You just can’t make up all the things that get uncovered by investigations surrounding this administration. This week, the guy who was trying to facilitate back-channel meetings between Trump transition staff and foreign officials was also behind a scheme to funnel money from the UAE into Democratic campaigns and PACs in 2016, including millions to Hillary Clinton’s campaign and PACs. And then when Hillary didn’t win, he and his cohorts started funneling money to Trump. This guy is an equal opportunity grifter. I can’t wait to see how this story develops.

Here’s what happened in politics for the week ending December 8…

Shootings This Week:

There were FOUR mass shootings in the U.S. this week (defined as killing and/or injuring 4 or more people). Shooters kill 9 people and injure 17 more. Unfortunately, one is being investigated as an international terrorist attack.

1. A shooter kills 2 people and injures 2 people in Montgomery AL, in what seems to be a drug-related shooting.
2. A shooter kills 2 people and injures 3 more in a home in DeSoto, TX.
3. A shooter kills 1 person and injures 4 outside a bar in New Orleans.
4. A Saudi national who was here for flight training kills 3 people on a Pensacola, Fl, base and injures 8 more. He was in the U.S. as part of a training program that included aviation and English training, and he’d been here since August 2017. He was killed during the shooting. Trump speaks with the King of Saudi Arabia, who expresses his condolences. The program that brings Saudi soldiers here for training is facing heavy scrutiny.

Russia:

1. Lisa Page, the FBI agent whose text messages with Peter Strzok were released as part of the investigation into the Russia investigation, opens up about what it’s been like to stay silent while Trump bullies her over and over again.

• • Trump has tweeted about Page 34 times. He seems obsessed with her affair with Peter Strzok.
  • She breaks her silence after Trump mocks her by faking an orgasm at a rally in Minneapolis, and so he tweets at her again. This was remarkably lewd for a sitting president.

2. Even before the DOJ’s inspector general releases his findings on the FISA warrants for surveilling Carter Page, Attorney General Bill Barr says he disagrees with the findings. The report is expected to state that the FBI was justified in opening the investigation, but that FBI personnel made some missteps.

• • IMO, Barr has kind of backed himself into a corner here by going all-in on conspiracy theories being spread by the administration. If he accepts his IG’s findings, he’s basically saying that everything he’s been saying and pushing for during his time as attorney general is wrong.
  • I’m sure we’ll get a repeat of Barr’s disinformation about the Mueller report when the report is released.
  • One thing the report is expected to show is that Josef Mifsud, the Maltese professor who told George Papadopoulos that Russians had dirt on Hillary, is not a U.S. intelligence asset who was planted as part of a sting operation. U.S. Attorney John Durham, who’s running a second investigation for Barr, says his findings so far back that up.

3. The DOJ releases additional documents from the Mueller investigation as part of a FOIA request. Here are a few things we learn in this week’s release:

• • Rob Rosenstein and Jeff Sessions considered replacing James Comey during the transition. Rosenstein thought Comey’s public comments about the investigation into Hillary’s emails violated DOJ rules.
  • However, Rosenstein was “angry, ashamed, horrified, and embarrassed” by how Comey’s firing went down. He also knew the White House was lying about it.
  • Pence was the one who pushed Trump to fire Michael Flynn for lying to him.
  • Rudy Giuliani turned down the Attorney General position because he wanted to be Secretary of State instead.
  • Jay Sekulow, White House lawyer, told Michael Cohen not to testify about certain details of the Trump Tower meeting set up by Donald Trump Jr. with Russians who said they had dirt on Hillary.
  • Paul Manafort tried to convince Rick Gates not to cooperate with the investigation, saying that Trump was supported Gates. Remember that after being convicted on several counts, Manafort agreed to cooperate, but then lied to Mueller and fed information about the investigation to the White House.
  • John Kelly backs up Don McGahn’s testimony that Trump asked him to fire Mueller. Much of this is redacted, so I don’t know if this is part of an ongoing case.

4. Last summer, Russia state TV ran a special report titled “Ukrainian Interference.” Just in case you’re wondering where that particular conspiracy theory came from. What does Putin have to say about all this?

“Thank God nobody is accusing us any more of interfering in U.S. elections… Now they’re accusing Ukraine. Well, let them sort this out among themselves.”

