The Horror Show Goes On

Murder in Istanbul:  Trump now admits that it is likely that Jamal Khashoggi is dead but still hasn’t acknowledged that the US based Saudi journalist was murdered by his BFFs in Riyadh.  Secretary of State Pompeo who, despite his denials, is reported to have listened to the audio tape of the gruesome Saudi Istanbul embassy horror show, announced yesterday that the administration is giving the Saudis a few more days to complete their internal investigation, his way of saying that the House of Saud is being given more time to come up with a face saving explanation for Khashoggi’s death, one that will assert that the murder was committed without the approval of Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman (MBS), even though it most certainly had his approval. The Saudis are taking full advantage of their momentary reprieve by ridding themselves of possible witnesses, yesterday one of the members of the Saudi hit squad died in a convenient Riyadh “car accident.” As part of their strategy, the royals are considering assigning all the blame for Khashoggi’s murder to General Ahmed al-Assiri, a top Saudi intelligence official who is also a top advisor to MBS. The New York Times reports that son in law Kushner who has become close friends and a frequent WhatsApp buddy with MBS, has advised Trump to stretch out the investigation process for as long as possible because he’s sure that it will soon “blow over” as attention shifts to the next news cycle.  He argues that MBS can “survive the outrage just as he has weathered past criticism.”  The Trump team appears to be trying to help that wind storm along by keeping US intelligence reports about the murder out of the hands of the group of Senators who are usually privy to such reports, they’ve halted usual briefings, infuriating Senator Bob Corker who said that the administration’s current position on the murder is “untenable” and that despite their efforts the details will come out sooner rather than later. Yesterday, Treasury Secretary Mnuchin announced that after consulting with Trump and Pompeo, he has cancelled his plans to attend the Saudi’s “Davos in the Desert” financial conference, an unavoidable decision as virtually no other senior official from any other Western nation will be attending, even Cristine Lagarde, the head of the IMF, who had been a holdout has cancelled her plans to travel to the region, a polite way of saying that she’s not going given the Khashoggi slice and dice. Shortly after Mnuchin’s announcement, Fox Business News, the last major news outlet still planning to attend, finally announced that its business correspondent  and Trump fangirl Maria Bartiromo won’t be attending either, although she said that her plans were flexible, if MBS would agree to grant her a no holds barred exclusive interview she’s reconsider.  Trump certainly isn’t dwelling on the journalist’s murder, last night during a political rally in Montana he praised Montana Republican Congressman Greg Gianforte for assaulting Ben Jacobs, a reporter from The Guardian, during his campaign last May, saying "any guy who can do a body slam ... he's my guy," he then made a gesture mimicking a body slam.  He went on to say that he knows Montana very well and that at the time he thought that the assault might help Gianforte beat his opponent and it did, so he was right. Despite Trump’s charm, Democratic Senator Tester still appears to be leading his contender, Republican businessman Rosendale, a Maryland transplant. Last night The Guardian’s editor slammed Trump’s comments, pointing out that the “president of the US applauding the assault of an American journalist would only inflame future violence against journalists in the wake of Khashoggi’s murder.”  He added that he hoped that “decent people will denounce these remarks” and that Trump “will see fit to apologize for them.”  Good luck with that.   

Migrant Caravans:  In an effort to shift attention away from the Khashoggi mess and to firm up his midterm voting base, Trump is once again railing against the migrant “hordes” traveling through Mexico in the hope of reaching the US.  Yesterday he tweeted “I am watching the Democrat Party led (because they want Open Borders and existing weak laws) assault on our country by Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, whose leaders are doing little to stop this large flow of people, INCLUDING MANY CRIMINALS, from entering Mexico to US,“ his way of slamming both the migrants and the Democratic party in one fell swoop.  There aren’t many criminals, if any, in those caravans, they are mostly made up of young men, women and children.  He went on to threaten to close the US border with Mexico, sending in the military if necessary.  At least for now, Mexico plans to try to stop the caravans to avoid a confrontation with Trump, but it’s likely that a few of the 4000 migrants will make it to the US border and that some of the children will end up in the hands of US authorities in some of those dog cage filled detention facilities because despite Trump’s tweeting and railing, it’s hard to keep desperate people from trying to seek refugee status. That may be why Chief of Staff Kelly and national security advisor Bolton were overheard having a loud and profane shouting match in the White House yesterday.  Apparently Bolton, another one of those immigration hardliners, attacked Homeland Security Secretary Nielsen for failing to stop the immigrant inflow.  Kelly, Nielsen’s former boss and one of her supporters, rushed to her defense.  White House denizens who overheard the screaming match thought that at least one of the combatants, most likely Kelly, would resign in fury.  Sarah Huckabee Sanders disputed that the argument was all that serious, saying that the two guys were just passionate about solving the illegal immigration problem, and that reports that they were shouting angrily were just more fake news.  In other personnel news, in response to criticism following a HUD announcement that Suzanne Israel Tufts, one of their senior political operatives, would be replacing Mary Kendall, the Department of the Interior’s acting Inspector General, an Interior Department’s spokesman announced that the report was fake news, just another example of the press “jumping the gun.” Though her days probably are numbered, the Interior Department’s embattled Inspector General is still at work, yesterday she released a report that found that Secretary Zinke and his wife violated policy for government travel and that he considered making his wife a volunteer to allow her to travel for free. That is just one of the four Zinke reports that Kendall is working on, just one of the reasons that she may be gone soon. So much for draining the swamp?