The Overnight News Digest is a nightly series chronicling the eschaton and the fall of the Republic.
The Washington Post
Republicans ready to look past Trump’s brash intervention in Roger Stone case
Congressional Republicans showed little sign Wednesday that they would move to check … Trump’s brash public intervention in the federal prosecution of a former campaign confidant, leaving Democrats largely alone to fume about the evaporation of another norm of American governance.
Trump this week publicly decried a Justice Department sentencing recommendation for political operative Roger Stone, then congratulated Attorney General William P. Barr in an early-morning tweet Wednesday for “taking charge” and overruling it — creating at least the appearance that the long-standing taboo against overt political influence on prosecutorial matters had been obliterated. […]
“It doesn’t bother me at all, as long as the judge has the final decision,” said Sen. Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa), a former Senate Judiciary Committee chairman who sharply criticized the administration of President Barack Obama for alleged politicization of the Justice Department.
House Democrats ask Secret Service for details about its payments to Trump’s company
The House Oversight Committee on Wednesday asked the Secret Service to provide a full accounting of its payments to … Trump’s private company after The Washington Post revealed that the Secret Service had been charged as much as $650 per night for rooms at Trump clubs.
In a letter to the Secret Service, signed by Chair Carolyn B. Maloney (D-N.Y.) and member Rep. Jackie Speier (D-Calif.), the committee asked for records of payments to Trump properties, and copies of contracts between the Secret Service and Trump clubs. […]
These payments show he has an unprecedented — and largely hidden — business relationship with his own government.
AP News
With impeachment over, critics see Trump ‘retribution tour’
n the week since his acquittal on impeachment charges, a fully emboldened … Donald Trump is demonstrating his determination to assert an iron grip on government, pushing his Justice Department to ease up on a longtime friend while using the levers of presidential powers to exact payback on real and perceived foes.
Trump has told confidants in recent days that he felt both vindicated and strengthened by his acquittal in the Senate, believing Republicans have rallied around him in unprecedented fashion while voters were turned off by the political process, according to four White House officials and Republicans close to the West Wing who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about private conversations.
Since then, Trump and his aides have moved with haste to clear his administration of those he sees as insufficiently loyal, reaching all the way back to the time of former special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe into Russian interference in the 2016 election.
I ask my Republican colleagues � what will you do to stop President Trump�s personal retribution tour? pic.twitter.com/VvUbTUMFK2
— Sherrod Brown (@SenSherrodBrown) February 12, 2020
Bloomberg once blamed end of ‘redlining’ for 2008 collapse
At the height of the 2008 economic collapse, then-New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said the elimination of a discriminatory housing practice known as “redlining” was responsible for instigating the meltdown.
“It all started back when there was a lot of pressure on banks to make loans to everyone,” Bloomberg, now a Democratic presidential candidate, said at a forum that was hosted by Georgetown University in September 2008. “Redlining, if you remember, was the term where banks took whole neighborhoods and said, ‘People in these neighborhoods are poor, they’re not going to be able to pay off their mortgages, tell your salesmen don’t go into those areas.’”
He continued: “And then Congress got involved -- local elected officials, as well -- and said, ‘Oh that’s not fair, these people should be able to get credit.’ And once you started pushing in that direction, banks started making more and more loans where the credit of the person buying the house wasn’t as good as you would like.”
This is appalling and disqualifying. In resurfaced footage being reported tonight by the @AP, @MikeBloomberg describes redlining as a rational and prudent tactic -- and blames the end of that discriminatory practice against African-Americans for the 2008 crisis. pic.twitter.com/dWCGOKdtpP
— Anand Giridharadas (@AnandWrites) February 13, 2020
Vox
DoorDash’s anti-worker tactics just backfired spectacularly
The food delivery company DoorDash made its delivery workers sign away their right to sue if a legal dispute arises between a worker and the company. Instead, disputes would be resolved by a privatized arbitration system that tends to favor corporate parties.
It’s a common tactic, often used by companies seeking to discourage workers from asserting their legal rights at all. And, if a decision handed down Monday by a federal district judge stands, the tactic backfired spectacularly for DoorDash.
Under Judge William Alsup’s order in Abernathy v. DoorDash, DoorDash must arbitrate over 5,000 individual disputes with various workers who claim that they were misclassified as independent contractors, when they should be treated as employees. It also must pay a $1,900 fee for each of these individual arbitration proceedings.
Elizabeth Warren is banking on a strong showing on Super Tuesday — and could well get it
There’s no way around it: New Hampshire was a tough loss for Sen. Elizabeth Warren. The state is often referred to as her backyard, and she once notably led the polls there. Her fourth-place finish on Tuesday wasn’t just behind the other top candidates; it was far behind them. Plus, the recent loss followed a solid but not stellar finish in Iowa.
That said, it’s worth noting that New Hampshire marks just the start of the primary — and far from the end for her campaign. Because of her strong organizing and expansive presence in Nevada, Warren is poised for a decent showing in the state and could well be among a handful of leading candidates in delegate-rich California on Super Tuesday.
Simply put, her campaign still has plenty of potential despite the recent losses.
