[Ed. Note: Readers of the Editorial Team (and discerning Formula1 users elsewhere) have probably noticed that TheStateOfIt has pulled a Mika on us and retreated into a sabbatical as he deals with life. Thankfully for us, however, he has proven faster than Mika – no mean feat – and has returned to provide us with an extraordinary trip through the Fittipaldi family's history.
We hope you enjoy it as much as we did]

Featured Focus: Fittipaldi Family

words by TheStateOfIt
Coming into the Sakhir Grand Prix, the news ticker on Formula 1’s website is running at supersonic speeds, combing over the tidal wave of news erupting this past week.
Updates on Romain Grosjean’s recovery and the critical analysis of safety features, from the holiness of halos to the hazards of Armco; shock over Lewis Hamilton being the latest victim of a global pandemic; glee over George Russell delivering a solid enough PowerPoint presentation to earn the step up; welcoming Jack Aitken into the big league; the oddity of Sergio Perez announcing that he has yet to announce anything; the impending storm clouds over Alex Albon’s future; Nikita Mazepin’s arrival and related insights into his behaviour; and the continuation of a family legacy in Mick Schumacher’s promotion into Formula 1.
Among all that, one piece of major news that already seems to have flown right by us is the announcement of a fresh face into the paddock. It is not a surprise that Grosjean will require some time to recuperate from injuries suffered in Sunday’s race, and since Haas’ 2021 drivers cannot step away from their F2 commitments, they have named their reserve driver, Pietro Fittipaldi, as Grosjean’s deputy for this race.
Pietro, however, represents more than just a fresh face. As his surname indicates, he is a continuation of a familial legacy pivotal to Brazilian motorsport. Without the Fittipaldis, we would probably never have seen other Brazilians in Formula 1. Furthermore, Pietro is the first third-generation driver in Formula 1, marking the Fittipaldis as the most enduring family in Formula 1, with four drivers, one team, and 50 years in the sport.
So, as we step into Sakhir, we should look back at the five Fittipaldis and the legacy they have left so far and will now continue building, not just for their family, but to Formula 1 and motorsport overall.
If you are cognizant of F1 history, you probably just did a double take. Five F1 Fittipaldis? But there are only four drivers — Emerson, Wilson, Christian and now Pietro — and the team was founded and run by two of them. How could there be five Fittipaldis?
Forgetting the fun factoid of fledgling Footwork feature Max Papis finding footholds in the Fittipaldi family by becoming an in-law, there have indeed been five Fittipaldis in Formula 1. And the first one, the one you all do not know about, might just be the most important one of them all.

Wilson “Barão” Fittipaldi Sr.

Nicknamed “Barão”, or Baron in Portuguese, Wilson Sr. might be the most important Fittipaldi of them all. Without him, not only would Emerson and Wilson Jr. not well, exist at all, but the entirety of Brazilian motorsport would have a different shape without him. Just because he never stepped into a Formula 1 car does not mean he was not crucial to the sport.
Born in 1920 to Italian immigrants in Brazil, Wilson did indeed participate in a few races here and there, but that was mostly on the local level, as Brazil’s motorsport scene was taking its first baby steps. But it was off the track — the commentary booth, to be precise — where Wilson Sr. found his calling card. Following the construction of the Interlagos circuit nearby, Wilson was approached, almost by chance, to call races at the circuit in 1940. As motorsport started to take off in the post-war era, Wilson was able to land himself a job with Rádio Excelsior, and soon Sao Paulo’s major radio network, Rádio Panamericana, as they sought to cover motorsports to appeal to young listeners.
Fittipaldi’s voice soon became a national treasure akin to that of Murray Walker, especially after covering Chico Landi’s victory in the 1948 Bari Grand Prix, Brazil’s first Grand Prix win on European soil.
Wilson was not just a normal radio journalist commentating over races, though. He became a significant figurehead in Brazilian motorsport through organizing some significant motorsport institutions in the nation. He established the Mil Milhas (1,000 Mile) race at Interlagos in 1956 as Brazil’s primary endurance racing event, a tradition that not only carries on to this day, but has been included in international sportscars and Le Mans series events.
Wilson also established the Confederação Brasileira de Automobilismo, Brazil’s primary motorsport association that helped to cement the nation’s place in FISA, getting a Brazilian foothold into international motorsports and establishing a platform for Brazilian drivers to hone their talents on the motorsport stage.
The drivers he probably helped the least, though, were his sons, Emerson and Wilson Jr. Odd, right? Well, Wilson Sr. apparently was hesitant to pour in the funding required for his children to compete, which could have put a hamper on their careers before they even left São Paulo.
Mercifully, his sons started their own business in the automotive industry, from repairs to bodykits, that helped ease the burden on Barão’s wallet. But once the Fittipaldi family reached the biggest stage, Barão was there every step of the way.
Wilson Sr. was selected as commentator when television coverage on Formula 1 started with Emerson’s debut in Lotus in 1970. And when Emerson took his first World Driver’s Championship two years later, Wilson Sr. had the unique privilege of commentating over his son’s triumph. He could even be found on the pitwall of his son’s team, Copersucar Fittipaldi, as they made their (rather disastrous) venture into Formula 1. Later in life, he would mentor his grandson Christian and great-grandson Pietro as they moved up the motorsport ladder, before his passing in 2013. Aged 92 at the time of his passing, he was one of the giants onto whose shoulders his sons, along with the large poll of Brazilian talent that followed in F1 and in other categories, would stand.
He may be a relative unknown in contemporary Formula 1, but for any Brazilian out there, from the aspiring karter shooting his shot, to the casual everyday fan, you have the Baron to thank for that.

[Ed. Note: As a Brazilian, it was truly amazing to see Wilson Sr.’s contributions researched and explained so beautifully, and it just further underscores TheStateOfIt’s knowledge and research ability, which have been so valuable to the Formula1 Editorial Team from the start]

Emerson Fittipaldi

This guy needs no introduction. Take any Brazilian that has entered Formula 1 (or IndyCar, for that matter) and ask them what was their inspiration, nine times out of ten, it was Emmo.
His father and elder brother, Wilson Sr. and Wilson Jr., were definitely Emerson’s biggest inspirations in Formula 1. From a young age, Emerson was already helping out his older brother engineer his karts, before taking the wheel himself and promptly dominating. He was also adept at motorbikes and hydrofoil boats, but to him, single-seaters were where his talents lay.
Since his father showed no inclination to establish a base for Fittipaldi to race, he and Wilson just started their own garage, putting their engineering expertise to work to fund their racing careers. Once Formula Vee reached Brazil, this expertise was crucial to their grander schemes, as the Fittipaldis workshopped on their cars, sold it to others, and then Emerson beat them with his own car, taking the title at 21 years of age.
However, big as Brazil is, everyone knew Europe was where it was. And after an extra season dabbling in GT cars, Emmo dropped everything and made the long haul to Britain with absolutely nothing known about him. He did not have a contract with any team, so he only meant to race for three months to test the waters.
It was a shock to the British racing fraternity, then, when the complete unknown from South America, bought a Formula Ford and started winning races immediately. Racing school owner Jim Russell took notice and instantly brought Fittipaldi into his Formula 3 stable. Despite only joining halfway through the championship, Fittipaldi romped and secured the British F3 crown with five wins in the last six races. Not to downplay Fittipaldi’s feat, it bears mention that Alan Rollinson, who was dominating the championship until Fittipaldi’s arrival, mysteriously stopped participating when Emmo entered. Who knows what would have happened if Rollinson rolled on.
By now, Emerson Fittipaldi had caught the eye of two team owners in Formula 1. One was Frank Williams, who by then was just getting started out in team management and striking a deal with De Tomaso, but still was not very competitive in the overall scheme of things.
The other was Colin Chapman, Lotus chairman. Initially signed up for a Formula 2 deal in 1970, his meteoric rise to the top was further aided by Chapman, who let Fittipaldi start a few races for Lotus’ Formula 1 squad in their third car, which was used for other up-and-coming talents to hone their skills. Fittipaldi had basically did the real life, any% speedrun to make it to Formula 1 at 23 years of age. Might not seem like much nowadays, but back then, Fittipaldi was the 18th youngest driver to start a Formula 1 race and in the best team in the circus thanks to championship leader Jochen Rindt.
Come Monza, however, Fittipaldi seemed to be in deep trouble in Lotus, especially since he launched right off the back of Ignazio Giunti in practice, which he remembers making Colin Chapman a bit mad. However, this incident was rendered moot later, as team and championship leader Rindt fatally crashed braking for the Parabolica. Distraught, Chapman withdrew Lotus from this and the next Grand Prix, and as second driver John Miles quit the team following Rindt’s accident, Fittipaldi suddenly found himself as the number one driver for Lotus as they returned for the penultimate race of the season at Watkins Glen. With Jackie Ickx looking racey, Fittipaldi’s job was to hold him off to give Rindt a chance of posthumously winning the title.
In just his fourth start, and his first as team leader, Emerson did more than just keep Ickx at bay: he won the race. Granted, he only did so as the three ahead of him - Ickx, Jackie Stewart, and Pedro Rodriguez - all suffered from mechanical gremlins and fuel issues, but that takes nothing away from Fittipaldi’s feat. He became the third youngest winner in F1 history in just his fourth start, and his position as Lotus number one was well and truly cemented.
The rest is well written in lore. Fittipaldi stuck through 1971 with Lotus as they developed their Lotus 72 chassis, even taking part in the oddity that was the Lotus-Pratt & Whitney jet turbine engined project. This led to a dominant 1972 championship campaign, culminating in the previously mentioned victory in Italy with his father commentating over his victory. He was only 25 at this point, becoming the youngest World Driver’s Championship at the time, a record he held for three full decades before the arrival of Fernando Alonso.
Things, arguably, should have also gone his way the following year, but an intra-team rivalry with new teammate Ronnie Peterson and unreliability not only awarded Jackie Stewart the title, but prompted Fittipaldi to leave the team and make the switch to McLaren, where he would win his second world title before even reaching 28 years old. He had the world at his feet.
Then he fell off the map. By choice.
As Stephen Mangan summed it up in the movie Rush, Fitti-fucking-paldi had left McLaren for Coper-fucking-sucar. He had moved to Wilson’s team to not just boost the team’s image following its struggles in its inaugural season, but to help his brother in managing the outfit and to keep national spirit up for the squad. However, instead of leading the team to stardom, what followed was years of mediocrity and unreliability, with the occasional feel-good podium thrown in, the most notable being a second place finish in front of his home crowd at Jacarepaguá. At just 33, he retired from Formula 1 to manage the team full-time, but that was of little use as the outfit folded in 1982. You would think that would be that for this Fittipaldi, but that was just the end of the first half of his career.
In 1984, aged 38, he was tempted to head to the USA to join IndyCar. Far from the youthful spirit of his F1 glory days, Fittipaldi proved that he was still extremely fast, adapting to oval racing incredibly quickly and finding a career renaissance in his 40’s, winning the CART championship at 43 years of age and winning two Indy 500’s, in 1989 and 1993.
This second victory, at 46, should have been sweet, but Fittipaldi generated controversy by drinking orange juice instead of the traditional milk to promote Brazil’s citrus industry. The fans at Indy either have something against oranges or did not like the break in tradition for an industry-boosting tactic, and booed the living hell out of Emerson.
He had planned to retire at the end of 1996, but a massive shunt in Michigan that year curtailed his racing career a bit early, and any chance of another full-time return to racing, if there ever was going to be at 50-plus years-old, was put to bed in 1997 when he was lucky in escaping from a microflight plane crash with just an injured back.
Emerson was definitely the stalwart of the Fittipaldi family, and the one with the greatest legacy in carrying the Fittipaldi family’s name. His meteoric rise to superstardom was a rare sight to behold in Formula 1, but to leave all the success he had had to assist the family team was equally brave and gutsy. And then, when it was not enough and most drivers his age would be contemplating retirement, he went on to start a whole new career, earn fans (and haters) in a completely different region, and raced until his body could not take it any more. His two careers left an entire nation inspired to follow in his footsteps and created a hotbed of talent, from Piquet to Senna to Barrichello to Massa, that gave Brazil a constant presence on the grid until 2017, more than 4 decades after Emerson’s debut.
I would end it there, and talk about how Emerson seems to be enjoying life in retirement, even taking part in the recent zenith of simracing events happening in this lockdown period, buuuuut there are also bad news.
Recently, it was reported that Emmo is in deep financial debt, getting in 145 legal cases worth 8 and a half million euros from creditors, accusing him of hiding assets in the United States. It is not the first time Emerson has been in financial trouble as of late, as in 2016 some of his assets, including championship-winning cars, were seized from his museum by the Brazilian government, though Emerson highlighted the targeting of Brazilian media and his problems being symptomatic of a larger, nation-wide economic and corruption issue. Who knows, though, where Emerson goes from here.

