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Mueller is laying siege to the Trump presidency

Mueller is laying siege to the Trump presidency

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Mikhaila Fogel and Benjamin Wittes write: “Today is the first day I actually thought Donald Trump might not finish his term in office,” said the legal commentator Jeffrey Toobin on CNN last Thursday. “This is the beginning of the end for Trump,” declared Neal Katyal, a former acting solicitor general, on MSNBC. “The deal may be among the biggest news in the nearly 18-month investigation,” wrote Barry Berke, Noah Bookbinder, and Norman Eisen in The New York Times. It happens…

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Beto O’Rourke met with Barack Obama as he ponders a 2020 presidential campaign

Beto O’Rourke met with Barack Obama as he ponders a 2020 presidential campaign

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The Washington Post reports: Beto O’Rourke, weighing whether to mount a 2020 presidential bid, met recently with Barack Obama at his post-presidency offices in Washington. The meeting, which was held on Nov. 16 at the former president’s offices in Foggy Bottom, came as former Obama aides have encouraged the Democratic House member to run, seeing him as capable of the same kind of inspirational campaign that caught fire in the 2008 presidential election. The meeting was the first sign of…

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Britain can legally cancel Brexit. That’s EU advice – but will parliament agree?

Britain can legally cancel Brexit. That’s EU advice – but will parliament agree?

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Jolyon Maugham writes: We can cancel Brexit. That’s what the advocate general to the court of justice of the EU, Europe’s highest court, advised this morning. The advocate general, Manuel Campos Sánchez-Bordona, said that the UK can cancel its article 50 notice unilaterally. This means that if our own parliament decides that our interests are best served by remaining, the EU cannot stand in our way. His decision is not certain to be followed by the full court – which…

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Mueller is building a conspiracy case that’s likely to ensnare Trump and his family

Mueller is building a conspiracy case that’s likely to ensnare Trump and his family

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Peter Zeidenberg writes: It appears that the Mueller investigation is reaching its endgame. After a two-month hiatus for the midterms, special counsel Robert Mueller’s team is prepared to once again show its work. These developments are ominous for President Donald Trump. In short order, expect to see a case of conspiracy to interfere with the 2016 election to be laid out in court. Defenders of the president have, despite the obvious progress of the Mueller investigation — more than 30…

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Trump’s latest tweets cross clear lines, experts say: Obstruction of justice and witness tampering

Trump’s latest tweets cross clear lines, experts say: Obstruction of justice and witness tampering

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The Washington Post reports: President Trump took to Twitter Monday morning, haranguing special counsel Robert S. Mueller III and witnesses to his ongoing Russia investigation. His tweets have become a common morning occurrence, particularly in recent weeks. But legal experts are calling Monday’s missives a newsworthy development that amounts to evidence of obstructing justice. Trump’s first statement went out after Michael Cohen, his former personal attorney who pleaded guilty last week for lying to Congress about the president’s real estate…

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Trump’s skepticism of climate science is mostly echoed across GOP and those who know better remain silent

Trump’s skepticism of climate science is mostly echoed across GOP and those who know better remain silent

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The Washington Post reports: Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.), who has become a staunch Trump ally since running against him for president in 2016, has consistently attempted to push his party to address climate change. He worked in 2010 with then-Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.) to try to pass comprehensive climate and energy legislation, an effort that ultimately failed. Graham has endorsed a carbon tax and challenged his party to stop giving credence to the out­liers who question the science….

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The GOP regards disenfranchising minority voters as a legitimate political strategy

The GOP regards disenfranchising minority voters as a legitimate political strategy

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Adam Serwer writes: North Carolina Senator Jesse Helms opposed the Civil Rights Act, calling it “the single most dangerous piece of legislation ever introduced in the Congress.” He opposed the Voting Rights Act. He filibustered a bill to establish a federal holiday to honor Martin Luther King Jr., accusing the civil rights leader of “action-oriented Marxism. He protected South Africa’s apartheid government from sanctions. He backed white rule in Rhodesia. And when he died in 2008, President George W. Bush…

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How Trump fuels the fascist right

How Trump fuels the fascist right

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Bernard E. Harcourt writes: President Trump makes constant use of the language and logic of the “new right,” a toxic blend of antebellum white supremacy, twentieth-century fascism, European far-right movements of the 1970s, and today’s self-identified “alt-right.” And his words and deeds have empowered and enabled an upsurge of white nationalists and extremist organizations—from Atomwaffen to the Proud Boys to the Rise Above Movement—that threatens to push the country into violent social conflict. Amplified by social media, this new right…

