Impeachment – National News Roundup

Year 3, Week 45 (November 24-30)

December 2, 2019December 3, 2019 Kara HurvitzLeave a comment

This week had unusually little active news, comparatively speaking, and it makes me nervous–I know we had a holiday, but that doesn’t always slow things down these days. Given the upcoming impeachment schedule, it seems safe to conclude this is the calm before the storm. Let’s enjoy it while we can, before we’re all back in the desk fort.

Standard standing reminders apply: I am no journalist, though I play one in your inbox or browser, so I’m mostly summarizing the news within my area of expertise. NNR summaries often contain some detailed analysis that’s outside my expertise–I’m a lawyer, not a tax return!–but all offroad adventures are marked with an asterisk. And, of course, for the things that are within my lane, I’m offering context that shouldn’t be considered legal advice. Okay, I think that’s about it for the disclaimers. Onward to the news!

Constitutional Crisis Corner:

Most of this week’s Whistleblowing Ukraine Biden Bingo was about anticipated deadlines, which are just not as exciting as live testimony. That said, there are still several things to know:

Existing Impeachment Updates.* Despite the slow week, there were a few updates worth noting. Notably, the New York Times reminded us that Trump knew about the whistleblower complaint before his administration released aid to Ukraine. This is important because it implies that he already knew what he was being accused of when he had his “no quid pro quo” phone call, which was his main defense to the allegations. (Of course, Trump denies this fact, but since he literally lies twelve times per day, that isn’t exactly persuasive.) There were also deposition transcripts released that point a major finger at the Office of Management and Budget, where two officials apparently resigned because the office was withholding aid to Ukraine and there were all kinds of structural shenanigans in play.

Administrative Anger Synopsis.* Speaking of Trump lies, he’s spent a lot of time this week apparently forgetting every order he ever gave Guiliani as more damning Ukraine information comes to light, going so far as to point-blank answer questions with “You know, Rudy has other clients, other than me…” This, of course, makes perfect sense read alongside the Republican report issued this week, which asserts that Trump did order an investigation but it was legal because Ukraine is sketchy. Meanwhile, our current Secretary of State is spreading the debunked theory that Ukraine hacked our 2016 election, so that’s encouraging.

Upcoming Schedule Notes.* This past week may have been a bit quiet, but there’s a lot to watch in the upcoming week as we enter a more public phase of investigation. The House Judiciary Committee is scheduled to hold its first impeachment hearing on Wednesday, after the Intelligence Committee report circulates internally today and votes on the report’s release tomorrow. The Judiciary Committee is giving the administration until December 6 to decide whether they want to present defending evidence. Since an appeals court has agreed to stay enforcement of the executive immunity case, there’s nothing forcing them to participate–so it’s not surprising that the administration has already declined in the most obnoxious way possible by the time I write this, a full six days before the deadline.

This week’s Disregard of Governing Norms were not impeachment-flavored for the first time in months, but they were still deeply annoying. Here’s what I have for you:

Fake Spying Claims. It’s not due out for another week, but news outlets are reporting that a forthcoming Department of Justice inspector general report is expected to find that the FBI never spied on Trump during his campaign. This, of course, does raise the question of why current Attorney General William Barr testified otherwise to Congress, if it never happened. Needless to say, this doesn’t inspire confidence in Barr, as last time I checked it is in fact against the rules of professional conduct to straight-up lie to tribunals.

Trump Oddities. We had a lot of off-the-wall behavior from Trump and Co this week that wasn’t quite constitutional crisis territory, but was plenty obnoxious. First there were Trump Jr’s instructions to the GOP base that they should pick fights with liberals at the Thanksgiving table, which wasn’t a thing in our house but my condolences if it showed up in yours. Then there was Trump’s strange trip to Afghanistan over Thanksgiving, where he claimed to be reopening talks with the Taliban and posed for selfies with stationed troops. Finally, more Stephen Miller emails got leaked, reminding people that we should maybe not have a white supremacist setting immigration policy.

Your “Normal” Weird:

2020 Campaign Weirdness. There was a lot of campaign strangeness this week, but for once, it was mostly Republican candidates in the news: 1)The Texas GOP accidentally sent the Democrats their talking points (which, embarrassingly, is not even the first time this year this has happened); 2) Trump intimated he wants his pardoned war criminals to campaign with him, apparently seeking that “I’m not just the President, I’m also a client” vibe; 3)Ilhan Omar’s GOP opponent got banned from Twitter for suggesting that Omar should be hanged; and 4) Trump has announced he won’t let Bloomberg News into his events because Mike Bloomberg announced he’s running in 2020.