Wilson Fittipaldi Junior

Wilson Jr. may be the older of the 1970’s Fittipaldis, but as the one with a delayed start in Formula 1 and with a far less successful career that his brother, Wilson will always be viewed as the Brent Gretzky of the Fittipaldi family.
Actually, labelling him the Brent of the family is a bit harsh. He was very much the spark plug behind the Fittipaldi’s engineering ventures, funding most of the brothers’ racing aspirations, and had already made the trip over to Europe in 1966, before Emerson ever stepped foot in a Formula Vee car, but he could not cut any mustard and returned to Brazil. He even tried his hand at hydrofoil racing in his early days, but a nasty incident left Fittipaldi thinking that motorsport was much safer.
Once Emerson made it big by winning a Grand Prix, though, Wilson thought that was the perfect opportunity to tail his brother into the European racing scene. In fact, he followed in his brother’s direct footsteps, heading right into Jim Russell’s Formula 3 seat in 1970. Though his rise was nowhere as meteoric or as impressive as his brother’s, Wilson was still able to steadily climb the ranks, and finishing 6th in European F2 in 1971 was enough to get Wilson a seat at Brabham for 1972.
However, he joined Brabham at precisely the wrong time, where the outfit was going through its blunder years, as Ron Tauranac experimented with lobster-claw designs and ownership was being passed around like a hot potato, eventually ending up in the hands of Bernie Ecclestone.
While all this was happening, Wilson was paired with Carlos Reutemann and two-time champion Graham Hill, and was instantly outclassed. With Hill, it was not much a surprise, but compared to fellow rookie Reutemann, Wilson was not matching him on pace at all. While Reutemann stunned the racing world by placing the woeful ‘lobster-claw’ Brabham BT34 on pole on his debut, Wilson was not setting any worlds alight with consistent but sub-par performances. As Hill left the team and Wilson was promoted to second driver in 1973, things did not look much better for him, scoring just three points while Reutemann was out there snagging podiums, and soon Wilson was out of a team.
Not that it mattered, because Wilson was busy setting up his own.
He already had the seeds planted for the outfit in November 1973, after his last race for Brabham. He did not want to waste the talent he had in manufacturing Formula Vee cars and GT bodykits go to waste, so hiring his friend Richard Divila to design the cars, he took the whole of 1974 off to establish the outfit. And he did not just take the whole year to establish his new team, but he took the whole of Brazil to start this team. I should probably remind you that Brazil, at this time, was governed by an authoritarian, militaristic government, one of many military juntas supported by the United States to install right-wing leaders sympathetic their fight against potential Soviet threats. This government was one that took pride in the ‘Brazilian Economic Miracle’ of the 1970’s, which saw Brazil’s economic standing rise to unprecedented levels in the decade (before the cost of the “miracle” led to the economic debacle of the 80’s), though this came through authoritarian rule that suppressed dissidents and drove inequality in the nation.
Why did I just go on the brief geopolitical tangent to talk about a Formula 1 team being established? Well, sport was heavily intertwined with this economic miracle, wherein international dominance in certain sports were a symbol of Brazil rising in their relevance and power in the world. While this was most reflected through Brazil’s dominance in the FIFA World Cup in 1970, motorsport had a big role in it too, primarily sparked by Emerson’s two championships in 1972 and 1974. And when Wilson announced his intention to run a Formula 1 team, based in Brazil, with Brazilian engineers and drivers, the money came rolling in, as Brazil’s leaders had their sights set on champagne, trophies, and prize money.
Brazil’s biggest ethanol and sugar manufacturer, Copersucar, wasted no time in becoming the title-sponsor for the team. Embraer, the state-owned airplane manufacturer, loaned their technology and engineers to design the car as well. The car was presented to the nation’s president at the end of 1974, with Wilson intending to drive the car himself in 1975.
However, this meant that Copersucar-Fittipaldi was no longer a Fittipaldi family project. It was now Brazil’s national Formula 1 team.
And boy, did they let their nation down.
Especially in their first year, with Wilson at the wheel. With the FD01 featuring some unique design features, like a March 711-esque raised front wing and a sleek engine cover, their oddities unfortunately rooted them to the back of the grid, with Wilson failing to qualify twice, managing a best finish of 10th. Both Wilson and Copersucar-Fittipaldi were last out of the drivers and teams that attempted pretty much a full season. No points and no hope, Emerson’s turn to the team looked like, and may have very well been, a family move to support Wilson, but at the time there was no question that it carried undertones of saving national pride as well.
Despite the occasional podium, Fittipaldi was never anything more than a lower-midfield team, however, and media and public support quickly vanished, the team switch to the UK never truly solving their problems. Once Copersucar stopped sponsoring them, and with Brazil now in significant debt thanks to the economic “miracle”, the team became impossible to sustain and it duly left Formula 1 by the end of 1983.
If Wilson was left to his own devices to establish a family-run team without expectations, it might have lasted longer. But with the weight of an entire nation-state, there was just no way Wilson could keep it afloat. He would be an ever-present figure, supporting his son Christian’s motorsport career in the 90’s and making appearances now and then in Stock Car Brasil, even joining Christian for a Mil Milhas, the race set up by Wilson Sr., triumph in 1994.

Christian Fittipaldi

With Christian, we move into the third generation of the Fittipaldi family, the second with actual Formula 1 driving experience. Although he did not set up his own national motorsports organization and become the voice of a nation like “Barão”; although he does not have any World Championships to his name like uncle Emerson; and although he certainly did not start an F1 team that gathered support from the whole nation like Wilson Jr., that does not mean Christian lacked any talent. Far from it, his career is sadly rather undervalued.
Christian was mentored by his father right from the start, as he took to go-karting and then single-seaters. And, like his uncle, Christian’s rise was meteoric. In 1989, he won the Brazilian Formula 3 title in his first step beyond Formula Ford, winning the continental title in 1990 and, while pulling double duty in Britain, managing to finish fourth in the UK F3 championship as well.
Then, at 20 years old, Christian would stun the racing world by winning the F3000 championship on his first go in 1991. Granted, he was driving for Pacific Racing, one of the best F3000 teams out there, but he still had to put up a tough fight against Alessandro Zanardi, barely holding off Zanardi to the championship by four seconds in the final round at Nogaro.
However, unlike his uncle, he did not get signed up by any recent constructor’s champions. Far from it. He ended up with Minardi for the 1992 season, which did not look all that bad at the start. Granted, they were backmarkers, but they had just come off their best season in recent history, with two fourth places from Pierluigi Martini to show for it.
However, the new Lamborghini engine caused all sort of trouble and Fittipaldi failed to qualify multiple times, being saddled with reliability issues, and even fracturing his fifth vertebrae after an accident qualifying in the French Grand Prix, which would be the first of many injury woes for him. Despite all those troubles, though, he impressed by dragging that Minardi in places it had no right to be in, culminating in Minardi’s only point of the season at the Japanese Grand Prix. Still a sprightly 21 years old at this point, it made him the fifth youngest driver at the time to score a point in Formula 1.
Next season was supposed to be Christian’s breakout year. As he moved to lead driver ahead of Fabrizio Barbazza, the Minardi M193 was miles better than the previous year’s chassis, even if it was still not exactly the strongest car on the grid. For the first half of the season, Fittipaldi looked strong, scoring a miraculous 4th place in the chaotic South African Grand Prix, and following that up with a fifth on the streets of Monte Carlo. The brilliantly-haired Barbazza was not faring too bad either, and Minardi were at last looking like a decent midfield outfit.
Then Pierluigi Martini returned to the team. For those that do not know, Martini is essentially Minardi’s hero. He started on the front row with them, he led a lap for them, and drove for them for almost his whole career apart from 1992, the year Fittipaldi joined. But with Martini back, he started to challenge Fittipaldi pace wise, and the wily veteran was actually keeping up with the young Brazilian pace-wise, even qualifying in 7th at Hungary where Christian could only make 14th on the grid.
This came to a head at the end of the Italian Grand Prix. Martini was in 7th, with Fittipaldi barely trailing behind in 8th place coming to the finish line. It would be the first time since the wet European Grand Prix where both Minardis would place in the top 10, and in front of the home crowd some more. They were practically nose to tail heading to the line.
Then came the most (in)famous moment of Christian’s career: The Backflip.
You have all seen it and gone “oOoOhH what a wAcKy accident”. I know I did when I first saw this. Stuck the landing, 9’s across the board, with an 8.5 from the Bulgarian judge, did not lose a place, and across the line. A highlight reel moment, but in reality, this was the end of Christian’s Minardi career. He was mad and insisted Martini slowed down and swerved to protect his position in front of his home crowd, endangering Christian in the process. He even claims to have seen the telemetry that indicates Martini let go of the gas. Martini insists he slowed because he was missing fifth gear, and the botched gear shift was to blame. Either way, tempers flared in the garage, forcing team principal Giancarlo Minardi to step in. Christian never talked to Martini again, and was dropped from Minardi after the following race in Portugal, in part due to needing sponsorship money, and in part because of the incident. We all laugh at that wAcKy incident now, but it left Christian out of a drive.
For 1994, Christian managed to find a seat with Footwork Arrows, but being stuck in lower-midfield teams for three years, he felt he needed a change of scene. Despite more impressive results for Footwork, outpacing teammate Gianni Morbidelli, nearly scoring a podium in Germany and a sixth in Canada ruled out due to an underweight car, Fittipaldi was not going anywhere. Even though there were rumours of a high-profile move to McLaren (granted, this rumour was based on one blog and severely lacks verification), Christian up and left to race where his uncle was having his career resurgence: the big old U.S. of A.
While things started out promising for Christian, getting second place in his first (and only) Indy 500 and finding himself with multiple top ten finished in 1996, a massive shunt in the second race of the season at Surfer’s Paradise sidelined him for quite a few races in 1997, and this marked the beginning of four straight seasons for Christian where he would be hampered by injuries and concussions caused by multiple wrecks all the way to 2000. Though he would win a few races and launch quite the campaign in 2002, those injuries definitely put a hamper in the prime of Christian’s career.
From there, though Christian went on to try everything in motorsport, and I mean EVERYTHING. He dipped his toes into NASCAR, though the less we speak about that, the better. He shot his shot in the World Cup of Nations, A1 Grand Prix, but could not match Nelson Piquet Jr.’s earlier results to give Brazil a shot at the title. He went back home and experimented in Stock Car Brazil for a couple seasons, without success as well. But he found his true calling card in Daytona Prototypes. In the American endurance racing circuit, Christian became a powerhouse, ending up as a three-time Daytona 24 hours winner, a victor in the 12 Hours of Sebring, and taking home two sportscar championships in 2014 and 2015, aged 44.
He finally hung up his racing suit for good last year, but is still involved in the sportscar scene in the United States, showing up as the Grand Marshal in this year’s 24 hours of Daytona. However, the mark he made on Formula 1 was more than just a fancy backflip. He took two underperforming teams in Minardi and Footwork, and actually got them into positions where they had no right to be. In fact, a paper by Bell et al. (2016) that created an all-time list of driver’s rankings based on performance relative to teammates, consistency in terms of reliability and team’s performance, redeemed Christian’s stint in Formula 1 by ranking him rather well.
Like, really well. In fact, they ranked Christian as the 11th best driver ever in Formula 1. Better than Lewis Hamilton.
Granted, this was based off up to 2016 results, leaving out a few rather successful years of Hamilton’s career, plus Christian has a W I D E confidence interval due to his short stint in F1, and other people, like u/whatthefat, have argued against Bell et al.’s model, but let us not completely dismiss. Maybe there is an alternate universe where Christian does not backflip, stays on good terms with Minardi, finds a solid drive in Formula 1, and does not get injured every darn season. In that alternative scenario, he might even have won a few races, maybe a championship. And maybe he would have had the results to lay a claim as the 11th best driver ever in Formula 1 without the need for long explanations.
Instead, all we have for this Fittipaldi is a radical backflip to remember him by.

Pietro Fittipaldi

And this leads us to Pietro. As he takes the track this weekend in Sakhir, he becomes the fourth Fittipaldi to drive in Formula 1, earning the family the record for most representatives on the Formula 1 grid, and the first with three generations to enter races in Formula 1. Unlike Mercedes, who have negotiated with other teams instead of digging right into their reserves, Haas directly promoted their reserve driver into their seat opened up due to Grosjean’s tremendous accident last week. However, even with Grosjean’s absence, Pietro is quite lucky to end up in this seat in the first place.
His career also has an odd start, one you do not expect. He started out his childhood in karting, yes, but Pietro’s first car racing series was not Formula Ford. Or Formula BMW. Or Formula 4. Or any other, normal, entry-level series you’d expect in open wheels. Instead, Pietro Fittipaldi got his start in NASCAR. Specifically, the Whelen All-American series where, at age 15, he won his track’s championship. He only made the move to ‘normal’ single-seater entry-level championships two years later, where he would then win in British Formula Renault’s Protyre championship in its final season, dominating the field.
The next few seasons saw Pietro make a slow and steady climb up the junior ranks of single-seater racing, mixing a disappointing campaign in the F3 European Championship in 2015 with a title in the much lesser-known MRF Challenge over the 2015-16 off-season. From there, he moved on to Formula V8 3.5, previously known as Formula Renault, for the 2016 season. And this is where things get interesting.
You see, Formula V8 3.5 was in its death throes at that point after Renault withdrew their backing from the 2016 season. For 2017, the series was still given a lot of weight in the new Super Licence points system, with the champion receiving 35 points. However, the entry list that year was severely depleted, with only eight full-time entries, one of them being Pietro. There was still a fair bit of competition for him to ward off, namely Rene Binder, Roy Nissany, and Alfonso Celis Jr., but Pietro took the title and the 35 points that came with it. This was just in time, as the FIA were going to slash the Super Licence points for the series down to 20 for the champions. The series then folded, but Pietro still had 35 points.
The following year saw Pietro attempt to step up and take on two major series at once, pulling part-time double duty in both the World Endurance Championship and IndyCar. However, those plans were done for after Pietro broke both his legs during qualifying for the 6 Hours of Spa, scuppering his chances of making it to the Indy 500. He did manage to scrape a single top ten finish on his return, but most of his season was gone.
By this point, Pietro was named as the reserve driver for Haas, but the major issue was that he still only had 35 points, just below the 40 required to actually make an F1 start. His efforts in DTM in 2019 were not great, with Pietro finding the transition to touring cars difficult, and thus Haas was left scrambling, with the 35 points from his Formula V8 3.5 title soon to expire in 2020. However, there was one series left for Pietro to push for points: the Asian Formula Three championship.
It was no guarantee, though. Previous entrants into Asian F3 for the sake of Super Licence points have had their plans scuppered due to the short nature of the series, most notable of which being Dan Ticktum. All Pietro needed was fifth in the championship, but his season started weakly, with mechanical issues in Sepang leaving him with zero points in the championship. By Abu Dhabi, Pietro was only sixth in the standings, and given the form of his surrounding competitors, he would need to pick up his pace fast, otherwise nothing short of a miracle was required.
Enter Covid-19.
As the news out of the bizarre pneumonia in Wuhan started trickling out, and with the Chinese New Year signalling a potential spread of the disease across the region, many people put themselves on high alert. Crucially for this story, Asian Formula Three drivers Devlin DeFrancesco and Sebastian Fernandez, who both withdrew from the championship, citing concerns over the spread of Covid-19 in the region.
As DeFrancesco and Fernandez were ahead of Pietro in the championship standings, he had an easier task of surpassing them to score those Super Licence points, which he promptly did, earning 6 points to bring his total to 41, just enough to qualify for a Super Licence.
And not only has he qualified, but now he is taking to the track. Representing not just Brazil for the first time in a while, but bringing back the Fittipaldi family into the sport it has come to shape.
Whether it be through establishing the sport in the nation, winning multiple championships, inspiring legions of future drivers, broadcasting to millions, attracting the government to invest in your team, or by simply doing a backflip, the Fittipaldi name is embedded in both Brazil and Formula 1’s history, and the family has shaped and transformed Formula 1 in a multitude of ways.
Who knows what Pietro will do? Will he defy expectations and place the Haas on the cusp of points? Will he fade away during the race? Will he retire? Will he start? Who knows? But from history, we have seen the Fittipaldi name has been one to follow for decades. So we will follow Pietro. He has got a big name to carry, but whatever he does, he is the one pushing the Fittipaldi family legacy in Formula 1 forward.

