The Senate Judiciary Committee released a scalding interim report (10/7) about the previous administration*’s attempt to enlist the Department of Justice in the former president*’s campaign to overturn the 2020 presidential election, Charles Pierce noted at Esquire.com (10/7).
In its first finding, the committee reported: “Beginning on the day former Attorney General William Barr announced his resignation and continuing almost until the Jan. 6 insurrection, Trump directly and repeatedly asked DOJ’s acting leadership to initiate investigations, file lawsuits on his behalf, and publicly declare the 2020 election ‘corrupt.’ Documents and testimony confirm that Rosen, and in some cases other senior DOJ leaders, participated in several calls and meetings where Trump directly raised discredited claims of election fraud and asked why DOJ was not doing more to address them. …”
“In attempting to enlist DOJ for personal, political purposes in an effort to maintain his hold on the White House, Trump grossly abused the power of the presidency. He also arguably violated the criminal provisions of the Hatch Act, which prevent any person—including the President—from commanding federal government employees to engage in political activity.”
Low bridge for then-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows here, Pierce noted.
In its second finding, “Meadows asked Rosen to have DOJ investigate at least four categories of false election fraud claims that Trump and his allies were pushing. Between December 29 and January 1, Meadows asked Rosen to have DOJ”:
• Investigate various discredited claims of election fraud in Georgia that the Trump campaign was simultaneously advancing in a lawsuit that the Georgia Supreme Court had refused to hear on an expedited basis;
• Investigate false claims of “signature match anomalies” in Fulton County, Ga., even though Republican state elections officials had made clear “there has been no evidence presented of any issues with the signature matching process.”
• Investigate a theory known as “Italygate,” which was promoted by an ally of the President’s personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, and which held that the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and an Italian IT contractor used military satellites to manipulate voting machines and change Trump votes to Biden votes. Meadows also asked DOJ to meet with Giuliani on Italygate and other election fraud claims.
• Investigate a series of claims of election fraud in New Mexico that had been widely refuted and in some cases rejected by the courts, including a claim that Dominion Voting Systems machines caused late-night “vote dumps” for Democratic candidates.
Pierce noted, “You may recall that the last two items were prominently featured in the Giuliani-Powell road show during the post-election period. (I remember when the Italian Satellite theory was broached—in Michigan, I think. I nearly dislocated my spine popping my head up in surprise.) They were all singing from the same hymnal for a very long time. And, inevitably, there’s a straight line to the events of Jan. 6.”
In finding 4, “In addition to Trump White House officials, including the President himself, outside Trump allies with ties to the ‘Stop the Steal’ movement and the Jan. 6 insurrection also pressured DOJ to help overturn the election results.”
The “allies” included Cleta Mitchell, the Trump campaign lawyer who also was on the call with the president* when he pressured Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to find him 11,780 votes, Pierce noted. He concluded:
“Gradually, between this, the special commission, and the endless avalanche of new books, the story of what happened in the White House in the aftermath of the election is becoming very rounded and complete, one thing leading inexorably to another, the same actors playing different parts in all the dramas. It is coalescing into a very well-plotted, easily accessible horror story. It is all beginning to make awful sense.”
TRUMP HID PAYMENTS FROM FOREIGN GOVERNMENTS, $70 MILLION IN LOSSES ON D.C. HOTEL. Newly released confidential filings by his accountants to the Trump International Hotel’s landlord show Trump lost more than $70 million from 2016 to 2020, the General Services Administration (GSA) reported, Rebekah Sager noted at DailyKos (10/8).
Trump only reported his $156.6 million in revenue to the Office of Government Ethics, creating the impression that the Trump International Hotel was a winner. But his accounting firm, WeiserMazars LLP, disclosed the reality in confidential reports to GSA that the hotel lost nearly $73.9 million.
The House of Representatives Committee on Oversight and Reform, which published the reports, called the discrepancy of the Trump International Hotel records “troubling.”
The hotel is located in the historic Old Post Office building that the Trump Organization leases from the federal government.
The committee also uncovered that the hotel received over $3.7 million in payments from foreign governments, an obvious conflict of interest, and a breach of a clause in the US Constitution that clearly states: “apart from this fixed salary, the President shall not receive any other Emolument” from the United States or any state government.”
“In deciding to conceal the Trump Hotel’s true financial condition from federal ethics officials and the American public, President Trump hid conflicts of interest,” Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., and Rep. Gerry Connelly, D-Va., the committee chair and the chairman of the Subcommittee on Government Operations, respectively, wrote (10/8).
But the con game continued, as the committee alleges that Trump hid more than $20 million in loans his real estate holding company made to the struggling hotel, Sager noted. He was trying hard to look like a big shot as his hotel was, in reality, hemorrhaging money.