The Bad:

Tax Return Stall. Shortly before the holiday, the Supreme Court issued a very short opinion that stayed implementation of a recent appeals court order regarding Trump’s tax returns. The decision effectively maintains the status quo while the Trump administration prepares a brief due Thursday, which will either convince SCOTUS to hear the case or make them toss it out the door. The interim decision isn’t designed to be any kind of final decision, and is just a pause while SCOTUS decides next steps–it ends immediately if they skip over the case, or ends when the judgment issues if they do decide to hear it. That said, the pause might be an early indication that SCOTUS wants to hear this case.

The Good:

Recent Court Resilience. Despite the iffy news above, we did have at least one good case this week. The House Oversight and Reform Committee is suing William Barr and Wilbur Ross over their 2020 census shenanigans, trying to get the subpoenas for information enforced. If this seems delayed to you, that’s because it is–the committee is using the lack of absolute immunity determined by the recent case brought by Don McGahn as a new basis for suit.

So that’s what I have for this week, and I swear I double-checked that there wasn’t more. For making it through, you deserve this video of a man and his raven and an eventual better government. I’ll be back next week with more (and hopefully better) news, and I hope you will be back as well–but in the meantime, feel free to ping the National News Roundup ask box, which is there for your constructive comments. Send me questions! Send me feedback! Send me your leftover pie!

Year 3, Week 44 (November 17-23)

November 25, 2019November 26, 2019 Kara HurvitzLeave a comment

This week’s public hearings were absolutely bonkers, and the fallout created was no better. The next few weeks are likely to be a wild ride that requires our careful attention–I’ll keep folks posted to the extent that I’m able. And for readers who want to go over the news with a fine-toothed comb, the Impeachment Inquiry page on the WTFJHT forum remains a great resource.

Standard standing reminders apply: I am no journalist, though I play one in your inbox or browser, so I’m mostly summarizing the news within my area of expertise. NNR summaries often contain some detailed analysis that’s outside my expertise–I’m a lawyer, not an ethics probe!–but all offroad adventures are marked with an asterisk. And, of course, for the things that are within my lane, I’m offering context that shouldn’t be considered legal advice. Okay, I think that’s about it for the disclaimers. Onward to the news!

Constitutional Crisis Corner:

Somehow, Whistleblowing Ukraine Biden Bingo news was even more bombastic than last week, with a similarly full hearing schedule and some truly game-changing testimony. It’s a lot, so bear with me:

Tuesday: Fourteen Hours Thus.* Tuesday was a very full day, with Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, Vice Presidential adviser Jennifer Williams, former U.S. envoy to Ukraine Kurt Volker, and former NSC official Tim Morrison all on the roster. There were some important moments of testimony–in particular, Volker changed his testimony to say there was quid pro quo and he now sees that the Burisma Holdings investigations were really looking into Hunter Biden, which feels like foreshadowing for the rest of the week. Similarly, Vindman provided important information despite some pretty personalized antagonism.

Wednesday: Thrown Under the Bus.* Early testimony was quickly overshadowed on Wednesday when U.S. Ambassador to the E.U. Gordon Sondland shoved half the Trump administration into the path of the oncoming Impeach Express. Most notably, Sondland added Vice President Mike Pence to the list of public officials that were “in the loop” about an intentional quid pro quo campaign–and that will likely have lasting inquiry implications. Wednesday afternoon also saw testimony from Defense Department official Laura Cooper and State Department official David Hale; though less sensational, the testimony confirmed more about the timing of Ukraine receiving the quid pro quo request.

Thursday: Ukraine’s Not After Us.* On Thursday, NSC member Fiona Hill and State Department official David Holmes testified. Hill in particular took no prisoners, taking the GOP to task for advancing Russian narratives and portraying Ukraine as an enemy. Additionally, both witnesses further clarified the timeline of events and provided more evidence that Trump was in on the entire thing. Less urgently, Thursday also featured an amusing live C-SPAN call that isn’t breaking news but is worth watching anyway.

It’s Friday, Drafting Slog.* At the end of the week, the impeachment inquiry had crystallized into an extremely strong case for several impeachable offenses, and the Intelligence panel has chosen to move forward with drafting the final report despite stonewalling from several would-be witnesses. Once the Intelligence Committee findings have been summarized, the resulting report will go to the House Judiciary Committee, which will begin drafting articles of impeachment. (Intelligence Committee head Adam Schiff has indicated he expects this to happen shortly after Thanksgiving.) Meanwhile, chaos abounds as everybody tries to prep for the inevitable articles–in the Senate, both sides of the aisle are thinking about how to plan the trial, which has the White House weirdly jazzed because they hope to turn it into a kangaroo court and make Joe Biden testify.