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GOP unwilling to face Trump’s deep toxicity among moderate voters, especially women

GOP unwilling to face Trump’s deep toxicity among moderate voters, especially women

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The New York Times reports: With a brutal finality, the extent of the Republicans’ collapse in the House came into focus last week as more races slipped away from them and their losses neared 40 seats. Yet nearly a month after the election, there has been little self-examination among Republicans about why a midterm that had seemed at least competitive became a rout. President Trump has brushed aside questions about the loss of the chamber entirely, ridiculing losing incumbents by…

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If dying could be sweet

If dying could be sweet

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When former presidents or other famous people die, the news of such events is always dominated by recollections of their lives. Generally we learn only the most abbreviated details of the circumstances in which life came to an end. The final days of George H W Bush’s life were unusual in that they were shared with his lifelong friend James Baker and other friends and family members who then graciously provided the New York Times with an account that conveys…

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The liar-in-chief promotes a culture of lying

The liar-in-chief promotes a culture of lying

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The New York Times reports: When Michael D. Cohen admitted this past week to lying to Congress about a Russian business deal, he said he had testified falsely out of loyalty to President Trump. When he admitted this summer to lying on campaign finance records about payments to cover up a sex scandal during the campaign, he said it was at Mr. Trump’s direction. Paul Manafort and Rick Gates, former senior Trump campaign officials, lied to cover up financial fraud….

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CIA intercepts underpin assessment Saudi crown prince targeted Khashoggi

CIA intercepts underpin assessment Saudi crown prince targeted Khashoggi

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The Wall Street Journal reports: Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman sent at least 11 messages to his closest adviser, who oversaw the team that killed journalist Jamal Khashoggi, in the hours before and after the journalist’s death in October, according to a highly classified CIA assessment. The Saudi leader also in August 2017 had told associates that if his efforts to persuade Mr. Khashoggi to return to Saudi Arabia weren’t successful, “we could possibly lure him outside Saudi Arabia…

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Cops worked to put serial sex abuser, Jeffrey Epstein, in prison. Prosecutors worked to cut him a break

Cops worked to put serial sex abuser, Jeffrey Epstein, in prison. Prosecutors worked to cut him a break

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The Miami Herald reports: Long before #MeToo became the catalyst for a women’s movement about sexual assault — and a decade before the fall of Harvey Weinstein, Bill Cosby and U.S. Olympic gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar — there was Jeffrey Edward Epstein. Epstein, a multimillionaire hedge fund manager whose friends included a constellation of entertainers, politicians, business titans and royalty, for years lured teenage girls to his Palm Beach mansion as part of a cult-like sex pyramid scheme, police in…

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Even from jail, sex abuser, Jeffrey Edward Epstein, manipulated the system. His victims were kept in the dark

Even from jail, sex abuser, Jeffrey Edward Epstein, manipulated the system. His victims were kept in the dark

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The Miami Herald reports: Jeffrey Edward Epstein appeared at his sentencing dressed comfortably in a blue blazer, blue shirt, jeans and gray sneakers. His attorney, Jack Goldberger, was at his side. At the end of the 68-minute hearing, the 55-year-old silver-haired financier — accused of sexually abusing dozens of underage girls — was fingerprinted and handcuffed, just like any other criminal sentenced in Florida. But inmate No. W35755 would not be treated like other convicted sex offenders in the state…

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U.S. taxpayers have so far paid an estimated $83 million for Donald Trump’s golfing expenses

U.S. taxpayers have so far paid an estimated $83 million for Donald Trump’s golfing expenses

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Quartz reports: The US Secret Service has allocated more than $90,000 for golf cart rentals in South Florida this winter, ostensibly to protect president Donald Trump while he hits the links. According to federal spending data, the agency is set to pay a Delray Beach company as much as $92,740 between now and June for an unspecified number of “golf cars.” The firm supplying the carts, Maddox Joines Inc., does business as “Sunshine Golf Car” and is a straight 24-mile…

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A world stage for unapologetic murderers

A world stage for unapologetic murderers

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Politico reports: The strongmen are rampaging across the world stage with impunity, and they know it. Only moments after European Council President Donald Tusk used a news conference to urge G20 leaders to address Russia’s aggression in Ukraine and Saudi Arabia’s evident disregard for human rights, video footage of the leaders’ arrivals showed Russian President Vladimir Putin slapping hands in jovial fashion with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman as they took their seats for the summit’s opening session. It…

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