Staying "on message"

August 5, 2024

As we await the announcement of Kamala Harris’s selection of vice president, there are two important stories relating to Trump’s election interference that are being lost in the noise. In any normal media environment, both would dominate the news. Let’s take a look, and then review the events of the weekend.

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Bill Barr shut down investigation of possible bribe from Egypt to Trump campaign per WaPo exclusive report

The Washington Post published an exclusive investigative report on Friday that detailed a 2019 DOJ investigation into whether Egypt paid the Trump campaign $10 million—a payment that would be illegal under US election law. See Washington Post, $10M cash withdrawal drove secret probe into whether Trump took money from Egypt. (This article is accessible to all.)

Per the WaPo report, a $10 million cash withdrawal (in US dollars) was made at a regional bank in Egypt after Trump met with Egypt President Abdel Fatah El-Sisi in 2016. Shortly thereafter, the Trump campaign borrowed $10 million in a bank loan. Federal investigators received an intelligence report that the $10 million cash withdrawal may have been an illegal contribution to the Trump campaign (presumably to repay the $10 million loan).

But, per WaPo, Bill Barr took control of the investigation, appointing DC US Attorney Jessie Liu to review the information developed in the investigation. Barr also told FBI Director Christopher Wray to “impose adult supervision” over the investigation.

Barr and his deputies refused to allow a subpoena for Trump's bank records to confirm whether the Trump campaign received the $10 million payment from Egypt. The DOJ later closed the investigation, saying that there was insufficient information to prove a crime “beyond a reasonable doubt”—a pre-ordained conclusion given the refusal to allow a subpoena for Trump's bank records.

Per WaPo, Trump's foreign policy toward Egypt was remarkably friendly:

Over the course of his presidency, Trump's shifted U.S. policy in ways that benefited the Egyptian leader, a man he once called “my favorite dictator.” In 2018, Trump's State Department released $195 million in military aid that the United States had been withholding over human rights abuses — a move that had been opposed by his first secretary of state — followed by the release of $1.2 billion more in such assistance.

After Trump's tenure, the DOJ indicted and convicted US Senator Bob Menendez (D-NJ) for acting as an unregistered foreign agent for Egypt from 2018 to 2022 and accepting bribes paid in the form of cash and gold bars. See WaPo, Sen. Menendez convicted of bribery, other charges in corruption trial. At the very least, per WaPo, the conviction shows the Sisi regime’s ambitions to influence senior U.S. government officials

The above facts stink of corruption and cover-up. But they also point to the inertia and indifference of Merrick Garland’s DOJ in uncovering potential obstruction of justice under Bill Barr. Merrick Garland’s refusal to look back at obviously suspect decisions by Bill Barr to protect Trump cleared the runway for Trump’s 2024 run for the presidency.

In the last two months, the media focused a giant space laser on Joe Biden’s alleged decline. Major media published hundreds of stories based on nothing other than right-wing disinformation contradicted by recent medical reports. Here, the reasonable inference from the sequence of facts—Trump/Sisi meeting, Trump's $10 million loan, $10 million cash withdrawal, and Trump's preferential treatment of Egypt—justifies the investigation of Trump's bank records. If not by Merrick Garland, then by Congress. Another reason for Democrats to take control of Congress.

The facts suggest a major scandal involving foreign bribes used to interfere in the 2016 election and US policy concessions in exchange for the bribe. Let’s see if the media devotes the same laser focus to this story as it did to Joe Biden’s gaffes and stuttering.

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Judge Chutkan denies Trump's motion to dismiss for vindictive prosecution

The Supreme Court returned the federal election interference case to Judge Chutkan last week. Less than 48 hours later, Judge Chutkan issued a sixteen-page order denying Trump's motion to dismiss the case on grounds of selective prosecution. See Memorandum Opinion Denying Motion to Dismiss for Selective and Vindictive Prosecution.

The opening paragraph of Judge Chutkan’s order rejects argument that he was legally contesting the outcome of the 2020 election:

At the outset, the court must address—as it has before—Defendant’s improper reframing of the allegations against him. He declares that the Indictment amounts only to a Government “theory . . . that it is illegal to dispute the outcome of an election and work with others to propose alternate electors.” Motion at 6. That description mischaracterizes his alleged conduct. Defendant is charged with knowingly making false statements in furtherance of criminal conspiracies and for obstruction of election certification proceedings. The Indictment does not charge Defendant for publicly disputing the election outcome and merely “working with others” to propose alternate electors.

Judge Chutkan should now determine what evidence and allegations in the indictment survive after the Supreme Court’s shameful opinion in Trump v. US granting presidents immunity from prosecution. That can’t happen soon enough. With any luck, it will.

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The weekend news cycle

Democrats are on tenterhooks waiting for Kamala Harris’s vice presidential running mate selection. She spent much of the weekend meeting with three (?) final candidates. In the meantime, her campaign is advertising heavily on NBC’s Olympics broadcast. For the first time, I received an unsolicited call from a legitimate Democratic organization inviting me to engage in GOTV efforts. I engaged the volunteer in conversation and was pleased to hear that he received positive feedback from call recipients nationwide.

Sadly, a leading development is the continuing moral collapse of the New York Times, which seems incapable of breaking itself of the habit of slanting its coverage in favor of Trump. When the obituary of the Times is written, its utter failure to rise to this moment will be cited as a proximate cause.

On Friday, Trump posted on his social media that he would debate Kamala Harris on September 4, televised by Fox, with Fox anchors, to be held in an arena. (Fox was surprised to learn it would host the alleged debate.)

