TODAY IN CONGRESS (TIC):
Your One Stop Shop For Learning What Our Congress Critters Are Up To!
BREAKING: What’s Breaking? Everything! Congress has been formally adjourned until today and more has happened since they have been out of town than usually happens when they’re in town. Let’s get right to it.
Here Are The Headlines:
Day 101 Since the House Passed the HEROES Bill and GOP is Floating Un-Serious Skinny Cow Relief Bill!
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DeJoy to Testify Before Ron Johnson’s Senate Homeland Security Committee TODAY!
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House in Session on SATURDAY to Pass a Bill to Save the Postal Service and Our DEMOCRACY!
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House Oversight Committee to Open a Can of Whoop Ass on Dejoy and Postal Board Commissioner on Monday!
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BOMBSHELL Senate Intelligence Committee Report on Trump/Russia 2016 Election Interference Says:
IT’S COLLUSION STUPID!
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Manhattan DA One Step Closer to Trump’s Financial Records!
Here’s today’s schedule with the events I think may be the most interesting in bold. You can watch C-Span HERE. NOTE: Sometimes C-Span posts additional Congressional events not on my list, later in the day.
Today’s Events:
House —
11:00 am — House Rules Committee Meeting on U.S. Postal Service (The House Rules Committee meets virtually to discuss and debate legislation related to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the U.S. Postal Service.)
12:00 pm — House Pro Forma Session
Senate —
9:00 am — Senate Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs Committee Hearing on U.S. Postal Service (Postmaster General DeJoy testifies before the Senate Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs Committee on the U.S. Postal Service operations during COVID-19 pandemic and the 2020 election.)
12:00 pm — Senate Pro Forma Session Session
This Weeks Votes:
House — No votes.
Senate — No significant votes.
Comments:
Legislative (IN-) Action —
H.R.6800 - HEROES Act — Well here we are at Day 101 (by my count) since the House passed the HEROES Act (a comprehensive Bill to provide additional Federal Aid related to the health and economic hardships caused by COVID-19) and the Senate GOP is floating a JOKE Bill. In fact to describe it as a band-aid on a foot long gaping wound would be generous. Here is a summary of what the GOP Bill contains from this NY Times Story:
Senate Republicans on Tuesday began circulating text of a narrow coronavirus relief package that would revive extra unemployment benefits at half the original rate, shield businesses from lawsuits related to the virus and provide funding for testing and schools.
Yes, that’s it! So here is what it doesn’t contain (i.e., left out from the HEROES Act):
- Any $$ for COVID Health provisions such as coordination and expansion of testing and contact tracing;
- Any $$ for Agriculture to help farmers and expand food assistance programs like SNAP;
- Any $$ to provide further help for small businesses (i.e., PPP);
- Any $$ for Hospitals, Health Agencies and Adult Care Facilities to provide proper adequate PPE for their essential workers;
- Provisions to require Medical and Family Leave provisions for those effected by COVID;
- Provisions to protect against price gouging during the pandemic;
- Any $$ for the Postal Service (although that is supposed to be addressed in a separate Bill;
- Any $$ for State and Local governments to prevent budget shortfalls caused by COVID expenses which will force massive layoffs of essential workers such as police, firefighters and EMS; and
- The List Goes On...
Besides what’s left out, the GOP Bill only contains half of the original unemployment benefit ($300 per week extra instead of #600) and contains the Poison Pill of liability protections for business who fail to adequately protect their workers from COVID.
To say this Bill is a non-starter and DOA as far as Democrats are concerned is obvious. It’s more like an attempt to try to shift blame onto the Democrats for the looming destruction of the Main Street economy to come. An attempt that will fail miserably (IMO).
Where do things go from here? Who Knows! Democrats have already offered to cut their HEROES Bill price tag from $3.5 trillion to $2.5 trillion (what that actual cuts, I’m not sure) which the GOP has rejected, so I don’t see them offering a further cut in response to the GOP JOKE Bill.
I know I have said this before, but I still believe it holds true:
The GOP won’t get serious about a COVID Relief Bill until their pals on Wall Street start feeling the pain, and that’s not happening right now.