Unsurprisingly, this week’s Disregard of Governing Norms has a lot of ties to the impeachment circus itself, but there was at least one big, unrelated story that should really be getting more press. Here’s what I have for you:

Administrative Anger Response. There were a number of eye-raising activities from the Trump camp as the week wore on, but some particular lowlights stood out: 1) Lindsey Graham appears to have launched a probe into the Bidens, presumably at Team Trump’s request; 2) Trump entertained the two moderate Republicans most likely to waver at the White House (though at least it wasn’t Camp David); 3) Trump held a scattered press conference with his new bestest bud Magic Marker Notes, prompting this Internet Ramones video and a lot of raised eyebrows; and 4) News trickled out about Pompeo’s plan to run for the Senate, which is particularly wild given the news below.

Nunes News and Pompeo Press. Giuliani associate and all-around sketchball Lev Parnas flipped to the side of impeachment this week. In the process, he disclosed that ranking Intelligence Committee member Devin Nunes was apparently involved in the Ukraine scandal his committee’s been investigating–so that was a quick trip to an ethics investigation. As one Twitter user put it, “So through weeks of hearings, while Rep Nunes sat there getting increasingly sullen and cranky and sad sack in his public statements he in fact was part of the effort the committee was investigating.” Meanwhile, an ethics group released documents further implicating Mike Pompeo, who apparently had repeated direct contact with Rudy Giuliani during the whole affair.

War Crime Pardon Party (cont). Trump’s sketchy war crimes pardon party from last week continues to pay miserable dividends, with Trump insisting that the Navy cannot remove SEAL qualification from one of the men who was pardoned. Since the Navy isn’t especially noted for being chill about pictures with corpses, and they’re also supposed to be in charge of their own qualification system, they did not take kindly to this interference. Eventually this standoff culminated in Secretary of Defense Mark Esper firing his own Navy Secretary because the man wouldn’t cede the call to Trump.

Your “Normal” Weird:

2020 Election Chaos. Well, 2020 election news remains chaotic and strange, but at least it makes good SNL fodder. Wednesday’s debate came and went, with no obvious upsets afterwards (though of course that could change at any time). In other predictable news, Mike Bloomberg finally announced his candidacy, giving people from New York yet another embarrassing politician on the national stage.

Stopgap Shuffle. Congress passed another stopgap bill via CR this week, funding our federal systems and staving off a government shutdown for now. Since Trump signed the bill on Friday, that’s November sorted. Unfortunately, the bill only lasts until 12/20, so we’ll be back here again this time next month. If this year goes anything like last year, we’re not out of the woods just yet; I’ll keep folks posted on what happens when the next deadline rolls around.

The Bad:

Corruption in the Middle East.Current Secretary of State Mike Pompeo issued a statement this week saying that Israeli settlements in the West Bank somehow don’t violate international law, which reverses over four decades of official U.S. policy. Several outlets are referring to this statement as “a gift to Netanyahu,” which is both accurate and particularly galling when Netanyahu became the first sitting Prime Minister to be indicted for corruption in the same week. So essentially, we have a guy under investigation for corruption reversing four decades of established policy to give another guy under investigation for corruption the green light to continue violating an international peace treaty. Regardless of your opinion of Palestinian occupation, this type of lawlessness erodes our institutions on a very fundamental level, and it’s not okay.

The Good:

Recent Court Resilience. We had some awesome court cases this week, I’m happy to report. The retrial of Scott Warren, who faced criminal charges for giving food and water to migrants at the southern border, ended in another not guilty verdict–gosh, can’t imagine why juries keep refusing to convict this guy for his humanitarian aid. And just today, a federal judge issued an emphatic opinion that White House attorney Don McGahn must be compelled to testify, noting that “absolute immunity . . . simply does not exist” and “Presidents are not Kings.” (She also compared the administration’s logic to that in the George Orwell book Animal Farm, which tells you how Extremely Done this district court judge was.) And on the subpoena end, Rudy Giuliani’s firm is being investigated as part of a much broader corruption probe in Manhattan.

So that’s what I have for this week, and I think we can all agree that it’s more than enough. For making it through, you deserve these foxes chillaxin‘ and an eventual better government. I’ll be back next week with more (and hopefully better) news, and I hope you will be back as well–but in the meantime, feel free to ping the National News Roundup ask box, which is there for your constructive comments. Send me questions! Send me feedback! Send me reprieve from the cruelty of linear time!

Year 3, Week 43 (November 10-16)

November 18, 2019November 26, 2019 Kara HurvitzLeave a comment

Impeachment public hearings began this week, and I could easily write ten pages of analysis just on those two hearings alone–increasingly, it looks like Democrats are playing Battleship while Republicans are playing Deuces Wild. We’re due for a lot more of the same this upcoming week, so we’ll have to see what kind of impact the hearings have over time. In the meantime, there’s already a lot to puzzle over.

