Another slow news day.
- Lt. Vindman and his twin brother (who wasn’t involved in any way in the impeachment process) were both fired from the National Security Council. As right wing politicians and pundits argued this was normal, the president said today that the military should punish Vindman for his testimony.
- Continuing the exact sort of retaliation that Republican senators furiously denied would happen, the White House is circulating attacks against Mitt Romney.
- The Trump appointed head of the GSA which oversees the lease for Trump’s DC hotel has not examined ANY data on how much foreign money is flowing through Trump’s business. She additionally said there would be no issue if the president decided to sell the business to a foreign government. The hotel lease explicitly forbids any government officer from renting the building. Trump’s appointees at GSA decided to ignore that clause of the lease.
- Despite claims from the Trump family that they only charge Secret Service a steeply discounted rate at Trump hotels, the government has been paying up to $650 per night per room any time Trump stays at one of his own properties which is frequent. The Treasury Department is legally required to report these expenditures to congress. They have not been. Their excuse was that no one knew how to make the reports. Mnuchin has said they will resume regular reporting after the election. While president, Trump has funneled millions of government dollars into his own businesses.
- During the state of the union speech, the president featured a child he said was in a failing government school and announced a scholarship for her so she could transfer to a better performing school. She already attends a top charter school and her tuition is zero. Her mother did not understand why they had been invited to the speech. He told several other lies during the speech – that Republicans were protecting health insurance for people with pre-existing conditions (they are in court to undo them) and that “hundreds” of buses full of illegal voters were sent to New Hampshire. No evidence supports this. He also said the border wall was being paid for with “redemption from illegal aliens.” That isn’t a thing. He may have meant remittance payments, but that’s also a lie. The wall has mostly been funded by diverting money from other military projects including things like schools for the families of service members.
- VA head Robert Wilkie has been accused of digging up dirt on a woman who said she was sexually assaulted at the VA in order to discredit her. Wilkie denies this.
- The research team at Fox News circulated a memo that Rudy Giuliani was disseminating disinformation regarding Ukraine. He has made several appearances on the network since the memo was sent.
- The number of reported casualties from Iran’s missile attack is now over 100. The government has lied about this number repeatedly, initially saying there were no injuries.
- AG Barr has announced the Department of Justice has an intake process for Rudy Giuliani to give them information regarding Ukraine (this means dirt on the Bidens).
- The president tweeted out a video from the Larry David show which he did not understand was mocking Trump supporters. The short clip uses the word “motherfucker” and the word “fuck” appears multiple times. This is an official statement from the United States government. Trump won white evangelicals by sixty-five points.
- The president again attacked Congresswoman Debbie Dingell for being insufficiently grateful that he “rolled out the maximum ‘Red Carpet'” for her husband’s funeral. As a congressman, John Dingell’s ceremonies were handled by the House of Representatives. Though Trump ordered flags to half-mast, he otherwise had no involvement. He has previously suggested at a rally that John Dingell may be in hell. Trump won white evangelicals by sixty-five points.
- Continuing his retaliation actions, the White House is expected to pull the nomination of Elaine McCusker for a promotion. Mrs. McCusker did not testify during the impeachment hearings, but she is one of the officials who internally expressed that his withholding of Ukraine aid may have been illegal.
- In another round of documents obtained by the press via FOIA, OMB is shown to deliberately mislead congress about the reasons for the delay in Ukraine aid.
- Border Wall construction is using explosives to destroy the burial sites of a local indigenous tribe, the Tohono O’odham Nation.
- Prosecutors in the Roger Stone sentencing recommended a stiff sentence of 7-9 years. The president tweeted out this wasn’t fair. The next day the Department of Justice announced they would be revising the recommendation downward. In said revision they site Roger Stone’s age, health, and lack of criminal record. Though never convicted, Stone spent decades conducting illegal activities for Republican politicians. All four lead prosecutors on the case have resigned in protest. Stone was the sixth member of the Trump campaign to be convicted of a felony.