Legislative Action —
H.R. 8015 — Delivering For America Act (Postal Service Bill) — Before I delve into this House Bill, let me first explain and apologize for my opening headline “Pelosi Goes Postal”. “Going Postal”, for those who may not known is a phrase out of the 80s and 90s which was coined after a rash of underpaid and over-stressed postal workers snapped and went on post office killing sprees. So my headline is a play on words in an attempt at humor which I originally posted as a comment in the FP story on Pelosi’s postal Bill announcement. Although almost everyone responding to my comment found it amusing, a few took offense and said it was demeaning to postal workers in that it portrays them as crazed lunatics. I assure you that was definitely not my intent then or now. So to anyone offended by my headline, I sincerely apologize. Now on with the Bill.
For those who might of missed it, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer confirmed on August 17 that Speaker Pelosi had cut short the House’s August recess to hold a very rare Saturday Session to pass a Bill to save the postal service and, by extension, our democracy (see Joan McCarter's FP Post for details). Flash forward, and we now have an actual six page draft Bill “H.R. 8015 — the Delivering For America Act”, which you can read HERE. In a nutshell, as reported by CNN:
As CNN has previously reported, the revised "Delivering for America Act" includes $25 billion in additional USPS funding and would explicitly prohibit any operational changes made this year that impede service. The six-page bill would also require that all official election mail be treated as "first-class mail," prohibit the removal of mail sorting machines and mailboxes and reverse any already implemented changes that could delay mail delivery.
Pretty clear and straight forward if you ask me. While not necessarily referencing this particular Bill, the public’s sentiment on this topic is clear and overwhelming, as reported in this Kerry Eleveld FP Post:
An overwhelming bipartisan majority of Americans say funding for the U.S. Postal Service "should be increased" to ensure timely delivery of the mail, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll released Wednesday. That support was solidly bipartisan, including 88% of Democrats and 60% of Republicans.
The poll, taken August 14-18 following revelations that Donald Trump's Postmaster General has been sabotaging the Postal Service, also found that fully 78% of respondents believe a well-functioning Postal Service is integral to fielding a "smooth and successful election during the coronavirus pandemic.” Once again, the view was overwhelmingly bipartisan, shared by 92% of Democrats and 67% of Republicans.
Those numbers are starkly one-sided regardless of Party, and as such, the House Bill creates a kind of “Poison Pill” problem for House Republicans (i.e., vote “no” to side with Trump and the Trumpsters or vote “yes” and side with a clear majority of your Republican constituency). It will be interesting to see how the House Republicans play this. More on that in tomorrow’s rare Saturday TIC post.
But before I leave this Postal topic, while it pains me to do this, check out the following Trump tweet from August 17, as originally posted by Laura Clawson:
SAVE THE POST OFFICE!
“SAVE THE POST OFFICE!” From Donald Trump is like..
“SAVE THE WHALES!” From Capt. Ahab.
Today’s C-Span TV Picks — So today we have a Friday Senate Homeland Security Committee Hearing regarding the Postal Service featuring its newest and Trumpiest Postmaster General Louis DeJoy. So how did we get here? Well after House Democrats announced their Monday, August 24 Hearing featuring Mr. DeJoy, Senate Committee Chairman (and latest Trump Fixer) Ron Johnson decided to try to beat Democrats to the punch, but with different motives. As detailed in this Joan McCarter Post:
Senate Republicans are getting in on the "protect the Postal Service" game, but their latest move definitely calls into question their intentions in doing so. Sen. Ron "Genius" Johnson of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee has scheduled a hearing for Friday with Postmaster General Louis DeJoy before the House votes on the Postal Service on Saturday and grills DeJoy on Monday. What Johnson wants him to testify about, according to Washington Post sources, is the Postal Service’s "vote-by-mail financial requirements."
More to the point, Johnson "is expected to press DeJoy on whether the Postal Service truly needs the $25 billion in emergency funding that the House has pushed." Guess what answer Johnson is trying to get the day before House Democrats are scheduled to vote on a bill that includes $25 billion in emergency funding for the Postal Service as well as forcing resumption of services to their pre-coronavirus levels, including restoring mailboxes and sorting machines. Johnson's entire purpose appears to be to set up the House Democrats by "proving" that the Postal Service doesn't need that money.