Edit Mon Jan 6: I worked all weekend, the edition of Lost in the Sauce that follows this one below from last week is going to be a little late - sorry about that! I hope to post it later today (Monday) or tomorrow morning at the latest.
Welcome to Lost in the Sauce, keeping you caught up on political and legal news that often gets buried in distractions and theater. (the previous edition can be found here if you are super behind)
Two important things:
FIRST, the headings will guide you through this piece. The Main Course covers the “big” stories and The Sides covers the “smaller” stories.
SECOND, I took a break from the audio TLDR this week. My apologies, been super busy. It will return for next week’s edition.
Finally:

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Let’s dig in!
 

*Main Course*

Ukraine aid: The truth

The New York Times published an in-depth look at what happened during the roughly three months that the aid to Ukraine was withheld, revealing new information that highlights how much evidence the administration has hidden (and is still hiding) from congressional investigators. The piece also underscores that Trump was involved in every decision every step of the way.
Acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney, Russell T. Vought, the acting head of the Office of Management and Budget, Robert Blair, the senior adviser to Mulvaney, and Mark Paoletta, the budget office's top lawyer, were the key figures in executing Trump’s pressure campaign on Ukraine. All three refused to comply with House impeachment investigation.

“I’m just trying to tie up some loose ends,” Mr. Mulvaney wrote. “Did we ever find out about the money for Ukraine and whether we can hold it back?”
It was June 27, more than a week after Mr. Trump had first asked about putting a hold on security aid to Ukraine, an embattled American ally, and Mr. Mulvaney needed an answer.
The aide, Robert B. Blair, replied that it would be possible, but not pretty. “Expect Congress to become unhinged” if the White House tried to countermand spending passed by the House and Senate, he wrote in a previously undisclosed email. And, he wrote, it might further fuel the narrative that Mr. Trump was pro-Russia.

Not everyone was onboard:

Pentagon officials, in the dark about the reason for the holdup, grew increasingly frustrated. Ms. McCusker, the powerful Pentagon budget official, notified the budget office that either $61 million of the money would have to be spent by Monday, Aug. 12 or it would be lost. The budget office saw her threat as a ploy to force release of the aid.
At the White House, which had been looped into the dispute by the budget office, there was a growing consensus that officials could find a legal rationale for continuing the hold, but with the Monday deadline looming, it was a “POTUS-level decision,” one official said.

Among those who disagreed with Trump:

In late August, Defense Secretary Mark T. Esper joined Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and John R. Bolton, the national security adviser at the time, for a previously undisclosed Oval Office meeting with the president where they tried but failed to convince him that releasing the aid was in interests of the United States.
...“This is in America’s interest,” Mr. Bolton argued, according to one official briefed on the gathering.
“This defense relationship, we have gotten some really good benefits from it,” Mr. Esper added, noting that most of the money was being spent on military equipment made in the United States.
Mr. Trump responded that he did not believe Mr. Zelensky’s promises of reform. He emphasized his view that corruption remained endemic and repeated his position that European nations needed to do more for European defense.
“Ukraine is a corrupt country,” the president said. “We are pissing away our money.”

This article is very detailed and important to read to understand the events surrounding the hold on the aid. Message me if you are stuck behind the paywall but would like to read it anyway. Here are some non-paywalled summaries: Business Insider, HuffPost.

Promotion for stonewalling

Last week, President Trump gave a big promotion to Mulvaney aide Robert Blair, just weeks after Blair refused to cooperate with a House subpoena for his testimony in the impeachment inquiry. As the above NYT piece describes, Blair played a key role in withholding the aid to Ukraine despite the pushback from top officials and legal risks. Blair is now the special representative for international telecommunications policy and “will support the Administration’s 5G efforts led by the Assistant to the President for Economy Policy, Larry Kudlow.” In addition, Blair “will continue to serve as Assistant to the President and the Senior Advisor to the Chief of Staff.”

Trump’s July 25

Heidi Przybyla of NBC News noted an interesting detail from Trump’s Twitter feed on July 25, 2019 - the day that he spoke to Ukrainian President Zelensky on the phone. That morning, roughly an hour before the phone call, Trump was reading a Fox News poll (or saw the poll on TV) that showed Biden with a “commanding lead” for the Democratic nomination. The poll also included a hypothetical match-up between Biden and Trump in which Biden was favored by 10 percentage points.
Although circumstantial, this evidence provides insight into Trump’s frame of mind at the time of the July 25 phone call. He had just read a poll showing that he’d lose against Biden; he viewed Biden as a threat to his re-election. It was with this mindset that Trump pressured Zelensky to announce an investigation into Biden, effectively smearing his potential 2020 opponent.

The impact on Ukraine

NBC News reports that the delay in aid to Ukraine has worried top Ukrainian officials and has “exposed the cracks in the West’s response to an emboldened Russia, inflicted permanent damage on Ukraine and heightened the risk of Moscow extending its influence in the country.”

U.S. support, in particular, is seen as essential in keeping what is widely seen as a bully in the East at bay.
“Just the presence of the American army on the territory of Ukraine, in my opinion, already scares the enemy — even without any other aid,” said Ukraine Ground Forces Sgt. Maj. Yevhen Mokhtan, who works in this multinational training facility in western Ukraine.

Volodymyr Yermolenko, a professor who runs Ukraine World, an English-language media project aimed at combating disinformation and fake news: “The question about military aid to Ukraine is not about Ukraine; it’s about values. It’s about shifting Western liberal democracy eastward.”

Putin and Trump call

As has become routine, Americans learned from the Kremlin on Sunday that Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke with our president by phone earlier in the day. 24 hours later and the White House still has not acknowledged the call or provided a readout of what was discussed. The Kremlin released a readout immediately after the call, saying the two leaders discussed counter-terrorism efforts and "matters of mutual interest.”

"Vladimir Putin thanked Donald Trump for the information shared via the special services that helped prevent terrorist acts in Russia," the Kremlin-provided statement said. "Several matters of mutual interest were discussed. An agreement was made to continue bilateral cooperation in the fight against terrorism."

Reminder: This is a little out of date, but as of Oct. 4, 2019, Trump had privately spoken to Putin at least 16 times since his inauguration. The actual content of these conversations is often disputed and not recorded in any way. Two government watchdog organizations filed a lawsuit against Secretary of State Mike Pompeo for allowing Trump to seize notes from a meeting he had with Putin in 2017.

Trump outs the whistleblower

In an unprecedented step last week, the President of the United States put the alleged (and unsubstantiated) name of a federally-protected whistleblower out into the public. First, on Thursday, Trump retweeted a tweet sent by his re-election campaign (menacingly-named Trump “War Room”) containing an article that names the purported whistleblower. Then on Friday, in a late-night Twitter binge, Trump retweeted a post from a suspicious account with the name of the alleged whistleblower in the text of the tweet. In other words, Trump put the name of (who he believes is) the whistleblower on his official Twitter account, his main method of communication.
According to CNN, Twitter confirmed it “has suspended some of the pro-Trump accounts that Trump had promoted Friday night.” CNN also reported that the tweet containing the whistleblower’s name was removed from Trump’s account, but for many people (myself included), it is still visible on Trump’s Twitter page. I will not link to it because I do not believe in assisting Trump’s effort to out the whistleblower, even if Trump’s identification is not accurate.

Senate trial

Congressional leaders are still stuck in a stalemate regarding the next steps in impeachment, as the Democrats call for a fair trial with witnesses and the Republicans lean towards a quick Senate trial with a predetermined result.

Schumer

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer sent a letter to all senators last Monday arguing that not only is witness testimony essential for a Senate trial - so is “the need for the Senate to review documentary evidence.” In addition to the four witnesses (John Bolton, OMB official Michael Duffey, and Mick Mulvaney and his senior adviser Robert Blair) previously proposed, Schumer lists a range of documents from the White House, State Department, and Office of Management and Budget. The letter specifically notes the recent - partially redacted - FOIA revelation that the aid to Ukraine was frozen just 91 minutes after Trump’s July 25 phone call with Zelensky.

There simply is no good reason why evidence that is directly relevant to the conduct at issue in the Articles of Impeachment should be withheld from the Senate and the American people. Relevant documentary evidence currently in the possession of the Administration will augment the existing evidentiary record and will allow Senators to reach judgments informed by all of the available facts. To oppose the admission of this evidence would be to turn a willfully blind eye to the facts, and would clearly be at odds with the obligation of Senators to 'do impartial justice' according to the oath we will all take in the impeachment trial.

Further reading: Supreme Court lawyer and former Acting Solicitor General Neal Katyal argues in The Washington Post that the FOIA email in which Duffey orders a hold on Ukraine aid is an important example of why witness testimony is necessary: “So it wasn’t enough for Duffey to order Defense Department officials to withhold the weapons from Ukraine. He needed to order them to withhold the legally required alert to Congress. And that’s just what he did… If there’s any doubt about what the email meant, Duffey could clear it up by testifying. But he has dodged all attempts to do so.”

McConnell

Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski told a local news station that she was “disturbed” to hear McConnell describe “total coordination” with the White House in planning and carrying out the Senate’s impeachment trial. However, Murkowski has given no other indication that she intends to break with McConnell’s approach.

Graham

A couple of weeks ago, Senate Judiciary Chairman Lindsey Graham invited Rudy Giuliani to testify before the panel about his recent trip to Ukraine. “Rudy, if you want to come and tell us what you found, I'll be glad to talk to you,” Graham said in an interview on “Face the Nation.” However, it now seems that Graham is having second thoughts due to the realization that Giuliani may be trying to spread Russian propaganda: “My advice to Giuliani would be to share what he got from Ukraine with the IC [intelligence community] to make sure it’s not Russia propaganda. I’m very suspicious of what the Russians are up to all over the world.”

• During Giuliani’s trip to Ukraine, he met with numerous pro-Russia individuals, including one - Andriy Derkach - who attended a KGB school in Moscow. Derkach has been identified as a source (but not the only source) of the discredited claim that Ukraine interfered in the 2016 election, not Russia.
  
• Daily Beast: “I wouldn’t trust Rudy to represent me in a parking dispute so I’d say avoid,” one senior GOP Senate aide said when asked about any plans for a Ukraine briefing.
  

Trump’s defense

Typically, in the Senate impeachment trial, the President’s White House lawyers make up the “defense” lawyers. However, the Wall Street Journal reports that Trump’s team may include House Republicans:

The president has indicated that Mr. Cipollone would lead his legal defense team but is considering adding others with the television experience he values. Under consideration are Jay Sekulow, one of the president’s personal lawyers, and Alan Dershowitz, a professor emeritus at Harvard Law School and TV commentator, officials said. The White House is also considering adding some of the president’s staunchest defenders on the House Intelligence and Judiciary committees to the Senate trial team, according to a person familiar with the deliberations.

Legal analyst Ross Garber notes that the impeachment managers (House Democrats that “try” the case) and Senate Democrats would likely object to such an arrangement:

Curious that members of the Legislative Branch would formally represent the Executive, esp in a House v POTUS proceeding. I’d expect an objection from managers/Senate Dems. (Informal advice is one thing, but acting as the President’s - or Presidency’s - lawyers is different.)

Impeachment, Round Two?

In a court filing last week, House Judiciary Committee attorneys argued that they urgently require Mueller’s grand jury materials and Don McGahn’s testimony for their continuing impeachment investigation: “The Committee’s investigations did not cease with the House’s recent impeachment vote.” House lawyers added that if the court rules quickly, the materials and testimony would be presented in the Senate’s trial.

If McGahn’s testimony produces new evidence supporting the conclusion that President Trump committed impeachable offenses that are not covered by the Articles approved by the House, the Committee will proceed accordingly — including, if necessary, by considering whether to recommend new articles of impeachment. [page 12]

The two cases will be heard by three-judge panels of the D.C. Appeals Court on Jan. 3; the McGahn panel is made up of Judges Karen LeCraft Henderson, Thomas B. Griffith, and Judith W. Rogers; the Mueller case will be heard by Judges Griffith, Rogers, and Neomi Rao.

Dueling opinions

Washington Post columnist Paul Waldman used the recent court filings to argue that Trump could be impeached for a second time: “Don’t dismiss it as an absurd idea just yet. Not only might it happen, but it also might be absolutely necessary.” Waldman believes that between the possibility of discovering currently-unknown misdeeds Trump already committed and the possibility that Trump commits future crimes, a second impeachment “might be all but inevitable.”
However, former SDNY prosecutor Elie Honig threw cold water on the idea that the Mueller materials and/or McGahn’s testimony could lead to another impeachment push:

”Legally, yes, there’s nothing preventing the House from returning more Articles of Impeachment or impeaching again. But let’s operate in the real world: there’s just no way. No way it works politically, no way the public embraces it, no way Pelosi permits it.”

