“Hunter Biden has split from Hallie Biden — the widow of his late brother, Beau — Page Six has exclusively learned. The breakup comes two years after we first reported that the former in-laws were dating in 2017.”
Barr vs. Barr
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) asked Attorney General William Barr at this morning’s Senate Judiciary Committee hearing if he had a problem with how FBI Director James Comey handled the Clinton email case during the 2016 presidential campaign.
Barr responded: “Yes, I said so at the time.”
However, just days before the 2016 presidential election, Barr actually defended Comey in a Washington Post op-ed saying the FBI Director “did the right thing.”
Tensions Between Barr and Mueller?
Washington Post: “Barr and Mueller are reported to be friends, but one comment in particular suggested there might be some tension between them. When discussing Mueller’s letter and their conversations, Barr suggested Mueller could have prevented all of this in the first place.”
Said Barr: “I offered Bob Mueller the opportunity to review that letter before it came out and he declined.”
“Barr’s intent might have been more to suggest he did his due diligence in releasing the letter — rather than that Mueller did anything wrong. But it sure sounded like he was saying Mueller could have spoken up sooner.”
“Barr also suggested later that Mueller’s opinions don’t really matter, because he serves in the Department of Justice and reports to the attorney general. He likened Mueller to a U.S. attorney in the DOJ’s pecking order.”
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Mueller Pushed Twice to Release Report Summaries
Special counsel Robert Mueller pushed Attorney General William Barr twice to release more of his investigative findings in late March after Barr outlined the inquiry’s main conclusions in a letter to Congress, citing a gap between Barr’s interpretation and Mueller’s report, the New York Times reports.
Barr Testifies Before the Senate Judiciary Committee
Attorney General William Barr testifies at 10 a.m. ET before the Senate Judiciary Committee in what is expected to be a very contentious hearing.
Today’s testimony comes just one day after it was reported that special counsel Robert Mueller expressed concerns about Barr’s four-page summary of his report. Meuller’s letter to Barr has now been released to the public.
Watch the hearing on C-SPAN and leave your reactions in the comments.
Bill Barr Is Not Your Average Trump Stooge
Rick Wilson: “Barr is not an institutionalist. He is not a constitutionalist. He is a weapon crafted to protect and serve Donald Trump, using the protective coloration of a dull bureaucrat to carry out Dear Leader’s slow-motion subversion of the Republic.”
“Democrats still haven’t figured it out; unlike most of the human refuse Trump rounded up from behind the bus station to serve in his freak show administration, Barr knows the folkways and expected behaviors of Washington. He’s twice lulled Democrats into believing that he’s a down-the-line, rational pre-Trump Republican. If he were as gibberingly stupid and patently venal as the average Trump stooge, they might spot it, but he’s plainly not, and they clearly haven’t.”
“If Democrats lack the insight, courage, and outrage to truly confront Barr, Trump will win a sweeping victory this week. If Chairman Jerry Nadler lets Barr set the conditions under which the House Judiciary Committee can interview him, the game is already lost.”
Race, Not Economics, Drove Former Democrats to Trump
“Research on Iowa counties that swung from Obama to Trump indicates that GOP success was driven far more by sexism and racism than by economic anxiety,” the Pacific Standard reports.
From the study: “Economic distress is not a significant factor in explaining the shift in Iowa voters from Democrat to Republican between 2008 and 2016. The election outcomes do not signify [a revolt] among working-class voters left behind by globalization.”
Rather, in 2016, “the nativist narrative about ‘taking back America’ and anti-immigrant sentiment became stronger forces than economic issues.”
Trump’s Attempt to Expand the Map Won’t Work
Matthew Walther: “Attempting to expand a candidate’s electoral map is not a zero-sum game — at least in theory. But what campaign strategy would make it possible for Trump to win over new voters in the Southwest, the Upper Midwest, and the Northeast at the same time all while holding on to Pennsylvania and the Great Lakes? It is easy to imagine the president and his advisers thinking that there are votes to be had in the Southwest by leaning aggressively into his immigration record. Perhaps there are.”
“But this strategy would almost certainly hurt his chances in, say, Minnesota. Using optimistic language about the economy that might appeal to voters in a state like Nevada — or even Colorado — would alienate Midwesterners, toward whom his best pitch in 2020 is to insist that Democrats have prevented him from carrying out his recovery program. Trump can argue that we are still in the middle of ‘American carnage,’ or he can insist that he has already made America great again and deserves to be rewarded for it — not both.”
“Trump’s path to victory was always a narrow one… There is no reason to think that it will be any different four years later — except that this time his opponent might end up being someone like Bernie Sanders or Joe Biden, both of whom would be more appealing to the thousands of voters in a handful of states who made all the difference in 2016.”