In other words, Trump offered to debate Kamala Harris at a Trump campaign rally. That would not be a debate; it would be a spectacle worthy of the Coliseum under Emperor Nero, complete with lions and gladiators. It was not a serious offer; it was a sham and a joke. It was clickbait for unserious journalists.

The Times took the bait. It ignored the fact that Trump had withdrawn from the previously agreed upon debate and blared that “Trump Agrees to Fox News Debate on September 4.”

After reputable journalists pilloried the Times’ for its misleading headline, the Times was shamed into correcting the headline to read, Trump Cancels a Debate With Harris on ABC News and Pitches One With Fox News Instead.

But even after correcting its headline, the Times couldn’t get the details right. The Times wrote that Trump proposed the debate be held before “a live audience.” Wrong! Trump demanded that the debate be a “full arena audience.” The difference is material and the Times’ reporters failed to report a material term of Trump’s sham offer.

Here's the point. The Times’ biased reporting in favor of Trump is the steady state. That means that we must not only defeat Trump but defeat him decisively at every turn. No half measures, no narrow margins, no letting up—on Trump or on the media. The Times responded when its readers revolted—in comments to the article and on social media. We need to keep it up.

Over the weekend, Trump's surrogates defended his racist statements questioning the racial identity of Kamala Harris. See ABC News, Byron Donalds: Trump's comments on Harris' race 'a side issue'. Trump's surrogates will continue to push his racist agenda until the voters punish those surrogates.

For example, Dennis Aftergut notes that GOP Rep. Mike Garcia (CA-27) has recently used racist tropes to attack Kamala Harris, saying, “She’s not very intelligent, she’s not very well-spoken.” See Dennis Aftergut, Salon, Dog whistling past Dixie: Republicans are in over their heads playing the Kamala Harris race card.

Aftergut writes,

Whether Garcia’s trolling results from implicit or explicit bias or racialized cognitive dissonance, the net effect is that he’s gone full MAGA. He accused her, in effect, of what’s known in other circles as being “inarticulate while Black.”

Garcia resides in Southern California, representing a “Biden district” – one that the president carried while Garcia beat his Democratic opponent.  Unlike those actors, however, Garcia is living in the past. This November, his district’s voters can send his House membership right back there with him.

Good point, Mr. Aftergut! George Whitesides is challenging Mike Garcia for the honor of representing CA 27. Show George Whitesides some support and teach Mike Garcia that racism has no place in politics—particularly in CA-27. See George Whitesides for Congress.

Finally, Trump held a rally in Georgia over the weekend that was his usual toxic mix of lies, hate, and incomprehensible gibberish. During the rally,

• Trump congratulated Vladimir Putin on the prisoner exchange;

• Attacked Georgia’s Republican Governor (Brian Kemp) for not helping win (read: cheat) in 2020;

• Attacked Brian Kemp’s wife;

• Said Atlanta was a crime-ravaged city “like a killing field”;

• Called Kamala Harris “a low IQ individual”;

• Said Kamala Harris wants to get rid of cows;

• Said that an electric vehicle charger is a “gas pump that has electricity come through it”;

• Claimed that he won Georgia in 2020 (he lost);

• Dissed Bruce Springsteen (“I only like people who like me”);

• Had numerous glitches where he couldn’t read the teleprompter and simply gave up.

So, whatever Trump is doing, he is not appealing to swing voters in Georgia. He is constitutionally incapable of doing so. Which is why Kamala Harris’s campaign should give all of us hope and confidence for the next 90 days.

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Opportunity for reader engagement

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Do NOT miss the opportunity to hear Heather Cox Richardson with Force Multiplier

Force Multiplier invites you to Zoom with Heather Cox Richardson and help turn out the vote in nine battleground states! Join historian Heather Cox Richardson, author of the popular Substack "Letters to an American," on Wednesday, August 7, 2024, from 7-8:00 pm ET . Donate and Register Here.  Note that the donation levels are suggested. All are welcome. Donations will support the America Votes/Force Multiplier Blue Surge Turnout Fund which funds initiatives by vetted grassroots groups in critical states.  Because we are anticipating a large audience, we ask you please send questions for HCR in advance here.   Zoom Link will be sent the day of the event. 

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Concluding Thoughts

Kamala Harris’s vice-presidential pick will give the media and Trump campaign a second opportunity to do what they failed to do with Kamala Harris—to find a negative narrative to drive clicks and create false drama.

Unlike Kamala Harris’s universal acclamation as the presidential candidate, constituencies have developed for each vice-presidential candidate. Some of those constituencies with the Democratic party will be disappointed. We cannot allow that disappointment to distract from the excitement and joy generated by Kamala Harris’s nomination.

More importantly, each of the candidates is eminently qualified. Each brings strengths and weaknesses, so we should refrain from second-guessing Kamala’s choice—because second-guessing is pointless and counterproductive.

Let’s rally behind the new team and avoid giving the media a talking point that will distract from the most important point: Democrats are united behind Kamala Harris and intend to win in November. Anything else is noise. For once, we are “on message.” Let’s stay there!

Talk to you tomorrow!

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Below are two photos of the Elephant Trunk Nebula (IC 1396). Due to its vast expanse in the night sky, I took two images showing portions of the nebula. The apparent size of the nebula is roughly the equivalent of six Moons. Located about 3,000 light years from Earth, the nebula is an open cluster of stars with diffuse nebulosity. The second photo shows the feature referred to as the “elephant trunk.”