BY BRIAN BEUTLER, PRIYANKA ARIBINDI 

& CROOKED MEDIA

Thursday, June 13, 2019

—Kellyanne Conway, before the government’s ethics lawyers recommended she be fired

IMPEACH THIS MOTHERFUCKER MAYBE?

On Wednesday, President Trump said that if foreign agents approach him with dirt on his political opponent, “I think I’d want to hear it.” He also contended this wouldn’t count as “interference” in the 2020 election, and that FBI Director Chirstopher Wray was “wrong” to say campaigns should contact the FBI if this happens. Very legal and very cool.

How did Democrats respond? They immediately condemned Trump. Presidential candidate Eric Swalwell even came out in favor of impeachment because of these remarks, which means more than half of all Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee now support beginning an impeachment inquiry. (Your move Chairman Nadler!)

How did Republicans respond? In three ways:

1. They tried to ignore it by running away from Capitol Hill reporters. A handful of them lightly criticized Trump, including his best pal in Congress, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), who said “I think that’s wrong. That’s a mistake. I’ve been consistent on this. If a public official is approached by a foreign government offering anything of value… the right answer is ‘no.’”
2. They tried to muddy the waters by bashing Democrats and the Steele dossier. They were referring to the fact that in 2016, Hillary Clinton’s campaign lawyers paid researcher Christopher Steele, a retired British intelligence officer, to gather information about Trump’s relationship to Russia. (NOTE: Working with opposition researchers and working with active foreign spies are not the same thing. They’re so different that even straight news outlets like CNN felt compelled to call Republicans out.)  
3. They tried to help Trump get away with it. Senate Democrats tried to force a vote on a bill that would make it illegal for campaigns not to report offers of foreign assistance to the FBI. Republicans refused to allow the vote to happen.

What Republicans didn’t do: They were unable to defend Trump. Still, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi remains opposed to an impeachment inquiry, in part because she thinks Senate Republicans will acquit him, and the whole effort will go nowhere. Maybe she’s right about the politics, maybe she’s wrong, but what’s clear is that Republicans don’t want to be caught voting to say this is all ok.

Well, there’s only one way to put all Republicans on the record about what Trump has said and done—and it’s by impeaching him.

Over to you, Democrats!

A recent “deepfake” video doctored to make Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg appear to say that he’s “one man, with total control of billions of people’s stolen data, all their secrets, their lives, their futures” has renewed the debate over social media platforms’ responsibility to police false content. (But, like… how false is that, really?)

According to Danielle Citron, a University of Maryland law professor and deepfake expert, one of these videos “could cause a riot; it could tip an election; it could crash an IPO. And if it goes viral, [social media companies] are responsible.” Do the social media companies care? Do we even have to ask?

Enter Congress. On Thursday, the House intelligence committee held the first-ever hearing about deepfakes and the national security threats they pose. There, Citron suggested Congress update the law to give platforms a choice: adopt “reasonable moderation practices,” or lose your immunity when your content leads to harm. RT, like, fave, etc.

White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders will leave the Trump administration and return to her home state of Arkansas, where the president said he hopes she will run for governor. Pro-tip: Being governor of Arkansas requires doing more than zero real work for 100 straight days.

The government’s ethics watchdog has called on the White House to fire Kellyanne Conway for repeatedly violating the Hatch Act, which prohibits government employees from campaigning for or against candidates while on the job. The White House responded by trashing the ethics office because of course it did. Democrats will host the head of that agency at a hearing later this month and have invited Conway to testify as well. Good trolling, Dems.

Justice Department prosecutors working on Attorney General William Barr’s “investigation of the investigators” want to interview CIA officers who concluded Russia interfered in the 2016 election to help the Trump campaign. You know who else concluded that? The fucking Justice Department! It’s in Robert Mueller’s indictments and report! These guys are so full of shit.

The DNC has announced that 20 Democrats made the cut for the first Democratic primary debate. Instead of listing all 20, we’ll just tell you who didn’t receive a rose: Gov. Steve Bullock (D-MT), Rep. Seth Moulton (D-MA), and some guy Wayne Messam? We’ll see you in Paradise! Anyhow, NBC News says it will “evenly and randomly” divide “top-tier” candidates between two nights.

Police officers and protesters clashed in violent riots all night in Memphis, TN, after U.S. Marshals shot and killed a 20-year-old black man Wednesday night. At least 36 officers and two journalists were injured.

A former Stanford University sailing coach will serve one day in prison, stemming from the first sentence in the Varsity Blues college admissions scandal. He admitted to accepting $610,000 in bribes, which he funneled to the school’s sailing team, in exchange for classifying two prospective students as recruits.

The LGBT political group Victory Fund will endorse Pete Buttigieg for president. Buttigieg will be the first presidential candidate to ever receive the group’s endorsement.

It’s bad enough that actress Jessica Biel is an anti-vaxx activist, but the way some media outlets have covered her reckless activism is even worse. No, she did not “reignite” the “debate” about vaccinations being safe. Vaccines are safe. Vaccines save lives. Refusing to vaccinate your children actively threatens them and the people around them. Don’t be stupid.  

House Democrats launched an investigation into Juul. According to our interns, this is why Democrats lose.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has blamed Iran for mysterious Thursday attacks on two oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman, without presenting any evidence of Iran's involvement. By no coincidence, he has also reportedly told GOP lawmakers that he thinks Congress’s 2001 authorization of military force in response to the September 11 terrorist attacks might allow the government to attack Iran. It does not authorize war with Iran, but Pompeo and other Trump administration officials have been agitating for such a war for years, and they are trying desperately to steer us in that direction. Congress, step up and stop this!

Nevada is the first state to ban employers from rejecting job applicants for failing marijuana-screening tests. Though there are some exceptions (firefighters, EMTs, employees who operate vehicles as part of their work, or who could endanger others while under the influence), Gov. Steve Sisolak (D-NV) emphasized the law’s importance given the state’s legal marijuana industry. Cc: the 10 other states (and DC) that have legalized marijuana use.

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