5. The World Anti-Doping Agency once again bans Russia from competing in the Olympics. Clean Russian athletes can still compete as unaffiliated athletes.

Legal Fallout:

1. Representative Duncan Hunter (R-CA) pleads guilty to conspiracy to use campaign funds for personal use. Hunter has maintained his innocence for a year and a half, and he continued his run for Congress even after he was indicted on 60 counts.

• • If you don’t know what he was indicted on, the court filing is worth the read. Charges include using campaign funds to fly their pet bunny in an airplane seat, falsely claiming donations to veterans organizations, using campaign funds for family vacations (to Italy, Hawaii, Las Vegas, and others), concealing their campaign fund spending, spending campaign funds to date his mistresses, and so much more.
  • He says he’s just taking a plea deal for his family, though he didn’t hesitate to throw his wife under the bus when the indictments dropped.
  • He resigns from Congress, date TBD. The House Ethics Committee instructs him to stop voting in the House. What took so long? He’s been under 60 indictments all year.
  • Hunter appealed his case in July even though his trial hadn’t even begun.

2. A federal appeals court again rules that Congress can see Trump’s banking records as part of their investigations into potential foreign influence and other misconduct. Trump asks the Supreme Court to block the subpoena.
3. George Nader is in the news again (he was a figure in the Mueller investigation). He was part of a scheme with Ahmad Khawaja and others to funnel foreign money into mostly democratic campaigns and organizations during the 2016 elections.

• • They hid the source of $3.5 million in campaign donations (the money came from the United Arab Emirates).
  • But lest you think these guys aren’t mercenaries, they also cultivated Trump campaign contacts and funneled money to Trump and his political organizations. After the election, they made a major pivot from donating to Democratic causes to donating to Republican causes.
  • The indictment implies that Khawaja hosted a fundraiser for Hillary Clinton, but doesn’t say that outright. Khawaja also hosted a reception for an elected official in 2018. There’s also no evidence that the recipients of the funds, Republican or Democrat, were aware of the source.
  • Nader is already in federal custody for other charges. That guy’s bad news.
  • Khawaja has previously been charged with helping other websites launder money. He’s also bad news.

4. Trump is making money off his campaign by renting office space to re-election committees. $1.7 million so far.

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. For the first time in over ten years, the Supreme Court hears arguments on a gun rights case. Gun owners are fighting New York’s strict rules for having a handgun at home. However, this is moot because New York already loosened up the rules.
2. Republicans confirm yet another judge who’s rated as ‘not qualified’ to a permanent seat on a federal court.

Healthcare:

1. State lawmakers from both sides of the aisle got assistance from lobbyists in writing op-eds opposing Medicare for All.

• • I get that we need issues experts to help craft our policies and our laws, but it’s out-of-control, with a handful of groups crafting so much of what goes on at the state level. You can tell by the cookie-cutter legislation that gets passed.

2. With a new Democratic majority in the state House and Senate, Virginia begins to remove the work requirements for Medicaid.

International:

1. A bipartisan group of Senators asks Trump to sanction Turkey before the upcoming NATO meetings. After Turkey purchased Russian technologies that could be used to gather intelligence on our F-35 stealth fighter jets, we removed Turkey from our F-35 program.
2. Trump has a closed-door meeting with Turkish President Erdogan at the NATO leaders meeting.
3. Wow. I guess all you need to do to get Trump to defend your interests is to argue against your own interests. In a sit-down before the NATO leaders meeting, French President Emmanuel Macron gets Trump to defend NATO by criticizing it. It was a pretty amazing thing.

• • Trump is likely still smarting from Macron’s earlier statement about NATO suffering brain death because of American leadership.

4. And speaking of the NATO meetings, it’s not an awesome couple of days for Trump:

• • A group of foreign leaders — Emmanuel Macron, Justin Trudeau, Boris Johnson, Princess Anne, and Mark Rutte — get caught on video at a reception kvetching about Trump and making a little fun of him.
  • Trudeau was defending himself being late for something, and said it was because Trump turned a 10-minute press conference into a 40-minute one (he did that with three press conferences that day).
  • Upon learning of this, Trump calls Trudeau two-faced, cancels a press conference, and leaves the summit early. Then Trump gets caught on audio saying, “That was funny when I said that guy was two-faced.”

