Good Day, Newsies! There’s lots going on so let’s jump right in:
🇫🇷 Notre Dame Can Be and Will Be Restored 🇫🇷
The shock of yesterday’s fire in Paris which caused great damage to the Cathedral of Notre Dame has not yet worn off. But there is good news: The stone structure survived the fire and so the structure, the walls and the bell towers were all saved. What is more, scientists some years ago made extensive 3D imaging of the cathedral and its many treasures. All can be restored or at least replicated. Not perfect, but something. Finally, at least one wealthy person, Francois-Henri Pinault, has pledged over $100m toward the rebuilding.
🔍 That Russher Thing 🔎
The Mueller Report, at last! On Thursday, as Rachel said, we’ll have something. It remains to be seen what is left of it once Barr gets through redacting it, but there will be something in Robert Mueller’s words, to read:
Mueller report’s release is expected Thursday, Justice Dept. says, Devlin Barrett, Washington Post, April 15, 2019.
The Justice Department expects to release on Thursday a redacted version of special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s report on President Trump, his associates and Russia’s interference in the 2016 election, setting the stage for further battles in Congress over the politically explosive inquiry. ✂️
In a letter to Justice Department leaders dated March 27 but made public only Monday, Nunes and Rep. Adam B. Schiff (D-Calif.) cited laws that entitle the Intelligence Committee to review [any redacted intelligence and counterintelligence information]. Schiff is the panel’s chairman, Nunes its top Republican. ✂️
Barr has spent weeks redacting sensitive information from the report in preparation for its public release. He is shielding four specific categories of information: grand jury material, details whose public release could harm ongoing investigations, any information that would “potentially compromise sources and methods” in intelligence collection, and anything that would “unduly infringe on the personal privacy and reputational interests of peripheral third parties.”
But Will It Be Deja Vu All Over Again…
The kind of behavior described in the next article — in addition to the possible conflicts of interest (see below in Lightning RoundUp) — puts Barr in a difficult position and increases the pressure to do the right thing. Unless, of course, he is complicit and also criminally exposed — in which case, Mueller already knows this and it WILL eventually all come out, one way or another:
Barr’s Playbook: He Misled Congress When Omitting Parts of Justice Dep’t Memo in 1989, Ryan Goodman, JustSecurity.org, April 15, 2019.
On Friday the thirteenth October 1989, by happenstance the same day as the “Black Friday” market crash, news leaked of a legal memo authored by William Barr. He was
then serving as head of the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel (OLC). It is highly uncommon for any OLC memo to make headlines. This one did because it was issued in “unusual secrecy” and concluded that the FBI could forcibly abduct people in other countries without the consent of the foreign state. The headline also noted the implication of the legal opinion at that moment in time. It appeared to pave the way for abducting Panama’s leader, Gen. Manuel Noriega.
Members of Congress asked to see the full legal opinion. Barr refused, but said he would provide an account that “summarizes the principal conclusions.” Sound familiar? In March 2019, when Attorney General Barr was handed Robert Mueller’s final report, he wrote that he would “summarize the principal conclusions” of the special counsel’s report for the public.
When Barr withheld the full OLC opinion in 1989 and said to trust his summary of the principal conclusions, Yale law school professor Harold Koh wrote that Barr’s position was “particularly egregious.” Congress also had no appetite for Barr’s stance, and eventually issued a subpoena to successfully wrench the full OLC opinion out of the Department.
What’s different from that struggle and the current struggle over the Mueller report is that we know how the one in 1989 eventually turned out.
meanWhile Smart People on the side of justice weigh in
Congress has a clear legal path to the full Mueller report, Jill WIne-Banks and Gerald Goldman, WAPO Letters to Editor, April 15, 2019.
The full Mueller report could be released — if the House opens preliminary impeachment hearings, Philip Allen Lacovara and Lawrence H Tribe, WAPO Opinion, April 8, 2019.
📌It seems like a fight is brewing over the Mueller Report. We will see what we see on Thursday and then what happens. I bet Speaker Pelosi, and the Democratic chairs of various committees to whom this investigation is of interest are prepared.
And it’s not over yet, not by a long shot
New court filing reveals that many key facts Mueller uncovered are still being investigated, Cody Fenwick, Alternet, April 15, 2019.
Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation is dead. But what it has uncovered is still very much a live matter.
While we wait for the release of a redacted version of Mueller’s report on Thursday, the office of the U.S. attorney in the District of Columbia filed a response Monday to the Washington Post’s request to unseal redacted documents in Paul Manafort’s case. Since Manafort was a key focus of Mueller’s team, and Mueller’s team has now concluded its work, it was reasonable to think much or all of the material that had been hidden in his case could now be revealed.
