Friday, January 18, 2019

Senate GOP blocks bill to reopen Department of Homeland Security


Kaine to force Senate to hold rare Saturday session amid shutdown


New filing in United States v. Manafort: Response to Order of the Court


The right to vote is the cornerstone of our democracy. Democrats will lift up the voices of all Americans with our #ForThePeople Act #HR1:


BREAKING:US govnmt confirmed it has been holding an American-born journalist, who works in Iran, in jail since Sunday as a “material witness” in a case in federal court in DC and that she will be released after she testifies before a GJ ⁦


The Senate Intelligence Committee has subpoenaed conservative conspiracy theorist and special counsel witness Jerome Corsi, his attorney told The Hill. The committee is seeking both an interview and documents from Corsi.


Bush calls for end to shutdown, delivers pizza to Secret Service


A government agency “ignored the Constitution” by allowing Trump Organization to retain Trump Hotel lease when Donald Trump was elected president, the agency’s inspector general says.


There's a food line for furloughed federal workers in DC that currently stretches around the side of this building


Also really important today: Putin's approval rating is at a historic low. Only 1/3 of Russians trust him—according to a *Kremlin* pollster. Things are going to get interesting this year on both sides of the Atlantic.


Senate Republicans have announced the Senate will be effectively shut down the next 10 days. A total disgrace. If this doesn’t convince you to go out and find a Democratic candidate or cause to work for, well then...


Richard Blumenthal wants Michael Cohen to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee: "This is our Constitutional duty ... as members of Congress, a co-equal branch of government whose role is to serve as a check on the Executive Branch and the President."


MERKLEY to FBI Dir Wray: “I write to request an investigation to determine whether Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen committed perjury during her sworn testimony before the House Committee on the Judiciary on December 20, 2018.”


JUST IN: Dem senator requests FBI investigate Trump Homeland Security chief for possible perjury


NEW: Steven Mnuchin recently flew to L.A. on private jet Michael Milken, the billionaire "junk bond” king who pleaded guilty to securities fraud in 1990 and served two years in prison


Manafort just brought one of America’s most powerful law firms down with him as it just admitted to misleading the Justice Department to cover up the nature of its work for the Ukrainian government


Despite the federal government telling California it can't offer unemployment coverage to federal employees required to work without pay during the shutdown, the state's governor says "we're going to do it, and shame on them."


JUST IN: Acting OMB chief sends memo stating that "under no circumstances" during a shutdown should government aircraft be used to support a congressional delegation "without the express written approval of the White House Chief of Staff."


Fox News can’t get White House spokesman Hogan Gidley to deny Trump told Cohen to lie: "That was not a denial of my question"


"Trump’s Articles of Impeachment are Writing Themselves, with Echoes of Richard Nixon Growing Stronger" - my latest for @theintercept responding to the explosive #Buzzfeed story on Trump getting Michael Cohen to lie to Congress and obstructing justice:


‘Impeach Donald Trump’: The Atlantic says it’s time in a blistering cover story


“We have seen documents. We have been briefed on documents. We are very confident in our reporting," BuzzFeed News reporter Jason Leopold, who co-wrote bombshell new report, says


The more we learn about the Trump administration’s family separation policy, the worse it gets. They knew what they were doing. They knew the pain and suffering it would inflict. They did it anyway. And then they tried to cover it up


CNN right now: “This may be the smoking gun in the Russia investigation”


PBS NewsHour: Why many stores can’t accept food stamps during the shutdown


Ivanka Trump issues carefully worded denial of BuzzFeed report on Trump Tower Moscow


'This is witness intimidation': Internet gasps after Trump threatens Michael Cohen's father-in-law in angry tweet


PayPal is committing to fund $25 million of interest-free cash advances to help U.S. federal government employees. I feel this is neither a red or blue issue; it's a red, white & blue issue. Please help us spread the word & thank you for sharing.


That Time Michael Cohen Stuffed Trump’s Cash in a Walmart Bag


in case you were wondering how fox & friends is covering the buzzfeed story about trump ordering cohen to perjure himself


Holder: If Trump directing Cohen to lie is true, impeachment proceedings "must begin"


Pelosi spokesman releases a statement on the Afghanistan trip, says they had hoped to still go last night, but the threats after details leaked were too great. They will now postpone the trip


The Latest Revelation From BuzzFeed News: Trump Reportedly Directed Cohen to Lie to Congress


Important report by @kolga & @MLInstitute on fighting the Kremlin's disinformation warfare. I'll reiterate what I've said for years, that only playing defense is a losing game. Deterrence is essential.


The Washington Examiner article the president is quoting is very bad. The “prayer rugs” claim was made by a single rancher who would not allow her name used and who apparently provided the journalist no evidence


Analysis: Cohen bombshell could significantly change Mueller debate


Conspiring to commit perjury again?


“I am rock solid. My sourcing on this goes beyond the two that are on the record. This 100% happened,” @a_cormier_ says about his BuzzFeed report that President Trump directed Michael Cohen to lie to Congress about proposed Moscow project.


"Border wall won’t stop migrants but will increase use of smugglers"


Buzzfeed: Trump instructed Cohen to lie to Congress


Anarchists are just as fed up with the shutdown as the rest of the country


Donnie Deutsch on @JoeNBC "This is the tip, tip, tip of the iceberg for a president that's going down hard." Join us in the #WarOnTreason Chip in if you can:


These explosive @Buzzfeed revelations should cause soul-searching by those who have assisted @realDonaldTrump in attacking Mueller & the FBI. They should prepare themselves for the possibility they may have been wrong, they may have been used, and the President might be a crook.