Standard standing reminders apply: I am no journalist, though I play one in your inbox or browser, so I’m mostly summarizing the news within my area of expertise. NNR summaries often contain some detailed analysis that’s outside my expertise–I’m a lawyer, not a women’s soccer team!–but all offroad adventures are marked with an asterisk. And, of course, for the things that are within my lane, I’m offering context that shouldn’t be considered legal advice. Okay, I think that’s about it for the disclaimers. Onward to the news!

Constitutional Crisis Corner:

Another week, another very full card of Whistleblowing Ukraine Biden Bingo, which continues to dominate the news cycle. Since we had three days of testimony and six witnesses, it’s getting a bit crowded down there, so this week’s news is separated out by day:

Wednesday: Witness Back-to-Back.* The first open impeachment hearings took off at a full gallop; Ambassador William Taylor and deputy assistant to the State Department George Kent definitely did not disappoint. Taylor disclosed new information–a second phone call overheard by his aide that directly tied Trump to the push to politically pressure Ukraine–apparently brought to us by Sondland continuing the Team Trump tradition of making sensitive phone calls in crowded restaurants. (Though Taylor’s info was second-hand, a second staffer came forward and corroborated with a firsthand account the next day.) Taylor also confirmed that Trump prioritized a Biden investigation over aiding Ukraine. Meanwhile, Kent confirmed that Giuliani led a smear campaign against ousted ambassador Marie Yovanovitch as part of a larger effort to ‘gin up’ investigations. The testimony was so credible and damning that Nancy Pelosi started referring to the Ukraine push as ‘bribery’ by the next day.

Friday: Sudden Tweet Attack.* Yovanovitch testified directly in Friday’s public hearing while the aide Taylor identified, David Holmes, was in a closed door deposition doing the same. Holmes apparently gave credible enough testimony behind closed doors that he may be added to the public hearing roster, so we should keep an eye on that. In the public hot seat, Yovanovitch described experiencing a smear campaign as Trump smeared her on Twitter in real time–highlighting the difficulties faced by career staffers under Trump and making Schiff mutter about witness intimidation. All told, it was a day so bizarre and grueling for Yovanovitch that it ended with Congress applauding her when she stepped down.

Saturday: Deposition Track.* Saturday was another closed deposition, but it featured the first budget official who actually showed up to testify, and he agreed that withholding aid from Ukraine sure seemed sketchy to him. The House also released transcripts of several more depositions ahead of next week’s public hearings, which will be another packed schedule–but the whistleblower remains excused for now, despite significant GOP efforts to the contrary.

As in previous weeks, Disregard of Governing Norms somehow continues on despite the impeachment circus also happening. Here’s what I have for you:

Like a Lying Stone (cont). Professional sleazeball Roger Stone was found guilty of all seven counts at the end of his trial this week, with charges ranging from witness tampering to lying to Congress to obstruction of justice. Stone makes the sixth Trump associate convicted of actions related to the Mueller investigation, and he faces up to 50 years in prison if the sentences are consecutive–let me tell you, it couldn’t have happened to a nicer oligarch. Now that the Stone trial has rolled on by, the tea leaves are suggesting that the next Trump associate to be prosecuted will be Rudy Giuliani, and I’ll keep folks posted on that.

Stephen Miller vs SPLC. The Southern Poverty Law Center issued a report this week that analyzed emails from Stephen Miller to discuss his ties to white nationalism. The White House countered by claiming that it’s antisemitic to say that Miller is a white nationalist because he’s Jewish. It is this Jewish author’s considered opinion that it is more antisemitic to be a white nationalist, and Stephen Miller’s own emails suggest he quite clearly qualifies. So, y’know, takes one to know one.

War Crime Pardon Party. Despite everything else going on this week, Trump still found time to pardon two service men who were charged with murdering unarmed people and a third convicted of posing with a corpse. The pardons went against the advice of the Pentagon, which wanted to maintain accountability and preserve chain of command–for some reason, they thought it was important to have ‘functional military tribunals’ with ‘predictable outcomes’ that ‘prevent rampant war crimes.’ All three of the men pardoned, incidentally, were white men originally charged with murdering people of color, and in other breaking news water is wet.

Your “Normal” Weird:

2020 Election Chaos. 2020 election news continues, and continues to be weird. Bloomberg still hasn’t officially entered the race as I type this, but he sure did just so happen to apologize for his extremely unpopular stop-and-frisk policies as mayor of New York in the early 2000s. Meanwhile, Deval Patrick did formally announce he plans to run, and speaking as an MA resident who lived through the Patrick era, I cannot overstress how much this is the solution nobody needed. Completing the bland candidate trifecta, and illustrating why neither of these rich dudes’ services are required, a poll in Iowa suggests Pete Buttigieg is now leading in the primary.

