🎧 ‘The Daily’: Mueller’s Questions for Trump | New York Times

Listened to ‘The Daily’: Mueller’s Questions for Trump by Michael Barbaro from nytimes.com

The New York Times has obtained the list of questions that Robert S. Mueller III, the special counsel looking into Russia’s election interference, wants to ask President Trump. The wide-ranging queries offer a rare view into an investigation that has been shrouded in secrecy.


On today’s episode:

• Michael S. Schmidt, who has been covering the Russia investigation for The Times.

Background reading:

• The Times reports that Mr. Mueller’s team shared with the president’s lawyers a list of at least four dozen questions, the majority of which focus on possible obstruction of justice in the Russia investigation.

• Here are the questions, along with a look at their context and significance.

If his attorneys couldn’t have guessed all of these questions by themselves, they should be fired. The real secret is to know the hidden questions to things they’re aware of, but no one knows they’re privy to.

🎧 ‘The Daily’: Trump’s Travel Ban Goes to the Supreme Court | New York Times

Listened to ‘The Daily’: Trump’s Travel Ban Goes to the Supreme Court by Michael Barbaro from nytimes.com

After being blocked for months by lower courts, President Trump’s executive orders that restricted travel from several predominantly Muslim nations have finally reached the Supreme Court. The justices seem focused on one question: Should the president’s authority have anything to do with his personal beliefs?

On today’s episode:

• Adam Liptak, who covers the Supreme Court for The New York Times.

Background reading:

• The Supreme Court’s conservative majority appeared poised to defer to the president’s national security judgments and discount his campaign promises to impose a “Muslim ban.”

• Read annotated excerpts from the arguments before the Supreme Court on the travel ban.

👓 A New Facebook Feature Shows Which Pro-Trump Facebook Pages Are Run From Overseas | BuzzFeed

Read A New Facebook Feature Shows Which Pro-Trump Facebook Pages Are Run From Overseas by Jane Lytvynenko, Craig Silverman (BuzzFeed)
The feature is called "Page History" but now it's gone.

👓 Trump is no longer the worst person in government | Washington Post

Read Trump is no longer the worst person in government by George F. WillGeorge F. Will (Washington Post)
Donald Trump, with his feral cunning, knew. The oleaginous Mike Pence, with his talent for toadyism and appetite for obsequiousness, could, Trump knew, become America’s most repulsive public figure. And Pence, who has reached this pinnacle by dethroning his benefactor, is augmenting the public stock of useful knowledge. Because his is the authentic voice of today’s lickspittle Republican Party, he clarifies this year’s elections: Vote Republican to ratify groveling as governing.
George Will writes a searing and blistering take down of Vice President Mike Pence–not that there are nice things to be said about Trump.

👓 Stop saying the Trump era is ‘not normal’ or ‘not who we are.’ We’ve been here before. | Washington Post

Read Stop saying the Trump era is ‘not normal’ or ‘not who we are.’ We’ve been here before. by Carlos Lozada (Washington Post)
Review of 'The Soul of America' by Jon Meacham and 'Our Towns: A 100,000-Mile Journey Into the Heart of America' by James Fallows and Deborah Fallows

👓 “People Get Subpoenas, Shit Gets Real”: What John Edwards Should Teach the Media About Covering Trump | The Hive

Read “People Get Subpoenas, Shit Gets Real”: What John Edwards Should Teach the Media About Covering Trump (The Hive)
If you were in Las Vegas and could win $1 million by placing a simple prop bet on whether Trump enjoyed some pee play with Russian hookers in Moscow in 2013, would you bet yes or no? You know where you’d put your money. Even Mitch McConnell would take that bet.

👓 Why Mueller Has to Expose Trump’s Crooked Business Empire | Daily Intelligencer | New York Magazine

Read Why Mueller Has to Expose Trump’s Crooked Business Empire by Jonathan Chait (Daily Intelligencer)
If Trump is laundering money, and he probably is, the Russians know about it. So do Michael Cohen’s gangster friends.
I read the story about Trump’s empire the other day and remarked about how screwwy the situation seemed and wondered where the investigation into his businesses and taxes was and why we hadn’t heard much about it. Well it seems to be coming out in more force.

In this article, Chait indicates what is only incredibly obliquely implied in that Washington Post article: Trump is likely laundering money for Russian concerns for he can’t honestly have the native cash flow from honest dealings to be spending the way he has. This is a much more stark take on this recent financial reporting.

