This collection from Twitter will likely be updated/expanded..
Random Thoughts
Congress
Just a Friendly Phone Call
The whistleblower complaint that has triggered a tense showdown between the U.S. intelligence community and Congress involves President Trump’s communications with a foreign leader, according to two former U.S. officials familiar with the matter.
Trump’s interaction with the foreign leader included a “promise” that was regarded as so troubling that it prompted an…
CLICK HERE to read the story.
Detention Center Horrors
And Pro Publica has more from that hidden Facebook page RIGHT HERE!
Those Migrant Conditions
Aaron Reichlin-Melnick (@ReichlinMelnick): The toilets in CBP cells are often combo toilets/water fountains. We actually got pictures of these toilets through our lawsuit against the Tucson Sector Border Patrol, and people can be forced to drink out of them even though they’re filthy.
Here are pictures from our lawsuit: https://twitter.com/AOC/status/1145762201619357696
Aaron Reichlin-Melnick (@ReichlinMelnick): As @AOC noted, people held in CBP custody are often asked to drink out of toilets, which is disgusting for those held in those facilities. Here’s an example of one cell where a toilet/fountain in a cell has “Agua Potable” written above it. https://twitter.com/ReichlinMelnick/status/1145781844157317120/photo/1
Aaron Reichlin-Melnick (@ReichlinMelnick): As you can see, there is virtually no privacy for people held in CBP cells. Imagine being in one of these cells for weeks, overcrowded, forced to use an open toilet like this with dozens of people nearby and that toilet also being the only source of drinking water! https://twitter.com/ReichlinMelnick/status/1145782289336557568/photo/1
Aaron Reichlin-Melnick (@ReichlinMelnick): Before we got a court order forcing the Tucson Sector Border Patrol to clean things up, the cells were in terrible condition.
Imagine having to use this toilet for weeks at a time! That’s what’s going on across the RGV right now, except the toilets are probably more filthy. https://twitter.com/ReichlinMelnick/status/1145782957606612997/photo/1
Aaron Reichlin-Melnick (@ReichlinMelnick): You see that low wall in the back of these photos? That’s the privacy wall for the toilets—and unless there’s a water cooler, the sole place to get drinking water.
@DHSOIG said last month that cells in El Paso were so crowded people stood on the toilets to get breathing room. https://twitter.com/ReichlinMelnick/status/1145784256301604865/photo/1
Aaron Reichlin-Melnick (@ReichlinMelnick): This picture was taken when our experts toured the facility as part of the lawsuit. This was inside a cell. There was no trash can. Soap dispensers were often empty.
Let me ask: would YOU drink from that water fountain? https://twitter.com/ReichlinMelnick/status/1145785106608656386/photo/1
Aaron Reichlin-Melnick (@ReichlinMelnick): I want to be clear about one thing; these pictures are all from 2015. They’re also from the same lawsuit where you first saw pictures of people stuffed in like sardines into cells.
CBP custody has been awful for years. Today it’s even worse. https://twitter.com/ReichlinMelnick/status/1142977273349464065
Aaron Reichlin-Melnick (@ReichlinMelnick): As a brief addendum, here are some more pictures of disgusting conditions in cells in the Tucson Sector border patrol facilities from 2015. There were also broken water fountains in some cells. https://twitter.com/ReichlinMelnick/status/1145792776434589697/photo/1
Aaron Reichlin-Melnick (@ReichlinMelnick): Finally, here’s a picture of two children with their mom in one of those filthy cells, with the kid crawling on the ground near the toilet. You can just barely make out the “Agua Potable” sign in the background. This was taken within weeks of our experts’ visit. https://twitter.com/ReichlinMelnick/status/1145794110508453889/photo/1
Aaron Reichlin-Melnick (@ReichlinMelnick): If you’ve made it all the way down here and are appalled at what you saw, please consider donating to @immcouncil! We work to fight abusive conditions in immigration jails and to hold DHS accountable through lawsuits, advocacy, and transparency work.
