Suits and Scrubs

Eight is Enough:  The list of people who attended the now infamous meeting between Don Jr, Jared Kushner and Paul Manafort and the Russian lawyer, Natalia Veselnitskaya, keeps growing.  Apparently Russians travel in packs especially when trying to influence the outcome of US elections.  In addition to Natalia, who has acknowledged ties to Russia’s top prosecutor, and Rob Goldstone, the British publicist who arranged the meeting, a translator, a Russian American lobbyist named Rinat Akhmetshin who may or may not be a current member of Russian intelligence, and an as yet unnamed representative of the Agalarov family, Putin’s oligarch cronies, were also in attendance. It’s also been reported that the Russians left a document of some sort with the Trump team. Despite Trump’s assertion that Don Jr is the most transparent guy around, little Donny conveniently forgot to mention all of these Russian attendees and his brother-in-law Jared did not include the additional names when he added 100 more foreign contacts to his security clearance filing. Even Trump reliable Fox News is stunned by the prevarication surrounding this meeting, in an on air conversation with Chris Wallace, Shep Smith said “the deception, Chris, is mind-boggling, why are we being told all these lies?”  As far as we know, Trump senior did not attend the Natalia meeting, but one of the Russians was overheard reporting seeing a big, doughy guy with a chipmunk on his head lurking in the corner.    

Suits:  Jared Kushner is making changes in his legal team.  Jamie Gorelick, who advised him on ethics issues and who has been helping him clean up his messy security clearance filing is stepping away from advising him on anything related to the Russia investigation.  Gorelick, a Democrat who was a Hillary Clinton supporter, said she had advised Kushner to consider limiting her involvement because her former partner,  Robert Mueller, is now the Special Counsel in charge of the Russia investigation. Kushner will now be relying on prominent trial lawyer Abbe Lowell for all things related to Russia.  Though Gorelick made it sound like the decision to replace her was made by Kushner, it’s likely that she is relieved to start distancing herself from the Trump morass.  Kushner’s father-in-law also made changes in his legal team.  Trump hired Ty Cobb, a descendant of the baseball player, to be his in-house lawyer for all things Russia not to be confused with Marc Kasowitz who, at least for now, remains his outside counsel for all things Russia.  Trump, who has a long history of stiffing his lawyers, wants the Republican National Committee to pick up his burgeoning legal fees.  They are a little confused why the billionaire president needs their help.    

Scrubs:  So far no other Senators have joined Senators Collins and Paul in the Trumpcare no column.  Republican leadership continues to plug away, offering sweeteners to sway votes.  Alaska’s Senator Murkowski may have been brought into the yes column with a small Medicaid amendment that primarily benefits Alaska.  A number of the other so-called moderates are waiting to see next week’s scoring report before they make their final decision. Governors from states who benefit from the Medicaid expansion are solidly in the no column.  Nevada’s Republican Governor Sandoval is still opposed to the bill but is receiving a lot of pressure from the administration.  His position is especially important because Senator Dean Heller is likely to follow his lead. Likewise Ohio’s Governor Kasich doesn’t like the bill and his view might influence Senator Portman.  Fearing that the Cruz Amendment would drive the number of people losing health insurance up above twenty-two million, McConnell may be gaming the scoring report.  It’s been reported that he excluded the Cruz amendment from the version of Trumpcare that was sent to the CBO scorers.  Instead, he may pull a fast one, having it evaluated by a separate arm of the more friendly Department of Health and Human Services.  Not a lot of health, but lots of spin, smoke and windows.

Knocked Up:  Russia and Trumpcare are diverting attention from some of other disturbing things going on in Washington. The Trump administration is withdrawing $213 million that had been allocated to teenage pregnancy prevention programs.  In an unprecedented move, grants are being cut short, eighty programs have been notified that promised funding of five year programs will be terminated at the end of the third year. This decision was made by Trump appointee Valerie Huber who is an advocate of abstinence only programs and does not approve of contraceptive education because it just encourages “bad behavior.” 

Green Card:  On Thursday a Federal Judge in Hawaii ruled that grandparents, grandchildren, aunts and uncles count as “bona fide” family members and should be exempt from Trump’s travel ban.  He also prohibited the administration from blocking any refugees with a commitment from a US resettlement agency.  Attorney General Sessions is not happy with the thought that all those dangerous nanas and papas will be allowed into the country so he plans to appeal to the Supreme Court.  Sessions had a busy week, he also gave a speech to the Alliance Defending Freedom, a conservative Christian organization designated as an anti-LGBT hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center.  The Justice Department refused to release their copy of his speech.