👓 Theory: Playboy Model Who Got $1.6 Million Had Affair With Trump, Not Broidy | Daily Intelligencer | New York Magazine

Read Theory: Playboy Model Who Got $1.6 Million Had Affair With Trump, Not Broidy by Paul Campos (Daily Intelligencer)
Michael Cohen arranged a $1.6 million payout to a model allegedly impregnated by GOP fundraiser Elliott Broidy. But was Broidy covering for Trump?
Ho-ly Shiiitttt!! This is a major bomb of a theory!!

It’s well reasoned and incredibly well laid out. Having read it, I can’t help but think that the logic is solid and the probabilities are far more in favor of the theory than they are of the previously reported stories holding water.

I literally can’t wait to see how this plays out…

🎧 ‘The Daily’: James Comey Opens Up About Ego, Distrust and More | New York Times

Listened to 'The Daily': James Comey Opens Up About Ego, Distrust and More by Michael Barbaro from nytimes.com

James B. Comey, the former F.B.I. director, spoke with me for Friday’s episode of “The Daily,” as he wraps up a publicity tour for his book, “A Higher Loyalty.” Our conversation focused on his decision, before his firing, to document his interactions with President Trump in a series of memos — and to eventually share the contents of one of those memos with a journalist, in the hopes of pressuring the Justice Department to appoint a special counsel in the Russia investigation.

👓 As the ‘King of Debt,’ Trump borrowed to build his empire. Then he began spending hundreds of millions in cash. | Washington Post

Read As the ‘King of Debt,’ Trump borrowed to build his empire. Then he began spending hundreds of millions in cash. by Jonathan O'Connell, David A. Fahrenthold and Jack Gillum (Washington Post)
In the nine years before he ran for president, Donald Trump’s company spent more than $400 million in cash on new properties — including 14 transactions paid for in full, without borrowing from banks — during a buying binge that defied real estate industry practices and Trump’s own history as the self-described “King of Debt.”
Given the mediocrity of Trump’s business while he was doing roughly what everyone else was doing, I’m even more skeptical of his ability to float a business with the numbers presented here. Based on now better researched reports, Trump only had a fraction of the wealth he’s always said he had. Unless his political position is being heavily leveraged now, I’m not sure how he’s staying in business. These back of the envelope numbers make Trump’s concerns even more suspicious.

One of the things not being reported in the Mueller investigation is investigation into Trump’s businesses and finances. I’d have to imagine that they’re looking into his tax records and business dealings more closely than has been reported.

👓 Trump and His Aides Have No Idea What They’re Talking About | The Atlantic

Read Trump and His Aides Have No Idea What They're Talking About (The Atlantic)
A procession of contradictory statements leaves the public no closer to understanding the president’s deal with Stormy Daniels, but clearly shows the White House’s dishonesty.

📺 Michelle Wolf complete remarks at 2018 White House Correspondents’ Dinner | C-SPAN (YouTube)

Watched Michelle Wolf complete remarks at 2018 White House Correspondents' Dinner from C-SPAN (YouTube)
From C-SPAN coverage, Michelle Wolf remarks at the 2018 White House Correspondents' Dinner. Watch the complete video here: https://cs.pn/2JxzkC2

After having finally seen this, I don’t see anything wrong or problematic about Michelle Wolf’s act. In fact, she gave a generally solid roast that dished it around to almost everyone. If we want to take someone to task, why not Trump for being a “poor” coward? Was he worried he wouldn’t be the richest person in the room? Was Jeff Bezos RSVP’d?

Some have said that Wolf took Sarah Huckabee Sander’s appearance to task; the sad fact is that they’re just apparently not up enough on popular culture to have gotten some of the jokes. If anything Wolf was complimenting Sanders’ makeup technique.

On the other hand, if we want to beat someone up over taking people’s appearances to task, perhaps we should go back and do some better reporting on the President who says these things on a regular basis and not as part of an obvious comedy and satire routine? A real ad hominem appearance attack would sound something more like “With crazy hair, orange complexion, and bizarre makeup, I often wonder if Trump isn’t attempting to prove that he got just enough talent and votes to hold the office of “First Clown.” Apparently he wasn’t rich enough to buy the popular vote, but just like the sham of Trump University, he was able to afford the Electoral College. Can the voters get a settlement too?

At the end of the day it’s really Wolf who should be the most upset. The worst part of the whole performance was a painfully bad and poorly placed microphone that continually gave me nightmare flashbacks of Howard Dean’s Yahhh!! moment. Her material would have definitely done better with a more solid audio set up.

Now if the WHCA really wants to get righteously upset, maybe they should invite Jeffrey Ross to come? Perhaps he could toss off something tame along the lines of “I wouldn’t f@*k Trump with Sarah Huckabee Sander’s dick!” Maybe it would at least buy his redemption in Bea Arthur’s eyes?