Not so, the government said. The reasons documents were redacted in Manafort’s case still apply, Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan Kravis argued. And the two main reasons information was redacted is that it relates to ongoing investigations or the privacy of uncharged individuals. 👀
finally, a guide to help you make sense of everything
The Insiders’ Guide To the Mueller Report, Darren Samuelsohn, Politico, April 15, 2019.
From the moment it drops, the scramble will be on—to defend the president, to plan new lines of attack, or to put this whole big crazy story into the wider context of American history. So much material released all at once raises the question of how to dig in on something so dense, with so much buildup, where the feeding frenzy will be instant among the cable TV chattering classes and Twitter piranhas. ✂️
The report by special counsel Robert Mueller could be the biggest oppo dump in history. It could be a fizzle. Although Mueller didn’t find enough evidence to charge President Donald Trump for conspiring with Russia to win the White House, and Attorney General William Barr has concluded that it doesn’t show Trump obstructed justice, the report itself is expected to be rich with details uncovered by the sweeping 22-month investigation.
We already know something about the way the report will look, courtesy of Barr. The attorney general last week told Congress that the document will be color-coded to explain why lawyers for Mueller and DOJ have redacted some of the most sensitive material. But he promised that, for all the gaps, the report won't end up looking totally like Swiss cheese. "You will get more than the gist," Barr told a Senate appropriations subcommittee.
(We will soon see, I guess!)
🌎 Sanctuary Cities Step Up 🌎
Not only Chicago and New York, but also several California cities have declared they would welcome asylum seekers and other immigrants to their cities. This is the American spirit we strive toward.
Trump's threat of sending immigrants to sanctuary cities isn't a threat at all, Rex Huppke, Chicago Tribune, April 15, 2019.
Let me reiterate: The president of the United States of America is gleefully boasting about a plan to send what he believes are dangerous foreigners to major U.S. cities so he can get back at American citizens who disagree with him.
That’s not a president, it’s a tin-pot dictator. And an impotent one at that. Because what he thinks is scary doesn’t scare many Americans at all.
Mayor Rahm Emanuel, addressing Trump’s idea, released this statement: “What President Trump fails to understand is that America is a sanctuary country. Small, medium and large cities across the nation are suddenly and rapidly identifying as sanctuary cities because of the abandonment of Americans values, ideals and cultural destiny under President Trump’s watch. Not only does hate have no home in Chicago, but, as a welcoming city, we would welcome these migrants with open arms, just as we welcomed Syrian refugees, just as we welcomed Puerto Ricans displaced by Hurricane Maria and just as we welcome Rohingya refugees fleeing genocide in Myanmar.”
Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf tweeted: “It’s time to stop fanning hate and division @realDonaldTrump — I’ve been consistent and clear: #Oakland welcomes all, no matter where you came from or how you got here.”
🎶 Musical Interlude 🎶
Fifty Reasons Donnie Owes Vlad…
Here’s an interesting thread to quickly refresh your memory about what is in the public record showing the collusion between Donnie and the Russians. It’s a timely reminder that this situation is not going to go away or be permanently swept under the rug. It is complicated and there are many threads to unravel, which accounts partly for the time its taking, and also of course these malign forces both within our country and outside of it (it’s a global cabal, including international mobs) are not going to give up power and money without a vicious fight.
But they will lose, eventually. There are more of us than there are of their ignorant foot soldiers (the deplorable 25-30% which sadly can be found in any population on the planet) and we are awake now and not going back to sleep any time soon. (Click to read the 50 reasons):
And By The Way, Donny is Not Winning This
More than just dodgy Deustche Bank may be implicated in the international money laundering of Trump and his associates. Check this out: Congressional Investigators Subpoena Deutsche Bank and Other Lenders, Emily Flitter and David Enrich, New York Times, April 15, 2019.
Congressional investigators on Monday issued subpoenas to Deutsche Bank and numerous other banks, seeking information about President Trump’s finances and the lenders’ business dealings with Russians, according to several people with knowledge of the investigation. ✂️
The subpoenas, from the House’s Intelligence and Financial Services committees, were the latest attempts by congressional Democrats to collect information about the finances of Mr. Trump and his family-owned company. Another House committee is separately seeking Mr. Trump’s personal and corporate tax returns.✂️
Multiple other banks — including Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America — also received subpoenas on Monday, according to two people with knowledge of the subpoenas. They spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss an open investigation.
The subpoenas seek records related to business the banks did with a list of suspected money launderers from Russia and other Eastern European countries, according to a person familiar with the subpoenas.