“Far from being a successful investment, the Trump Hotel was a failing business saddled by debt that required bailouts from President Trump’s other businesses,” the committee wrote.
The committee’s investigation also uncovered that, in addition to lying about the hotel’s revenue, Trump hid debts from the GSA while bidding on the lease for the property in 2011.
But, one of the most egregious moves was convincing Deutsche Bank to allow him to postpone payments on the $170 million for the hotel while he was in office, the committee said.
“Mr. Trump did not publicly disclose this significant benefit from a foreign bank while he was president,” the committee said.
“For too long, the president has used his complex network of business holdings to hide the truth about his finances,” Maloney, chairwoman of the committee, said. “The committee will continue to vigorously pursue its investigation until the full truth comes to light so that Congress can address the unresolved ethics crisis left by Trump and prevent future presidents from profiting off of the presidency.”
AT&T WANTED ANOTHER FOX NEWS, AND OAN IS WHAT IT GOT. AT&T played a central role in the creation and survival of One America News Network, Reuters reported (10/6).
According to court records reviewed by Reuters, OAN founder Robert Herring Sr. testified that AT&T “told us they wanted a conservative network. … When they said that, I jumped to it and built one.” Records also indicate that, according to an OAN accountant, “90% of OAN’s revenue came from a contract with AT&T-owned television platforms.” According to an AT&T filing that cites Herring’s numbers, AT&T has paid OAN “about $57 million” in fees, though an AT&T spokesperson claimed this number is inaccurate.
OAN and all of its lies would not exist, and could not survive, without AT&T’s blessing, Bobby Lewis noted at MediaMatters. (10/8).
Whatever the figure AT&T has paid to help keep OAN alive, the network has been using the airwaves to push toxic — and often dangerous — misinformation.
That includes a deadly TV campaign against COVID-19 vaccines, hateful anti-LGBTQ content, and a network-wide assault on elections meant to hype bogus claims of fraud and overturn the 2020 results. The election attacks include a reporter’s nonprofit seeking to fund fraudulent election “audits” around the country, a demented obsession with the MyPillow CEO and his money, and a correspondent’s call for mass executions of election officials. And that’s to say nothing of the host who used a racial slur on air or another host’s apparent wish to shoot unhoused people, Lewis noted.
“We now know that AT&T didn’t just choose this; it asked for this. Herring delivered, and we are all worse off for it,” Lewis wrote.
Outside of AT&T, OAN is actively trying to expand its reach by encouraging its audience to pressure both Comcast and Charter Spectrum to carry the network. Its website features a prominent call for readers to call both providers and tell them that “you want OAN added to your channel lineup.”
ECONOMY ADDS 194,000 JOBS IN SEPTEMBER, UNEMPLOYMENT RATE DROPS, BUT WALL STREET IS DISAPPOINTED. The net number of jobs added in September came in below most forecasts, with the Bureau of Labor Statistics survey showing just 194,000 new jobs. However, the survey also showed the unemployment rate falling by 0.4 percentage points to 4.8%. This decline was not due to people dropping out of the labor market, economist Dean Baker noted (10/8), as the survey showed a rise in employment of 526,000, and the employment-to-population ratio rose 0.2 percentage points to 58.7%.
Private sector employment rose by a respectable 317,000, which follows a sharp upward revision to the August number to 332,000, Baker noted. The biggest surprise in this report is a drop of 123,000 in state and local government employment, putting the September level 874,000 below the pre-pandemic level. This drop, following weak growth in August, is hard to understand, since most schools are open and state and local governments are mostly in decent fiscal shape.
The other reason the establishment data is better than it first appears is that there was a substantial increase in the length of the average workweek, from 34.6 hours to 34.8 hours. As a result, the index of aggregate hours rose 0.9 in September, the largest rise since an increase of 1.5 in March. This is consistent with the idea that, facing a labor shortage, employers are increasing hours for the workers they have.
The rapid wage growth, especially for low-paid workers, is consistent with this picture. The average hourly wage for production and nonsupervisory workers increased at a 6.7% annual rate, comparing the last three months (July August, September) with the prior three months (April, May, June). In the leisure and hospitality sector, the annual rate of wage growth over this period has been 18.1%.
Many of the lowest-paying industries are losing jobs. Nursing home employment fell by 15,800. It is now down 241,000 (15.2%) from its pre-pandemic level. Temporary employment dropped 5,200, putting it 257,000 (8.7%) from its pre-pandemic level. Employment in child care was up 17,800 in September, but still down 109,000 (10.4%) from its pre-pandemic level. Restaurants added 29,000 jobs, but with a drop in August, this put employment just 4,300 above the July level. September employment is 931,000 (7.6%) below the pre-pandemic level.