For more, click over to our interactive electoral map.
Should Democrats Push to Impeach Barr?
First Read: “If Obama Attorney General Loretta Lynch’s tarmac meeting with Bill Clinton was a 3.0 on the political Richter scale, then special counsel Robert Mueller’s complaint about Trump Attorney General William Barr’s summary of his report on Russian interference is an 8.5. At least.”
“And guess what: Barr testifies before the Senate Judiciary Committee at 10:00 am ET.”
“Democrats have a decision to make: Do they focus their fire on Barr, with some Democrats and 2020ers calling for the attorney general’s impeachment? Or do they keep the impeachment focus on Trump? Or all of the above?”
Maduro Claims Victory Over ‘Deranged’ Coup Attempt
Venezuela President Nicolás Maduro claimed his troops have thwarted a botched attempt to topple him masterminded by Venezuela’s “coup-mongering far right” and Donald Trump’s deranged imperialist “gang,” the Guardian reports.
However, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that U.S. military action in the country was a possibility “if required.”
Bharara Says It’s Likely Trump Will Be Indicted After Term
Former U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara told the Daily Beast that its very likely President Trump will be indicted once he leaves office.
Said Bharara: “My former office clearly endorses and believes the fact—as Michael Cohen admitted in open court—that he engaged in the conduct he pleaded guilty to at the direction of Individual 1. Individual 1 is the president. Depending on what the other circumstances are, I believe there’s a reasonable likelihood that they would follow through on that.”
He added: “There’s a difference, though, between accepting a guilty plea from Michael Cohen and going to trial on the strength of that same witness after he’s gone to prison for lying.”
Gillibrand Proposes Voucher System to Clean Up Politics
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) unveiled a plan on Wednesday to give every voter up to $600 in what she calls “Democracy Dollars” that they can donate to federal candidates for office, NBC News reports.
“Under Gillibrand’s plan, every eligible voter could register for vouchers to donate up to $100 in a primary election and $100 in a general election each cycle, either all at once or in $10 increments to one or more candidates over time. Each participant would get a separate $200 pool for House, Senate and presidential contests for a total maximum donation of $600 for those federal offices.”
We Still Have No Defense Secretary
Jonathan Bernstein: “We’ve hit another milestone in irresponsible government: May 1 marks four full months during which the U.S. has had only an acting secretary of defense, with no one nominated for the formal position. The previous record was one day. It’s a disgrace. Or, rather, going three weeks with only an acting secretary of homeland security – as Donald Trump’s administration is also currently doing – is a disgrace. We’ve gone way beyond that at the Pentagon.”
Most Democrats Say Candidate Age Is a Factor
A new Reuters/Ipsos poll finds that 54% of all Democrats said they would be less likely to support a presidential candidate over 70 years old while more than a third said they would be less likely to vote for a candidate younger than 40. About a quarter of all Democrats said a White House candidate’s age did not matter.
Trump Goes on Attack Against Biden
“Donald Trump really has a thing about Joe Biden,” USA Today reports.
“Trump’s aggressive campaign against the new Democratic presidential candidate triggered what may have been his busiest morning ever on Twitter Wednesday.”
“More than 60 retweets in less than 20 minutes.”
Daily Beast: “The retweet rampage was unusual in itself, but the twist came when one of his supposed supporters changed their username to ‘Fuck Donald Trump.'”
Quote of the Day
“Three times a week the Senate Republicans meet for lunch… And occasionally they walk into that chamber and take a vote or two or three on judges. That is the sum total of the Senate’s work today. Mitch McConnell has effectively turned the United States Senate into a very expensive lunch club.”
— Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT), quoted by The Hill.
Emails Show How Taxpayers Pay at Mar-a-Lago
ProPublica: “The bill was sent to the State Department, which objected to covering it. It was then forwarded to the White House, which paid the tab. The unusual cocktail hour underscores a unique push and pull in the current administration: Donald Trump’s White House pays a bill and Donald Trump’s club reaps the revenue.”
“The premium liquor costs are only the beginning of government spending at Mar-a-Lago that emerges in hundreds of pages of receipts and email correspondence between Trump Organization employees and staffers for the State Department, which oversees presidential diplomatic travel and works with the Secret Service and White House. The emails show that the president’s company refused to agree to what was essentially a bulk-purchase agreement with the federal government, and that it charged the maximum allowable federal rate for hotel rooms. The Trump Organization could be obstinate when it came to rates for, say, function rooms at Mar-a-Lago, a problem that was eased when the president signed a law lifting the maximum ‘micro-purchase’ the government can make.”
