Light News Dump

Trump always does these joint press conferences with other heads of state because it lets him pretend that he's doing serious business while people are accusing him of even more serious sh/t. He's always conning.

Trump personally asked UK PM Boris Johnson for help discrediting Mueller report: The Times
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/trump-personally-asked-uk-pm-boris-johnson-for-help-discrediting-mueller-report-the-times-2019-10-02

Senator King suggests at least 20 minutes are missing from Trump-Ukraine call transcript
https://www.newsweek.com/senator-king-suggests-least-20-minutes-are-missing-trump-ukraine-call-transcript-1462622

The Trump administration is moving to collect DNA samples from detained migrants for entry into a national criminal database
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/02/us/dna-testing-immigrants.html?smid=tw-nytimes&smtyp=cur

How to Get Away with Gerrymandering. A leaked audio recording of an American Legislative Exchange Council event reveals how state lawmakers are taught to trash evidence, avoid the word gerrymander, and create an appearance of bipartisanship. | Slate has obtained an exclusive audio recording of the closed-door panel called “How to Survive Redistricting,” moderated by influential Republican lawyer Cleta Mitchell. The panel’s four experts—Hans von Spakovsky of the Heritage Foundation, North Carolina election lawyer Thomas Farr, former Georgia Rep. Lynn Westmoreland, and Texas state Rep. Phil King—are among the architects and defenders of some of the most notorious gerrymanders and voter suppression plans of this decade. During the session, the legislators were advised to treat redistricting as “political adult blood sport,” trash potential evidence before it can be discovered through litigation, avoid the word gerrymander, and make deals with black and Latino legislators that guarantee them easy reelections by packing as many minority voters as possible into their districts, thereby making the rest of the map whiter and more conservative. Panelists offered complicated technical advice, such as adding a legal provision that would allow a legislature to defend its maps in court even if the state attorney general refuses. And then there was less-technical advice, like being sure to put “sharp” legislators on redistricting committees because they’ll spend a lot of time explaining the maps in court.
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2019/10/alec-meeting-gerrymandering-audio-recording.html

"We're Looking at Near Raw Bribery": House Dems Investigating Whether Groups Tried to Curry Favor With Trump Through Hotel Bookings. "It seems evidence of Trump's corruption is hiding under every rock. You just need the courage to look."
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/10/02/were-looking-near-raw-bribery-house-dems-investigating-whether-groups-tried-curry

IRS: Sorry, but It’s Just Easier and Cheaper to Audit the Poor | Congress asked the IRS to report on why it audits the poor more than the affluent. Its response is that it doesn’t have enough money and people to audit the wealthy properly. So it’s not going to.
https://www.propublica.org/article/irs-sorry-but-its-just-easier-and-cheaper-to-audit-the-poor/

Jury sentences white Dallas police officer to 10 years in prison for fatally shooting her black neighbor in his home.
https://apnews.com/b0b6d2eb4b0b4f26a1292bcbf4124a8e

A federal appeals court largely denied Florida Bulldog's effort to compel the FBI to open up files about 9/11 after concluding that the public interest in knowing what happened is outweighed by the privacy interests of suspects, witnesses and FBI agents.
https://www.floridabulldog.org/2019/10/9-11-appeals-court-rules-privacy-interests-outweigh-public-interest-in-knowing/

The Justice Department on Wednesday asked a federal judge to temporarily block a subpoena from the Manhattan district attorney that would require Trump to turn over eight years of his personal and corporate tax returns.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/02/nyregion/trump-taxes-lawsuit.html

YEP: Folks, the DOJ has fallen, State Dept has fallen, CIA and FBI under attack, soon there will be no more Whistle blowers, and I will be afraid to post things like this on Twitter.
https://twitter.com/SouthPoint1000/status/1179503706070323200

YEP: I have nothing to hide! The truth is my taxes are so beautiful some people might not survive looking at them. For public safety we need to keep them under wraps which is really too bad.
https://twitter.com/alternateDT/status/1179505104946421760

Dem source says the WH “sent an envelope to Sec. Pompeo ... The envelope contained a bunch of TRUMP HOTEL folders. Those folders contained notes from interviews that took place at Rudy Giuliani’s NYC office with various Ukrainians about debunked conspiracies related to Ukraine.”
https://twitter.com/AndrewDesiderio/status/1179502099563986944

