What A Day: Ben DURRR

BY BRIAN BEUTLER, PRIYANKA ARIBINDI

& CROOKED MEDIA

Tuesday, May 21, 2019

THE DAM SELF-IMBREACHES

Leading House Democrats have broken ranks and called for an impeachment inquiry, after President Trump directed former White House Counsel Don McGahn to defy their subpoena.

McGahn, who was Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s star witness, refused to appear before the House Judiciary Committee on Tuesday, where he was supposed to testify about Trump’s efforts to obstruct the Russia investigation

Why did McGahn refuse? Trump’s Justice Department issued an opinion Monday declaring McGahn immune from congressional subpoenas, while Trump threatened McGahn’s law firm with retaliation if McGahn agreed to cooperate. (In case you’re wondering, the first article of impeachment against Nixon included witness tampering.)

What happens now? A significant number of influential Democrats have demanded an impeachment inquiry, against the wishes of Speaker Nancy Pelosi. On the Judiciary Committee alone, this includes at least eight Democrats, including the committee’s vice chair, Mary Gay Scanlon. The committee’s chairman, Jerrold Nadler, has reportedly tried to convince Pelosi that the impeachment process must begin, but has been rebuffed. Other prominent Democrats who have reached their breaking point include House Budget Committee Chairman John Yarmuth, and Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-TX). Rep. Justin Amash (R-MI) has also continued to advocate for impeachment, despite immense pressure from his own party to stand down. Freedom Caucus founder… welcome to the resistance?

What’s Pelosi’s deal? During a Monday night leadership meeting, she told her caucus that the party’s messaging isn’t breaking through because everyone is talking about impeachment, and she’s long been concerned about the politics of a process that will almost certainly fail in the Senate.

But so far, the House Judiciary Committee hasn’t secured testimony from a single Russia-investigation witness, and Mueller himself is reportedly reluctant to testify publicly under the current circumstances. So it looks like the House is left with only two choices: begin impeachment proceedings, or do nothing in the face of the President’s lawless contempt for any oversight whatsoever.

Your move, Democrats.

Journalist Bryan Carmody was handcuffed for six hours as police raided his home in San Francisco on May 10 after he refused to name the confidential source who leaked him a police report about the death of a San Francisco public defender. As a journalist, Carmody is ethically bound to protect the confidentiality of his sources, and enjoys both first amendment protections and protection from California’s shield law, which was put in place to prevent authorities from forcing journalists to reveal their confidential sources. The authorities ignored all of these considerations.

In a court hearing on Tuesday, a police attorney said that Carmody would receive his seized property back, but the damage to press freedom is already done.

The Department of Homeland Security wants to take $232 million from TSA’s budget to fund border operations if Congress doesn’t agree to give the department the $1.1 billion it has requested. The money would come from a worker’s compensation fund, screening equipment funds, and apparently $3 million from loose change that travelers leave at TSA checkpoints.

At least 19 tornadoes struck the central U.S. on Monday, and continued severe weather conditions Tuesday forced flood rescues throughout central Oklahoma.

A 23-year-old transgender woman named Muhlaysia Booker was found dead from a fatal gunshot wound on a street in Dallas, just weeks after she was brutally assaulted in an apparent hate crime that was captured on video. Booker’s death does not appear to be connected to the attack, according to authorities.

One of the hosts of Fox & Friends, Pete Hegseth, has led the effort to lobby President Trump (an avid Fox & Friends fan) to pardon U.S. servicemen accused and convicted of war crimes. The White House has already prepared the paperwork for these pardons, and reportedly intends to issue them on or around Memorial Day.

Kristin Wiig’s upcoming film and several television shows have moved production out of Georgia in response to the state’s new restrictions on abortion. Georgia attracted the entertainment industry to the state with tax incentives, but many directors and executives pledged to take their money out of the state after Gov. Brian Kemp (R-GA) signed a “fetal heartbeat” bill into law, banning abortions after six weeks of pregnancy.

Newly examined documents show that the same Russians linked to U.S. election interference in 2016 also considered measures to stir racial discord and violence in America as recently as 2018. Sadly, we had that angle covered all on our own.

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai has declared that the T-Mobile-Sprint merger is in the public interest because of the companies' supposedly “significant commitments” to expand rural broadband access.

Ford has announced that it will cut 7,000 white-collar jobs—10 percent of its salaried workforce—to save $600 million a year. Over 2,000 of those jobs are in North America. General Motors cut 15 percent of its salaried and contract workers in November while closing five factories in North America. Trump’s rust belt strategy batting 1.000!

Alabama didn’t air the Arthur episode with Mr. Ratburn’s wedding because it included a same-sex marriage. In its place they decided to air a bootleg episode where Mr. Ratburn marries an AR-15.