Culture of Integrity?

An Otherwise Blameless Life:  TS Ellis III, the District Court judge who presided over former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort’s Virginia case has never been all that sympathetic to Special Counsel Mueller’s case or his prosecutors.  Despite the overwhelming evidence that Manafort was a career fraudster Ellis weighed in several times during Manafort’s trial, suggesting that he had been targeted by prosecutors solely to get him to roll on Trump and his alleged Russia connections and even called out one of the prosecutors who dared to show some tears during an especially frustrating moment.  That said, all but one member of the jury had no problem understanding that Manafort was a career criminal and even that one holdout found him guilty of eight counts of tax and bank fraud.  Under federal sentencing guidelines Judge Ellis could have sent Manafort to jail for up to twenty-five years, however citing Manafort’s “otherwise blameless life,”  Ellis decided that forty-seven months, less the time that he has already spent in jail and any “good behavior” time he earns while incarcerated would be sufficient. To put that into perspective last July a Texas judge sentenced a woman to serve five years in jail for voting illegally. In the Texas Judge’s “defense” that woman was Black rather than privileged and white.  As to the blameless life part, apparently a career spent committing fraud, failing to pay millions in taxes and doing dirty work for odious dictators isn’t all that tarnishing especially if you are a Washington insider.  Oddly enough, though he gifted Manafort a rather short sentence, even Judge Ellis was surprised that Manafort showed so little remorse.  Anyway, four years in jail isn’t much of a prize for anyone, especially for a 69 year old guy with gout and high blood pressure who had to be wheeled into court. Manafort’s sentencing woes aren’t over yet, next week he is due in front of Amy Berman Jackson, his Washington DC judge, the judge who is also overseeing the Roger Stone case and who has already slammed him for reneging on his plea deal with Mueller’s team.  Additionally, he could still face additional charges in New York.  Taking a page from the Trump book, upon exiting the court one of Manafort’s lawyers reminded the waiting press that Manafort had not been found guilty of Russian collusion, true, but then again the Virginia case was about bank fraud, and Judge Ellis had expressly forbidden any references to that Russian stuff during the trial.  Yesterday during what he said might well be his last speech on the job, an indication that Mueller could drop his report soon, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein ended his remarks by saying “in the spirit of promoting a culture of integrity, I want to leave you with the wisdom of this ancient proverb: if you desire to know a person’s character, consider his friends." Interesting words from the man who served as Mueller’s boss for most of the investigation and who presumably knows more than we’ll ever know about the Trump crime family. Michael Cohen, another one of Trump’s one time friends with a somewhat tarnished reputation, is now suing the Trump Organization saying that it owes him $1.9 million in reimbursement for the costs that he’s incurred defending himself for the crimes that he committed while serving as Trump’s lawyer/fixer.  He is accusing the company of breaking a contract to cover his legal defense fees, fees they stopped paying once he began cooperating with federal prosecutors.

Anti-Everything:  The House finally voted on its much disputed anti-Semitism resolution but not before turning it into an anti-everything plus the kitchen sink resolution.  Ultimately the resolution passed easily by a final vote of  407 to 23, with 23 Republicans voting no, and all Democrats, including Ilhan Omar whose remarks led to the resolution in the first place, voting yes.  Steve King, the Iowa Republican who has been called out for his history of hate and his recent comments defending white nationalists, voted present because though he would have preferred to vote against the resolution even he knew that wouldn’t be a good idea.  House Republican Chair Liz Cheney, the frighteningly ambitious daughter of former VP Cheney, voted against the resolution calling it a “sham put forward by Democrats to avoid condemning one of their own and denouncing vile anti-Semitism,” going on to say that “while I stand whole heartedly against discrimination outlined in this resolution, the language before the House today did not address the issue that is front and center."  Nice words, but what she really meant to say was that she didn’t want to vote for a resolution that also condemns white supremacists and anti-Muslim acts because that might not go over well with her current and future constituents but does appreciate the opportunity to slam Democrats and Omar.  As to the resolution, it’s good that it finally passed even though it’s depressing that it became so controversial.  Resolution or not, I am guessing that we’ll be hearing more from Omar, she still hasn’t apologized for her remarks and it’s not clear that she has any regrets, in fact she may view all the added attention as a plus. 

Other News:  Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown, the one Democrat who consistently wins in what is increasingly viewed as Trump country and who had hinted that he was going to run for president announced that he won’t be running.  Expectations are that he pulled himself out of contention because he expects that former VP Joe Biden is about to announce his run in the “moderate” lane.  Similar comments were made earlier in the week when that other moderate potential candidate, former NY Mayor and real billionaire Mike Bloomberg, announced that he wasn’t running.  It’s quite possible that they know something that we are only guessing at.  In a move reminiscent of Nixon, possibly because everything these days in reminiscent of Nixon,  Customs and Border Protection has compiled a list of the 59 mostly American reporters, attorneys and activists who annoy them the most, and by annoy, think provide really good coverage of what’s been happening on the Mexican border.  They have been subjecting those individuals to extra, time consuming scrutiny and have even arrested around 21 of them when they try to cross the border at San Diego checkpoints.  Retaliation?  Separately, though Republican leaders have told Trump that he should pull his emergency declaration, he is instead doubling down, threatening Republican Senators who plan to vote for the resolution condemning the faux emergency with punishment and where relevant, primary challenges.