Congressional Republicans Aren’t Happy
They don’t like tariffs on Mexico. And they’re letting a Trump know:
Republican senators sent the White House a sharp message on Tuesday, warning that they were almost uniformly opposed to President Trump’s plans to impose tariffs on Mexican imports, just hours after the president said lawmakers would be “foolish” to try to stop him. Mr. Trump’s latest threat to impose 5 percent tariffs on all goods imported from Mexico, rising to as high as 25 percent until the Mexican government stems the flow of migrants, has prompted some of the most serious defiance in the Republican ranks since the president took office. Republican senators emerged from a closed-door lunch at…
Buckle up! Here we go! CLICK HERE for The New York Times reporting.
Another ”No” From the White House
At some point this crazy argument won’t work anymore. The White House is going against everything I learned in Civics Class. Yes, I’m old enough to remember when schools actually taught that class.
The White House told the House Judiciary Committee in a letter Wednesday that it will not comply with a broad range of the panel’s requests and called on it to “discontinue” its inquiry into President Donald Trump. ”Congressional investigations are intended to obtain information to aid in evaluating potential legislation, not to harass political opponents or to pursue an unauthorized ‘do-over’ of exhaustive law enforcement investigations conducted by the Department of Justice,” White House counsel Pat Cipollone wrote, citing special counsel Robert Mueller’s 448-page report on his probe into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election and whether Trump sought to obstruct the investigation. Cipollone wrote, however, that he was not…
NBC NEWS produced the report you can CLICK HERE TO READ.
The Blockade
Can’t everybody just get along?
President Trump and his allies are working to block more than 20 separate investigations by Democrats into his actions as president, his personal finances and his administration’s policies, according to a Washington Post analysis, amounting to what many experts call the most expansive White House obstruction effort in decades. Trump’s noncooperation strategy has shifted from partial resistance to all-out war as he faces mounting…
The Washington Post has the full write-up RIGHT HERE.
Jr’s Turn
Now it’s Donald Jr’s turn to face a Congressional subpoena. How will this turn out?
The Republican-led Senate Intelligence Committee has subpoenaed Donald Trump Jr. to answer questions about his previous testimony before Senate investigators in relation to the Russia investigation, sources with direct knowledge told Axios. Why it matters: It’s the first congressional subpoena — that we know about — of one of President Trump’s children. The subpoena sets up a fight that’s unprecedented in…
Axios has the early details. CLICK HERE to read it all.
Trump Money
Can all of this really take much investigating to get the answers? The bank has to cough up the papers and the Trumps must explain.
Over two decades, Deutsche Bank lent Donald J. Trump billions of dollars, even as his tarnished financial record put him off limits for most of Wall Street. ”You are a great friend,” Mr. Trump wrote to his Deutsche Bank contact in 1998. “We have a great relationship,” he said in 2013. “They are totally happy with me,” he declared three years later. Now, Deutsche Bank is putting the president on the defensive. Lawyers for the bank have spent months cooperating with…
H/T to The New York Times for THIS FOLLOW-UP.
Another Congressional Investigation
The House is at it again.
House Democrats are launching an investigation President Trump’s “unprecedented” decision to remove much of the top leadership at the Department of Homeland Security. Details: The letter — from House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler, Homeland Security Chairman Bennie Thompson and Oversight Chairman Elijah Cummings — suggests…
Axios was the lead on this story. CLICK HERE for the details.
War in Washington
NBC News analyzes the strange standoff between the President and Congress:
The release last week of special counsel Robert Mueller’s report on Russian interference in the 2016 election and possible obstruction of justice by Trump has unleashed the president’s fury — as evidenced by a steady stream of angry tweets and threats of retribution against adversaries real and perceived — and his willingness to thumb his front tooth at Congress. The result is an escalating assertion of the presidency as the dominant branch of government in a war over…
This is pretty strong stuff from a mainstream media outlet. CLICK HERE to read it.
Running Out the Clock
It’s become apparent. This is the President’s strategy.
Facing a multi-front war in the post-Mueller world, President Trump is turning to litigation strategies that he long used in business — resist, delay and sue. What they’re saying: “Trump can run out the clock by taking a hardline position,” a…
Axios lays out the facts in THIS SHORT PIECE.
The Krile Files 