BY PRIYANKA ARIBINDI, BRIAN BEUTLER
& CROOKED MEDIA

Monday, April 9, 2018

—Cardi B

MONDAY NIGHT MELTDOWN

President Trump completely lost it in the Cabinet Room tonight, calling Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation “an attack on our country,” in televised comments to the press pool. Asked whether he plans on firing Mueller, Trump responded, “we’ll see what happens… many people have said you should fire him… I think this is disgraceful and so do a lot of other people, this is a pure and simple witch hunt.” We agree that this is exactly like a witch hunt, if the witches had actually used magic to curse Salem.

Trump also attacked Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein. He said he would have “put a different attorney general in” had he known Sessions would recuse himself from any 2016 campaign investigations in advance, and he criticized Rosenstein for signing the Carter Page FISA order.

Trump’s rant came in response to news that the U.S. attorney's office for the Southern District of New York executed search warrants at the office and hotel room of Trump's lawyer, Michael Cohen, after receiving a referral for a warrant from Mueller. Agents seized a variety of records, including those pertaining to payments to Stormy Daniels. According to the Washington Post’s sources, the Justice Department is investigating whether Cohen committed bank fraud and campaign finance violations. Trump called the raid “disgraceful.” We had a slightly less negative reaction.

SYRIA

Dozens of people in Douma, Syria choked to death in an apparent chemical attack on Saturday. The attack came just days after Trump said he wanted the U.S. to pull out of Syria, against the advice of military officials. Trump blamed Iran, Russia, and Vladimir Putin himself for supporting Syria’s president Bashar al-Assad, whose forces are believed to be responsible for the attack, though Syrian state media denies it. Trump said their attack will be “met forcefully,” though he refused to specify when or how.

According to Homeland Security adviser Thomas P. Bossert, the administration has not ruled out a retaliatory missile strike.

Though Trump condemned the attack, he has not changed his policy of hostility toward Syrian refugees. Under the Trump administration, the U.S. refugee resettlement quota has remained capped at the lowest level in history. Since October of 2017, the U.S. has only resettled 44 Syrian refugees.

SKIMMING OFF THE TOP

Exclusive to Crooked.com: In a new memo, the Center for American Progress Action Fund details how a key measure added to the corporate tax cuts at the last minute lined the pockets of specific Republicans in Congress. YEAH BABY WE GOT A SCOOP!!!!

The memo focuses on a provision Republicans snuck into their tax cut bill days before it became law, which created a huge windfall for people who make passive real-estate income, and uses public financial disclosure reports to estimate the size of the windfall for individual Republicans. It suggests Democrats will use the argument that Republicans made public policy to enrich themselves on the campaign trail.

Read more from Brian Beutler →

DID YOU SAY IMPEACHMENT?

Sunday’s New York Times outlined the Republican Party’s plan to rally their supporters and divide Democrats by claiming Democrats will impeach President Trump if they reclaim the House. Though Republicans are wildly exaggerating the impeachment threat and few Democrats have proposed removing Trump from office, they have successfully created a messaging challenge for Democrats. But don’t worry, if there’s one thing Democrats are good at, it’s simple and clear messaging.  :(

The challenge arises from the fact that while some Democrats may worry that running on impeachment would hurt them politically, it is also impossible for them to ignore Trump’s historic corruption and unfitness for the presidency.

Jon Favreau argues: "I don’t know any Dem candidates who’ve made impeachment a centerpiece or even an issue in their campaigns. But if Dems win ‘18, of course they should investigate Trump’s corruption and hold him accountable. If Rs wants to run against that, go for it."

One caveat from Brian Beutler: Dems should be careful not to avoid questions about impeachment by downplaying (and thus normalizing) Trump’s unprecedented conflicts of interest.

The Congressional Budget Office now estimates that Trump’s corporate tax cuts will help drive trillion dollar deficits by 2020. So sick of winning!

Michigan is ending the free bottled water program in Flint, claiming that water quality has been restored, though the city’s lead pipes haven’t all been replaced. Many in the city haven’t turned their taps on in years and still don’t believe the water is safe for consumption. At least Scott Pruitt is on the job.

The Trump Organization reached out to Panama’s president to intervene in a dispute over a Trump hotel in the country. To critics, this overture raises concerns that Trump and his family are once again leveraging the presidency to enrich themselves. To supporters, it raises concerns that Trump spoke to someone from Panama.

An internal EPA email shows that Scott Pruitt explicitly approved a $56,765 raise for an aide, despite claiming he knew nothing about it in a Fox News interview last week. From Priyanka: Honestly, fire this guy already. I don’t care if it happens past my deadline and I have to stay late updating this newsletter. He deserves it. From Brian: Priyanka’s $56,765 raise is still not approved.

Bill Cosby is back in court facing a retrial for sexual assault. Cosby’s first trial ended with a deadlocked jury in 2017.

On Saturday, a fire at Trump Tower killed resident Todd Brassner. The building (which Trump tweeted was “well built”) lacked fire sprinklers on the upper floors. Trump, along with other developers, lobbied against requiring developers to add sprinklers to their buildings, citing burdensome costs.

Florida GOP Governor Rick Scott announced he’s running for Senate against incumbent Democrat Bill Nelson. And we announced on Pod Save America that we really would prefer he didn’t.

The biggest Black Lives Matter page on Facebook turns out to be fake. It had raised over $100,000, supposedly for Black Lives Matter causes, but at least some of those funds went to bank accounts in Australia.

Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) just became the first senator to have a baby while in office—her daughter, Maile Pearl Bowlsbey, was born today.

Lovett or Leave It was live from Miami this weekend. Crooked contributor Akilah Hughes, Alicia Menendez, and Natasha Del Toro chatted about Scott Pruitt, teachers, climate change, Fox News, and, of course, Liddle Marco. Pitbull may or may not show up.

Listen →

Oklahoma’s teacher strike is entering its second week. In addition to raises for teachers and support staff, they are pushing the state for $150 million to replace textbooks and fund elective courses. One seven-year-old in Oklahoma was recently excited to find that she was using a textbook that once belonged to Blake Shelton. Her mother was less excited to find that he used it in 1982. At least the supplementary laser disc was still in decent condition.

The Denver Post’s Sunday editorial, entitled “As vultures circle, The Denver Post must be saved,” took shots at the paper’s hedge fund owner, and the continued decimation of the Post’s staff, bringing national attention to its prolonged plight. Since Alden, a New York City hedge fund, bought the paper in 2010, the paper has dwindled in size to less than 75 journalists from over 250. The Post’s bold message was for their owners, but also the broader community itself.

“Denver deserves a newspaper owner who supports its newsroom. If Alden isn't willing to do good journalism here, it should sell The Post to owners who will."

Read →

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