of Israel, moving our embassy to Jerusalem will cost us $21.2 million instead of the $250,000 Trump said it would.
  8. So far Brexit is costing the UK Treasury 440 million pounds a week; more than the EU ever cost them. Brexit was sold as an economic boon for the country.
  9. North Korean officials have been cancelling meetings and demanded more money. They don’t seem to be slowing down their nuclear program any either. Trump is frustrated by the slow pace and obstacles.

Legislation/Congress:

  1. Senate Democrats put forth a resolution to prevent the president from turning over American citizens to hostile foreign powers. It passes unanimously.
  2. The House passes the BUILD Act, which will encourage private investment in countries with lower income economies to help fight extreme poverty.
  3. The GOP blocks Democratic legislation to question the translator at the Trump/Putin summit, to investigate NRA ties to Russian money, and to back our intelligence community’s conclusion that Russia interfered in the 2016 elections.
  4. Democrats continue to request a vote on an amendment that would provide funding to states for election security, but the GOP leadership continues to refuse the vote.

Separating Families:

  1. A judge blocks the government from deporting newly reunited families to make sure none are improperly deported.
  2. A court orders counseling for children who are victims of family separation at the border. They court calls it a constitutional injury, and in some cases may require treatment for PTSD.
  3. So far, only 364 of the more than 2,500 children taken at the border have been reunited with their parents. Of 1,600 parents waiting to be reunited, almost half are slated for deportation.

Travel Ban/Immigration/Discrimination:

  1. More than 100 elected officials from 20 states sign on to an open letter arguing that we should abolish ICE, the agency created after 9/11 to keep our borders secure. They say ICE is too broken to be reformed and should be abolished. They don’t have an alternative yet.
  2. A district judge in Pennsylvania rules that religious adoption agencies do not have the right to discriminate against prospective parents based on religious beliefs while at the same time accepting taxpayer money.
  3. The NFL puts its new kneeling-during-the-anthem policy on hold while they negotiate the terms with the teams. So Trump tweets a call for extreme punishments for players who kneel.
  4. A federal appeals court rejects the Trump administration’s efforts to reinstate the ban on transgender troops while the his original ban makes its way through the courts.

Climate/EPA:

  1. The Department of the Interior issues a proposal to overhaul the endangered species act to make it more friendly to economic development (or as it’s better known, drilling and mining projects). This is the act that saved the Yellowstone grizzly and the BALD FREAKING EAGLE from extinction, among others.
  2. California just reached their goal of reducing their carbon emissions to 1990 levels by 2020—two years ahead of time.

Budget/Economy:

  1. The EU and Japan sign a major trade agreement that gets rid of most of the tariffs on goods imported between the two.
  2. Trump criticizes the Feds‘ decision to raise interest rates again, saying it’ll slow down our booming economy. Which is kind of the point of interest rate hikes.
  3. A group of major U.S. companies signs on to a new jobs training initiative by the Trump administration.
  4. China files a complaint with the World Trade Organization over Trump’s proposed tariffs, saying they fall under protectionism.
  5. The Congressional Budget Office updates its estimates, and now says our deficit will hit $1 trillion next year.
  6. Trump threatens even higher tariffs against China, saying he’ll go up to $500 billion if he has to.
  7. Republicans in Congress back off from making sure the sanctions against Chinese company ZTE stick, and instead allow Trump to make this a personal favor to China president Xi Jinping.

Elections:

  1. A lawyer for one of Roy Moore’s accusers has recorded conversations of two of Moore’s supporters offering him $10,000 to drop the case and discredit the victim before the Senate election that Democrat Doug Jones won.
  2. No dark money in politics, you say? The Trump administration ends IRS disclosure requirements for certain nonprofits, allowing donors to give money without any scrutiny. How many ways can we make Citizens United worse?
  3. Some states’ voter registration systems operate on systems owned by Russian-backed companies.
  4. A top voting machine manufacturer admits they issued a few of those servers with the remote sharing application pcAnywhere installed.
  5. The reason the FBI took so long to announce the reopening of Hillary Clinton’s email investigation (which is why it happened just nine days before the election) is that the bureau was so overwhelmed with the investigation into the Trump campaign’s connections to Russia.

Miscellaneous:

  1. FCC Chairman Ajit Pai pushes back on Sinclair Broadcasting Group’s merger with Tribune Media. There’s concern that even with the changes Sinclair is willing to make, they would still control too many stations.
  2. Also on the Sinclair front, the company recently announced that they’ll release a streaming app later this year to compete with other agencies, such as Fox News.
  3. A recent court filing indicates that the secret service has been blocking attempts to serve a subpoena to Jared Kushner.
  4. The inspector general for the Interior Department opens an investigation into a real estate deal between Ryan Zinke’s foundation and certain developers (including Halliburton).
  5. In the material seized from Michael Cohen, there’s a recorded conversation between him and Trump discussing payments to Karen McDougal, the Playboy model who says she had an affair with Trump. The conversation took place a few months before the election.
  6. Oddly enough, Trump’s lawyers waived attorney-client privilege around this recording.
  7. In the middle of a signing ceremony for work training and apprenticeships, Trump realizes that his reality show, The Apprentice, was about apprenticeships.
  8. Obama gives the 2018 Nelson Mandela Annual Lecture in South Africa, where he alludes to Trump without calling him out by name. He says these are strange and uncertain times, with the rise of strongman politics around the globe.
  9. Starting August 1, people can download plans for 3-D printable guns. None of which will be traceable because they don’t have a serial number. Yay us.

Polls:

The only thing I’ll say about polls is that Trump’s approval numbers should’ve changed this week, but they didn’t. ‘Nuff said.