Lot’s of luck with that Ron, based on the public opinion polls I mentioned earlier. Besides the fact that he will convince absolutely no one today that the Postal Service doesn’t need money, Ron has made two other huge blunders in calling DeJoy to testify. One is he has given Democrats two shots at hammering DeJoy instead of one (once in the Senate and once in the House). The other is it allows House Democrats to pour over DeJoy’s Senate testimony over the weekend, allowing them to come up with followup questions and possibly catch him in a perjury trap. Anyway, get your popcorn ready and settle in for some C-Span TV fireworks TODAY!
COMMITTEE ACTIVITY:
Introduction:
NOTE #s1 — 4: To keep this diary as short as possible while still providing a means for new readers to obtain a chronological history on each Committee Activity topic/event below, I have squirreled away the Background information on these topics in other previously posted diaries. So each topic’s Background section below will include links to my September 26, 2019 Diary for Background prior to November 22, my November 22, 2019, 2019 Diary for Background between November 22, 2019 and January 30, 2020, and my January 30, 2020 Diary for Background from January 30, 2020 until today. This and other regular TIC diaries will only include Recent Developments (stuff that happened the day before) and New Developments on each Committee topic/event. Also, I will discontinue posting Committee topics/events that have been inactive for weeks, but their histories will remain in the Background Diaries. If something new happens on these discontinued topics/events, I will bring them back from the dead and post it in the regular TIC.
Now on with the show. (New and Important stuff in bold)
House Oversight & Reform Committee Postal Investigation —
Background — None.
Recent Developments — None.
New Developments — Unless you live under a rock, by now you know that:
“The House Oversight Committee will hold an emergency hearing on mail delays and concerns about potential White House interference in the U.S. Postal Service, inviting Postmaster General Louis DeJoy and Postal Service board of governors Chairman Robert M. Duncan to testify Aug. 24, top Democrats announced on [last] Sunday.”
And that DeJoy has agreed to appear (I believe Duncan has also agreed). I will get to what might happen in this Hearing on my Monday TIC Post. But first I would like to cover a little background on the latest rapidly changing chronology of developments featuring Mr. DeJoy.
After pressure from the upcoming Hearings and the flood of lawsuits against his actions, DeJoy appeared to backtrack on his destructive orders. From this Hunter Post:
DeJoy claims that as a result, post office hours will not change, mail processing and collection equipment will not be removed, "no mail processing facilities will be closed," and "we reassert that overtime has, and will continue to be, approved as needed."
Notice he only says overtime will be approved “as needed” and does not say he will undo the destruction of mail collection and sorting equipment he has already accomplished. So Pelosi saying his semi-backtracking was totally inadequate, called him on these points. According to Pelosi’s account of her phone call to DeJoy (described in this Joan McCarter Post):
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi spoke with U.S. Postmaster General Louis DeJoy Wednesday, a conversation in which he "frankly admitted that he had no intention of replacing the sorting machines, blue mailboxes and other key mail infrastructure," she said in a statement. She says she spoke with him to let him know that his announcement Tuesday that he was suspending certain policy changes that have crippled mail service "is not a solution and is misleading."
"The Postmaster General's alleged pause is wholly insufficient and does not reverse damage already wreaked," Pelosi wrote. In addition to the key infrastructure he's refusing to replace, he admitted "that plans for adequate overtime, which is critical for the timely delivery of mail, are not in the works."
Then, not only will DeJoy not undo the destruction he has already ordered, it appears it is continuing despite his statement to the contrary. Here’s a report from the field courtesy of this Kerry Eleveld Post:
“Internal sources say mail sorting machines are being dismantled at downtown GR post office,” reporter Heather Walker tweeted Wednesday. “Process started yesterday. Order came from Postmaster General DeJoy.”
Process started yesterday—the same day that Trump-appointed Postmaster General Louis DeJoy supposedly said he would “suspend” the changes he’s been implementing that have slowed mail delivery to a crawl across the country.