Your Semi-Annual Trump Physical Nonsense. Trump visited the Walter Reed Medical Center this week, which he is passing off as part of his yearly physical–but the trip didn’t follow protocol and was several months ahead of schedule. (Good luck getting your insurance company to cover two annual physicals in a nine-month period if you’re as healthy as Trump claims to be.) Some outlets have begun opining that we need a second opinion on his health–which is probably true for a lot of reasons, honestly–but with this administration, his head could be falling off and we’d still just get an announcement that “the President is in perfect health.” So we’re unlikely to see more on the matter.

The Bad:

Immigration Updates. This wasn’t exactly a great week for immigration. ICE was in the news for holding a record number of unaccompanied minors in detention–almost 70,000, to be precise. (I don’t even know where to begin on how horrifying that is; kids aren’t supposed to be in custody long-term at all, which means ICE basically failed to do its job nearly 70,000 times in 2019.) The administration also proposed dramatic fee hikes for immigration paperwork, including the country’s first-ever asylum fees. Though the proposed asylum fee is deplorable–freedom from persecution should not have a price tag–the naturalization fee increase of 83% is also particularly noteworthy, because it would force residents to pay over a thousand dollars to experience full safety from deportation. And speaking of deportation, the DACA case went before the Supreme Court, where conservative justices appeared to signal they plan to end the program (though we’ll know more when the order issues).

Senate and School Shootings. In a stunning display of poor governing and worse timing, Senate Republicans stalled out a responsible gun law on Thursday as yet another school shooting in California killed two people and wounded four more. The proposed legislation would have required universal background checks for private gun sales, and passed in the House earlier this year. Needless to say, this remains an excellent time to call your reps and tell them to ask the Wizard for a heart and/or a brain.

The Good:

Recent Court Resilience. There were a fair number of good court cases again this week. A federal district court found that the U.S. violated the Fourth Amendment by searching people’s phones for no reason at U.S. ports of entry. The DC appeals court reiterated that Trump has to turn over his financial records to Congress, refusing to rehear the case, though Trump is appealing to SCOTUS on that one. Speaking of SCOTUS, they refused to dismiss a case brought by Sandy Hook parents against gun manufacturers. And in the sports world, the U.S. women’s national soccer team was also granted class status in their gender discrimination lawsuit this week, which will significantly broaden the scope of the suit. So that’s pretty exciting as well!

2019 Election Aftermath (cont). In the final gubernatorial election of the season, Louisiana’s election went to the Democratic incumbent, who threw traditional Southern shade at Trump in his victory speech (saying “As for the President, God bless his heart”). Louisiana is the second red state this month to ignore Trump’s strong endorsement and elect a blue governor–officially, even, since Kentucky’s GOP candidate conceded this week. Some analysts are supposing that these victories will cause Republicans to stop mindlessly backing him during impeachment proceedings, and we can only hope.

So that’s what I have for this week, and I think we can all agree that it’s more than enough. For making it through, you deserve these beautiful portraits of fruit and an eventual better government. I’ll be back next week with more (and hopefully better) news, and I hope you will be back as well–but in the meantime, feel free to ping the National News Roundup ask box, which is there for your constructive comments. Send me questions! Send me feedback! Send me reprieve from the cruelty of linear time!

Year 3, Week 38 (October 6–12)

October 15, 2019October 21, 2019 Kara HurvitzLeave a comment

Another week, another mess of chaos passing for government. The news continues to be dominated by bizarre dog-and-pony nonsense and impeachment horrorshow, but we’ve also added tragedy in Syria to the fray — and all stories are rapid-cycling at a rate that makes September look positively sedate. (I like a good Tilt-a-Whirl, but this is ridiculous.)

Standard standing reminders apply: I am no journalist, though I play one in your inbox or browser, so I’m mostly summarizing the news within my area of expertise. NNR summaries often contain some detailed analysis that’s outside my expertise — I’m a lawyer, not Captain Kangaroo! — but all offroad adventures are marked with an asterisk. And, of course, for the things that are within my lane, I’m offering context that shouldn’t be considered legal advice. Okay, I think that’s about it for the disclaimers. Onward to the news!

Constitutional Crisis Corners:

Okay, we have yet another wild round of Whistleblowing Ukraine Biden Bingo, which is the gift that just keeps on giving:

Impeachment Inquiry Updates.* The House committees have been very busy in the past week after the White House made it abundantly clear that they were not going to ‘play ball,’ as it were. Democrats subpoenaed both the Secretary of Defense and head of the Office of Management and Budget, frustrated by the White House’s snitches-get-stitches attitude, and it made underlings start talking — within a few days they had some really useful testimony. And to cap off the week, two sketchy Giuliani associates were arrested at the airport holding one-way tickets to not-here — I hope Rudy collected that $500K from them upfront. And though it’s not actually House-related, I thought y’all might want to know that Penzy’s Spices has spent over $90K on Facebook impeachment ads, making it (as Washington Post notes) the highest spender not named Trump and the official NNR spice brand. (They didn’t pay us to say that, though, because they already spent that money calling for impeachment.)