New, w @swin24: John Dowd, Trump's ex-lawyer who tried to raise money for Manafort's defense, says he still talks to Trump every week. Giuliani says Trump's lawyers consult w Dowd


Big blow for Putin in the Netherlands. Dutch Supreme Court rules that Russia illegally bankrupted Yukos


New FARA disclosure on @OpenSecretsDC: Saudi Arabia's government continues to pay ex-Congressman McKeon to be its foreign agent in ongoing lobbying & influence operations costing at least half a million dollars even as other lobbyists distance themselves


Surprise! We need the federal government.


A Canadian citizen has been sentenced to death in China for allegedly planning to smuggle meth out of the country


"There may be no way out of this mess until something disastrous happens."


Mnuchin refuses to testify at hearing on shutdown impacts


The Department of Defense has identified three of the four Americans killed in Syria on Wednesday: Army Chief Warrant Officer 2 Jonathan R. Farmer, 37 Navy Chief Cryptologic Technician Shannon M. Kent, 35 DOD civilian Scott A. Wirtz


Mnuchin refuses to testify at hearing on shutdown impacts


Waiting for Tweety McTweeterson to wake up and see the Buzzfeed news and go off...


More bad news inbound for Zuckerborg.


Exclusive: The making of Trump's Enemies List


Trump ordered his lawyer to lie to Congress. There is a lot much more treachery in this report by @JasonLeopold and @a_cormier_, but that alone is criminal and impeachable. Congress should get started on that. It isn’t too early. Really, it’s far too late.


14 Republican senators are on-record holding a president accountable for obstruction: Bill Clinton


Nancy Pelosi: "The date of the State of the Union is not a sacred date. It's not constitutionally required, it's not the Presiden't's birthday, it's not anything."


Can you do me a favor? Can you retweet this? It’s video I found of Trump saying he:


Perdue recalls chicken nuggets after people find wood inside them


Karen and Mike Pence's astonishing moral hypocrisy


I’m told that BuzzFeed reached out to Trump’s team at 5:15 PM Eastern. Giving them about five hours to comment before publishing


Clear messages from Russia’s new ambassador to Belarus. Political integration with Russia also for military security


Cohen hired an IT firm to rig online polls in favor of Trump ahead of the 2016 election—and reportedly gave the company cash in a blue Walmart bag


The water company is authorized to shutoff the water for 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue starting February 1st for nonpayment, per their policy. This will be fun


NDAs are invalid when they exist to cover up crimes


“Once you join a criminal conspiracy, you’re all in and you are responsible for the acts of your co-conspirators that are reasonably foreseeable to you,”


I hate to add a lawyerly spin to this, but there cannot be "Executive Privilege" in a conversation between the President and the President of RUSSIA. It could be puppet - puppeteer privilege, but not Executive Privilege


Here’s Trump’s public schedule for tomorrow. (Public schedules don’t include all of a president’s activities.)


Rep. Turner: Pelosi "needs to come to some recognition that she's not equal to the President"@WolfBlitzer: "She's not equal to the President ... but the legislative branch of the U.S. government is equal to the executive branch and they are both equal to the judicial branch"


Wow. Okay, this WAS a critically important trip, because Lord knows someone needs to affirm the importance of NATO and to thank the US and ISAF troops in Afghanistan.


President Trump failed Americans in Puerto Rico with his response to Hurricanes Irma & Maria. Now he’s blocking aid to disaster-impacted communities in part as it would provide American children and families in Puerto Rico with food security. Shameful


Trisha & her family’s home was destroyed last month in a devastating wildfire. Now she & her husband, both air traffic controllers, aren’t being paid because of the government shutdown. They have 3 young children. The Senate must vote immediately to end this shutdown


Lawrence Noble, ex-FEC general counsel, says Cohen's poll payment may have violated campaign finance laws. “If Trump paid (or Cohen paid with the agreement of Trump) ... for the purpose of influencing his run for election, it was a campaign expenditure."


Tony Blair, yes really, looks in some Trump Russia trouble


Russian State Television celebrating lifting of sanctions and their ownership of the GOP.


Prison rights monitors briefly see detained American Paul Whelan in Russian prison, say he seems "healthy" and "fine"


“Members of the security detail tasked with protecting senior leaders at the Dept of Veterans Affairs followed questionable procedures that put officials' safety at risk, abused rules governing overtime pay & acted as a chauffeur for Shulkin’s wife.”


Surprisingly Nazi Richard Spencer is not a great husband.


Chris Christie: How Jared Kushner tried to stop me from running the Trump transition


“Ok. There was collusion. But we didn’t think it would work??!??!?!”


North Korean ex-spy chief arrives in Washington for talks


I'm finally reading through the court filing in the Massachusetts Sackler case. It is staggering. The Sacklers wanted to sell OxyContin as an *uncontrolled substance*. The INVENTOR of the drug had to persuade them that - while profitable - this would be a dangerous idea


How the shutdown will inflict lasting damage


.@DiamondAndSilk, have either of you faced questioning from #MuellerInvestigation yet over your close association with Michael Cohen? He did "discover" you two, didn't he?


The head of the Transportation Security Administration acknowledges to his staff that frontline TSA officers are increasingly calling out of work due to financial hardship caused by the government shutdown


As 2020 candidates emerge, the shutdown has shuttered the agency that polices elections


McConnell courting Pompeo to run for an open Senate seat in Kansas


New filing in Democratic National Committee v. Russian Federation, @WikiLeaks et al.: Amended Complaint


Private prison company making billions under #Trump is starving detainees, some of them asylum-seekers, then charging them $3.25 for a can of tuna or $11 for toothpaste. The detainees can make money for “working” — for $1 a day


Watching the meltdown in Washington makes me think of this very fine @Patbagley cartoon....


Trump's vivid imagination and caravans.


Buzzfeed reports that Trump directed Michael Cohen to lie to Congress about Trump Tower Moscow



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