There’s a chance President Trump’s pardon of Michael Flynn could backfire some day, The Week reports.
Trump’s pardon, which he announced in a tweet, means Flynn will theoretically no longer be protected from self-incrimination under the 5th Amendment should he ever be called to testify against Trump.
John Barsa, the acting administrator of the United States Agency for International Development, told his senior staff that he has tested positive for coronavirus, Axios reports.
Staffers say Barsa rarely wears a mask in their office.
“Foreign observers are watching with trepidation — and at times disbelief — as coronavirus cases surge across the United States, and masses of Americans are choosing to follow through with plans to visit family and friends for this week’s Thanksgiving holiday anyway,” the Washington Post reports.
New York Times: A somber holiday for the U.S. amid a record number of daily virus cases and deaths.
Jill and Joe Biden writing for CNN:
“This year, our turkey will be smaller and the clatter of cooking a little quieter. There will be no family walks in the cold or playful bickering amongst the grandkids. Like millions of Americans, we are temporarily letting go of the traditions we can’t do safely.”
“It is not a small sacrifice. These moments with our loved ones — time that’s lost — can’t be returned. Yet, we know it’s the price of protecting each other and one we don’t pay alone. Isolated in our own dining rooms and kitchens, scattered from coast to coast, we are healing together.”
President-elect Joe Biden is considering Roger Ferguson, former vice-chair of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, for National Economic Council director, CNBC reports.
He is also considering regulatory veteran Gary Gensler, who worked for both the Obama and Clinton administrations, for Deputy Treasury Secretary.
Another name being floated for a top economic policy post is Kenneth Chenault, the former CEO of American Express.
“The Supreme Court’s new conservative majority late Wednesday night sided with religious organizations in New York that said they were illegally targeted by pandemic-related restrictions imposed by Gov. Andrew Cuomo to combat spiking coronavirus cases,” the Washington Post reports.
“The 5 to 4 order was the first show of solidified conservative strength on the court since the confirmation of Justice Amy Coney Barrett, whom President Trump chose to replace liberal Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg following her death in September. The decision differed from the court’s previous practice of deferring to local officials on pandemic-related restrictions, even in the area of constitutionally protected religious rights.”
President Trump shared a tweet from Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) urging him to pardon himself.
David Frum: “Here’s the first and most important thing to understand about the crime for which President Trump just pardoned former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn: Flynn did not lie to protect himself. He lied to protect Donald Trump…”
“From Flynn’s own narrow personal point of view, there was no reason to lie about any of these conversations. Yes, he was pushing the limits a little bit, doing diplomacy before the new administration took office. A more elegant diplomat would have found a way to honor the rule that there’s only one administration at a time, while also communicating what he wanted the Russians to know about the differing intentions of the incoming administration. But such limit-pushing has surely happened often before in the history of American foreign policy. All Flynn had to say to avoid legal jeopardy was, ‘Yes, I spoke to Ambassador Kislyak. Possibly I was premature. My bad.'”
“So why didn’t he say that?”
“President-elect Joe Biden is leaning towards naming former senior Obama administration official and current investment executive Brian Deese his top economic adviser in the White House, although pushback from the progressive wing of the Democratic Party could still derail the pick,” Politico reports.
“President-elect Joe Biden is leaning toward naming former Obama administration national security adviser Tom Donilon as his CIA director,” Politico reports.
“The choice for the spymaster role is one of the toughest facing Biden as he puts together his national security team. The CIA has found itself uncomfortably embroiled in domestic politics under Donald Trump, accused by the outgoing president and his allies of seeking to tar him as an agent of Moscow and representing a “deep state” bent on undermining his policies. Whomever Biden picks will also confront an emboldened Russia and an increasingly aggressive China, along with transnational threats like climate change and pandemics.”
“History will record the shameful irony that a president who lied to avoid military service staged a bogus event on the hallowed grounds of Gettysburg in a brazen attempt to undermine the Republic for which scores of real patriots had fought and died to preserve since its founding.”
— Former Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge (R), on Twitter.
“President Trump phoned into a Pennsylvania state Senate hearing where his legal team was appearing as part of their shriveling legal battle against the election results,” NBC News reports.
“After calling his lawyers in the middle of the hearing — held at the Wyndham Hotel in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania — Trump launched a breathless, 10-minute long rant about election fraud during which he surfaced many his familiar false claims about dead people voting, illegal ballots, Democrats’ corruption and more.”
President Trump announced he had pardoned his former national security adviser Michael Flynn, ending a three-year legal saga that saw Flynn seek to withdraw a guilty plea for lying to the FBI and a controversial reversal by the Justice Department on his case, the Washington Post reports.
Politico: “Trump’s move is an extraordinary intervention on behalf of an ally who pleaded guilty in 2017 and has spent the last two years fighting to overturn his original plea.”
Mark Osler: “President Trump’s announcement that he has pardoned Michael Flynn… is infuriating—and not merely because of the gross favoritism on display. What Trump has done once again is corrupt something that ought to be beyond corruption: the mercy that the most powerful person in the world can bestow upon those who are in chains.”
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s leading infectious disease expert, told McClatchy that he expects a role in the incoming administration and would serve in a senior position if called upon by President-elect Joe Biden.
“Fauci said he assumes he will stay in his job as director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, a position he has held since 1984. But he would ‘seriously consider’ serving in another capacity, such as director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention or as secretary of Health and Human Services, if Biden asked.”
“After years of denying allegations of lax financial oversight, the National Rifle Association has made a stunning declaration in a new tax filing: Current and former executives used the nonprofit group’s money for personal benefit and enrichment,” the Washington Post reports.
“The NRA said in the filing that it continues to review the alleged abuse of funds, as the tax-exempt organization curtails services and runs up multimillion-dollar legal bills. The assertion of impropriety comes four months after the attorney general of New York state filed a lawsuit accusing NRA chief executive Wayne LaPierre and other top officials of using NRA funds for decades to provide inflated salaries and expense accounts.”
Joe Scarborough, host of MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” told his viewers that he would never be a Republican again after the party supported President Trump.
“North Dakota’s Supreme Court has stopped Gov. Doug Burgum (R) from appointing a state representative to a Bismarck-area House seat won by a deceased candidate,” the Bismarck Tribune reports.
“Now one of the Legislature’s most powerful members who has crossed swords with the governor is set to hold the seat after being defeated in the June primary but securing appointment last week by district Republicans.”
“It’s not just Michael Flynn. The White House is weighing a wave of pardons and commutations by President Trump in his final weeks in office, prompting jockeying by a range of clemency seekers and their representatives, including more allies of Mr. Trump,” the New York Times reports.
“Among those hoping for pardons are two former Trump campaign advisers, Rick Gates and George Papadopoulos, who like Mr. Flynn, the former national security adviser who is already said to be in line for a pardon from Mr. Trump, were convicted in cases stemming from the special counsel’s Russia investigation.”
Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites. He also runs Political Job Hunt, Electoral Vote Map and the Political Dictionary.
Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.
Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country.
Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.
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