Dirt Excavation Synopsis.* As mentioned above, House reps and reporters have been busy, and there has been a lot of new information this week. Here’s what we learned: 1) Giuliani tried to get Tillerson to kill prosecution of his client in 2017, because hey, not like he prosecuted people for a decade or anything; 2a) Deutsche bank doesn’t have any Trump financial records, because 2b) Deusche bank may have destroyed said Trump financial records; 3) Former Ukrainian Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch believes she was let go because Trump didn’t like her anti-corruption policies; and 4) Then-current national security adviser John Bolton didn’t like Giuliani’s approach to Ukraine, calling the troll himself “a hand grenade [who would] blow everybody up” and the general approach “a drug deal.”

Administrative Anger Synopsis. Just like every other week, the administration and allies are full of dangerous nonsense about the impeachment inquiry, which is starting to branch out in both scope and speakers. Among the lowlights: 1) A GOP lawmaker calling the entire thing a ‘malicious kangaroo court’ and assuming that Captain Kangaroo presides over said court; 2) Trump sharing a fake video that showed him shooting members of the media at a Florida resort; 3) Trump holding a horrifying rally in Minneapolis that featured slagging on Somali refugees, spread baseless rumors about Ilhan Omar, and some new lies about Syria; 4) the Trump administration calling the entire inquiry ‘a seditious conspiracy’; and 5) Mike Pence, Rudy Giuliani, and the OBM all refusing to answer subpoenas pursuant to the inquiry.

As the situation in Syria worsens, Disregard of Governing Norms has become its own mushroom cloud of misery — it’s definitely back to a fully-blown subsection. Here are this week’s developments, with the caveat that military aid is pretty far outside my wheelhouse:

Shameful Withdrawal from Syria (cont).* The situation in Syria is chaotic and unpredictable after Trump went ahead and withdraw U.S. troops from Syria, just as he forecast, while Turkey went on to strike the hell out of our Kurdish allies, also forecast. Experts warned that this action could lead to a resurgence of ISIS, and we definitely did see hundreds of ISIS prisoners escape in the chaos (to say nothing of the solid we’re currently doing the terrorist group in terms of recruitment fodder). But we also watched desperate Kurdish fighters handle border protection by allying with Assad forces, which gives the Russia-backed Syrian government free rein in a region that had successfully held them back for seven years. And, of course, none of this even touches on the horrifying conditions that were created by the strike, which Trump initially justified with false and distracting claim that Kurdish people didn’t fight at Normandy. While people expressed disapproval and frustration at the horrorshow above, Trump announced he was ordering a full withdrawal from Syria, because Murrica. But almost immediately after, he decided to also sanction Turkey, ordering a fifty percent increase tariff on steel and a suspension of trade negotiations while he withdraws said troops. (Go ahead, try to find a coherent foreign policy in this paragraph. I dare you.)

Christian ‘Leadership.’ It’s nowhere near the same caliber of bonkers as the above paragraph, but Pompeo also made minor headlines this week for being allergic to the Establishment clause and giving a speech on being a Christian leader. This is a pretty disturbing disruption of separation of church and state, which is never popular with the evangelical set but is, in fact, in the Constitution.

Your “Normal” Weird:

Saudi Arabia Troop Shuffle.* In what I’m sure is just a wacky coincidence, on the same week that Trump announced full withdrawal from Syria he also announced that the United States is sending a comparable number of troops to Saudi Arabia. Since they’re ostensibly helping hold off Iran, this wouldn’t be that strange, except that his whole justification for the Syrian removal was getting troops out of the Middle East, and also Saudi Arabia is apparently paying us. So… uh… that’s a thing that’s happening.

The Bad:

Your Weekly Immigration Hell. No matter what else is going on, the Trump administration finds time to be terrible to immigrants. As he forecast in Minneapolis, Trump’s newest thing is that he wants to give cities the ability to refuse to house refugees. (He actually wrote an executive order on this a couple of weeks ago, around the same time that he announced the U.S. would only accept 18,000 refugees in FY2020.) This is likely to face challenges just like the ones I’m outlining below, so we’ll want to keep an eye on it; the rest of the immigration news is thankfully much better this week.