Rep. Jamie Raskin says the State Dept IG briefing was about “nothing relating to the president’s impeachable conduct,” and nothing to do with retaliation. Instead, he says, it was about a packet of misinformation apparently meant to smear the former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine.
https://twitter.com/AndrewDesiderio/status/1179497123500511233

Lotta head scratching out of the IG briefing on the Hill, which the State IG conveyed was “urgent.” Raskin showed us a 40-page packet of what he describes as conspiracy theories and propaganda about Ukraine/Biden/ targeting former ambassador Yovanavitch.
https://twitter.com/mkraju/status/1179500210659221504

Never interfere with an enemy while he is in the process of destroying himself.
https://twitter.com/Scaramucci/status/1179482153207369730

Trump committed an impeachable offense just by threatening Adam Schiff
https://theweek.com/articles/868957/trump-committed-impeachable-offense-just-by-threatening-adam-schiff

Pompeo Forced Volker Out After Giuliani Spilled That State Dept Knew Of Dirt Digging
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/pompeo-giuliani-volker-scapegoat-dirt-digging-mission

YEP: Julián Castro On Impeachment: 'How Much More Evidence Do People Need?'
https://www.npr.org/2019/09/30/765777760/juli-n-castro-on-impeachment-how-much-more-evidence-do-people-need

Senate Democrats ask the IRS to consider stripping the NRA of its tax-exempt status
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/senate-democrats-ask-irs-consider-stripping-nra-its-tax-exempt-n1061131

The son of a late Deutsche Bank executive, who has a stash of secret bank records, has spoken to investigators probing Trump
https://www.businessinsider.com/son-ex-deutsche-bank-executive-handed-secret-documents-to-fbi-2019-10

White House Republicans actually sought a cost estimate for Trump's alligator-filled border moat, officials say
https://theweek.com/speedreads/869130/white-house-actually-sought-cost-estimate-trumps-alligatorfilled-border-moat-officials-say

Subpoena goes out Friday for acting white house chief of staff Mick Mulvaney: The White House’s flagrant disregard of multiple voluntary requests for documents — combined with stark and urgent warnings from the Inspector General about the gravity of these allegations — have left us with no choice but to issue this subpoena.
https://oversight.house.gov/sites/democrats.oversight.house.gov/files/documents/2019-10-02.COR%20WH%20Subpoena%20Memo%20and%20Schedule.pdf

The Scariest Part of the Trump-Ukraine Scandal? He Really Believes His Own Conspiracy Theories.
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2019/10/the-scariest-part-of-the-trump-ukraine-scandal-he-really-believes-his-own-conspiracy-theories/

A Trump hotel mystery: Giant reservations followed by empty rooms - The House is investigating whether groups tried to curry favor with Trump by booking rooms at his hotels but never using them.
https://www.politico.com/news/2019/10/02/trump-hotel-empty-rooms-016763

Pompeo Pushed Out His Own Ukraine Rep to Squash a Growing Scandal
https://www.thedailybeast.com/mike-pompeo-pushed-out-his-own-ukraine-representative-kurt-volker-to-quiet-a-growing-scandal

Trump campaign responsible for 15% of all overdue debt owed to city of El Paso
https://cbs4local.com/news/cbs4-special-reports/trump-campaign-responsible-for-15-of-all-overdue-debt-owed-to-city-of-el-paso

[Brewers] Thank you for believing in us & fighting with us. Thank you for your passion, enthusiasm, dedication, intensity & joy. Thank you for bringing the noise all season long, creating memories with us & most importantly, for being the best fans in baseball.
https://twitter.com/Brewers/status/1179235407277559809?s=09

[Knight] Don’t let that kid in right field for the Brewers be the goat, man. Hader didn’t have it.
https://twitter.com/molly_knight/status/1179229631024640002

California will appeal judge’s decision to block law requiring Trump’s tax returns
https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2019-10-01/california-appeal-judge-trump-tax-returns

Threatening to Call ICE Could Now Cost Some New Yorkers a $250,000 Fine — “If you want to come into the ultimate city of immigrants and try to spread hate, you will face the consequences,” said New York Mayor Bill de Blasio.
https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/ne8477/threatening-to-call-ice-could-now-cost-some-new-yorkers-a-dollar250000-fine