As Rachel Maddow often says about Trump and his lackeys, “Pay no attention to what they say, just watch what they do.” That certainly applies in this case. In any event, Mr. DeJoy certainly has some Splain’en to do come Hearing day.
Senate Intelligence Committee Trump/Russia Investigation —
Background — None.
Recent Developments — None.
New Developments — Again, put this in the category of old news, but old news gets old quick these days. Anyway, the Senate Intelligence Committee came out with the final segment of their Report on the Committee’s Investigation into the Trump/Russia 2016 Election Interference, and boy did they save the best for last. Here are the highlights from The Other Doctor Who's Diary:
The Senate Intelligence Committee released Tuesday the most comprehensive and meticulous examination to date explaining how Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential election and the Trump campaign welcomed the foreign adversary's help, revealing new information about contacts between Russian officials and associates of President Donald Trump during and after the campaign.
Among the key findings:
- That then-campaign chairman Paul Manafort was working with Konstantin Kilimnik, a Russian intelligence officer, and sought to share internal campaign information with Kilimnik. The committee says it obtained "some information suggesting Kilimnik may have been connected" to Russia's 2016 hacking operation.
- That Russian-government actors continued until at least January 2020 to spread disinformation about Russia's election interference, and that Manafort and Kilimnik both sought to promote the narrative that Ukraine, and not Russia interfered in the 2016 election.
- That Russia took advantage of the Trump transition team's inexperience and opposition to Obama administration policies "to pursue unofficial channels," and it's likely that Russian intelligence services and others acting on the Kremlin's behalf exploited the Transition's shortcomings for Russia's advantage.
In addition to the above, the report leaves little doubt that there WAS COLLUSION between the Trump Campaign and Russian Operatives/Spys. It also suggests, if not outright concludes that Trump lied under oath at least once in his written testimony to the Mueller Team.
Now some may be inclined to applaud the GOP Senators who signed this report. Afterall, it does not seem to pull many punches and they did release it before, not after the 2020 election. But I’m inclined to hold my applause for two reasons:
1. It’s Too Late! This should have been released back in 2019 either in concert with or shortly after the release of the Mueller Report. Back then there was still time to utilize its finding in an impeachment investigation of Trump’s 2016 election crimes.
2. These GOP Senators were fully aware of what was in this report back in early 2020 when they decided to acquit Donald Trump during his impeachment trial.
Now it just makes all that has happened since (e.g., the Manafort light sentence, the reversal on Flynn, the pardoning of Stone, etc.) seem all that much worse.
Before I move on, a little side commentary on my part if you don’t mind.
There has been some bashing of Robert Muller going on here since this Senate Report came out. Some say that Mueller failed to identify Collusion in his report, and that the Mueller Report did not contain certain critical details identified in the Senate Report, and that he failed to point out the instances of perjury in Trump’s written testimony. At the risk of sounding like I’m defending Mueller, let me point out a few facts concerning the above criticisms:
1. Mueller saw his job as one of a Prosecutor operating within the confines of the law. If you recall, he said upfront in his Report that he was not going to investigate Trump/Russia “collusion” because “collusion” was not a statutory crime. Instead, he indicated that he investigated the crime of “Conspiracy Against the United States” and in the end concluded that there was insufficient evidence to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that such a crime had been committed by those in the Trump campaign. Mueller also indicated in his report that some evidence had been previously destroyed and that he was further hampered in any criminal prosecution of “conspiracy” by lies told by Manafort and others.
2. It is not appropriate to conclude that Mueller left things out of his report that were in the Senate Report because portions of the Mueller Report were redacted and remain hidden from the public to this day. The alleged omissions could be behind the redactions.
3. Mueller also said in his report that he was following DoJ policy that precludes the Federal prosecution of a sitting President, and as such his report neither indicts or absolves Trump of any crimes. He also strongly inferred that Congress should followup and do its job if it considered he had identified any impeachable offenses when it comes to President Trump.
In a nutshell, I feel Mueller was a straight shooter who operated within the constitutional, legal and policy boundaries he was given. Others are free to disagree.
House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis —
Background — This Committee was born on the same day that the House passed CARES 3.5, by passage of H.Res. 938. As the name implies it will provide and coordinate oversight of the Trump Administration with regard to the Coronavirus Crisis. Also see my May 15 & Aug. 5 TICs for additional background.