Giuliani’s interview

In yet another freewheeling interview (over daytime Bloody Mary drinks), Giuliani told New York Magazine that if the Southern District of New York Attorney’s office is investigating him, “they’re idiots” and “assholes.”

“If they think I committed a crime, they’re out of their minds,” he said. “I’ve been doing this for 50 years. I know how not to commit crimes. And if they think I’ve lost my integrity, maybe they’ve lost theirs in their insanity over hating Trump with some of the things they did that I never would’ve tolerated when I was U.S. Attorney.”

Giuliani suggested the SDNY prosecutors are jealous of him.

“It’s a terrible thing to say because it will get the Southern District all upset, but I know why they’re all upset,” Giuliani said. “Because they’ve never done anything like me since me. They haven’t done an eight years like I did since I left being U.S. Attorney. Nothing close.”

Giuliani also addressed the allegations against his client, President Trump, and in the process admitted that it would be in character for Trump to withhold military aid dedicated to Ukraine:

He didn’t think it was such a big deal once he read about it [the freeze on aid], he said, because it was “typical Trump; he withholds aid till the last minute until he makes them beg for it.”

And, finally, to top off the interview, Giuliani claimed that former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch is “controlled” by George Soros. Then the former NYC mayor launched into an extended anti-semitic diatribe:

“He put all four ambassadors there. And he’s employing the FBI agents.” I told him he sounded crazy, but he insisted he wasn’t.
“Don’t tell me I’m anti-Semitic if I oppose him,” he said. “Soros is hardly a Jew. I’m more of a Jew than Soros is. I probably know more about — he doesn’t go to church, he doesn’t go to religion — synagogue. He doesn’t belong to a synagogue, he doesn’t support Israel, he’s an enemy of Israel. He’s elected eight anarchist DA’s in the United States. He’s a horrible human being.”

• Further reading: “Rudy Giuliani's anti-Soros tirade exposes three uncomfortable truths.” CNN. 12/24/19. And “Rudy Giuliani Doubles Down On Anti-Semitic Attacks Against George Soros.” HuffPost. 12/24/19.

 

*The Sides*

New CyberCom approach

Military cyber officials are developing information warfare tactics that could be deployed against senior Russian officials and oligarchs if Moscow tries to interfere in the 2020 U.S. elections through hacking election systems or sowing widespread discord, according to current and former U.S. officials.
One option being explored by U.S. Cyber Command would target senior leadership and Russian elites, though probably not President Vladimir Putin, which would be considered too provocative, said the current and former officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the issue’s sensitivity. The idea would be to show that the target’s sensitive personal data could be hit if the interference did not stop, though officials declined to be more specific.
...The intelligence community last month issued a classified update — a “national intelligence estimate” — asserting that Russia’s main goal in the 2020 campaign continues to be to sow discord. “It’s always been about exacerbating fault lines in our society,” one senior U.S. official said. (The Washington Post or non-paywalled option)

Political ads

The streaming service Spotify announced last week that “pause” political advertising in early 2020 because it does not have the resources to properly police the content of such ads. “At this point in time, we do not yet have the necessary level of robustness in our process, systems and tools to responsibly validate and review this content,” a representative of the company said.
Reminder: Twitter has banned all ads from political candidates, officials, and political parties on its platform. Google has limited advertisers’ ability to micro-target users based on political affiliation.
Meanwhile, Facebook has taken the opposite approach, allowing political ads on its platform without any fact-checking. According to the Wall Street Journal (non-paywall, millionaire Facebook board member Peter Thiel was a driving force behind the decision not to crack down on political ads, despite some directors and executives arguing for limitations or a complete ban.
Thiel is a supporter of Donald Trump; Thiel and Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg attended an “undisclosed dinner” hosted by Trump at the White House in October.

A major donor to Trump’s campaign, Thiel is also the chairman of Palantir, a private data technology company that has become one of the largest recipients of government defense contracts with the United States government since Trump took office. (NBC News)

State wins and setbacks

A win for voter rights in North Carolina:

Republican attempts to require photo identification to vote in North Carolina are being thwarted again by judges hearing arguments that the mandate is tainted by bias that would deter black and Latino residents.
A federal court announced that next week U.S. District Judge Loretta Biggs will formally block a photo ID requirement scheduled to begin in 2020. Unless the upcoming preliminary injunction is successfully appealed, the requirement will be halted until a lawsuit filed by the state NAACP and others is resolved. (NBC News)

And a setback for voter rights in Georgia:

Georgia doesn’t have to put almost 100,000 voters back on its rolls, a federal judge ruled Friday.
The US district judge Steve C Jones ruled that a voting rights advocacy group founded by Democrat Stacey Abrams is improperly asking him to interpret state law. Jones also said the group hasn’t proved that people who have been removed had their constitutional rights violated.
However, Jones also ordered Georgia’s secretary of state, Brad Raffensperger, to do more to warn people that they had been removed. The judge is especially singling out a south-west Georgia state House district where a 28 January special election is scheduled. Voters there who have been removed have only until Monday to re-register. (The Guardian)

Further reading: “The Decade When Republicans Stole the States: How the North Carolina GOP's anti-democratic chicanery became the national party's playbook for electoral theft,” The New Republic.

McCabe lawsuit

Andrew McCabe, the ousted deputy director of the FBI, says the Trump administration is withholding evidence related to his lawsuit. McCabe sued the FBI and the Department of Justice after he was fired in March 2018 by then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions just two days before he was set to retire.
McCabe's attorney, Murad Hussain, filed a declaration on Tuesday claiming that several agencies and 30 individuals — including current FBI Director Chris Wray, Attorney General William Barr and Mr. Trump — have yet to hand over any materials requested as part of his lawsuit against his former employer. (CBS News)

Flynn sentence

In a court filing last week, the Justice Department hinted that it may seek a harsher sentence for Michael Flynn, who has shifted legal strategy and taken an openly hostile approach to the DOJ. Flynn’s sentencing is set for Jan. 28.

Immigration news

Exodus of immigration judges:

Over the past year, in the heat of a border migration crisis, 45 judges have left, moved into new roles in the immigration court system -- which is run by the Justice Department -- or passed away, according to the department. That's nearly double the number who departed their posts in fiscal years 2018 and 2017, when 24 and 21 judges left, respectively, according to data provided by the judges union.
The reasons why individual judges have moved on from their posts on the bench vary, but in interviews with judges who left in recent months, one theme ties them all together: frustration over a mounting number of policy changes that, they argue, chipped away at their authority...Their departures come as the Justice Department faces a backlog that exceeds 1 million cases. (CNN)

Border wall:
I’m not going to excerpt this because it’s hard to separate one piece from the whole. It is a very important article and I hope everyone will take the time to read it: “Southern border wall is destroying natural habitats,” The Hill.

US Contractors supported Taliban

Nearly 400 people who were either wounded while serving in the U.S. military in Afghanistan or are family members of service members who died in the conflict sued a group of companies on Friday they say helped fund attacks against Americans by making protection payments to the Taliban.
“Defendants supported the Taliban for a simple reason: Defendants were all large Western companies with lucrative businesses in post-9/11 Afghanistan, and they all paid the Taliban to refrain from attacking their business interests,” the 288-page complaint filed in federal court in Washington, D.C. on Friday states. “Those protection payments aided and abetted terrorism by directly funding an al-Qaeda-backed Taliban insurgency that killed and injured thousands of Americans.”
...”In addition to MTN [South African telecom firm], the complaint names the London-headquartered G4S Holdings International and its subsidiaries, the Palm Beach Gardens, Florida company Centerra Group, the Bethesda, Maryland company DAI Global, the Lenoir City, Tennessee firm Janus Global Operations, Overland Park, Kansas’ Black & Veatch Special Projects and the Canadian company Louis Berger Group and its subsidiaries and affiliates. (Courthouse News)

Trump’s Christmas party

Trump held a Studio 54-themed Christmas Eve party at Mar-a-Lago, attended by Rudy Giuliani, Alan Dershowitz, and recently-pardoned war criminal Edward Gallagher. Parties like these cost the American taxpayers money, as more Secret Service agents are required to provide security for a large bash. Not to mention the money spent at Mar-a-Lago by White House staff and administration officials to attend.
Who else was at the party? None other than close friend of Vladimir Putin - and captain of the Washington Capitals - Alex Ovechkin and his wife, Nastya Ovechkina.

GEO Group and Trump

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) sent a letter to the GEO group last week expressing “serious concerns about possible corruption” raised by the private prison company’s spending at Trump’s D.C. hotel. The Senator and Representative request additional information from the company about the “ten to twenty” times GEO execs stayed at Trump’s hotel.

A senior executive of the GEO Group—the nation’s largest private prison and immigrant detention company—who lobbied the Trump administration for a multimillion-dollar cash infusion has also been staying in the luxurious Trump International Hotel Washington, D.C., billing an unknown sum to his corporate expense account, according to previously unreported records unearthed by the Project On Government Oversight (POGO), a non-profit watchdog.
The admission by David J. Venturella, GEO’s senior vice president of business development, came in a June 2019 deposition in an ongoing federal court case…Venturella testified that he had charged Trump hotel bills to his GEO credit card on at least 10 occasions.
...GEO became an avid fan of then-candidate Donald Trump after President Barack Obama’s Justice Department promised to stop approving new federal private prison contracts days after a report determined that private prisons were not necessarily cheaper than government-run ones, causing the company’s stock to plummet 40 percent. What followed was an outpouring of cash from GEO: hundreds of thousands of dollars in contributions to pro-Trump political groups and to his inauguration; and over $4 million in Washington lobbying, much of it directed at the Trump administration. For its part, the administration reversed Obama’s policy and has dramatically boosted GEO’s immigrant detention revenue. (Project On Government Oversight)

Nunes

The Fresno Bee asks: How is Rep. Devin Nunes funding so many lawsuits?
Mother Jones took a look at Nunes and his associates who are involved in the Ukraine pressure campaign:

Not only did the report include phone records indicating calls between Nunes and numbers associated with Giuliani and Parnas (Nunes claims the Parnas calls actually came from a number associated with Parnas’ wife and that he spoke with “someone,” he does not recall who), it also indicated deep ties between Nunes’ office and the White House. At least three former Nunes staffers currently work in the White House. A onetime National Security Council staffer in the Trump White House, meanwhile, currently works for Nunes. The names of all of these officials have surfaced in recent months in connection with the Ukraine scandal, and three of them were mentioned in the intelligence committee report.

Kellyanne lawsuit

Government watchdog Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) filed a lawsuit demanding the Office of Special Counsel (OSC), an agency tasked with enforcing the Hatch Act, take more disciplinary action against Kellyanne Conway for repeatedly violating the Hatch Act.

The law explicitly states that should OSC determine disciplinary actions should be taken against an employee, it must immediately prepare and present a written complaint to MSPB. The lawsuit would compel OSC to comply with its duty to begin enforcement proceedings with MSPB against Conway.
CREW filed multiple complaints against Conway, as she blatantly used her official government Twitter account and her press appearances to advocate for and against candidates for office. Conway is one of eleven Trump administration officials who have been cited for Hatch Act violations following CREW complaints.

Hey, losers! We’re already at the semifinals of the Redemption House! How could this be? It seems like just yesterday that u/HereToTalkTV and u/DurtyMurty11 were the first teams to be double-eliminated and go a very impressive 0-2. But, here we are, with a couple of 4-1 teams and a couple of 3-1 teams going at it in the penultimate round of the Redemption House, or as we who run the Redemption House like to call it, the Redemption House. So come one, come all, and come join us as losers continue to battle head-to-head to fight for redemption, overcoming embarrassing losses, terrifying finals, and (supposed) voter insanity. Things are really heating up, and by the end of the week, we’ll be able to crown MtvChallenge’s best losers! While there will be no re-entry into the Winner’s Bracket, one team (per bracket) will find itself the Ruler of Redemption.
Before we get to the voting, let’s recap last night’s fantasy match-ups.
Real World Bracket (written by the excellent u/ND-PC)
Match 1.0

• u/BCastle18 - 58
• u/honestkodaline, u/priorsloth’s “Adore Delano 2020” - 51

This final was basically a triathlon + a row and a riddle. So like a weird pentathlon that nobody asked for. And although it was close, this marks the end of mod presence in the fantasy tournament. You know what that means, folks? No more rules! We can finally do whatever the heck we want without the fear of being moderated! u/BCastle18 is our savior! There’s no way this could possibly go wrong! Anarchy is the way to the truth! Fight the power!
Wait, what was I saying? Oh yeah, the mods are gone and I’m very sad to see the last of them depart this spectacular event. It takes good leadership to form a strong community, and I believe this subreddit is a hell of a strong community if there ever was one. We owe the mods a debt of gratitude for hosting events like this tournament, episode discussions, unpopular opinion threads, etc. all while trying to keep the sub free from spoilers, and succeeding. It’s thanks first and foremost to them that we all have this lovely internet playground.
Anyway, onto the topic at hand. In all likelihood, people probably assumed that Landon and Adam were more physically fit than Cohutta and Ace. Those people were right, so they made good assumptions. Couple that with the assumption that Sylvia and Natalie are in better shape than Evelyn and Ashley K, and you’d be batting .500, because that’s a terrible assumption. Much to the dispute of my post partner u/MandyMTV, I truly and wholeheartedly believe that Ashley K is a fitness icon. And, for crying out loud, Evelyn is Evelyn! In my mind, the strength of the women on team Adore Delano 2020 is enough to tip the scales their way, at least for the run and the bike.
Buuuut the row was done as a team, the riddle was done as a team, and the swim probably tips the scale back to u/BCastle18’s team (Sylvia is part fish, after all, and Landon and Adam >> Cohutta and Ace in the water), so I do understand how they come out on top. Still, though, QUEEN EVELYN DESERVED BETTER. Evelyn, if you’re reading this, pm me. My username is u/ND_PC and I love you.
All in all, it was a close match and both teams should be very proud of how far they’ve come. To u/honestkodaline and u/priorsloth, I congratulate you for getting this far but it ends your time here on the MtvChallenge fantasy tournament. Take care of yourselves. To u/BCastle18, congratulations on moving on to the Redemption House semifinals!
Match 2.0