And, of course, the Democratic-led House Committees are performing appropriate oversight:
Cummings Issues Subpoena To Trump Accountant For Financial Info, Josh Kovensky, TPM, April 15, 2019.
House Oversight Committee Chair Elijah Cummings (D-MD) issued a subpoena to Mazars USA accounting firm for detailed information on President Trump’s financial history on Monday.
He describes the scope of that investigation as “to determine whether he has undisclosed conflicts of interest that may impair his ability to make impartial policy decisions, to assess whether he is complying with the Emoluments Clauses of the Constitution, and to review whether he has accurately reported his finances to the Office of Government Ethics and other federal entities.”
He sent a letter requesting the information from Mazars in March. The firm said that it would comply with a subpoena, according to a statement from Cummings earlier this month.
🎶 Musical Interlude 🎶
🐘 First Official Republican Primary Challenger 🐘
You know what this means: Republicans in disarray!
Story: Bill Weld launches campaign against Trump for 2020 Republican nomination, Robert Costa, Washington Post, April 15, 2019
Weld, 73, will face a steep climb against Trump, an incumbent who is deeply popular with Republican voters. Weld last won an election in 1994 and has drifted politically in recent years, even serving as the vice presidential candidate for the Libertarian Party in 2016. But he is now determined to offer the GOP a moderate alternative.✂️
A White House official, who was not authorized to speak publicly, dismissed Weld on Monday as a “relic” and someone who “is a big liberal” on climate change and drug issues. Weld has called climate change a dire threat to the nation and backed the use of medical marijuana for veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.✂️
“It is a long shot. But it’s certainly less of a long shot than Donald Trump was when he announced and no one thought he was serious,” Stuart Stevens, Weld’s strategist and adviser since the 1980s, said in an interview. “Tonally, he’s going to run a very different campaign. He’s not mad at the world. He’s not a victim.”
Merde-A-GoGo*
(*title thanks to Wolverine) This Russher thing is also this Chiner thing and Panamar thing and Cypriot thing and so on. International, global crime. It’s going to take a while to unravel and good people are on it. Remember this story?:
Feds are investigating possible Chinese spying at Mar-a-Lago and Cindy Yang, sources say, Jay Weaver, Nicholas Nehamas, Sarah Blaskey, Caitlin Ostroff and Alex Daugherty, Miami Herald, April 1, 2019.
Here’s an update:
Chinese woman arrested at Mar-a-Lago is denied bail, Xuan Thai and Rich Schapiro, NBC News, April 15, 2019.
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — A federal judge on Monday denied bail to a Chinese woman who was arrested while trying to enter President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago club with a trove of electronic devices.
Yujing Zhang, 33, has remained behind bars since March 30 when federal prosecutors say she lied to Secret Service agents to gain entry to the private club. Zhang pleaded not guilty Monday to charges of lying to federal agents and illegally entering a restricted area.
Federal Magistrate Judge William Matthewman refused to set bail for Zhang, saying he believed she posed an "extreme risk of flight" if released. Matthewman cited her financial resources in China and her lack of ties to the U.S.
I 💜 Nancy, Too, Goodie!
Newsies, this woman is on our side!
We Have Many Decent Americans On Our Side
Yes, you are Chief. Thank you.
🚑 Healthcare News 🚑
Go Washington state! From a great DailyKos diary:
Meanwhile, From the Schadenfreude File, This Assh*le…
Probably nothing will come of this, but it is heartening to know that even within the world of Faceborg, there is a group of shareholders who are trying to oust Zuck:
Facebook's activist shareholders are making another dramatic bid to oust Mark Zuckerberg and abolish the firm's share structure, Jake Kanter, Business Insider, April 13, 2019.
-
Facebook's activist shareholders are making another attempt to fire Mark Zuckerberg as chairman and rip up the company's share structure.
- They will vote on two proposals to overhaul Facebook's governance at the social network's annual shareholder meeting on May 30.
- Some investors are unhappy about the tsunami of scandals that have engulfed Facebook and believe that Zuckerberg has too much power.
- Their chances of success are extremely slim, however. Facebook vehemently disagrees with the proposals and Zuckerberg has more than half of the voting power at the firm.
this Assh*le too…
This guy was just confirmed last week! All the “best people”… lol
Interior Dept. Opens Ethics Investigation of Its New Chief, David Bernhardt, Coral Davenport, ew York Times, April 15, 2019.
WASHINGTON — The Interior Department’s internal watchdog has opened an investigation into ethics complaints against the agency’s newly installed secretary, David Bernhardt.
