13 May 20
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James Risen | The End of Michael Flynn's Prosecution Was Another Triumph for America's Autocrat-in-Chief
James Risen, The Intercept
Risen writes: "One of the biggest challenges for journalists writing about Donald Trump is that there have been too many scandals."
EXCERPTS:
Yet another Trump scandal erupted last week, when the Justice Department, in the grip of Trump’s malevolent private counselor Attorney General William Barr, dropped its charges against former national security adviser Michael Flynn.
The action sent shockwaves through the national security and legal communities, where the move was seen for what it was: an unprecedented and raw abuse of power by Barr designed to appease Trump and protect a Trump acolyte who had lied to the FBI about his calls with the Russian ambassador. Barr dropped the case against Flynn despite the fact that Flynn had twice pleaded guilty.
Barr’s action in the Flynn case followed a similar move in February to protect Trump’s infamous friend Roger Stone, who was convicted in 2019 of lying to Congress and threatening a witness in another case related to the Trump-Russia scandal. Barr forced the prosecutors in the case to reduce their sentencing recommendation to make sure that Stone wouldn’t spend much time in prison.
Both moves are part of Barr’s Soviet-style effort to erase history and reverse the outcome of the Trump-Russia investigation led by special counsel Robert Mueller. Line prosecutors withdrew from the Flynn and Stone cases as a result of Barr’s actions, a highly unusual act that signals how outrageous the attorney general’s interference was.
Justice Department officials involved in both the Flynn and Stone cases quickly and publicly condemned Barr’s latest move. Mary McCord, who was acting assistant attorney general for national security from 2016 to 2017, charged that Barr and his Justice Department misconstrued her words in order to help falsely discredit the Flynn investigation and drop the case. “The account of my interview in 2017 doesn’t help the department support this conclusion, and it is disingenuous of the department to twist my words to suggest that it does,” McCord wrote in a New York Times op-ed on Sunday.
This ongoing erasure of the Mueller investigation, accompanied by a purge of the Justice Department, the FBI, and probably the CIA, is almost certainly just the start of what will be the complete perversion of the rule of law in the United States if Trump is reelected. If that happens, Trump and his friends will feel free to openly commit crimes without fear of consequences. With Barr at the Justice Department, the United States will be reduced to an autocracy, rife with self-dealing, corruption, and legal immunity for Trump lackeys. Meanwhile, Trump and Barr will crack down on political dissent with the full force of a deeply compromised Justice Department and FBI.
There was some good press coverage of Barr’s action in the Flynn case, particularly in the Times. But overall, the media gave the Flynn story the typical one-day treatment, characterizing it as yet another individual scandal in the wild ride that is the Trump administration.
The press is desperate to cover Trump the way they have always covered presidents. But if they were willing to view the Flynn case as part of a larger narrative, their stories would say that Trump and Barr pose existential threats to the rule of the law.
The Supreme Court. (photo: Win McNamee/Getty Images)
Takeaways From the Historic Supreme Court Arguments Over Trump's Finance and Tax Records
Katelyn Polantz, Kara Scannell, Joan Biskupic and Ariane de Vogue, CNN
Excerpt: "The Supreme Court arguments on Tuesday, held over telephone and broadcast live, over subpoenas of President Donald Trump's financial records were indeed historic, leading the justices and lawyers to grapple with nearly 250 years of American history, investigations of presidents and questions about the future of separation of powers."
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Ahmaud Arbery. (image: ColorOfChange/Twitter)
Georgia Lawmakers Demand Ahmaud Arbery Prosecutors Be Removed From Office as Criminal Investigation Launched
Ewan Palmer, Newsweek
Palmer writes: "There have been further calls for the Georgia prosecutors who first handled the case of Ahmaud Arbery to be removed from office, as a criminal investigation into their actions is launched."
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Sen. Kamala Harris, D-CA, removes her face mask as she arrives to a Senate Intelligence Committee nomination hearing for Rep. John Ratcliffe, R-TX, on Capitol Hill in Washington,DC on May 5, 2020. (photo: Andrew Harnik/POOL/AFP/Getty Images)
The Case for Monthly Coronavirus Stimulus Checks: Americans 'Need Consistent Liquidity'
Sibile Marcellus, Yahoo! News
Marcellus writes: "The latest Democratic proposal for the next round of stimulus is monthly checks for ,000 for all Americans for the duration of the pandemic. The checks would continue to arrive for three months after the pandemic is no longer a public health threat."
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Armed protesters during a demonstration in Lansing, Michigan, on 30 April. (photo: Jeff Kowalsky/AFP/Getty Images)
Michigan: Rightwing Militia Groups to Protest Stay-at-Home Orders
Tom Perkins, Guardian UK
Perkins writes: "Rightwing militia groups in Michigan plan to rally at the state capitol building on Thursday to protest Democratic governor Gretchen Whitmer's stay-at-home orders that she put in place to slow the deadly spread of the coronavirus pandemic."
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Relatives of a social leader attend her wake in Puerto Tejada, Colombia in 2019. (photo: EFE)
UN Condemns Killings of Ex-FARC Members, Social Leaders in Colombia
teleSUR
Excerpt: "The United Nations Verification Mission in Colombia condemned Saturday the murder of the 24th ex-combatant of the FARC, expressing its 'concern' over the systematic killings."
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Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro speaks with journalists at the Supreme Federal Court in Brasilia on May 7, 2020. (photo: Adriano Machado/Reuters)
Deforestation of the Amazon Has Soared Under Cover of the Coronavirus
Jamie Roberton and Lorand Bodo, NBC News
Excerpt: "Logging and mining operations have accelerated their destruction of sizable patches of the Amazon rainforest during the coronavirus pandemic."
EXCERPT:
Environmentalists, who have also warned about the deforestation, said the pandemic has provided cover for the operations, and they blamed Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro for what they see as his tacit approval of the deforestation. In response to calls to protect the Amazon, Bolsonaro has sent armed forces.
"Government agencies are in quarantine, the population is in quarantine, good people are in quarantine — but the criminals are not, so they are taking advantage of this momentum to increase their activity," said André Guimarães, the head of Amazon Environmental Research Institute, a nonprofit organization that advocates for conservation of the rainforest.
Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon soared by 55 percent in the first four months of the year compared to the same period last year, according to Brazil's National Institute for Space Research. Destruction in April was up by 64 percent from the same month a year ago.
The analysis of the satellite imagery and data, conducted by NBC News' Verification Unit, found visual evidence of the deforestation efforts, showing a significant reduction in rainforest in the western state of Rondônia since the pandemic took hold.
Comparing images from Jan. 21 and April 25, there is a clear missing area of rainforest close to the state's capital city, Porto Velho. Each of the highlighted areas represents about 1 square mile, with a total loss of land measuring roughly 448 football fields.
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