Warnings That Millions More Could Go Hungry as Trump Pushes $4.5 Billion in Food Benefit Cuts - "The Trump administration's latest proposal to cut SNAP that would leave millions of people, including struggling families, seniors, and people with disabilities, with less help putting food on the table"
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/10/02/warnings-millions-more-could-go-hungry-trump-pushes-45-billion-food-benefit-cuts

North Korea fired a new batch of missiles into the Sea of Japan, a telling symbol of how little Trump's talks with Kim Jong Un really achieved
https://www.businessinsider.com/north-koreas-new-missile-trump-failiure-kim-2019-10

Deere lays off 160 workers from Quad Cities plants citing trade disputes, slumping ag economy
https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/money/business/2019/10/01/john-deere-layoffs-manufacturing-plants-davenport-iowa-east-moline-illinois-ag-trade-war/3834479002/

Hong Kong protesters embrace 'V for Vendetta' Guy Fawkes masks
https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/asia/hong-kong-protests-guy-fawkes-mask-11962748

'Not even close': Boris Johnson's Brexit border plan rejected by Ireland before he even announces it - 'It doesn’t look like the basis of an agreement, that’s for sure'
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/boris-johnson-brexit-plan-deal-latest-irish-border-customs-checks-ireland-a9129111.html

Andrew Johnson’s Violent Language — and Trump’s | The House should consider the president’s incendiary rhetoric as a separate offense, worthy of its own article of impeachment, as it was in 1868.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/02/opinion/andrew-johnsons-violent-language-and-trumps.html

Boeing Engineer, in Official Complaint, Cites Focus on Profit Over Safety on 737 Max
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/02/business/boeing-737-max-crashes.html

Gabby Giffords on Twitter: 2 years ago, 58 people were killed & over 400 injured at the Route 91 music festival in Las Vegas. And still, our gun laws didn't change.
https://twitter.com/GabbyGiffords/status/1179071322875404289

A man in Arizona was recently arrested and charged with vandalizing a Catholic chapel. Police believe he’s a member of the pro-President Donald Trump conspiracy theory/support group known as “QAnon”.
https://lawandcrime.com/crazy/qanon-supporter-charged-with-hate-crime-after-attack-on-famous-arizona-christian-church/
https://www.azcentral.com/story/travel/arizona/2019/10/01/sedona-chapel-of-the-holy-cross-vandalism-qanon-supporter-arrested/3826336002/

Trump Attacks Washington Post for New York Times Border Moat Story
https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-attacks-washington-post-for-new-york-times-border-moat-story

Armed Militias Are Taking Trump’s Civil War Tweets Seriously
https://www.lawfareblog.com/armed-militias-are-taking-trumps-civil-war-tweets-seriously

The U.S. Treasury Department’s top sanctions official, Sigal Mandelker, plans to leave the Trump administration after helping to increase the pace of economic penalties against American adversaries.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-10-02/trump-s-top-sanctions-official-departing-for-private-sector

The federal government has dramatically expanded its exposure to risky mortgages, as federal officials over the past four years took steps that cleared the way for companies to issue loans that many borrowers might not be able to repay. Now, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the Federal Housing Administration guarantee almost $7 trillion in mortgage-related debt, 33 percent more than before the housing crisis, according to company and government data. Because these entities are run or backstopped by the U.S. government, a large increase in loan defaults could cost taxpayers hundreds of billions of dollars.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/federal-government-has-dramatically-expanded-exposure-to-risky-mortgages/2019/10/02/d862ab40-ce79-11e9-87fa-8501a456c003_story.html

Trump repeatedly involved Vice President Pence in efforts to exert pressure on the leader of Ukraine at a time when the president was using other channels to solicit information that he hoped would be damaging to a Democratic rival, current and former U.S. officials said. Trump instructed Pence not to attend the inauguration of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in May — an event White House officials had pushed to put on the vice president’s calendar — when Ukraine’s new leader was seeking recognition and support from Washington, the officials said. Months later, Trump used Pence to tell Zelensky that U.S. aid was still being withheld while demanding more aggressive action on corruption, officials said. At that time — following Trump’s July 25 phone call with Zelenksy — the Ukrainians probably understood action on corruption to include the investigation of former vice president Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden. Officials close to Pence insist that he was unaware of Trump’s efforts to press Zelensky for damaging information about Biden and his son, who had served on the board of an obscure Ukrainian gas company, when his father was overseeing U.S. policy on Ukraine.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/trump-involved-pence-in-efforts-to-pressure-ukraines-leader-though-aides-say-vice-president-was-unaware-of-pursuit-of-dirt-on-bidens/2019/10/02/263aa9e2-e4a7-11e9-b403-f738899982d2_story.html