Power Outages in CA.* Northern California experienced widespread planned blackouts this week in an effort to avoid wildfires caused by high winds, leaving 2.5 million people without power in total. This is an unprecedented planned outage that seems likely to become a new normal under global warming, and therefore deserves our attention. Though nobody enjoys being without power, the blackouts are particularly hard on people living with disability, who often need electricity for medical reasons. It’s the state’s hope that this is better than another raging fire, but we’ll have to see how everyone is doing when the outages end.

The Good:

Recent Court Resilience. This week has been a chaotic nightmare, but at least we’ve had some really good court results. At the time that I type this, eight different courts have issued injunctions pausing new rules that would penalize indigent immigrants, with one judge calling the rules “repugnant to the American dream.” This new rule set was supposed to go into effect today, and the injunctions are a major advocacy win on this issue. A federal court also held this week that Trump couldn’t divert military funding for his vanity wall, because this was an illegal appropriation of funds. And a federal appeals court also ordered Trump to turn over financial records, which is how we learned that Deutsche didn’t have them in the first place.

So that’s what I have for this week, and I think we can all agree that it’s more than enough. For making it through, you deserve this intrepid pupper and an eventual better government. I’ll be back next week with more (and hopefully better) news, and I hope you will be back as well — but in the meantime, feel free to ping the National News Roundup ask box, which is there for your constructive comments. Send me questions! Send me feedback! Send me stability in Syria!

Year 3, Week 37 (September 29–October 5)

October 8, 2019October 21, 2019 Kara HurvitzLeave a comment

Y’all, it hasn’t even been a full week since I last sent you an update, and yet we have three weeks’ worth of news. Much of it is venal nonsense, but that doesn’t mean it’s unimportant — unfortunately for us, we have to keep paying attention.

Standard standing reminders apply: I am no journalist, though I play one in your inbox or browser, so I’m mostly summarizing the news within my area of expertise. NNR summaries often contain some detailed analysis that’s outside my expertise — I’m a lawyer, not a text message! — but all offroad adventures are marked with an asterisk. And, of course, for the things that are within my lane, I’m offering context that shouldn’t be considered legal advice. Okay, I think that’s about it for the disclaimers. Onward to the news!

Constitutional Crisis Corners:

The main contents of the CCC this week are another wild round of Whistleblowing Ukraine Biden Bingo, which is the gift that just keeps on giving. (I’ve summarized as best I can since this story keeps on growing new heads, and have folded things relating back to the Russia investigation into this section.) Here’s what I have for you, and I’m sorry about the mess:

Impeachment Inquiry Updates.* As the House committees proceeded forward with their inquiries, the impeachment process just gets more and more bonkers — and none of the malfeasance is the committees’ doing. Several committees subpoenaed Rick Perry, wanting to know about his May trip to Ukraine, and subpoenaed Mike Pence while they were at it. On Thursday, the Intelligence Committee released a cache of internal administration text messages that all but yelled ‘WE ARE SETTING UP SOME QUID PRO QUO NOW.’ (Seriously, one text literally says, “As I said on the phone, I think it’s crazy to withhold security assistance for help with a political campaign” and the recipient replies, among other things, “I suggest we stop the back and forth by text.”) We also saw at least one more Ukraine whistleblower entered the scene, and they are being represented by the same legal team. By the end of the week, a federal judge had ordered Trump not to destroy evidence in a mostly-unrelated case; I guess she just watched this week’s news and figured she might as well.

Dirt Excavation Synopsis.* Just like last week, a whole lot of (new) dirt shook out when Democrats and reporters started picking up rugs. Here are some of the things we learned: 1) Trump apparently may have asked Boris Johnson for help discrediting the Mueller report; 2) Mike Pence was definitely involved in some form, though it’s unclear whether he knew exactly what Trump was having him do; and 3) Trump is now fighting with Italy because he thinks without evidence that they spied on him in 2016.

Dirt Excavation Synopsis.* Just like last week, a whole lot of (new) dirt shook out when Democrats and reporters started picking up rugs. Here are some of the things we learned: 1) Trump apparently may have asked Boris Johnson for help discrediting the Mueller report; 2) Mike Pence was definitely involved in some form, though it’s unclear whether he knew exactly what Trump was having him do; and 3) Trump is now fighting with Italy because he thinks without evidence that they spied on him in 2016.

Administrative Anger Synopsis. I think Trump is starting to lose it, y’all (if he ever had it to begin with). Among this week’s impeachment lowlights: 1) The Trump administration continuing to refuse subpoenas, despite warning that it would be treated as obstruction of justice; 2) Trump losing his entire business at Reuters journalist Jeff Mason and threatening to sue several people in front of the poor President of Finland, who didn’t get much of a press conference but sure did get the meme treatment; 3) Nickelback demanding Trump stop using their copyrighted material to bag on Biden; 4) The State Department inspector general requesting ‘urgent’ briefing to Congressional staffers, which turned out to be weirdo deep state paranoia; 5) A brief disappearance of a firm website tied to Giuliani’s Ukraine work (which is fair, actually — I wouldn’t want to be linked to Rudy Giuliani either); and 6) Rick Perry getting thrown under the Ukraine bus because he’s leaving anyway so screw him, amirite?

