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BY BRIAN BEUTLER, PRIYANKA ARIBINDI & CROOKED MEDIA Monday, June 10, 2019 |
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| —Attorney General William Barr comparing himself to D-Day paratroopers |
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| THEIR DAY IN KANGAROO COURT |
| The Democratic strategy of investigating-but-not-impeaching Donald Trump was on full display today.
So how’d it go? Here are the highlights and lowlights:
Because they’ve been unable to secure testimony from former Special Counsel Robert Mueller or any of his witnesses, House Judiciary Committee Democrats invited Richard Nixon’s White House Counsel/Watergate whistleblower John Dean to testify at a hearing about obstruction of justice. They also invited former federal prosecutors Barbara McQuade and Joyce Vance.
Democrats reportedly hoped this event would be a game-changer, which is hard to figure because all three of these witnesses are cable news contributors who talk about the Mueller report on television nearly every day.
Republicans invoked something known as House “decorum” rules to prohibit the witnesses from describing Trump’s crimes as crimes. Seriously. Decorum rules!
Not surprisingly, all three major cable news networks largely ignored the hearing to cover a helicopter accident in New York City.
Lesson: Hope is not a plan; neither is expecting cable news to execute a political strategy for you.
On the other hand, the committee did reach an agreement with the Justice Department to obtain some (but not all) of Mueller’s obstruction of justice evidence. In exchange, Democrats won’t hold Attorney General William Barr in contempt of Congress.
Something is better than nothing, but the public deserves to see all of Mueller’s evidence, and Barr should be allowed to defy zero subpoenas. The truth is, the House Judiciary Committee would be in a much better position to secure evidence and testimony from real witnesses if it began an impeachment inquiry.
The good news? Chairman Jerry Nadler can start one if he wants to.
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| Trump administration officials want to strip citizenship from naturalized Americans convicted of terrorism, on the grounds that the allegiance they swore to the U.S. was fraudulent. Convicted terrorists aren’t exactly sympathetic targets, so the effort to strip them of citizenship might seem uncontroversial.
So what’s the problem? Critics note that this move would make it easier for the government to take away citizenship from other immigrants who are convicted of crimes.
President Trump himself hasn’t weighed in on this particular effort, but he has made no secret of his desire to reduce legal immigration, chip away at birthright citizenship, and strip Americans of their citizenship for trivial infractions. |
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| The deal President Trump announced on Friday to avert tariffs on Mexican imports consists primarily of commitments Mexico had already made, according to officials from both the U.S. and Mexico. This includes Mexico’s promise to deploy members of its National Guard to its southern border, and its expansion of a program allowing asylum seekers to stay in Mexico as they wait for their cases to proceed in U.S. immigration courts. It was the Kim Jong Un summit of “deals” with Mexico.
Relatedly, Trump has threatened to impose tariffs on $300 billion worth of Chinese imports if President Xi Jinping doesn’t meet with him in Japan later this month. Just when you thought we avoided one catastrophic trade war, the president might just get us into another!
Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao appointed a special liaison to help her husband, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, secure $78 million in federal funding for projects benefiting his home state of Kentucky as he seeks re-election. Chao’s most recent brush with corruption was about a week ago, when we learned she used her cabinet position to seek meetings with Chinese government officials to benefit her family’s shipping firm. Maybe Nancy Pelosi should give McConnell a choice between impeaching Trump and impeaching Chao.
Over one million people gathered in Hong Kong on Sunday to protest a bill that would allow mainland Chinese authorities to extradite individuals from the city, which is semi-autonomous from the Chinese government, to face charges in the mainland. They fear China—which just added the Guardian and the Washington Post to its “Great Firewall”—will abuse this power to take political prisoners.
Julián Castro is the first Democratic presidential candidate to propose a plan to eliminate lead poisoning. Castro, who formerly served as Housing and Urban Development Secretary under President Obama, wants Congress to allocate $5 billion a year for 10 years to replace lead pipes and tackle contamination.
Almost 400 Southern Baptist Church leaders have been convicted of sex crimes against over 700 victims since 1998. After years of resisting calls to reform, the Southern Baptist Convention will vote in its annual meeting this week on whether to create an oversight committee on abuse mishandling and implement a constitutional amendment to expel individual churches.
Former Red Sox star David ‘Big Papi’ Ortiz was shot and injured in his native Dominican Republic. He’s in stable condition and received well wishes from President Obama.
The symbolic friendship tree French President Emmanuel Macron planted with Trump last year died, lol. |
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| So Dad doesn’t have a Ridge Wallet? That’s on you. You gotta keep him up with the times. You had ONE JOB. And that overstuffed wallet that doesn’t even fit into his pocket—that’s indication numero uno that you’ve failed. But Ridge Wallet’s here to fix that problem. Get dad a chic, sleek, titanium, carbon fiber, or aluminum wallet that lets him take what he needs and ditch what he doesn’t (like your dead weight). We’re kidding, your dad loves you, and this Father’s Day he deserves a present he’ll love (and that’s not another tie).
Grab Dad a Ridge Wallet. Use code WHATADAY for 10% OFF→ |
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| When auditors for the Department of Homeland Security’s internal watchdog found problems with FEMA’s response in 12 states ravaged by extreme weather in 2016, their boss, John V. Kelly, ordered them to instead write-up “feel-good” reports. These reports glossed over the problems, “routinely praising” FEMA’s efforts from 2012-2017 as “effective and efficient.” One such report described FEMA’s response to extreme flooding that killed 13 in Louisiana as a “remarkable” success.
In 2017, the department pulled this report and others from its website, because they weren’t “compliant” with the office’s standards. Last month, the watchdogs released the results of a 14-month investigation into themselves, and how Kelly chose to flatter FEMA rather than conduct oversight. (Kelly was recused from this investigation.)
In response to news reports last week on the investigation’s findings, Kelly announced his early retirement today.
Hecukva job, Kelly! |
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| California is poised to become the first state in the U.S. to open its Medicaid program to offer health care to low-income undocumented adults between the ages of 19 and 25. “California believes that health is a fundamental right,” said Holly Mitchell, the state senator who led budget negotiations in Sacramento. The plan would cover 90,000 people at a cost of $98 million, and California will also offer financial assistance to help families who earn as much as six times the federal poverty level afford their insurance premiums. |
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