• u/ry-guy2fly’s “Team Backpack” - 70
• u/dolfan2354 - 39

CT is better than Derrick. Mike is better than Nehemiah. Everyone knows this and everyone agrees. Why are you booing me? I’m right. Yeah, we only got one season of Mike, and he’s basically a carbon copy of Abram with only 65% of the intensity, 60% of the suave, 40% of the competitive spirit and probably ~78% of the strength, but he’s just plain better than Nehemiah. Especially coupled with CT, Mike is a formidable competitor who has no obvious shortcomings. The pair of Nehemiah and Derrick, on the other hand, complement each other like applesauce and peanut butter. Go, try it, prove to me that you can eat those two things with any modicum of harmony inside you. You can’t. This is what Nehemiah and Derrick would be like if they were the only two guys on a team.
This final wasn’t a no-brainer, obviously, but it’s clear that CT and Mike would excel at the stretcher-carry, and Aviv would lift the team in the memory puzzle. On the other side of things, Amanda would contribute zero to a team that also had Derrick, Nehemiah, and Veronica. You see, the players on a team are supposed to complement one another’s skill sets. Amanda adds nothing to the team that isn’t already provided by her teammates. Her grating voice? Derrick already has one. Her puzzle/riddle smarts? Covered by Nehemiah. Her political savvy combined with her fit-girl bod? Veronica is already on the team! So Amanda is a total net zero here. I like Amanda as much as the next person - truly, I do - but I don’t see her gelling well with this team so much.
And then there’s Brittini Sherrod. She is the anti-Amanda. She, like her teammate Aviv, is a one-season wonder who could do no wrong. She was amazing with Landon as a partner and she was drop dead gorgeous. She was cast on the show after appearing on only two episodes of the Real World! What an icon. She had a great laugh and a loving smile, and I can just tell that her mere presence would be a confidence boost for her three teammates.
So, in short, while Amanda is coming up with some heinous excuses for why she can’t complete the simple tasks in front of her (like sorting wood per a pre-arranged pattern), the lovely foursome on Team Backpack would be happily galavanting from task to task in this final of whimsical miscellany.
So, congratulations to u/ry-guy2fly for moving on to the semifinals of the Redemption House! And to u/dolfan2354, we hope to see you again. You made it so far, and should absolutely be proud of what you’ve accomplished this off-season.
Road Rules Bracket - brought to you by u/MandyMTV who is alive and well, everyone! She’s not dead, she promises, just hungover. Please, bring her massive amounts of Pedialyte ASAP.
Match 1.0

• u/scyth13r - 49
• u/phillyfly11’s “CJ’s Angels” - 60

u/phillyfly11’s ‘CJ’s Angels’ take this one, and everyone who voted for u/scyth13r’s team only voted for them because they confused Frank “So Boring I Make My TV Cry” Roessler with Frank Sweeney, the king of reality television. Frank is mad and he feels like it’s unfair. Frank thinks this is really shitty, he thinks you’re being fucking rude, and he doesn’t think there’s a fucking chance that anyone fucking watching out in TVland thinks its fucking cool for him to go in three times in a fucking row. That’s why he’s mad and that’s why he’s using 21 expletives in a single scene, okay MTV? Are you fucking okay with that?
Now, I understand that u/scyth13r’s team has a girl capable of a Titanic-like goodbye said to a woman she met a few days ago, but this truly doesn’t make up for the fact that the team also has a man who overuses expletives but still remains oddly calm, a girl who will fake headbutt her best friend, and Luke Wolfe, a man capable of withstanding horrifying, soul-crushing falls [1:20] because the only thing harder than liking Luke Wolfe is his head. You better shut him up in a very nice way so he isn’t that annoying. Are you gonna slap him? Then why the fuck did you put water all over him?
So, I give a truly heartfelt congratulations to CJ’s Angels. You didn’t pick Frank or Luke, and so you win. And to u/scyth13r, I say so long, farewell, Auf Wiedersehen, goodbye.
PS. Y’all are way too obsessed with Ashley K. How do y’all function? Ashley “Wonder Twin” Kelsey is MTV’s second-best Barbie, significantly behind my favorite horse-faced Tori Spelling reject, and she thinks there are upwards of 60 continents. Over 60 continents. This girl ain’t shit and I’m not afraid to say it. [This is made exponentially worse by the fact that my partner in Reddit crime, u/ND_PC, thinks that Ashley K. is a fitness icon. Are you kidding me? We’re done. We’re divorced.]
Match 2.0

• u/dirtykilla36 - 44
• u/hkotila’s “Satan’s Asshole” - 65

CT, Dan, Amanda, Mattie > Wes, Jamie, Holly, Melinda
I’m extremely upset about this vote. I mean, I get it. CT will smash your head and eat it. Dan will spend the entire final pining after Holly but reminding everyone he has a girlfriend. Amanda is a freckled motherfucker. Mattie calls herself Martha and cries over boys who ain’t shit [looking at you, Jeremiah].
But - Wes owns a BMW, a Porsche, a monster truck and thirty companies. Suck his dick, voters! He doesn’t want to sleep two feet away from a mongoose, and he will dump your mattress into a pool. Call him Lionel Wessi, because when you put him on a soccer team, he scores them goals. Do you want to have a constructive conversation, or do you want him to make you cry? Because he can go both routes. Everyone says extremely harsh things behind your back, voters. Everyone in this house thinks that y’all are extremely immature. You’re not deep enough for him, voters!
So, congratulations to u/hkotilla! Apparently people don’t like redheads as much as I thought. u/dirtykilla36, this result makes me sad, but your fantastic choice of team members makes me happy. Thanks for playing! Now go watch ‘Love is Blind’ on Netflix.
Now, let’s get to voting on today’s matchups! It’s the semifinals, guys, so I trust that you will all take extensive time and use your profound discernment to divine the proper team to elevate to the final match.
[Sidenote by u/MandyMTV: PC, who gave you a thesaurus and taught you how to use it? Good riddance.]
Real World Bracket
Match: u/ry-guy2fly’s “Team Backpack” vs. u/RohAnTheMaker, u/giogugenishvili’s “The Silent Assassins”
Final: Rivals III
Teams
[u/ry-guy2fly] “Team Backpack”

• Chris “CT” Tamburello, Rivals II
• Aviv Melmod, Fresh Meat
• Brittini Sherod, The Duel II
• Mike Boise, Bloodlines

[u/RohAnTheMaker, u/giogugenishvili] “The Silent Assassins”

• Alton Williams, The Gauntlet II
• Adam Larson, The Gauntlet
• KellyAnne Judd, The Ruins
• Natalie “Ninja” Duran, War of the Worlds

Winner’s Logic
[u/ry-guy2fly] “Team Backpack”

1. CT doesn’t need an introduction, but I’ll give my team captain one anyway. CT, who fashioned the iconic Banana Backpack, is the greatest competitor of all time. For my team, I plucked him from his greatest season of all time. If you name a skill that can be tested on this show, CT excels in that skill. Endurance, strength, skill, puzzles, eating, and everything in between. CT dominates.
2. Aviv Melmod is the biggest reason Darrell is considered one of the best competitors in challenge history. Aviv is a puzzle queen with endurance to match it. Her puzzle skill and fire was the biggest factor in separating her and Darrell from their finals opponents on Fresh Meat. She’s a combination of Diem and Evelyn. Heart, passion, smarts, and fire. While she only competed in one season, she showed a plethora of Challenge knowhow. If she would have returned to the show, she’d be recognized as one of the all time greats.
3. Brittini Sherrod is another one hit wonder like Aviv. Although she didn’t quite reach the heights of her female partner, she showed that she doesn’t have a real weakness. She never gives up and maintained a close race against Rachel on Duel 2. Brittini will never flounder under pressure and will continue to push through any and all obstacles.
4. Mike Boise only competed on one season, but it was quick to see the relation between him and his brother Abram. Mike has GUTS! While he hated the house environment, Mike showed excellent know how. He’s an in shape guy who attacks any obstacle tactfully. Mike and CT are a great fit together, because no matter how hard CT pushes, Mike will respond. His all around knowledge and skill will prove useful in a final.

[u/RohAnTheMaker, u/giogugenishvili] “The Silent Assassins”

1. Alton Williams was an OG who competed on The Gauntlet, Gauntlet 2, Inferno 3 and Seasons 2. In his run of the Challenge, it was obvious that he had killer endurance, elite climbing skills, great agility, was a solid swimmer and good at puzzles. Really all that needs to be said is that he was capable of competing at a top level with almost anyone in almost any daily challenge in the show’s history. He also showed great leadership skills as well - capable of stepping up and leading a team. On Gauntlet 2, Alton won the initial Royal Rumble (where unlike the vet guys - the rookies actually competed) and became team Captain. He remained Captain throughout the entire show, going 3-0 in elimination (with arguably the greatest rope climb of all time against Adam K in Capture the Flag) and lead the rookie team to victory in the Final Challenge.
2. Adam Larson is an OG competitor who participated in Seasons 1, The Gauntlet and Gauntlet 2. Although his time on the show was short, he always showed to be a popular figure amongst the group and could compete well in Challenges with good strength and endurance. Adam excelled on The Gauntlet, showing he could compete at a high level with many competitors we still consider elite today (Theo V, Abram, Darrell, Miz, Alton) and he won the overall season. He tied Theo Von with the most lifesavers won on the Road Rules team with 2 each and was a steady leadership presence on the male side the entire time.
3. Considered one of the best to never win, KellyAnne Judd was the most feared woman on The Ruins and for good reason. Only on her second season, she had already made a name for herself by beating Rachel on The Island. Tall, strong, great swimmer and a great runner, KellyAnne did not get to show her full potential during the season for two reasons - 1. she had a terrible team, so they were losing the dailies all the time 2. the champion girls were terrified of going against her, even Susie, so they kept her out of the eliminations except when she defeated two champions in Evelyn and Veronica. She also did great in the finals and was close to pulling an upset win with Sarah over Johnny, Evan, Kenny, Derrick and Susie. Unfortunately, we only got two seasons of prime KA, but those two seasons are enough to show that she would beast any final with the right team.
4. “Ninja is the only woman to finish the hardest final in The Challenge history" is a line we have heard multiple times. However, Ninja's impressive rookie run goes beyond that sentence. In the first episode, she is the first female rookie to finish the challenge/puzzle. She then goes to win 4 dailies before reaching the final. Her finals performance is still the biggest highlight, She outpaces every other woman, including Cara, has to do extra running than others by being thrown in a surprise elimination with the defending champ and overall, manages to keep up with her male competitors. Ninja is not a perfect player and WotW1 did not test all her skills. She might not be a good swimmer or great at communication, but her cardio and endurance skills are some of the best of all time. She has also proven herself multiple times at puzzles and her real-life profession as a rock climber means she is well suited for many finals. She is also someone who enjoys the challenges and the carnival game aspect of them and while she might become defensive when she does not gel with her teammates, we believe that in a team of calm positive competitors, a.k.a. Silent Assassins, she would not face that issue.

Rivals III Final Description
This two-day final consisted of several checkpoints, each outlined below (thanks to u/mthompson22599 for the info!.

• Day One
  • CP1: Teams had to untangle three sets of coiled wires. Once the wires were untangled, the person could blow up a dynamite stick, indicating they were finished. Teams could not move on until all players had finished.
  • CP2: Teams had to complete a memory game.
  • CP3: Teams completed a two-dimensional puzzle.
  • End of Day One: Teams had to sprint to their sleeping station to end the first day. At the sleeping station, teams had to take turns staying awake or sleeping throughout the night.
• Day Two
  • CP4: Teams faced an eating challenge. The foods seen as traditionally more disgusting were worth a larger amount of points, given to the eater after they finished the plate. Teams had to eat all the food on the table in order to leave.
  • Run: Teams had to climb up a mountain to get to the finish line and the grand prize.

Road Rules Bracket
Match: u/hkotila’s “Satan’s Asshole” vs. u/appropriatelywhelmed
Final: The Inferno 3
Teams
[u/hkotila] “Satan’s Asshole”

• Chris “CT” Tamburello, Rivals
• Dan Setzler, Battle of the Sexes II
• Amanda Garcia, Final Reckoning
• Mattie Lynn Breaux, War of the Worlds

[u/appropriatelywhelmed]

• Dustin Zito, Battle of the Seasons (2012)
• Cohutta Grindstaff, The Ruins
• Heather Cooke, Rivals II
• Veronica Portillo, The Inferno

Winner’s Logic
[u/hkotila] “Satan’s Asshole”

1. CT: CHOO CHOO
2. Dan: One of the top two performing males on this season which included Mark Long, Abe, The Miz, Derrick, and Brad... Also: https://medium.com/@shmalvey7/the-greatest-male-players-in-challenge-history-17-dan-setzler-75b8100f98a1
3. Amanda: Solid at most aspects of the game, IMO probably the second-best puzzle solver to appear on the challenge.
4. Mattie: Top 3 most physically imposing females to be cast behind Laurel and Late career Emily. A lot of shit has been talked on here about her stamina. Just remember, wherever you have Mattie ranked on endurance Georgia needs to be behind her. Plus she ran like 16-20 miles on a sand dune and was keeping pace with Cara during that time. Most finals don't even have a course even close to as brutal as that final meaning she will do fine on every other final

[u/appropriatelywhelmed] - this user did not provide any logic, so I (u/ND_PC) will be doing it in their stead!

