We covered Bridgegate so closely for so long that I’d be remiss in not noting here that two ex-Chris Christie aides received actual jail time today for the still-unbelievable scheme: two years for Bill Baroni and 18 months for Bridget Kelly.
The Senate Intelligence Committee examination of Russian interference in the 2016 election may turn out to be the seminal investigation of the Trump presidency. This afternoon’s press conference by the chair and ranking member put Trump himself squarely in the crosshairs and, in stark contrast to the circus on the House side, suggested a seriousness of purpose that the Trump White House won’t be able to parry with bombast and misdirection. No congressional committee investigation is perfect or pure, but clearly the Senate probe is where the action will be. Here’s what we learned.
Medicaid expansion passed both houses in Kansas in recent days, even as the Republican Congress was trying to end Medicaid as we know it, but Gov. Sam Brownback (R) vetoed the legislation this morning. Among his reasons:
Most grievously, this legislation funnels more taxpayer dollars to Planned Parenthood and the abortion industry. From its infancy, the state of Kansas has affirmed the dignity and equality of each human life. I will not support this legislation that continues to fund organizations that undermine a culture of life.
More soon.
That was fascinating. As a coda to our family vacation, when we came through customs at JFK last night we learned that (actually it took some time to learn what was going on) Daniel, our eight year old son, had been flagged as a person of interest for additional questioning and possible detention. So without being told what was going on, we were told to wait in an endless line made up mainly of foreign nationals (possibly some green card holders, wasn’t altogether clear). Our ten year old Sam was beside himself because he was being inconvenienced; Daniel was deeply sad sac thinking he’d done something wrong – other than founding the criminal syndicate he runs.
Mike Flynn tells the FBI he’s willing to talk, but only for immunity. But you only get immunity if you deliver someone else higher up the ladder. And there’s only one person higher up the ladder.
Mike Flynn’s offer to testify in exchange for immunity and the apparent lack of anyone willing to take him up on his offer raises more questions than it answers. In fact, I’m not sure it answers any questions at all. There are various relatively minor offenses for which Flynn could plausibly be prosecuted – failure to file under FARA for his lobbying on behalf of the Turkish government, failure to file proper paperwork with the Pentagon for his paid speech in Russia, possibly untruthful answers to the FBI about his conversations with Russian Ambassador Kislyak. These charges in themselves would be thin gruel in terms of matters of any true public concern. But any competent lawyer would still insist on immunity before letting his client testify on anything related to these possible bad acts. Flynn’s lawyer states rather grandly that his client “has a story to tell and … very much wants to tell it.” But Alex Whiting of Harvard Law School argues pretty convincingly that what we learned last night likely means either that Flynn doesn’t have a story prosecutors are willing to barter for or isn’t yet willing to tell it.
So who knows what the immunity request means? Far more interesting to me is how Flynn ties in to the latest revelation in the unfolding Nunes debacle.
Let’s walk through this.
Just a thought. But as I survey the whole horizon, it has occurred to me more than once that the geopolitical dimension of the Trump/Russia scandal, questions of collusion, coordination, potential blackmail … these may end up being dwarfed by the related story of President Trump’s vast and overlapping ties to the post-Soviet criminal underworld.
Obviously, these two stories are far from distinct.
I mentioned in my post below that there’s a very tight timeline or chain of events tying Trump’s claims of Obama wire-tapping and the various doings of Ezra Cohen-Watnick. Let’s walk through it.
Trumpers looking for ways to sideline intelligence community and gain access to raw intel as they monitor Trump/Russia probe.
President Trump’s dismal poll numbers continue to be one of the few sources of joy and mirth in the bleak political hellscape his presidency has created. From a low of 35% a week ago in the daily Gallup Approval tracking poll, his approval number perked back up to 40%, only to fall back this weekend to 38%. Sad!, as they say.
