It was potpourri week, as the Trump administration found ways to screw up many things.
Whitefish Energy, a two-year-old company based in Montana with two full-time employees when Hurricane Maria struck, was awarded a $300 million contract to repair and reconstruct large portions of Puerto Rico’s devastated electrical system. They should have contacted me: I would have performed the contract myself for $290 million. I am sure it is just a coincidence that the small town of Whitefish, population 7,279, where the company is located, is home to Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke. Please don’t blame the town of Whitefish, though, which is quite charming.
I’m sure it is also coincidental that the company’s general partner donated the maximum amounts allowed to Trump’s campaign and made larger donations to the Republican National Committee. On reflection, perhaps I wouldn’t have gotten the contract after all. Oh, and the contract states that “In no event shall [government bodies] have the right to audit or review the cost and profit elements.” Sounds perfectly normal to me.
On another front, the bipartisan Senate bill to provide money to health-care insurers for healthcare subsidies for those with low incomes had enough votes to pass the Senate and would actually reduce the federal deficit by $4 billion over 10 years. (Without the subsidies healthcare insurance premiums will rise even more than the subsidy amounts and the federal government is required to pay the increases.) Sounds like a no-brainer, but Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell, though, refused to allow the bill to come to a vote unless Trump said he would sign it– and Trump refused to do that.
In some encouraging news, Republican Senator Jeff Flake (R-AZ), announcing that he would not run again, made an impassioned speech on the Senate Floor. With respect to “the behavior of the president of the United States”, Senator Flake said “The notion that one should stay silent as the norms and values that keep America strong are undermined” is “profoundly misguided” and that “I will not be complicit.” We only wish more Republicans would follow.
Meanwhile, Republicans claimed to be shocked (Shocked!) that the so-called Steele Dossier about Trump’s involvement with the Russians was financed in part by the Democratic National Committee and the Hillary Clinton campaign. House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes (R-CA) on Thursday claimed that Democrats had made Russian interference in the 2016 election successful by pursuing the dossier. All this overlooked a few inconvenient truths.
We’ve known since October a year ago that Democrats had partly funded the project as part of perfectly legal opposition research. Also, the project was originally funded during the Republican primaries by the conservative news site, the Washington Free Beacon, which dropped its funding after Trump had clinched the Republican nomination.
Further, while a number of points in the dossier have proven to be true, none have been disproved so far. There is no law against conducting research regarding an opposing candidate and every campaign does it. There sure as hell are laws against colluding with a foreign government to interfere with a U.S. election.
In further desperation, House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) – yes, the same Nunes – announced a probe into the Uranium One deal and Hillary Clinton, claiming that Hillary received bribes for the deal and alleging that it allowed the Russians to receive 20% of U.S. uranium.
Except…this happened back in 2010, it was approved by more than two dozen U.S. and Canadian officials, no uranium can be removed from the U.S., the Hillary contributions came from the prior owners of the company, and the FBI investigated and found nothing wrong. As Newsweek and many others said, the allegations just were not believable, though they did seem designed for maximum distraction.
It almost seems like Republicans had heard that Special Counsel Robert Mueller was about to take action and were feverishly trying to distract everyone….
Friday CNN broke the news (now confirmed by the Wall Street Journal and Reuters) that a federal grand jury has approved the first charges in Chief Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into the Trump campaign’s involvement with the Russians. As the file was sealed by the Court, we don’t know the charges or the person(s) charged, although at least one person could be taken into custody as early as Monday.
The best guess is this will be someone currently on the periphery of the Trump administration, with Paul Manafort, former Trump campaign manager, and Michael Flynn, Trump's former National Security Advisor, being solid possibilities. Presumably Mueller will apply pressure for evidence against those higher up, so this will unfold over time. Stock up on popcorn now.
Finally and sadly, Fats Domino, one of the founders of rock and roll, passed at the age of 89. In tribute, here he is performing “Ain’t That a Shame” in the 1956 movie Shake, Rattle and Rock. Rest in peace, good sir.