The manufacturing sector added 26,000 jobs, following a gain of 31,000 in August. Construction added 22,000 jobs after a flat August. The retail sector was a big gainer, adding 56,100 jobs, in spite of a loss of 12,300 jobs in grocery stores, the third-straight monthly decline. The big gainer was clothing stores, which added 27,300 jobs.
There was no evidence in this report that ending the $300 weekly UI supplements, and the pandemic unemployment programs, had a notable impact on job growth. Many states had ended their programs in June or July, but the national program ended in early September. It is hard to find evidence in this report of any upsurge in people seeking jobs.
The drop in the unemployment rate was considerably larger than most analysts had expected. The unemployment rate didn’t fall to 4.8% following the Great Recession, which started in 2008, until January of 2016. There is now a large gap in unemployment rates for men and women over age 20, as the unemployment rate for women fell by 0.6 percentage points to 4.2%, 0.5 percentage points below the unemployment rate for men.
AMID CALLS TO ‘FIRE DEJOY,’ 20 STATES SUE OVER PLAN TO SABOTAGE POSTAL SERVICE. Twenty state attorneys general filed a joint complaint (10/8) in an effort to block changes to the US Postal Service enacted by Postmaster General Louis DeJoy and which critics warn are an overt effort to cripple the mail service from within by slowing delivery times while also increasing the cost to consumers, Jon Queally reported at CommonDreams (10/9).
The official complaint filed by the 20 AGs is directed at the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC), which is supposed to provide independent oversight of the USPS, but which the suit alleges betrayed its mandate by allowing DeJoy’s controversial plan to move into implementation Oct. 1 without proper review.
States joining the complaint include Washington, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, New York, California, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Virginia, and Rhode Island.
According to a statement from the office of Washington state Attorney General Bob Ferguson:
“The complaint details DeJoy’s failure to follow federal law in making harmful Postal Service changes. Ferguson asserts these major Postal Service changes, which range from eliminating working hours, slowing delivery of first-class mail and removing equipment, threaten the timely delivery of mail to millions of Americans who rely on the Postal Service for delivery of everything from medical prescriptions to ballots.”
“Millions of Americans depend on the mail every day to receive their prescriptions, pay bills, receive Social Security checks, send rent payments and more,” Ferguson said in the statement. “One political appointee does not get to decide the fate of the Postal Service. There is a process that demands accountability from the American public for a reason—and I will fight to ensure the public gets a say.”
In addition to Washington, the complaint was backed by the Attorneys General of Pennsylvania, North Carolina, New York, California, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Virginia, and Rhode Island.
The AG’s suit comes amid a relentless barrage of criticism aimed at DeJoy and demands for his ouster, as well ire aimed at the Postal Service Board of Governors, for putting forth a plan that experts on the USPS say is paving the pathway for the beloved agency’s demise.
As Christoper S. Shaw, author of the the book “First Class: The US Postal Service, Democracy, and the Corporate Threat,” wrote in an op-ed for Common Dreams, “While previous postmasters generals sought faster mail delivery, DeJoy stands out for his wish to make it slower.”
As Shaw’s piece notes:
“DeJoy claims that lowering service standards offers an outstanding opportunity to cut costs because hauling mail overland on trucks will prove cheaper than using air transportation. Lost in this short-term calculus is the cost to American citizens and to the health of the Postal Service in the long run. Degrading standards of service and discarding competitive advantages is not a formula for long-term relevance.”
In response to the complaint, the USPS claimed the filing “has no legal or factual merit” and said “the Postal Service intends to move to dismiss it pursuant to the rules” of the PRC process.
North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein, however, said in a statement that the changes made by DeJoy “destroy the timely mail service that people depend on for medications, bill payments, and business operations in rural parts” of his state. According to Stein’s office:
“The 10-year plan would undermine the Postal Service, including changes that would enact slower service standards for first-class mail and other packages, change the location of post offices, and adjust rates. The plan would slow down USPS standard delivery for 30 percent of mail from three days to five days, increase the price of each piece of mail by six to nine percent, and put these changes in place without doing anything to effectively address the larger Postal Service budget deficit.
“The Postal Regulatory Commission is an independent federal agency that has oversight over the Postal Service’s operations. Federal law requires the Postal Service to go to the Commission whenever it makes a change to postal services that will affect the entire country. The attorneys general contend that DeJoy failed to do so, and without the proper review, DeJoy’s plan could lead to future problems with mail delivery. The attorneys general are requesting that the Commission order the Postal Service to request a review of the full extent of the ten-year plan, affording the States and the public an opportunity to provide comment.”
“The Postal Service,” said Stein, “is an essential government service, and it cannot restructure without considering how those changes will affect millions of Americans.”
From The Progressive Populist, November 1, 2021
Blog | Current Issue | Back Issues | Essays | Links
About the Progressive Populist | How to Subscribe | How to Contact Us