Recent Developments — None.
New Developments - None.
House Judiciary Committee Barr Subpoena for Mueller Grand Jury Materials —
Background — Pre-Nov. 22 CLICK HERE. Nov. 22 to Jan. 30 CLICK HERE. Post Jan 30 CLICK HERE. Also, see my May 11 , 19, 20, June 5 & July 21 TICs.
Recent Developments — None.
New Developments — None.
House Judiciary Committee McGahn Subpoena —
Background — Pre-Nov. 22 CLICK HERE. Nov. 22 to Jan. 30 CLICK HERE. Post Jan 30 CLICK HERE. See my May 5 TIC for details on the April 28 DC Circuit Court (virtual) Hearing in this case. Also, see my Aug. 13 TIC.
Recent Developments — None.
New Developments — None.
House Judiciary & Intelligence Committee News —
NOTE #1: This used to be the “House Intelligence Committee’s Whistleblower Investigation”. Then it was titled the “House Intelligence, & Judiciary Committees’ Impeachment Investigation”. Then it was titled the “House & Senate Impeachment Proceedings.” But since Trump’s first impeachment is over, I have changed the heading again.
Background — Pre-Nov. 22 CLICK HERE. Nov. 22 to Jan. 30 CLICK HERE. Post Jan 30 CLICK HERE. Also, see my May 11 TIC, June 5, 8, 11, 15 & July 22 TICs.
Recent Developments — None.
New Developments — None.
House Judiciary Committee Barr Whistleblowers (Berman & Others) —
Background — See my June 24, 25, 29, July 21, 22, 29 & 30 TICs.
Recent Developments — None.
New Developments — By now you know that Steve Bannon was arrested on charges of mail fraud brought by the SDNY US Attorney. So I won’t go into the details. But what got me thinking is the connection between this arrest and the firing of the former US Attorney of the SDNY, Geoffrey Berman, as described in this AlyoshaKaramozov Diary. If you remember, Berman would not step down until Barr agreed to appoint his trusted Deputy SDNY Attorney Audrey Straus, his successor. He new that she would uphold apolitical justice in the historic independent spirit of the SDNY. Now we see this Attorney indicting Steve Bannon. Coincidence?
House Judiciary & Intelligence Committee Flynn Subpoena —
Background — Pre-Nov. 22 CLICK HERE. Nov. 22 to Jan. 30 CLICK HERE. Post Jan 30 CLICK HERE. Also, see my May 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 19, 20, 27, June3, 5, 8, 11, 15, 18, 23, 29 , July 22, Aug. 4 & 13 TICs.
Recent Developments — Reading the tea leaves from Monday’s oral arguments in the Flynn case before the Full (en banc) DC Court of Appeals, it appears that the Barr/Flynn Team may be in trouble. From this CNN Report:
A federal appeals court on Tuesday pushed back on former national security adviser Michael Flynn's effort to have his criminal case dismissed immediately and the Justice Department's reasoning that a judge shouldn't consider why prosecutors dropped his almost 3-year-old guilty plea deal this year amid a political firestorm.
Ten judges on the appeals court reheard the arguments, after wiping out a previous Circuit Court ruling that ordered a quick dismissal earlier this summer, wresting oversight of the case from the trial judge.
The judges questioned lawyers for Flynn, the Justice Department and for his trial Judge
Emmet Sullivan for almost four hours Tuesday, with several judges directing harsh questions primarily to Flynn's lawyer and then the Justice Department's acting solicitor general, both of whom want the case dismissed.
A judge's role in reviewing case dismissals was "created by the Supreme Court to examine cases of favoritism to politically powerful defendants, and that seems to be part of the wheelhouse of what is going on here," Judge Thomas Griffith, a Republican-appointed jurist who is retiring from the bench Sept. 1, said during the hearing.
Most telling about how things might be decided by the Appeal’s Court was this:
The judges on Tuesday pressed for explanations on why an appeal in Flynn's case is worthy at this stage -- before Sullivan reviews the Justice Department's motion to dismiss -- and about the authority of Sullivan to second-guess the Justice Department. The judges also closely read the legal steps taken in Flynn's case, raising the possibility that the appeal came out of order.