5. Iranian President Rouhani calls for the release of innocent, unarmed protestors who were detained during the recent protests.
6. North Korea says that our earlier negotiations were just a “foolish trick,” and we should expect a Christmas present from them, likely in the form of a missile test.
7. After North Korea launches a “successful test of great significance,” Trump warns that Kim Jong Un risks losing everything if they resume hostilities.
8. A gun battle between Mexican law enforcement and cartel members near the southern border leaves 21 people dead. Most of the dead were cartel members.
9. At the request of the White House, Senator Kevin Cramer (R-ND) blocks an effort to pass a resolution recognizing the Armenian genocide.

• • He’s the third Republican tasked by the White House to block the resolution, so it’s been blocked three times. They all use the same reason… it’s not the right time.
  • Two years ago, Cramer expressed his appreciation to Dean Cain (former Superman) for raising awareness of the Armenian genocide. He was also the sponsor of a similar resolution when he was in the House.

10. China warns the U.S. against passing legislation criticizing their treatment of Uighur Muslims, especially during a trade war.
11. Even though he’s under indictment, Benjamin Netanyahu is gearing up for his next campaign for Prime Minister of Israel. He recently met with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to discuss Iran, the Israeli annexation of the Jordan Valley in the West Bank, and a U.S.-Israel defense treaty.
12. Trump considers sending an additional 14,000 troops to the Mideast to counter Iran. He’s already sent 14,000 troops to the Mideast since May.
13. Hundreds of thousands of demonstrators turn out to march in Hong Kong for Human Rights Day. The march is mostly peaceful, but peppered with some vandalism.
14. Worker protests continue in France, while anti-government protests continue in Chile. I can’t even stay on top of all the global protests anymore. Even Haitians are protesting systemic corruption in their country.
15. Youth activists fill the street of Madrid as part of a global climate protest during the UN’s COP25 climate change conference.

Legislation/Congress:

1. The Senate passes a bill to permanently fund historically black colleges and universities and other minority-serving institutions. The House has already passed it, so it’ll go to Trump for a signature.

Border Wall/Shutdown/National Emergency:

1. Trump pressured the Army Corps of Engineers to award a contract to a North Dakota company, Fisher Sand and Gravel, whose owner is a frequent Fox News guest. Officials argued against it because the bid did not meet the standards. Fisher got the contract.

• • Fisher was also hired by Build the Wall, the private organization that fundraised to help Trump build his wall.
  • Fisher has a record of environmental and tax violations.

Travel Ban/Immigration/Discrimination:

1. Trump is the first president since before Reagan who works to decrease the number of refugees we accept rather than expand our very successful programs for resettling refugees. Trump wants to reverse our progress, but the sentiment is different at a local level:

• • After Trump gave states the ability to decline to accept refugees, the Republican governor of Utah wrote to Trump asking for more. He said people in Utah “love giving them a new home and a new life.” He also says refugees become productive and responsible members of their communities.
  • On the flip side, Burleigh County, North Dakota is considering a vote on whether to become the first county in the U.S. to refuse resettled refugees.

2. Attorney General Bill Barr has given some wacky speeches lately. This week he says that if some communities don’t start showing law enforcement a little respect, maybe they won’t get any police protection.
3. George Zimmerman sues the family of Trayvon Martin for defamation. Huh? Zimmerman killed Trayvon as he was walking home one night, and got off on Florida’s Stand Your Ground law (thank you ALEC). Zimmerman’s suing for more than $100 million. Oh, and his lawyer thinks Obama is a secret Muslim who was born in Kenya. Hoo boy.
4. Officials at the southern border confiscate migrant children’s medications, including life-saving ones like asthma inhalers.
5. Video of a boy who died in ICE custody last May shows that he was in pain and distress for hours before dying from the flu. The video also shows that agents lied about some of the facts involved, including who found the body and whether they checked on him.
6. Outside lawyers find that Medicare chief Seema Veerma‘s allegations of sexual discrimination in DHHS are unsubstantiated. They also uncovered a super contentious work relationship between her and her boss, DHHS Secretary Alex Azar.
7. In a speech to the Israeli American Council, Trump lets his antisemite flag fly:

“You’re not nice people at all, but you have to vote for me. You have no choice. You’re not going to vote for Pocahontas, I can tell you that. You’re not going to vote for the wealth tax!”