1. Dustin Zito - In my mind, Dustin is best known for looking like a woodland creature and being a pain in Alton’s side on BotS2, all while broadcasting how unashamed and totally secure he was about previously having done porn. He’s… fine competitively, but slightly forgettable if I’m being honest. I guess he’s strong? Or are those popcorn muscles? Who knows? Since his time on the show, he has been arrested for sexual battery. Do with that information what you will.
2. Cohutta Grindstaff’s name sounds sort of dirty, but to my knowledge he has never done porn, unlike his teammate on this fantasy team. If someone can confirm or deny this, please don’t do either and keep it to yourself. I prefer to hink of Cohutta as an innocent southern charmer who uses quaint little southern expressions. He had a romance with Nany, and with KellyAnne before that. He was friends with Ace Amerson and he has a heart of gold. He’s a really pure person and a strong competitor all-around.
3. Heather Cooke makes peeing yourself look almost cute and admirable - take note, Kailah! She was a one-off, competing with Cara Maria on her only season and basically dominating. Like a few other challengers, Cooke had professional athlete aspirations, but unlike most of the other competitors, she succeeded! She was on the Philippines national soccer team being the total boss that she is. Many fans believe that if she had stuck to the Challenge, she may have been in the uppermost echelon of female competitors. We don’t know what could have happened, but she is definitely a force.
4. Veronica Portillo was most recently featured on the show as the object of CT’s season-long lamentation. Can we talk about how CT, a fan-favorite, was shitting on his partner all season and we somehow blamed her? Okay, maybe it was actually her fault for not training and not competing hard… but still, what a bad look for CT that we all collectively chose to look away from. Oh well! Anyway, the version of Veronica competing on this team was still in her prime. She was politically savvy, physically tough, adept at puzzle-solving and had tremendous mental strength.

The Inferno 3 Final Description - thanks to u/ry-guy2fly for the amazing description!
Each team starts off with four large puzzle pieces. Those puzzle pieces will be carried along the path for the entirety of the race. You will use these puzzle pieces to create a visual reconstruction of the big five animals in Africa (Lion, Leopard, Water Buffalo, Elephant, and Rhinoceros). You do this using big square blocks. For reference, Derrick is seen carrying two at a time and Evelyn carrying one. They’re bulky.

• Run 1: Each team is carrying their four puzzle pieces. The puzzle pieces are heavy. Seems relatively short. A 20 minute final also severely cuts into what they can show.
• Puzzle 1: Water Buffalo: 4 piece puzzle. Solution: Stack the pieces up like library books 2 x 2. You build the image based on an etched picture of the selected Big 5 animal.
• Checkpoint 1: There are five other puzzle pieces floating on a dock. Swim to the dock, collect the pieces, continue swimming to the opposite end of the lake.
• Run 2: Each team is now carrying 9 puzzle pieces. It seems that a large part of this run is up hill.
• Puzzle 2 Leopard: 9 piece puzzle. Each puzzle works the same way, only with more pieces. Solution: Pieces are layed down 3 x 3.
• Checkpoint 2: There are 7 puzzle pieces located at the bottom of a pit as well as a gurney to help carry them. The pit resemble a grave for a giant.
• Run 3: Run up a hill with your 16 puzzle pieces. You now have a gurney to help.
• Puzzle 3: Rhino. 16 piece puzzle. The pieces are stacked like books once again.
• Run 4: They are running up a mountain. There are 9 puzzle pieces to collect along the path. That brings the total to 25 puzzle pieces.
• Puzzle 4 Elephant: 25 Piece Puzzle. There are at least 25 puzzle pieces here. 5 x 5 to solve it.
• Checkpoint 3: The remaining 11 puzzle pieces are hanging above you in a net. Each member of your team must stand in the safety zone and untie the knot in order to release the puzzle pieces. This seems incredibly easy. Barely an inconvenience.
• Run 5: Run up the hill with your 36 puzzle pieces. This is it.
• Puzzle 5 Lion: 36 piece puzzle. This seems to be the only difficult puzzle yet. Solution: Stack them 6 x 6
• Final Run: After you solve the final puzzle piece you no longer have to carry them. Slide down a rope and start making your way up the mountain. Climb a rope and you’ve reached TJ. You win**.**

Which of these teams deserves to move on in our quest to discover The Challenge Fantasy Draft’s Biggest Loser? You decide.
VOTE HERE!
Voting ends at 10 PM EST on Tuesday, February 18.

Another long one! Did my best to cut it down for the summary at the end.
Housekeeping:

• The list of Trump admin departures (401) is now a website: www.45chaos.com !!
• There’s a mailing list for notifications when this review is posted plus a link. To be added, send me PM with your email address. If you signed up already, check the spam folder just in case
• If you’d like to donate a dollar a month, I’d appreciate it: patreon. Recaps will continue regardless.

On to the review...
 

Week of Dec 2 - 8: What We Learned in the Russia Probe

 

MUELLER INVESTIGATION

Mueller: Trump

Trump’s test. In an interview with the Atlantic, Rudy Giuliani contradicted Trump’s claim that he answered Mueller’s questions “very easily.” Giuliani said, “Answering those questions was a nightmare. It took him about three weeks to do what would normally take two days.” The Atlantic states the counter-report has been slow-going, despite Trump’s claim that it was almost done.

• Giuliani next seemed to call Trump stupid, saying about Trump: “The more controlled a person is, the more intelligent they are, the more they can make the decision. But he’s just like every other client. He’s not more … you know, controlled than any other client. In fact, he’s a little less.”

 
Discussions. For possibly the first time since Trump submitted his answers to Mueller’s questions, lawyers for Trump and the office of Mueller have “resumed discussions.” We don’t know anything about the nature of the discussions, but a former federal prosecutor said that typically the next step would be to ask follow up questions for clarification or additional information. Next, prosecutors would likely “reopen the conversation about whether the president will submit to an in-person-interview.”
 
Witness tampering. On Monday, Trump tweeted praise for Roger Stone for refusing to speak to Mueller's team. The tweet could represent witness tampering according to numerous legal experts.
 

Mueller: Manafort

Memo. Mueller's team filed a memo in Manafort's case on Friday, stating that Manafort lied to federal investigators about his contacts with Trump administration officials and his interactions with a Russian linked to Moscow’s intelligence services (Konstantin Kilimnik). Almost all of the information that is un-redacted was already known to the public.

• Manafort also lied about his contact with Trump administration officials, when in fact, Manafort had kept in touch with a senior official through February 2018. Then, in May 2018, he authorized someone else to speak with a Trump appointee on his behalf.

 
Ecuador. The New York Times reported new details on Manafort’s meeting with Ecuadorian president Lenin Moreno in May 2017. Manafort took the trip to try to broker a deal for China to invest in Ecuador’s power system, which would’ve included a much needed commission for Manafort. However, the topic of discussion also included a potential deal wherein Manafort would arrange to have Julian Assange released from Ecuador’s embassy into the care of the U.S. Manfort allegedly suggested he could negotiate a deal with the Trump administration, but there is no evidence (yet) that Trump was aware of the offer.
 

Mueller: Flynn

Sentencing. Mueller filed the sentencing memo for former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn on Tuesday. In it, he recommends Flynn be given no jail time due to the “substantial assistance” Flynn provided to Mueller’s team, which included 19 interviews. Of note, Flynn also met with DOJ attorneys in a previously unknown criminal investigation. Most of the memo is redacted, leaving us to wonder at the details.

• Excerpt: "The defendant provided firsthand information about the content and context of interactions between the transition team and Russian government officials.”
• Some believe the following part of the memo spells bad news for Trump and co.: “...senior government leaders should be held to the highest standards. The defendant’s extensive government service should have made him particularly aware of the harm caused by providing false information to the government, as well as the rules governing work performed on behalf of a foreign government.”
• Flynn is to be sentenced December 18th.

 

Mueller: Cohen

Memo. On Friday, Mueller filed a memo in Cohen’s case, saying he has made "useful information concerning certain discrete Russia-related matters core to" Mueller's investigation that he "obtained by virtue of his regular contact with [Trump Organization] executives during the" 2016 presidential campaign. Mueller did not take a position on what sentence Cohen should receive for lying to congress.

• The New Yorker: In September, 2015, Trump approved Cohen’s plan to reach out to the Russian government. That November, Cohen “spoke with a Russian national who claimed to be a ‘trusted person’ in the Russian Federation who could offer the campaign ‘political synergy’ and ‘synergy on a government level.’ ” Cohen’s contact “repeatedly proposed” a meeting between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, suggesting that it would have a “phenomenal” effect on Trump’s efforts to build a Trump Tower in Moscow, which Mueller’s filing calls the “Moscow Project.”
• The memo also states that while Cohen lied about his work for Trump, he did so while in regular contact with unspecified people in the White House.

 

Mueller: Other

Kelly interviewed. CNN reported that in “recent months” Mueller interviewed Chief of Staff John Kelly, asking “a narrow set of questions” related to obstruction of justice: mainly about Kelly’s recollection of events surrounding Trump attempting to fire Mueller in June 2017. Former counsel Don McGahn refused to fire Mueller and threatened to quit instead, which caused Trump to back down.

• Opinion: This interview could have been the last straw in the relationship between Trump and Kelly.

 
Malloch update. The Guardian reported that Mueller is looking into Trump campaign adviser Ted Malloch’s appearances on Russia’s state tv station, RT. Malloch allegedly told Jerome Corsi what he was questioned about, and Corsi told the media: “They thought maybe he was coordinating with Russia – and RT is Russia.” Malloch denied coordination.

• RT has a “close relationship” with Julian Assange, having visited and interviewed him in the Ecuadorian embassy on August 2, 2016. That’s the same day that Roger Stone told Corsi he was given information on Wikileaks’ plans to leak damaging info on Clinton. Working backwards, a few days previously Stone had emailed Corsi to say that Malloch “should see Assange.”
• This brings up an intriguing possibility: Stone told Corsi to tell Malloch to visit Assange. Malloch visits Assange with the RT crew, where he gets information on upcoming leaks. Malloch tells Stone this and Stone emails Corsi with the news.

 
Kushner pressure. A CNN contributor noted that while most of the implications of Flynn’s sentencing memo look bad for Trump, the situation for Jared Kushner isn’t much better. Douglas Brinkley, Rice University professor, said this is because “Flynn and Kushner were kind of a dog and pony team international,” looking to "cut their own deals." Video. The line of the memo that hints at Kushner’s peril alludes to Flynn telling Mueller about the pair’s efforts to stop an anti-Israel resolution at the U.N. Security Council.

• In December 2016, Kushner instructed Flynn to contact every foreign minister and ambassador from a country on the U.N. Security Council to convince them to delay or vote against the resolution condemning Israeli settlements. One of the people Flynn talked with was Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak. However, Flynn lied to federal investigators when asked about this.
• Dianne Feinstein said: “This shows a Trump associate negotiating with the Russians against U.S. policy and interests before Donald Trump took office and after it was announced that Russia had interfered in our election. That’s a stunning revelation and could be a violation of the Logan Act, which forbids unauthorized U.S. citizens from negotiating with a foreign power."

 

MORE RUSSIA NEWS

Target: Erickson. Federal investigators sent a letter to Paul Erickson, GOP operative and ‘boyfriend’ of Maria Butina, informing him he is a target and may be facing charges of acting as an agent of a foreign government and conspiracy. The letter was sent in September, but has just been revealed to the press. Investigators have interviewed numerous associates of Erickson, asking about his business dealings and reputation in political circles.

• In May 2016, Erickson sent an email to the Trump campaign offering to arrange a back-channel meeting between Trump and Putin. The NYT: Russia, he wrote, was “quietly but actively seeking a dialogue with the U.S.” and would attempt to use the N.R.A.’s annual convention in Louisville, Ky., to make “first contact.” Erickson continued, “Putin is deadly serious about building a good relationship with Mr. Trump.”
• Maria Butina assisted Alexander Torshin in contacting Rick Clay, an advocate for conservative Christian causes, and having him propose a similar meeting between Trump and Putin. The email from Clay was ultimately forwarded to Jared Kushner, who sources say rebuffed the proposal.
• Clay hosted Erickson in 2014 at the Moscow office of a Russian gun-rights group. Erickson returned to Russia at the end of 2014 as part of an NRA delegation including the president of the group and David Clarke Jr. (former sheriff). Alexander Torshin was also present.

 
Butina’s lawyer. Maria Butina was given a public defender on Thursday, which is odd because she already had a private attorney: Robert Driscoll. The reason for the new lawyer’s appointment was not clear and Driscoll maintains he is not withdrawing. Butina is in the midst of negotiations with prosecutors to secure a plea deal.

• Opinion: We do not know who is paying Robert Driscoll. If whoever is paying him has interests that do not align with Butina’s (which is getting a plea deal), she might desire additional counsel. Perhaps Russia is paying Driscoll? Or the GOP? Think about this: Driscoll has worked for Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska in the past. He has also appeared on Fox News “taking the president’s line and batting back accusations that Russia ever had any designs on interfering in the United States — and calling on Mueller, as recently as June, to get his investigation ‘wrapped up.’ ”

 
Rusal sanctions. For the fifth time, the Treasury Department has delayed imposing sanctions against Rusal, the Russian aluminum producer controlled by oligarch Oleg Deripaska. The Treasury hopes to reach a deal with Deripaska for him to relinquish control of the company, thereby lifting sanctions on it.

• VOA: Bob Menendez, the top Democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee, wrote in a letter to the Treasury Department that it would face strong opposition in Congress if it waives sanctions against Deripaska and the companies. “How the Treasury Department manages this delisting exercise will shape our perceptions about the administration’s seriousness in implementing the Russian sanctions regime,” Menendez wrote.
• Reminder: Deripaska once employed Paul Manafort and the two have extensive financial links, including a $10 million loan the oligarch gave to Manafort.

 
Assange free? On Thursday, Ecuador’s president announced that conditions have been met for Julian Assange to leave the embassy in London. President Moreno said Britain had guaranteed not to extradite Assange to any country where his life would be in danger. However, Assange rejected the deal because it did not protect him from being extradited to the U.S, even if his life would be guaranteed.
 
Net neutrality. In a statement filed last week, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai admitted there was Russian interference in the Net Neutrality debate. He also acknowledged that roughly 500,000 comments were connected to Russian email addresses. The FCC is fighting a lawsuit over their denial of FOIA requests submitted by the New York Times and Buzzfeed.