The ignorance defense worked better for Team Pence during Trump-Russia/Mueller probe bc so much happened before he was with Trump ... clearly not as effective here
https://twitter.com/tomlobianco/status/1179532146198958085

The Trump administration put 25% tariffs on French wine, Italian cheese and single-malt Scotch whisky — but spared Italian wine, pasta and olive oil — in retaliation for European Union subsidies on large aircraft. The U.S. Trade Representative’s Office released a list of hundreds of European products that will get new tariffs, including cookies, salami, butter and yogurt — but in many cases applied to only some EU countries, including German camera parts and UK-made blankets.  The list includes United Kingdom-made sweaters, pullovers, cashmere items and wool clothing, as well as olives from France, Germany and Spain, EU-produced pork sausage and other pork products other than ham, and German coffee. The new tariffs are to take effect as early as Oct. 18. Specialty food importers had urged the Trump administration not to move forward with the tariffs saying in August “there are few to no domestic products that can replace these imported specialty foods.” The Specialty Food Association said there were 14,000 U.S. specialty food retailers that would impacted by these tariffs as well as over 20,000 other food retailers.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-wto-aircraft-drink-food-idUSKBN1WH2G

All of the 6-week abortion bans passed this year have now been blocked in court
https://www.vox.com/2019/10/2/20895034/georgia-abortion-ban-blocked-six-weeks-law

Stop and think about how we have normalized Trump’s attacks on the American press at a press conference in front of a foreign leader. Stop and think about how odd and outrageous this should be seen as, but how we have all just accepted it as normal and uncontroversial.
https://twitter.com/mehdirhasan/status/1179510933326061571

"At no point did the Committee review or receive the whistleblower's complaint in advance," said an aide to Rep. Schiff, following accusations that the Intel Cmte. chair orchestrated the complaint.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/trump-impeachment-inquiry/trump-republicans-accuse-top-dem-orchestrating-whistleblower-complaint-n1061681

__________________

Three Chairs Statement on State IG Briefing - Press Releases - House Foreign Affairs Committee
 
Washington—Today, Rep. Eliot L. Engel, the Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, Rep. Adam Schiff, the Chairman of the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, and Rep. Elijah E. Cummings, the Chairman of the Committee on Oversight and Reform, released the following statement after committee staff received a briefing from the State Department Inspector General:

“Today, the State Department Inspector General provided an unclassified briefing and documents to House and Senate Committees. The Inspector General believes this matter is urgent in light of the complaint filed by a whistleblower regarding the President’s July 25, 2019, call in which he pressed the Ukrainian President to smear President Trump’s domestic political rival.

“The briefing and documents raise troubling questions about apparent efforts inside and outside the Trump Administration to target specific officials, including former Vice President Joe Biden’s son and then-U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Masha Yovanovitch, who was abruptly removed as Ambassador in May after a sustained campaign against her by the President’s agent, Rudy Giuliani.

“The documents provided by the Inspector General included a package of disinformation, debunked conspiracy theories, and baseless allegations in an envelope marked ‘White House’ and containing folders labeled ‘Trump Hotel.’ These documents also reinforce concern that the President and his allies sought to use the machinery of the State Department to further the President’s personal political interests.

“The Inspector General stated that his office interviewed Secretary Pompeo’s Counselor, Thomas Ulrich Brechbuhl, who informed the Inspector General that Secretary Pompeo told him the packet ‘came over,’ and that Brechbuhl presumed it was from the White House.

“Earlier this week, Pompeo attempted to block Brechbuhl, Ambassador Yovanovitch, and other State Department employees from testifying before Congress.

“These documents only underscore the need for the Trump Administration to comply with our requests for documents and interviews.”