8. DHS is considering taking pictures of everyone who enters and leaves the country as part of a facial recognition program. This includes U.S. citizens.

Climate:

1. Trump skips the 2019 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Madrid, but Nancy Pelosi brings a delegation in his place. Fourteen Democrats accompany her, but none of the Republican lawmakers they invited agreed to come.
2. In a complaint about water conservation bathroom fixtures, Trump says this:

“You turn on the faucet and you don’t get any water. They take a shower and water comes dripping out. Just dripping out, very quietly dripping out. People are flushing toilets 10 times, 15 times, as opposed to once.”

3. And he says this:

“There may be some areas where we’ll go the other route — desert areas — but for the most part you have many states where they have so much water — it comes down, it’s called rain. They don’t know what to do with it.”

4. He says the EPA is looking into this. I’m sorry, but if you have to flush 15 times, either you’re broken or your toilet is.
5. Months after receiving a huge backlash for proposing to authorize the use of “cyanide bombs” to poison coyotes, foxes, and feral dogs, the EPA announces that they’re going forward with their proposal.
6. Spain’s biggest gas and oil company makes a promise to become a net-zero carbon emitter by 2050.

Budget/Economy:

1. AK Steel agrees to be purchased by a mining company in a deal worth around $1 billion. That’s less than half what AK Steel’s value was before the trade wars began.
2. The Dow Jones drops three days in a row after Trump warns that the trade deal with China might not happen until after the elections next year. He says that tariffs will remain until the deal is done.
3. Trump announces tariffs on metals from Brazil and Argentina, and threatens harsher tariffs on French goods. The reason is, unsurprisingly, that he doesn’t think they’re being fair to us (everything’s so unfair!).

• • The unexpected announcement goes against their 2018 agreement, where Brazil and Argentina would accept quotas on their shipments instead of having tariffs imposed.

4. Manufacturing jobs have not only stalled, but are moving into the negative, after receiving a big boost when Trump was elected. The trade war with China undid much of that progress.

• • Typically trade policies pinch either farmers or manufacturing, but current policies are hitting both sectors.
  • The effects of the trade wars are just starting to be seen, so companies are bracing for harder times.

5. Nancy Pelosi is pushing to modify Trump’s updated NAFTA agreement by removing certain legal protections for online content because it prevents Congress from making future changes. Pelosi questions whether that should be in our trade pacts or enshrined in U.S. law. The House is finalizing their changes to Trump’s updated NAFTA agreement (USMCA), and expects a vote next week.
6. Job growth in November was 266,000, getting a little boost from the end of the GM worker strike. The unemployment rate and the numbers of unemployed were little changed.
7. The number of people applying for unemployment benefits decreased to its lowest level in seven months—close to a 50-year low. It’s partly attributable to Thanksgiving.
8. The Trump administration formalizes a new rule for work requirements for SNAP recipients, which could cause up to 700,000 people to lose food assistance.

Elections:

1. After Mike Bloomberg enters the Democratic presidential primary race, his media outlet, Bloomberg News, announces they won’t do any investigative journalism into any of the Democratic primary candidates. Trump’s 2020 campaign then announces that they won’t give Bloomberg News press credentials to cover Trump’s campaign events.
2. I’m sure you noticed that I haven’t been reporting on any Democratic presidential campaign activities. I’m waiting for things to shake out a bit and hopefully narrow down, and then I’ll dive in.
3. The House votes to restore those parts of the Voting Rights Act that were struck down by the Supreme Court. The court’s argument was that we’re in a post-racial society so we don’t need those kinds of rules anymore. The vote was along party lines, and it likely won’t pass the Senate.
4. North Carolina judges rule that the latest version of electoral maps will be used in the 2020 elections. The judges also say there’s not enough time between now and the primaries to determine whether they’re still gerrymandered, so that’s weird.

Miscellaneous:

1. Trump makes an unannounced visit to Dover Air Force Base to receive the remains of two slain soldiers who were killed in Afghanistan.
2. Trump further strains relations with the Pentagon when he brings two of the soldiers he pardoned onto the stage with him at a fundraiser. These guys were convicted of war crimes. Military leaders fear the pardons undermine the rules of military conduct.