It certainly sounds like the Court may say a ruling in this case is premature, (i.e., before any ruling by Judge Sullivan), allowing Judge Sullivan to at least move forward with his planned Hearing in this case.
But the highlight of the over 4 hours of argument was this gem from the DoJ (Team Barr):
In one of the more surprising exchanges during the almost four-hour hearing, the Justice Department's attorney told the court that Attorney General William Barr may have additional information that he hasn't shared in court that contributed to the decision to drop Flynn's criminal case.
"I just wanted to make clear that it may be possible that the Attorney General had before him information that he was not able to share with the court," acting Solicitor General Jeffrey Wall said during the arguments. "And so what we put in front of the court were the reasons that we could, but it may not be the whole picture available to the executive branch."
Barr may have other reasons for letting Flynn off the hook and if he did, we can’t reveal them to the Court. What a Load of BS!
New Developments — None.
House Committees Subpoenas/Requests for Trump Banking/Financial Records & Taxes:
Background — Pre-Nov. 22 CLICK HERE. Nov. 22 to Jan. 30 CLICK HERE. Post Jan 30 CLICK HERE. Also, see my May 11 , 12 , 13, 14, July 22, 23, 29 & Aug. 4, 5, 7 & 13 TICs.
NOTE: In previous TICs, there were 3 separate topic threads (1. Deutsche/Capital One Bank Subpoenas, 2. Mazars’ Subpoena, and 3. Trump Taxes) covering 5 different court cases. Since they are all dealing with the same general topic (Trump’s hidden financial history) and were starting to get intertwined in my brain, I have rolled them all under the single header above to hopefully make things less confusing.
Also, to further help keep things organized, below are the five (5) ongoing court cases dealing with Trump’s Banking/Financial Records and tax returns.
1. Trump vs. Deutsche Bank and Capital One — Case brought by Trump against the the two banks in an effort to block a subpoena from the House Financial Services and Intelligence Committees for the Trump Organization’s banking records, including tax returns.
2. Trump vs. Mazars (Congressional Case) — Congressional Mazar’s case brought by Trump against Mazars (the Trump Organization’s former Accounting Firm) in an effort to block a subpoena from the House Oversight and Reform Committee for the Trump Organization’s financial records, including tax returns.
3. Trump vs. Vance (Criminal Case) — Case brought by Trump against against the Manhattan DA for Trump’s tax returns and other financial records. Trump is attempting to block a subpoena from the Manhattan DA to Mazars (the Trump Organization’s former Accounting Firm). The DA has subpoenaed these takes returns in conjunction with his criminal investigation of Trump’s hush money pay off to Stormy Daniels.
4. Congress vs. the IRS & Treasury Department (Trump’s Federal Tax Returns) — This case is a lawsuit brought by the House Ways & Means Committee against the IRS and Treasury Department for their failure to turn over Trump’s tax returns upon the Committee’s request as required BY LAW.
5. Trump vs. NYS Tax Department (Trump’s State Tax Returns) — This case is a lawsuit brought by Trump to block NYS from turning over his State tax returns to Congress.
I will use these case #s below to help keep things organized.
Recent Developments — None.
New Developments — Case #3 — A federal judge on Thursday dismissed Donald Trump's second attempt to block the Manhattan District Attorney from obtaining eight years of both his personal and corporate tax returns and other relevant financial records. As detailed in Kerry Eleveld's Post:
Importantly, U.S. Judge Victor Marrero dismissed Trump's legal challenge with prejudice, signaling he has made a final determination on the merits of the case and forbidding Trump from filing another lawsuit on the same grounds. Manhattan prosecutors have argued that Trump's lawyers are simply trying to run out the clock on the statute of limitations. Trump’s lawyers plan to appeal the ruling, making the next stop for the case the Second Circuit Court of Appeals.
Not only is Trump’s losing streak in Court continuing, it seems to be accelerating. I would be surprised if the DA gets Trump’s financial records in a matter of weeks, not months.
THAT’S IT FOR TODAY! FINALLY!
