Several news stories have been, shall we say, concerning. Let’s start with the Secret Service.
The Secret Service erased text messages from January 5 and 6, 2021. “Joseph V. Cuffari, head of the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Inspector General, wrote to the leaders of the House and Senate Homeland Security committees indicating that the text messages have vanished and that efforts to investigate the Jan. 6, 2021, attack were being hindered.”
The Secret Service says that the erasures were accidental and happened because of a planned upgrade or migration or some such. Not deliberate! Sure.
Cuffari emphasized that the erasures came “after” the Office of Inspector General requested copies of the text messages for its own investigation, and signaled that they were part of a pattern of DHS resistance to his inquiries. Staff members are required by law to surrender records so that he can audit the sprawling national security agency, but he said they have “repeatedly” refused to provide them until an attorney reviews them.
Someone on MSNBC compared the erasure to motel staff finding a body in a room but going ahead with “scheduled” housekeeping, destroying evidence. It does look suspicious.
Meanwhile, CNN is reporting that a Washington D.C. police officer who was with Trump’s motorcade on January 6 has corroborated the story Cassidy Hutchison told about Trump’s throwing a tantrum and fighting with Secret Service agents in his car when he was told they would not take him to the Capitol. This was part of evidence given to investigators for the House January 6 committee. But then CNN also said this:
Neither of the agents named in the testimony have commented publicly on Hutchinson’s testimony. But soon after it, a Secret Service official who would only speak on background, said Engel would deny parts of the story regarding Trump grabbing at the steering wheel and lunging toward an agent on his detail. The agency has said the agents involved would testify to that effect, though they have not yet gone back to the committee to testify.
“Engel” is Robert Engel, who was Trump’s Secret Service lead agent. Hutchinson testified that Tony Ornato, then-White House deputy chief of staff, told her the story in front of Engel and he did not dispute the account. But it sounds as if the Secret Service is trying to cover up Trump’s bad behavior, doesn’t it?
And let us not forget that Mike Pence didn’t trust the Secret Service.
And I’m not saying one thing had anything to do with the other thing, but … Ivana Trump, wife #1, died yesterday from a fall down the stairs in her New York home. She was only 73, which seems young to me, so that’s a shame. She seemed to be enjoying her life. And today New York Attorney General Letitia James had expected to be hearing sworn depositions from Trump and two of Ivana’s children with Trump, Ivana and Junior. The Trumps had tried to get out of the deposition through the courts but failed. Because of Ivana’s death, the depositions were postponed.
Ivana had not qualified for Secret Service protection, I don’t believe. Just wife #3 and the kids.
Elsewhere: There’s a lot that’s been going on with legislation that I haven’t been writing about, but Whatever Might Have Been has been destroyed by Joe Manchin, who declared today that he would not support any new taxes or any new environmental spending.
First, I want to drop Manchin into Yosemite National National Park with a couple of buckets of water and tell him to save the sequoias. It does appear that the sequoias are safe, for now, though. Maybe we could lock him up in a trailer in Texas with one creaky window air conditioner and wish him good luck if the power fails.
The West Virginia Democrat reportedly told party leaders late Thursday that he won’t support any new incentives to combat climate change or any new tax hikes on corporations or the wealthy. The Post reports that in private talks, Manchin appeared close to a deal, only to renege at the last minute.
Yet as ludicrous as this turnaround is on its face, there are still more hidden absurdities behind the situation that show what a farce it has truly become. They turn on the specifics of what Manchin appeared to reject, and his inflation-related excuse for doing so, which amount to a display of towering bad faith. …
… The deal would have raised around $1 trillion in revenue from rolling back some of the 2017 GOP tax cuts. Half of that revenue would have gone to deficit reduction, and the other half would have gone mostly to funding the transition to green energy.
Manchin’s excuse for this is that he’s concerned about inflation. And we all know better.
He’s still open to a deal on prescription drug prices, at least until he decides he isn’t.
Dog, I'm tired of having to deal with Joe "Vanity, Thy Last Name Is" Man(double) chin.
The only way to make him unimportant, is to elect more Democratic candidates to the Senate. And also take-down his soul(less)-mate: AZ's sENEMA!
We need at least 2 or 3 more, new, Senators with a "(D – XX) after their names.
Then, get rid of the filibuster, and we can – FINALLY!!!!! – get some "tRUMP"* done in, and for, this country!!!
Just think" the D-majority House passes a bill, and the D-majority Senate passes it, and our D President, Joeseph R. Biden, signs it into law!**
This, is what can be a good part of our future.
And we can do that! As long as we don't step in "tRUMP!"
* Synonym for poo-poo. You know: SHIT!!!!!!!!!!!
**And then have our Theocratic and Fascist SCOTUS, butchering any new laws. But let us not dwell on this negative. (Weeps, quietly).
Also too: If you believe those "S"ecret "S"ervice ("SS" – That always creeped me out) messages were lost by "accident," I have a beautiful, antique bridge you can pry from my hands for the right price!
My bridge's older sister, The Brooklyn "Bridge," was sold the other day. (Between us, that tart's an old wreck!).
I'll sell you my precious 59th Street – AKA:" The Queensboro Bridge – for… One MILLION Dollars!!! (Mwa-ha-ha!!!).
What? Really? Thank you!…
Uh-hum… Ok! I'll sell it to for… ONE BILLION DOLLARS!!!
And Simon & Garfunkel will sing their song for you. You know, that classis 60's hit, "The 59th Street Bridge Song."
But you already knew that, right, you big sillies?
I'd draw two lines to illustrate how effective Trump was in corrupting members of government who know better.
Based on early reports, the US Secret Service deleted communications of the 5th and 6th after it was clear those were going to be examined. My inference: some members of the US Secret Service knew and/or participated in planning the insurrection. As other testimony confirms, Trump reacted strongly to the decision to return to the WH. It looks like at least two members of the US Secret Service were/are willing to swear to a version of Trump's return to the WH that is at odds with multiple accounts.
Whether or not Trump 'lunged' for the steering wheel is not the point. Trump know the mob was armed – believed the mob was not a threat to him (Trump) and sent the armed mob against the US Capitol. AND Trump wanted to join them.
Here's the significant issue. Almost two years later, people in the US Secret Service were willing to break the law to conceal the truth about ?? About what Trump did? About what the Secret Service did at Trump's bidding? Every member of the US Secret Service is supposed to do his/her job without partisanship. The ones on "the detail" assigned to POTUS are supposed to be the best. They failed then and continue to fail.
But in the same vein… the IRS was corrupted by Nixon to go after "enemies." This is not conjecture – the list is a historical fact as are the IRS investigations. So every person in the IRS is supposed to be above politics, having fallen to being pawns under Nixon in those games of vengeance.
Yet McCabe and Comey were audited by the IRS, something that's statistically unlikely to be a coincidence. As soon as anyone in the IRS was contacted by the WH, the warning shot back from the IRS should have been that the FBI would be notified if there were any other approaches to the IRS to use their tax investigative authority to harass Trump's opponents that a criminal referral would follow.
But it didn't happen – and the audits did.
These are in the news this week, but just how far did the Trump rot go? Who else was (and is) willing to pull the levers of government to facilitate fascism? That Trump and his cronies are vile is no surprise – but how willing were bureaucrats to do Trump's bidding?
If Donald Trump really wanted to join his people in the coup attempt he could have waddled over to the Capitol in his tiny feet. I mean once someone told him where it was.
Omerta
"He’s still open to a deal on prescription drug prices…". Until he speaks to his daughter about that, the former CEO of Mylan.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mylan#Criticism