• Jessica Rosenworcel, the only Democrat on the FCC, disagreed with Pai’s decision to withhold FCC records: “As many as nine and a half million people had their identities stolen and used to file fake comments, which is a crime under both federal and state laws,” she wrote. “Nearly eight million comments were filed from e-mail domains associated with FakeMailGenerator.com. On top of this, roughly half a million comments were filed from Russian e-mail addresses. Something here is rotten—and it’s time for the FCC to come clean.”

 
Putin’s media. Russian media went on a diatribe against Trump for canceling the G20 meeting with Putin just hours after saying “now is a good time to meet.” Julia Davis summarized the various roasts for the Daily Beast. Some highlights:

• Russia “should spit on Trump and the United States.”
• “This is just foolishness, he [Trump] seems to be an unbalanced person.”
• Donald Trump is so incoherent that he had to have "45" embroidered on his cuffs, just so he wouldn’t forget he is President number 45.
• ...the American President is so unpopular that “blimps of Trump in diapers are popping up in every city and country he visits."

 
Interference. Just after the White House confirmed Trump had dinner with Putin, Defense Secretary James Mattis said Putin tried “again to muck around in our elections just last month, and we are seeing a continued effort along those lines...It’s continued efforts to try to subvert democratic processes that must be defended.” This is the first Trump official to mention Russian operations to interfere in the 2018 midterms.

• Rex Tillerson spoke out at a fundraiser Thursday, saying “there’s no question” Russia interfered in the 2016 elections. He continued, “What Russia wants to do is undermine our confidence and undermine the world’s confidence in us.”

 
2020. Experts and senators believe the 2020 election will be worse than the 2016 election, expecting Russia or other hostile actors to use “deep fakes” to create chaos in the U.S. Deep fakes are essentially fake video of individuals saying or doing things they never actually did - but high tech enough that it’s difficult to tell the difference between reality and the deep fake.

• Two law professors say what they expect next: “We can expect to see deep fakes used in other abusive, individually targeted ways, such as undermining a rival’s relationship with fake evidence of an affair or an enemy’s career with fake evidence of a racist comment.”

 
Oops. Simona Mangiante, wife of George Papadopoulos, appears to have forgotten to switch twitter accounts before responding to her own tweet with an over-the-top compliment. She quote-tweeted a different tweet that was praising her, then she meant to switch to a different account and reply to her quote-tweet. Instead, she responded from her personal account saying that George “doesn’t deserve a beauty” like herself and that she “can do better” than him. Although she quickly deleted that tweet, some people caught it and posted screenshots. Simona then deleted her entire twitter account. It's likely she is going to claim her account was hacked.
 

CONGRESS

Comey. On Friday, former FBI Director James Comey testified in a closed session before the House Judiciary and Oversight Committees. The 235-page transcript was released on Saturday, revealing the questions were mainly focused on the investigation of Hillary Clinton’s email server. Nevertheless, some of the questions related to Trump and Russia; highlights are as follows:

• Comey said in 2016, the FBI was investigating four Americans connected to Trump for potentially helping Russia meddle in the election.
• Comey was concerned about leaks coming out of the FBI’s New York field office about the probe into Hillary’s emails. He specifically named Rudy Giuliani as a potential recipient of the leaked information: “Mr. Giuliani was making statements that appeared to be based on his knowledge of workings inside the FBI New York.” Unfortunately, Comey was fired before he could complete an investigation into the leaks.
• Comey said: "Anybody that thinks we were on team Clinton trying to cut her a break is smoking something."

 
Hacked. The email accounts of four senior aides at the National Republican Congressional Committee were hacked in early 2018. The intruder surveilled the accounts for several months, until the breach was ultimately discovered in April. Senior GOP leadership, including Paul Ryan, Kevin McCarthy, and Steven Scalise, were not notified of the hack until Politico contacted them for comments. Party officials would not say when the hack began or who was behind it, although they privately believe it was a foreign agent because of the nature of the attack.
 
Prince subpoena? Incoming Democrat leaders of the House intelligence committee are considering forcing Erik Prince to return to Capitol Hill to face outstanding questions not answered during his November 2017 appearance. Rep. Mike Quigley stated his “priority is to bring back anyone before HPSCI who refused to answer our questions, and that includes Erik Prince.”

• Rep. Jackie Speier agreed: “The first thing to do is subpoena all their emails, DMs, etc., and then I expect most of the witnesses in the Trump orbit will be asked to come back. Many of their stories have been discredited. That includes Erik Prince, but obviously many others as well.”

 
Nunberg update. Former Trump aide Sam Nunberg is scheduled to testify before the Senate Intelligence Committee in January in its continuing investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. Nunberg has already testified before the Senate once and before Mueller’s grand jury in March.

• Why is Nunberg being interviewed? He “was a fixture in Trump’s circle ahead of the start of his campaign, guiding Trump’s message and serving as an adviser as Trump built relationships within the GOP, working at times with Cohen at Trump Tower… Nunberg also considered himself to be a protege of Stone — a veteran GOP strategist — and kept in touch with him throughout 2016, even after both men left the campaign.”

 

STATES

SDNY memo. On Friday, the federal prosecutors of the Southern District of New York filed their own sentencing memo for Michael Cohen’s case, recommending 51-63 months in prison and a $500,000 forfeiture of Cohen’s assets. Cohen’s crimes in this case include breaking election finance laws by facilitating the hush payments to Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal. The reason SDNY is recommending such a long sentence is due to Cohen deciding “not to pursue full cooperation” with their office.

• The New Yorker: In describing how Cohen bought the silence of two women with whom Trump had affairs in order to help Trump win the Presidency, it makes clear that Cohen “acted in coordination with and at the direction of Individual-1.” Three months ago, Cohen said in his guilty plea that this was true and that the President was implicated in a criminal scheme to sway the election. Now, though, federal prosecutors working under Robert Khuzami, the acting U.S. Attorney, feel confident enough in this assertion that they have tied themselves to it.
• In case you missed it, that’s the SDNY stating Donald Trump, the President of the United States, committed a felony.
• “After cheating the IRS for years, lying to banks and to Congress, and seeking to criminally influence the Presidential election, Cohen’s decision to plead guilty — rather than seek a pardon for his manifold crimes — does not make him a hero,” prosecutors wrote.

 
Emoluments. The attorneys general of Maryland and D.C. served subpoenas on the Trump International Hotel, the Trump Organization itself, and the trust that holds Trump’s business assets, as part of the emoluments lawsuit against the president. The subpoenas request tax documents, profit, loss, and revenue statements, budget plans, and “the anticipated and actual impact of the 2016 Presidential election on finances and projections.” The suit alleges that Trump’s hotel “put other nearby hotels and entertainment properties at a competitive disadvantage” due to his role as president, and that his hotel got special tax concessions.

• An example of Trump profiting off his role as president: lobbyists representing the Saudi government reserved numerous rooms at Trump’s hotel a month after his election, paying for 500 nights in just 3 months. The total came to over $270,000. What makes it more obvious: the lobbyists (unwitting veterans, by the way) were put up in Northern Virginia at first, but were moved to Trump’s hotel after he won the election.

 

DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE

New AG. Trump confirmed last week that he is nominating former attorney general William Barr to be his new attorney general. As the person in charge of overseeing Mueller’s investigation, the main concern is Barr would interfere. In fact, he has hinted at such a proclivity in the past, saying there was more basis to investigate Hillary Clinton for the Uranium One deal than there is to investigate Trump for potential collusion with Russia. Additionally, Barr wrote in an op-ed that Trump made the right call in firing James Comey and has criticized the political contributions of the prosecutors on Mueller’s team.

• Trump has “repeatedly asked” if Barr would recuse himself from overseeing Mueller’s investigation. The New York Times characterized Trump’s sentiment as wanting “a loyalist managing the inquiry.”

 
Obstruction. After Trump fired FBI Director James Comey, Rod Rosenstein and Andrew McCabe, among other top FBI officials, discussed options to “rein in” Trump. McCabe ultimately opened an obstruction of justice investigation even before special counsel Robert Mueller was appointed. CNN has a full look at the “frantic scramble” to respond not only to Comey’s firing, but also Trump’s comments to Comey such as asking him to let Flynn off the hook.
 
Recusal. Assistant Attorney General Brian Benczkowski, who was previously a lawyer for the Russian Alfa Bank, has been “screened off” from Mueller’s investigation. This was revealed in FOIA requests filed by the watchdog group American Oversight, seeking documents related to Whitaker’s appointment. They still have not received any information regarding Whitaker’s oversight of the Russia investigation.
 

OTHER

Coordination. Mother Jones uncovered documents that indicate the NRA and Trump’s campaign illegally coordinated to buy ads during the 2016 election. Both bought ads at the same time on the same station, which might seem coincidental until you realize that the NRA and Trump’s ad buys were authorized by the same person in a third firm: Jon Ferrell, chief financial officer of a major conservative media-consulting firm called National Media Research, Planning and Placement.

• A former chair of the FEC reviewed the records and stated: “I don’t think I’ve ever seen a situation where illegal coordination seems more obvious. It is so blatant that it doesn’t even seem sloppy. Everyone involved probably just thinks there aren’t going to be any consequences.”

 
Paying himself. Trump’s 2020 campaign federal financial filings reveal he has transferred $1.1 million from donors to his own personal bank accounts, essentially. Over 50,000 people have donated to Trump’s re-election campaign, but Trump himself has not spent a penny of his own money. Instead, his businesses are charging his own campaign for hotels, food, rent and legal consulting. This could potentially be illegal, but more information would be required to make such a determination.
 

Too long; didn’t read section

Giuliani contradicted Trump’s claim that he answered Mueller’s questions “very easily,” saying: “Answering those questions was a nightmare. It took him about three weeks to do what would normally take two days.” For possibly the first time since Trump submitted his answers to Mueller’s questions, lawyers for Trump and the office of Mueller have “resumed discussions.” On Monday, Trump potentially committed witness tampering and/or obstruction of justice when he tweeted praise for Roger Stone for refusing to speak to Mueller's team.
Mueller’s team filed a memo in Manafort’s case stating that Manafort lied to federal investigators about his contacts with Trump administration officials and his interactions with a Russian linked to Moscow’s intelligence services (Konstantin Kilimnik). In May 2017, Manafort met with the president of Ecuador and discussed negotiating a deal with the Trump administration to hand over Julian Assange from the embassy into U.S. care. In a sentencing memo for former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn, Mueller recommended Flynn be given no jail time due to the “substantial assistance” Flynn provided to Mueller’s team, which included 19 interviews. Flynn also met with DOJ attorneys in a previously unknown criminal investigation.
Mueller also filed a memo in Michael Cohen’s case, saying he provided substantial assistance. Cohen told Mueller that Trump approved of outreach to the Russian government in 2015. Mueller has interviewed Chief of Staff John Kelly in recent months about Trump’s attempts to fire him [Mueller]. Mueller is looking into Trump campaign adviser Ted Malloch’s appearances on Russia’s state tv station, RT.
Federal investigators sent a letter to Paul Erickson, GOP operative and ‘boyfriend’ of Maria Butina, informing him he is a target and may be facing charges of acting as an agent of a foreign government and conspiracy. For the fifth time, the Treasury Department has delayed imposing sanctions against Rusal, the Russian aluminum producer controlled by oligarch Oleg Deripaska. Former FBI Director James Comey testified in a closed session before the House Judiciary and Oversight Committees, though questions focused mainly on the Clinton email probe. Comey said he was concerned the FBI’s NY field office was leaking information about Clinton to various people, including Rudy Giuliani. The email accounts of four senior aides at the National Republican Congressional Committee were hacked in early 2018. Incoming Democrat leaders of the House intelligence committee are considering forcing Erik Prince to return to Capitol Hill to face outstanding questions. Former Trump aide Sam Nunberg is scheduled to testify before the Senate Intelligence Committee in January.
Federal prosecutors of the Southern District of New York filed their own sentencing memo for Michael Cohen’s case, recommending 51-63 months in prison and a $500,000 forfeiture of Cohen’s assets. The attorneys general of Maryland and D.C. served subpoenas on the Trump International Hotel, the Trump Organization itself, and the trust that holds Trump’s business assets, as part of the emoluments lawsuit against the president. Trump confirmed last week that he is nominating former attorney general William Burr to be his new attorney general, despite (or because of) Barr’s past comments against Mueller’s probe. Mother Jones uncovered documents that indicate the NRA and Trump’s campaign illegally coordinated to buy ads during the 2016 election. Trump’s 2020 campaign federal financial filings reveal he has transferred $1.1 million from donors to his own personal bank accounts, essentially.

