The Morning Briefing: Contempt-o-Palooza Set for Next Week

Good Tuesday Morning

Here is what’s on the president’s agenda today:

The president participates in a business roundtable
The president and first lady participate in a greeting with the prime minister of the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland
The president participates in an expanded bilateral meeting with the prime minister of the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland
The president participates in a working lunch with the prime minister of the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland
The president participates in a press conference with the prime minister of the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland
The president and first lady participate in a tour of the Churchill War Rooms
The president and first lady participate in a greeting with H.R.H. The Prince of Wales and H.R.H. The Duchess of Cornwall
The president and first lady participate in a pre-reciprocal dinner reception with H.R.H. The Prince of Wales and H.R.H. The Duchess of Cornwall
The president and first lady participate in a presentation of guest with H.R.H. The Prince of Wales and H.R.H. The Duchess of Cornwall
The president and first lady participate in a reciprocal dinner with H.R.H. The Prince of Wales and H.R.H. The Duchess of Cornwall
The president and first lady participate in the guest book signing with H.R.H. The Prince of Wales and H.R.H. The Duchess of Cornwall

NEXT WEEK: Contempt-o-palooza

The House of Representatives has set a date, June 11, to vote on holding A.G. Barr and Don McGahn in contempt of Congress.

The House will vote next week to hold Attorney General William Barr and former White House counsel Don McGahn in contempt of Congress for defying congressional subpoenas, according to multiple Democratic sources.

The resolution would clear the way for the House Judiciary Committee to take Barr and McGahn to court to enforce their subpoenas and are a crucial step for Democrats seeking to accelerate their obstruction of justice investigation against President Donald Trump.

My reaction on Twitter:

https://twitter.com/StarChamberMaid/status/1135655116546224128

“This Administration’s systematic refusal to provide Congress with answers and cooperate with Congressional subpoenas is the biggest cover-up in American history, and Congress has a responsibility to provide oversight on behalf of the American people,” House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer said in a statement.

Once this clown car passes a contempt vote they will be cleared to take legal action in a subpoena battle, “sources” told Politico. Both McGahn and Barr are being tormented with nuisance subpoenas because the White House has claimed it is exercising executive privilege and refusing to let them testify. In McGahn’s case, he was White House counsel. In Barr’s case, he is prevented from turning over the unredacted portions of the Mueller report because the law prevents him from doing so. The House can certainly take this issue to court and have the court decided if the public interest is worth violating the promised anonymity of grand jury testimony, but they aren’t doing this. Why? Well, because the court will probably not side with Congress and this isn’t about getting the redacted version of the report — it’s part of the congressional street theater operation. Trump has also covered the report under executive privilege, another reason Barr isn’t turning over the report without the redactions (less than 10%). Oh, one more thing: the entire report sans grand jury is available for congressfolk to view, but they aren’t taking the opportunity to do so. There’s no good faith here. It’s impossible to think that the congressional jokers are interested in anything other than a public, media-assisted, bitch fight.

Figure linked to Trump transition charged with transporting child pornography

Ex-Trump lawyer slams Mueller report as a ‘fraud,’ cites misleading quote

Strzok-Page emails show gaps in Clinton probe files, alleged ‘special treatment’ for her lawyer

Court smacks down Congress on Trump border wall funding

A judge ruled on Monday that the House of Representatives cannot stop President Trump from using Defense Department funds to build a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border.

U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden, a Trump appointee, wrote that the House’s lawsuit was “about whether one chamber of Congress has the ‘constitutional means’ to conscript the Judiciary in a political turf war with the President over the implementation of legislation.”

McFadden said Congress didn’t have authority in this case but that he didn’t mean to imply the legislative body could never challenge the president in court over separation of powers.

The DoJ responded, saying the court “rightly ruled that the House of Representatives cannot ask the judiciary to take its side in political disputes and cannot use federal courts to accomplish through litigation what it cannot achieve using the tools the Constitution gives to Congress.”

AOC downplays her luxury apartment

Or as she was trying to argue, society just considers it luxurious because we are conditioned to modest and paltry dwellings as normal. At a Bronx town hall, Ms. O.C. likened her own luxurious living conditions to a new public housing complex in New York.

“What we have been taught that [sic] is a luxury should not be a luxury,” Ocasio-Cortez said.

“Another world is possible,” she said. “We can live in buildings that are not-for-profit, or tenant-owned, there are so many ways we can slice this and we can structure it in a way where all people have the right to a dignified home.”

“What we have been taught and what we have been conditioned is that basic rights are a luxury and a privilege when they are not.”

“I move into this building, and it’s marketed as a ‘luxury’ building in D.C.,” she said. “It’s an efficient building, it’s clean, it has public space, it has a rooftop garden—y’all watching my Instagram—it has clean air, it has clean water. And I think about this and I’m like, ‘Hm, this is what a luxury building is like.'”

A.O.C. lives in more than “a dignified home.” Here is the list of the amenities in the building where she lives:

The newly-constructed complex, built adjacent to a Whole Foods, also features both an indoor lap pool and a rooftop pool, a rooftop dog park and dog wash station, numerous gyms including a Peloton cycling studio and a yoga studio, a demonstration kitchen with a wood-fired pizza oven, private massage rooms with hydromassage beds, a golf simulator studio, a basketball court, a racquetball court, and a rooftop tennis court with a “parabolic hitting wall” in case you’re alone with nobody to play with.

Ridiculous. She could live in much more modest living conditions and use the remainder of the rent she is currently paying to support some homeless children. Why isn’t she?

Other morsels:

House passes $19 billion disaster aid package, sends bill to Trump for signature

What? Glenn Beck: Justin Amash is the man we on the right have been waiting for our whole lives

NBC: Could Dems face a civil war over abortion?

Who’s Got a Better Record on Gay Marriage, Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump?

Senate passes bill to deny entry for individuals who meddle in US elections

John Delaney Hits Back After Ocasio-Cortez Tells Him To ‘Shashay Away’

Tucker Says ‘Skin Color Is The Central Motivation’ For Brutal South African Killings

Even some Trump allies want Kushner to ice his peace plan

Why So Many Mass Shootings? Ask the Right Questions and You Might Find Out

What Gun Control Advocates Fail to Grasp After Mass Shootings

Buttigieg: I wouldn’t have pressured Franken to resign