Good Thursday morning.
Here is what’s on the president’s agenda today:
- The president delivers remarks on ending surprise medical billing
- President Trump receives his intelligence briefing
- The president welcomes the 2018 World Series Champions to the White House: The Boston Red Sox
Breaking: Norks fire off unidentified projectile
South Korea’s military is reporting that the NorKs have fired off…something or other early this morning.
North Korea has fired at least one unidentified projectile, South Korea’s military said Thursday, adding yet another complication into the stalled negotiations with the United States and peace talks with South Korea.
The launch took place at 4:30 p.m., in the Sino-ri area in the country’s western Pyongbuk province, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said.
Sino-ri is believed to be home to one of about 20 undeclared missile facilities that Pyongyang operates throughout the country, according to the Center for Strategic and International Studies’ Beyond Parallel program.
The NorKs said the event was a “strike drill” to “check the operating ability of large-caliber long-range multiple rocket launchers and tactical guided weapons.”
Experts disagree, claiming the rogue state “may have test-fired a new, more advanced type of short-range ballistic missile.”
Stay tuned.
Clown show at the House Judiciary Committee
The House Judiciary Committee voted to hold Attorney General Bill Barr in contempt because he refused to turn over the unredacted Mueller report, including material he is legally prevented from releasing to Congress. A copy of the complete report, without the grand jury material, is available for some members to view. No Democrats have gone to read it. Nadler, the chairman of the committee, could go to court to get an order to release the material but he hasn’t done that, so one has to wonder if he wants the complete report or he wants to damage the attorney general. That’s a rhetorical question. Of course the goal is to create a spectacle and damage Barr.
At the same time as Nadler began his circus, the administration claimed executive privilege over the redacted parts of the report.
The next step will be holding a contempt vote in the entire Congress. Speaker of the House Pelosi joked (?) about putting Barr in a special little jail cell located in the House basement. These folks are completely unhinged. She also indicated that impeaching AG Barr is not off the table.
Nadler announced that America now has a constitutional crisis. Notably, he did not think we were in a constitutional crisis when Eric Holder was held in contempt of Congress after refusing to turn over documents on Obama’s Fast and Furious operation. Obama’s Fast and Furious operation sold weapons to Mexican narco-terrorists and one of those weapons killed border patrol agent Brian Terry.
The DoJ responded to the committee’s contempt vote:
“The only side who has made accommodations is the Attorney General, who made extraordinary efforts to provide Congress and the public with information about the Special Counsel’s work,” the DOJ noted in a press statement Wednesday. Barr is unable “to comply with the House Judiciary Committee’s subpoena without violating the law, court rules, and court orders,” the statement added.
“It is deeply disappointing that elected representatives of the American people have chosen to engage in such inappropriate political theatrics,” the statement added.
This is definitely going to court.
Related:
Subpoena fight over Fast and Furious documents finally settled
‘Case not closed, buddy’: Warren goes all in on Trump impeachment
Look at this clown. Schiff subpoenas DOJ for unredacted Mueller report and counterintel info
Jim Jordan: Dems out to ‘destroy’ Bill Barr and derail his FBI review
Senate intel committee subpoenas Don Jr.
The Senate Intelligence Committee has subpoenaed Don Jr. over remarks he made to the committee back in 2017.
The committee’s desire to speak to Trump Jr. follows testimony from Michael Cohen, the president’s former attorney, in February.
Cohen told a House committee at the time that he had briefed Trump Jr. approximately 10 times about a plan to build a Trump Tower in Moscow. Trump Jr. told the Senate Judiciary Committee in 2017 he was only “peripherally aware” of the proposal.
This is just silly.
“Don continues to cooperate by producing documents and is willing to answer written questions,” said a person close to Trump Jr., who wasn’t authorized to speak on the record. “But no lawyer would ever agree to allow their client to participate in what is an obvious PR stunt from a so-called ‘Republican’ senator too cowardly to stand up to his boss [Democratic Sen.] Mark Warner and the rest of the resistance Democrats on the committee.”
.@DonaldJTrumpJr has already spent dozens of hours testifying in front of Congressional committees. Endless investigations—by either party—won't change the fact that there was NO collusion. It's time to move on. It’s time to focus on ISSUES, not investigations. https://t.co/fbFH5uMLUz
— Kevin McCarthy (@GOPLeader) May 8, 2019
Trump harassment/nuisance maneuver tote board
Did Michael Cohen leak the Trump tax information that was published by the NYT?
New York Senate passes two bills that take direct aim at Trump
Other morsels:
Important: Trump Administration Will Ask Supreme Court To End Nationwide Injunctions, Pence Says
Cracks appear in Trump’s coalition
Trump imposes fresh sanctions on Iran amid new standoff
Pentagon, North Korea cut off talks for return of US war dead
Avengers’ directors hint that Marvel will unveil a gay character
Trump calls US the ‘piggy bank that everybody wants to rob’
Ocasio-Cortez Backs Uber and Lyft Boycott, Has Taken $2k Worth of Rides This Quarter
Kennedys: We are begging you, America, to ignore RFK Jr on vaccinations
I forgot this guy was running. Marie Harf leaving Fox to join Moulton’s campaign
It Took Facebook Nearly A Month To Remove The Video Of Brian Sims Trying To Doxx Teenage Girls
Pentagon expects 256 miles of border wall soon, Shanahan says
McMaster blasts former colleagues as ‘danger to the Constitution’
News producer accused of sex misconduct was fired because he’s a man: suit
Bitcoin hackers steal over $40M in ‘well-orchestrated’ cyber breach
Rape survivor claims school threatened expulsion if she spoke out: suit
Mother of 18-Year-Old Accused in School Shooting Says She Doesn’t Know Why He Did It
Southern border crossings by asylum-seeking migrants kept rising in April, set new record
Chinese officials warn Christianity is ‘enormous harm’ to society
‘BH90210’ Gets Premiere Date On Fox & First Promo As ‘Beverly Hills’ Cast Reunites
More evidence emerges of Iran-Al Qaeda ties
Insurance claims from deadly California fires top $12B
Clinton slams Trump administration’s ‘maximum pressure’ campaign against Iran
Oregon teachers are walking out, forcing 600 schools to close. But they’re not demanding raises
Trump administration to require drug prices in TV ads
More than 1,000 guns seized from a home in upscale neighborhood of LA
The Latest: Beverly Hills nears ban on most tobacco sales
Walmart raises minimum age to buy tobacco to 21
Florida Bar looking at GOP lawmaker’s tweet targeting Michael Cohen
And that’s all I’ve got, now go beat back the angry mob!
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