In this pack:

• Deadline | White House
• MTP Daily with Chuck Todd
• The Beat with Ari Melber
• Hardball with Chris Matthews
• All In with Chris Hayes (hosted by Ali Velshi)
• The Rachel Maddow Show
• The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell
• 2020 Decision - Debate Analysis with Brian Williams and Nicolle Wallace (10:45pm)
• 2020 Decision - Debate Analysis with Joy Reid (1am)

Deadline White House Nicolle Wallace discusses former acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe's appeal to avoid criminal charges getting rejected by the Justice Department. Plus, what to expect with all of the Democratic front-runners sharing one debate stage, the latest moves on Capitol Hill over impeachment, and Trump's unique relationship with his advisors. Joined by: NBC News justice correspondent Julia Ainsley, former chief spokesman for the Department of Justice Matt Miller, New York Times Washington correspondent Mike Schmdit, former deputy assistant attorney general Harry Litman, Washington Post columnist Eugene Robinson, former Deputy National Security Advisor to President Obama Ben Rhodes, NBC and MSNBC national affairs analyst John Heilemann, Voto Latino president and CEO Maria Teresa Kumar, Politico senior writer Jake Sherman, MSNBC's Katy Tur, and Washington Post White House bureau chief Phil Rucker
The Beat with Ari Melber 0.00 - Dems pass impeachment rules today 17.24 - Bombshell: Washington Post reports DOJ may indict former FBI director, Andrew McCabe who ran Russia probe 25.15 - Former presidential candidate Al Sharpton previews debate night 33.01 - State of mind: Tony Schwartz on Trump's temper flaring 40.50 - 145 CEO's urge Senate to pass gun control legislation 43.30 - Trump denies "temporary protected status" to Bahamian storm victims
Hardball with Chris Matthews In a hearing of the House Judiciary Committee today, Democrats voted to approve procedures for what Chairman Jerry Nadler is calling an impeachment inquiry of the President.
All In with Chris Hayes Tonight: what happens next in the House, and exactly what democrats are planning to investigate starting next week. Then, the chance of a record-breaking opioid settlement with the makers of OxyContin, and why 20 states say it's not enough. Plus, the wait for the President do something about guns. Also, the guy who once sung the praises of asbestos is now gutting clean water protections.
The Rachel Maddow Show 9:00 Russia accused of backing Berlin assassination, seeks outed spy 9:05 Sensing bipartisan heat, Trump admin releases hold on Ukraine aid 9:09 DOJ pursuit of Trump vendetta against McCabe takes odd turn 9:29 Absent public charges, findings of McCabe grand jury unclear 9:33 Trump may have poisoned the case he's pushing for against McCabe 9:48 State AGs not sold on tentative settlement with OxyContin maker 9:55 Climate activists bring shipping to halt with bridge protest
The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell Tonight on The Last Word: The Trump administration looks to delay tariff increases to prevent further damage to the U.S. economy and to escape their trade war with China. Also, the House Judiciary Committee votes to approve a new set of rules for formally launching an impeachment investigation. Plus, North Carolina State Rep. Deb Butler calls for the resignation of the NC House speaker after antics one local newspaper called a “theft of democracy.” Mark Zandi, Jonathan Alter, Rachel Bitecofer, NC State. Rep. John Autry, and David Jolly all join Lawrence O’Donnell.
2020 Decision - Debate Analysis with Brian Williams and Nicolle Wallace The top ten Democrats running in the 2020 campaign face off in the third presidential debate, this time in Houston. MSNBC's Brian Williams and Nicolle Wallace are joined by Joy Reid, Eugene Robinson, Claire McCaskill, Steve Kornacki. Chris Matthews and more join to discuss how the candidates did.
Link

"I Am a Young, Vibrant Man"—OLD MAN TRUMP

Trump Makes His Move

President Trump has escalated his assault on the people who launched the Russia investigation, including implicit threats that he will use the Justice Department to retaliate against them.
Trump described the investigation as a “coup” Thursday night on Sean Hannity’s show, and again on Friday afternoon at a National Rifle Association convention.
"This was an attempted overthrow of the United States government," he told Hannity. He added that he was confident Attorney General William Barr will open an investigation of “dirty cops” and Hillary Clinton, and that he expects an internal Justice Department report on the origins of the Russia investigation will be a “blockbuster”—which is either an effort to compromise the inspector general who’s writing the report, or a hint that he already has.
Trump has every reason to expect that Barr will do what he wants. In two different appearances, Trump revealed that Barr’s assertion Trump hadn’t committed obstruction was a reflexive effort to protect his boss. He told Hannity that Barr came to his conclusion “right on the spot,” and told reporters on Friday that Barr’s decision was “immediate.” You know, like all thorough and honest investigations!
At the same time, Trump continues to insist he will prohibit current and former White House officials from testifying before Congress.
House Democrats have had little to say about Trump’s impeachable efforts to shut down their oversight and to gin up counter-investigations of people involved in the Russia probe. They will need to decide quickly whether they intend to confront these abuses of power with all the tools available to them, or whether they intend to capitulate.
One thing’s for sure: We’re really missing our old friends “checks” and “balances” right about now.

Under the Radar

President Trump’s authoritarian outbursts make it easy to forget that his main policy goal is to take away everyone’s health care, but fortunately he has a habit of reminding us. At Friday’s NRA convention, he bragged about getting rid of the Affordable Care Act’s individual mandate, then added “now we’re going for the rest.” Trump has promised that Republicans will vote on a plan to repeal and replace the ACA if he wins re-election and they reclaim control of the House.
As it turns out, the Affordable Care Act is very popular—people like pre-existing conditions protections, free preventative care at point of service, and the peace of mind that if they lose their jobs, they can still afford insurance. So much so, that Democrats won back the heavily gerrymandered House in the 2018 midterms by campaigning almost exclusively on health care. Trump is very good at distracting the public from the concrete, material stakes of politics, but let’s not lose sight of this critically important one—hey look! did you see that funny meme Trump retweeted? What a kook!

What Else

Failed Confederate general Robert E. Lee is back in the headlines thanks to superfan President Trump, who said his comments after the 2017 white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, VA recognizing the “very fine people on both sides” was aimed at those defending the city’s Lee monument. 1) This is a lie—there weren’t people defending Lee’s monument at the rally, only Nazis and white supremacists; 2) Helpful reminder from Sen. Brian Schatz:

Brian Schatz on Twitter: "◻️ General Robert E Lee ◻️ Fought for slavery ◻️and against America"

Joe Biden’s unwillingness to apologize to Anita Hill caught up with him on The View, where he reiterated that he’s sorry about the “way she got treated,” but restated that he, personally, didn’t treat her badly. Despite the early stumble, his campaign was able to raise $6.3 million in its first 24 hours—more than any of the other candidates in the field.
A federal judge has sentenced Russian agent Maria Butina to 18 months in prison, where she will probably befriend the Fyre Fest guy who she’ll star with in a reality show by 2021.
Amazon will make free one-day shipping standard for Amazon Prime members—an investment that will cost the company $800 million, and cost the environment a lot too. A good reminder to choose normal shipping options when you don’t actually need something ASAP (you don’t need new socks or chip clips ASAP). Counterpoint: the cheetos are gonna get stale, Brian!
A federal judge has temporarily blocked a Trump administration rule meant to deny federal funding to organizations that provide abortion referrals, because the policy would force health-care providers to cause harm to patients. The rule was scheduled to take effect May 3.
The students whose families paid $1.2 million and $6.5 million in the college admissions scandal were both from China. Looks like Felicity Huffman and Willam H. Macy didn’t love their kid THAT much.
Two Los Angeles universities quarantined hundreds of students who were exposed to measles, until they could demonstrate that they were vaccinated against the disease. The number of measles cases in the U.S. has risen to 695 across 22 states, and though President Trump finally told parents to vaccinate their children on Friday, as the world’s most prominent anti-vaxxer he bears a great deal of responsibility for the outbreak.
The “Soho Scammer” known as Anna Delvey was found guilty on multiple charges of fraud and attempted grand larceny on Thursday after posing as an heiress in Manhattan, defrauding banks, hotels, restaurants, and people. She faces up to 15 years in prison for the attempted grand larceny charge, and her story is set to be immortalized on the small screen by both Shonda Rhimes for Netflix and Lena Dunham for HBO. If you have no idea what we’re talking about, feel free to fall down the rabbit hole →
The new single Taylor Swift spent the past few weeks teasing is here. Meh. (Apologies to Emily Favreau.) (From Jon Favreau: I’m editing and feel conflicted)

Did You Read That Thing?

NY1 anchor Jamie Stelter wrote about her five miscarriages for National Infertility Awareness Week, to call attention to an experience millions of women suffer through silently, and with needless feelings of shame:
Read →

Is That Hope I Feel?

The Kansas Supreme Court has ruled that the state’s Constitution protects women’s rights to abortion, meaning that even if Roe v. Wade is overturned by the United States Supreme Court, abortion will still be legal there. The decision stands in stark contrast to other red states around the country, which continue to restrict legal abortion and pass “trigger laws” meant to automatically make abortion illegal if Roe v. Wade is overturned.

Enjoy

waterslide enthusiast on Twitter: "why does this weirdo stand like this"

"I have overridden my people, we're funding the Special Olympics"—Donald Trump, whose administration has proposed defunding the special olympics for years

Raise Hell

The deadline six House committee chairs set for Attorney General William Barr to turn over Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s full report is April 2, but Barr has already informed House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler that he’ll miss the deadline. Barr also will not commit to providing Congress the full report, and only provided Nadler the report’s official page count on the condition that he not share the number publicly.
Nearly a week after Mueller submitted his report, all we know about it, beyond what’s in Barr’s highly political three-and-a-half page summary, is that it is somewhere between 300 and 1000 pages long.
This is an unacceptable state of affairs, and it’s past time for House Democrats to use their official powers to either obtain the report itself, make its details public, or get some answers from the Justice Department.
Here’s what Democrats can do.

• Subpoena the report. This is the most obvious step they can and presumably will take, but it would likely tee up lengthy legal battles over what the administration has a right to withhold. On the other hand, the threat of a subpoena might allow Democrats to secure a public and airtight commitment from Barr to share the entire report minus the narrowest omissions (say, to protect ongoing investigations) by a specific date.
  
• Subpoena Mueller. There has been a lot of chatter about Barr’s forthcoming testimony to Congress, but he has already revealed himself to be an unreliable narrator. Mueller remains widely trusted, but he can’t speak out of turn. Subpoenaing him would unshackle him, personally, and leave it to the administration to decide whether to silence him—but by silencing him, they’d give up the game.
  
• Begin impeachment proceedings. House leadership has made clear that Democrats are terrified of impeachment, but that may be the only way they can successfully secure Mueller’s grand jury materials, which are otherwise bound by strict secrecy requirements. That’s what happened during Watergate, and it should be on the table today.
  
• Lose their shit. It sounds silly, but a sustained Democratic message that the administration is hiding something, and that they must release the full report might just work better than anything else. Last year, Republicans generated days of anticipation by making the Twitter hashtag #ReleaseTheMemo go viral. This was about an absurd, conspiracy theory-ridden document that their own party wrote, but they were able to create a widespread sense that the government was hiding something explosive from the public. That’s what’s actually happening now, and Dems shouldn’t shy away from building public pressure.
  

The Democratic toolbox also includes holding Barr and other officials in contempt of Congress and threatening to withhold funds from certain Justice Department components or programs. But the key is to demonstrate that concealing Mueller’s findings is unacceptable, and they won’t get away with quietly burying it. Asking nicely, which has been the Democrats’ disappointing approach to oversight thus far, will not suffice here.

Did You See That Thing Yet?

Republicans on the House intelligence committee publicly called upon the committee’s chairman, Adam Schiff, to step down at a hearing that was supposed to be about whether President Trump’s business negotiations with Moscow—which he lied about throughout the campaign and well into his presidency—left him compromised.
Schiff’s response was to deliver Republicans the shaming they deserve. Watch →
Hopefully this is a lesson Democrats will heed about who they’re dealing with. When they returned to power, Democrats set about trying to restore comity on their committees, after enduring years of Republican abuse. They were not rewarded for their kindness because Republicans understand that they’re not there to make friends.

What Else

Parliament held eight non-binding votes on possible Brexit outcomes on Wednesday—none of which passed—after taking control of the Brexit process from British Prime Minister Theresa May. Experts believe this increases the odds that Parliament will schedule a second Brexit referendum, rather than leave the European Union without a plan in place to facilitate it.
President Trump inflated the height of Trump Tower, the size of his winery, and the number of home lots for sale on his golf courses, in order to secure financing from lenders. This is what most lawyers would call mortgage fraud, what Bill Barr might call failure to establish that Trump committed robbery, and what Trump would call COMPLETE AND TOTAL EXONERATION.
Energy Secretary Rick Perry secretly approved a deal to allow American companies to share nuclear information with Saudi Arabia—an arrangement of questionable legality that is almost certainly corrupt—thus bringing Perry’s surprising claim to being Trump’s least-scandalous cabinet secretary to an end.
NRA official Mark Richardson contacted a known Sandy Hook conspiracy theorist proposing a conspiracy theory that the official record of events in Parkland was untrue, in the immediate aftermath of the massacre there. These people are unspeakably disgusting.
U.S. economic growth slowed to 2.2 percent in the final quarter of last year, and is expected to have slowed even further in the first quarter of this one.
Ivanka Trump’s lawyer requested changes to Michael Cohen’s perjurious testimony to Congress (for which Cohen will serve time in prison) to downplay her involvement in the Trump Tower Moscow negotiations, which Cohen now says he briefed her about several times.
Jerry Falwell’s Liberty University has something it calls an aviation company that received $20,000 from the Trump campaign after Falwell spoke at a Trump rally in 2016, and got a $900,000 Pentagon contract in 2017. Welcome to the grift shoppe—enjoy your two-to-six year stay.
Happy Opening Day!

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You've Gotta Be Fucking Kidding Me

Former Vice President and maybe presidential candidate Joe Biden told college students working to combat sexual assault that he wished he “could have done something” to prevent Republicans from smearing Anita Hill after she accused now-Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas of sexual harassment before the Senate Judiciary Committee in 1991. As chair, Biden did not allow other women who could corroborate Hill’s allegations, and who had experienced similar harassment, to testify against Thomas alongside Hill, and Republicans on the committee exploited the he-said/she-said nature of the hearing to call her a liar—a mistake that has come back to haunt him as he weighs a presidential candidacy in the #MeToo era.
Hill has previously taken note of Biden’s refusal to admit error. “He said, ‘I am sorry if she felt she didn’t get a fair hearing.’ That’s sort of an ‘I’m sorry if you were offended.’”
Here are some longer thoughts about how Democrats who want to be president should account for their mistakes. (Spoiler: not like this.)

Under the Radar

The Justice Department has arrested 18 members and associates of an Alaska-based white-supremacist gang and charged them with for their “roles in a racketeering enterprise involving narcotics distribution, firearms trafficking, and acts of violence including murder, assault, and kidnapping.” The president, who tweeted something stupid and inappropriate about Jussie Smollett today, will ignore this because he says white nationalism isn’t a problem.

Enjoy

Same, tbh.

New New York Times on Twitter: "deadass"