Mr. Bernhardt, a former lobbyist for the oil and agribusiness industries, was confirmed by the Senate last week to head the agency, which oversees the nation’s 500 million acres of public land and vast coastal waters. He has played a central role in writing policies designed to advance President Trump’s policy of “energy dominance” and expanding fossil fuel exploration. He has been dogged by allegations of ethics violations since joining the Trump administration as the Interior Department’s deputy secretary in 2017.
Eight senators, all Democrats, and four government ethics watchdog groups have requested that the Interior Department’s inspector general open formal investigations into various aspects of Mr. Bernhardt’s conduct. Among the chief complaints have been allegations, revealed by three separate New York Times investigations, that Mr. Bernhardt used his position to advance a policy pushed by his former lobbying client; that he continued working as a lobbyist after filing legal paperwork declaring that he had ceased lobbying; and that he intervened to block the release of a scientific report showing the harmful effects of a chemical pesticide on certain endangered species.
And this assh*le again…
US gave verbal pledge of no death penalty for Assange: Sources, Tara Palmeri and Aicha El Hammar Castano, ABC News, April 15, 2019.
The process of moving Assange out of the Ecuadorian Embassy started a year ago, on March 7, 2018, when the Ecuadorians made their first request to the U.K.: a letter asking for written assurances that the U.K. would not extradite Assange to a country where he could face the death penalty, according to the Ecuadorian Interior Minister Maria Paula Romo.
Ecuador's direct outreach to the U.S. came six months later, through the country’s ambassador to Germany, Manuel Mejia Dalmau, according to U.S. and Ecuadorian officials. Dalmau sought a private "emergency meeting" in Berlin with the U.S. Ambassador to Germany, Richard Grenell, viewed as one of President Donald Trump’s closest envoys in Europe, the officials said. ✂️
U.S. Justice Department officials would not confirm that the U.S. agreed to take any sentence off the table. But they pointedly noted that the charge the U.S unsealed against Assange does not represent a capital offense and carries a maximum of five years in prison.
The Justice Department has 60 days from the time of the request for extradition to add any charges and would not comment on future charges.
and: U.S. secretly filed charges against Assange last year, Pete Williams, NBC News, April 15, 2019.
⚡️Lightning RoundUp ⚡️
⚡️👀 !!: Should William Barr Recuse Himself From Mueller Report? Legal Experts Say Attorney General's Ties to Russia Are Troubling, Cristina Maza, Newsweek, April 15, 2019.
⚡️ Robert Mueller's Russia Report Is Coming Thursday. Here's What You Need To Know, Philip Ewing, NPR News, April 15, 2019.
⚡️ 🚨!!: Trump’s sister quietly retired in February, and it’s actually a really big deal, Matthew Yglesias, VoxNews, April 11, 2019.
⚡️ Good riddance to bad law: Arizona Teachers Can Now Discuss LGBTQ Issues Without Worrying About The Law, Mariana Dale, NPR News, April 15, 2019.
⚡️ Yeah, we know: Trump Is Just the Symptom. The Republican Party Is a Disease Eating Away Our Democracy. Michael Tomasky, April 15, 2019.
⚡️ Long overdue: House forms first Black Maternal Health Caucus, Amanda Michelle Gomez, ThinkProgress, April 9, 2019.
⚡️ Hmmm: Millennial Trump Supporters Are Breaking With Their Party Over Climate Change, Oliver Milman, Mother Jones, April 15, 2019.
⚡️ Shep Smith, of course: Fox News Anchors Shut Down Conspiracy Theories About Notre Dame Fire, Justin Baragona, The Daily Beast, April 15, 2019.
⚡️ Oops! They’re attacking each other: Jerome Corsi Accuses Roger Stone Of Violating Gag Order In Bizarre Filing, Tierney Sneed, April 15, 2019.
⚡️ Perspective: Global terror attacks fell by a third in 2018, and deaths caused by them by a quarter, Lucy Purdy, Positive News, April 11, 2019.
⚡️ They came from Anatolia (Turkey)!: Stonehenge: DNA reveals origin of builders, Paul Rincon, BBC Science, April 15, 2019.
⚡️ Could’ve used this yesterday in Chi-town! Inexpensive ‘First-of-its-Kind’ Device Can Generate Electricity From Snowfall, Good News Network, April 15, 2019.
🎶 Musical Interlude 🎶
💚 RoundUp WindDown💚
I’m still finding my energy fades more quickly than I expect so that’s it from me for today. I’d like to post To Dos for consideration — but I’ll rely on fellow gnusies to put some in the comments. Also local news, please!
As always, Take good care of yourselves and those you love. Happy Tuesday!