Brand New Additional Articles? In addition to everything else happening this week, there’s some question of whether we’ll have additional articles of impeachment after some of the week’s events. For one thing, Trump said the quiet part out loud on the White House lawn this week, telling reporters that China and Ukraine should both investigate Biden and removing literally all doubt about whether he had done that particular crime. But there are also updates with the IRS whistleblower I mentioned last week, because the Treasury’s inspector general is now investigating the complaint. So we’ll need to keep an eye on both of these.

This week also saw the return of Disregard of Governing Norms separate from the impeachment inquiry, because nothing actually keeps this government from diversifying its own corruption very long — and we had some really bad news on this front today. Here’s what happened:

DOJ’s The Puppet.* The Washington Post ran a story this past week reminding us that the Department of Justice has intervened in at least three cases where Trump is suing somebody, and most recently intervened in the lawsuit about releasing his taxes. I honestly cannot overstate how very corrupted bananas this is — the Department of Justice is really not supposed to be the President’s personal law force, and ‘intervene’ is a fancy legal way of saying “showed up and demanded to be let in on the action.” This is a wild form of embezzlement that involves co-opting lawyers instead of state funds, and I can’t believe it’s not getting more press.

Shameful Withdrawal from Syria.* Trump’s administration announced late last night that he plans to withdraw U.S. troops from Syria, despite the fact that they have been stationed there to protect Kurdish allies fighting ISIS for years and Turkey has announced a massive strike is pending in the area. Many outlets have commented on the timing of this decision, which was issued shortly after Trump spoke with the Turkish President on Sunday night. Even Republicans are rebuking Trump on this, because it could have major consequences for the fight against ISIS as well as our Kurdish allies. Trump sort-of-maybe wavered today in response to the outcry, posting creepy dictator tweets about how he’ll “totally destroy and obliterate the Economy of Turkey” etc etc, but the withdrawal had already began when he said this. We’ll have to see what he does next, unfortunately.

Your “Normal” Weird:

Elizabeth Cougar Warrencamp.* We all had a moment of zen this week when Jacob Wohl decided to host one of his famous driveway press conferences again, which are always a bastion of journalistic integrity. This one featured a 24-year-old veteran who couldn’t give his statement with a straight face claiming that Elizabeth Warren started a BDSM relationship with him. Nobody would blame her for just ignoring this non-story, but of course Elizabeth Warren had a plan for that nonsense. Her single elegant tweet trolled Wohl, promoted a signature policy platform, and reminded us why we stan.

The Bad:

Your Weekly Immigration Hell. This was another bad week for immigration, and I honestly don’t know how the administration even had the time for it. First they announced that they are going to start collecting DNA from detained immigrants, because that is super legal and definitely not a search and seizure violation of the 4th Amendment. Then they followed that news with an announcement that the State Department would start denying visas to immigrants who can’t show they will cover their own healthcare while visiting — which, for those of you playing the home game, is probably not legal and will definitely face a lawsuit.

Guyger Scales Aftermath. Though it was validating when Amber Guyger was convicted of murder last week, many folks were frustrated by her very light sentence, which the judge on the case punctuated when she gave Guyger a hug and a gifted bible. Then, as an additional highlight of the systemic issues faced by Black Americans, a key witness on the case was fatally shot immediately after the trial concluded. Despite Guyger’s conviction, we have many, many issues of racism to address within our criminal justice system.

The Good:

Impeachment Tipping Point. The incredible outpouring of impeachment data has been overwhelming, but Americans are starting to respond to it. According to several polling organizations, public opinion now supports impeachment by a simple majority, with 74% of Democrats now supporting the endeavor. This is a promising sign, and it will encourage the House to keep issuing subpoenas to a recalcitrant White House.

Recent Court Resilience. We did see one major symbolic court win earlier today — a federal District Court judge ruled that Trump must turn over his tax returns on the Manhattan lawsuit, rejecting the argument that his current position gives him criminal immunity. The administration immediately appealed, surprising no one, but the case is still a valuable data point in the ongoing debate about Presidential immunity.

So that’s what I have for this week, and I’m sorry, but there are no news refunds. For making it through, you deserve John Scalzi’s beautiful photos of flowers and an eventual better government. I’ll be back next week with more (and hopefully better) news, and I hope you will be back as well — but in the meantime, feel free to ping the National News Roundup ask box, which is there for your constructive comments. Send me questions! Send me feedback! Send me a Time Turner; I promise I’ll use it responsibly!