Blah, Blah, Blah

Slapback:  Not surprisingly, virtually every Democrat responded to Trump’s stated willingness to accept political dirt from foreign players, hostile or otherwise, with alarm and condemnation.  Republicans, not so much, although Trump did try to walk back his comments a bit, claiming that they’d been taken out of contest, something that ABC News effectively refuted by releasing more of his interview.  The most forceful Republican criticism came from Utah Senator Mitt Romney who said "Let's distinguish between a foreign official making an off-hand comment at a dinner about the campaign versus a foreign government trying to influence an election. In the latter case, that would be unthinkable. It would be totally inappropriate, and it would strike at the heart of our democracy,”  He added "I’ve run for Senate twice, I’ve run for governor once, I’ve run for president twice, so far as I know we never received any information from any foreign government. … We would have immediately informed the FBI." North Carolina’s vulnerable Senator Thom Tillis, who always appears to be walking on eggshells, said he’d call the FBI but would also evaluate and use any “dirt” offered.  South Carolina’s Lindsey Graham weighed in saying "If a foreign government comes to you as a public official and offers to help your campaign, giving you anything of value -- whether it be money or information on your opponent -- the right answer is no," but then pivoted to the Democrats and slapped the Clinton campaign’s funding of the US company that commissioned the Steele Dossier.  That theme was picked up by various other Republicans, most notably House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy who refused to criticize Trump at all instead nonsensically spouting that the Democrats "Drove this country into a special counsel lasting more than 22 months. Using this false information, sending it to the FBI that went and got a FISA court. Then to spy upon Americans and took us through something we should never have to live again.”  Then of course there were the comments from Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, the Republican leader who together with his wife Transportation Secretary Chao has been criticized for flouting various ethics rules, “they (the Democrats) just can’t let it go, case closed.” Then intentionally obfuscating the point that Trump said he would accept “dirt” going forward, McConnell added Trump “gets picked at everyday about every different aspect of it, but the fundamental point is that they are trying to keep the 2016 election alive.”  He made those remarks to Fox’s Laura Ingraham after he blocked legislation proposed by the senior Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee Mark Warner that would have forced campaigns to notify the Federal Election Commission and the FBI about attempts by foreign nationals to influence an election. McConnell has also refused to let any election system protecting legislation to come up for a vote. As to the Federal Election Commission, saying that she “never would have thought that I needed to say this, Chairman Ellen Weintraub released a statement saying “Let me make something 100% clear to the American public and anyone running for public office: It is illegal for any person to solicit, accept, or receive anything of value from a foreign national in connection with a U.S. election. This is not a novel concept.“  Fox’s legal analyst Judge Napolitano appears to be solidly in Weintraub’s court, he told Fox Anchor Shepard Smith that there’s no “wiggle room” if Trump takes dirt from a foreign player, he’d be “committing a felony.”  There were no comments on the subject from Attorney General Barr who was probably off in a corner somewhere chuckling or FBI Director Wray who was likely somewhere howling in pain.

Human Resources:  Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders who hasn’t held a daily press conference in almost 100 days is out, she’ll be leaving by the end of the month.  Trump tweeted an announcement of her departure saying that “She is a very special person with extraordinary talents, who has done an incredible job! I hope she decides to run for Governor of Arkansas - she would be fantastic. Sarah, thank you for a job well done!”  As crazy as that governor thing sounds, don’t scoff at it, her father, Mike Huckabee, is one of the state’s former governors, proof that the Huckabee mystique goes over well in the state.  Others have even suggested that the charming Sarah would be a suitable replacement for Arkansas Senator Tom Cotton if Trump ever convinces him to assume a cabinet role. Kellyanne Conway, another Trump favorite is in some hot water, not with Trump, but with the US Office of Special Counsel, a separate entity not to be confused with Robert Mueller and his investigation.  Special Counsel Henry Kerner, a Trump appointee, told Trump that his office had determined that Conway was a "repeat offender" of the Hatch Act who had “shown disregard for the laws” and recommended that she be “removed from federal service.”  The Hatch Act is an anti-corruption statute that prevents tax payer funded government employees from misusing government resources for partisan purposes.  Among other things Kerner cited Kellyanne’s television interviews advocating for and against candidates in the 2017 Alabama special election for US Senate as a Hatch Act violation. To be clear, if she was working for Trump’s campaign instead of the White House she’d be allowed to do that but since we’re all paying her salary she’s not. Although other administrations occasionally ran afoul of the Hatch Act, they took the special counsel’s office’s admonitions seriously and went out of their way to avoid repeated violations.  Trump not so much so his press office slapped back calling the special counsel's actions against Conway "deeply flawed," claiming they "violate her constitutional rights to free speech and due process." At least for now Conway’s biggest problem remains her wayward husband and his increasingly Trump critical tweets because violating laws not so much of a problem in Trumpland.  For her part Conway appears to be shrugging the whole thing off, a while back when she was asked about her Hatch Act violations she had responded “Blah, Blah, Blah” adding “let me know when the jail sentence starts.”  In other criminal news, California Congressman Duncan Hunter’s wife Margaret pleaded guilty to conspiring with her husband to "knowingly and willingly" convert campaign funds for personal use. She has agreed to cooperate with prosecutors. Back before he was reelected the Congressman had defended himself against those allegations that he had spent campaign money for things like trips to Italy by throwing his wife under the bus, saying that he’d been too busy to know how she was spending their campaign money.  It looks like she is now getting even with him.  Although he hasn’t done anything illegal, Democratic Senator Joe Manchin is considering doing something that could make it that much more difficult for Democrats to retake the Senate in 2020.  The West Virginia Senator is seriously considering stepping down to run for Governor.  Though Manchin frequently votes with the Republican majority, he usually steps up to vote with the Democrats when his vote is really needed, his vote helped save Obamacare,  so as annoying as he can be he would be missed, especially since it’s more than likely that his replacement would be a Republican.

Persian Problem:  The war drums continue to beat in the Middle East.  Secretary of State Pompeo blamed Iran for being behind this week’s attacks on Japanese and Norwegian tankers passing through the vital Gulf of Oman shipping lane something that Iran, for what it’s worth, immediately denied.  The attacks took place while Japan’s Prime Minister was visiting Iran, reportedly carrying a message of some kind from Trump.  Moreover they occurred just a month after four oil tankers were damaged in an attack off the coast of the United Arab Emirates. The US blamed Iran for that attack too, but did not produce evidence. Iran also denied those accusations.  Whatever is happening in the region and whoever is responsible, and whatever their intent, the situation is bad, tensions and oil prices, an indication of increasing concerns, are rising.  Trump, despite his bombastic rhetoric,  does not appear to be interested in going to war but his advisors most notably Pompeo and John Bolton are far more hawkish.  This situation could deteriorate rapidly.