A third of delegates aren't decided until Super Tuesday. What we do now matters. Our campaign needs critical funds to reach voters and caucus-goers, so we�ve set an ambitious goal: $7 million before the Nevada caucuses. Will you chip in $5 or more now? https://t.co/atM3mgoPAapic.twitter.com/KFaDH4E5QL
— Elizabeth Warren (@ewarren) February 13, 2020
Minneapolis Star Tribune
After New Hampshire surge, Amy Klobuchar pivots to the West to compete in Nevada
Looking to capitalize on the momentum of her third-place finish in New Hampshire, Amy Klobuchar pivoted Wednesday to the next presidential contest in Nevada, where she will face new tests of organizational strength in a state with a much more diverse population than any she has campaigned in before.
The Minnesota Democrat exceeded expectations in the first-in-the-nation primary Tuesday, seizing on a strong debate performance to win 20% of the vote, enough to jump ahead of top-tier candidates Elizabeth Warren and Joe Biden. […]
“We’ll actually see in Nevada whether her message is resonating with minorities or not,” said Dan Lee, an assistant professor of political science at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. “We just haven’t had a chance to see.”
Thank you to everyone who came out to vote and made their voices heard yesterday in New Hampshire! We are building a winning coalition and we will beat Donald Trump in 2020. pic.twitter.com/D81uz7AoYe
— Amy Klobuchar (@amyklobuchar) February 13, 2020
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
The Milwaukee Election Commission sent Spanish-language absentee ballot instructions to 2,038 voters incorrectly listing the date of the spring primary as Feb. 20. The primary takes place Feb. 18. […]
Due to a transition in the Election Commission's absentee ballot coordinator position, the Spanish letter was sent without proper proofing, Albrecht said.
The 2,038 voters who received the Spanish-language instructions with the incorrect date also received English-language instructions and a ballot, both with the correct date, he said.
Atlanta Journal Constitution
Lawsuit over long election lines in Georgia dismissed, with a warning
A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit alleging that metro Atlanta’s four largest counties failed to provide enough polling places, voting machines and staff during the 2018 election, resulting in lines longer than three hours in some precincts.
U.S. District Judge Amy Totenberg ruled Wednesday that the plaintiffs, an organization called Georgia Shift and several voters, didn’t show how the court should intervene beyond ordering election officials to comply with the law.
“This court does not sit as a guarantor of a flawless election,” Totenberg wrote. “The court is sensitive to and concerned with the potential for voter disenfranchisement that was felt in 2018. However, plaintiffs’ allegations fail to concretely establish how the court can effectively redress the asserted injuries.”
The News & Observer
Judge overturns Silent Sam settlement between UNC and Confederate group
A judge on Wednesday voided the settlement that requires UNC Chapel Hill to pay $2.5 million and give the Silent Sam Confederate monument to the Sons of Confederate Veterans.
The ruling came at a hearing held to determine whether the Sons of Confederate Veterans had the legal standing to bring the lawsuit against the UNC System over the statue in the first place. Orange County Superior Court Judge Allen Baddour, who approved the settlement in November, reversed himself on Wednesday and said the group didn’t have standing. […]
The Confederate group has possession of the monument, but now its fate is back in the hands of the UNC System Board of Governors.
NC Senate leader Phil Berger made $80,000 selling his house to a lobbyist
State Senate leader Phil Berger sold his townhouse in Raleigh late last year to a well-connected lobbyist for an $80,000 profit. […]
Berger is a Republican who represents several rural counties on the Virginia border north of Greensboro. But as one of the state’s most powerful politicians, he spends much of his time in Raleigh. After living for three years in his townhouse just north of downtown off Capital Boulevard, he and his wife bought a unit in a high-end condo building in Glenwood South last September and finalized the sale of their townhouse a few months later.
The Bergers sold it to Tate Apodaca, a lobbyist for numerous business interests. Some of his clients include insurance company Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina, tobacco companies Altria and Phillip Morris, and a developer hoping to build a new casino outside of Charlotte — a controversial plan that Berger has opposed.
Reno Gazette-Journal
Nevada's most powerful labor union warns workers of Bernie Sanders' health care plan
Nevada’s most powerful labor union has issued a warning to workers about Democratic presidential front-runner Bernie Sanders. […]
The Culinary Union represents 60,000 housekeepers, porters and bartenders working in Las Vegas casinos. At the top of the union’s presidential asks is to maintain the robust health care plans members have fought hard to negotiate and win.
Culinary Union Secretary-Treasurer Geoconda Argüello-Kline released a statement Wednesday elaborating on her organization’s opposition to Sanders’ health care approach.
“Our union believes that everyone has the right to good healthcare and that healthcare should be a right, not a privilege,” she said. “We have already enacted a vision for what working people need - and it exists now.”
Los Angeles Times
White House quietly trims dozens of national security experts
Six days before … Trump chose Robert O’Brien as his national security advisor in September, the president said the job would be simple.
“You know why it’s easy?” Trump told reporters. “Because I make all the decisions. They don’t have to work.”
As a key White House advisor, O’Brien clearly works — but he meets Trump’s other job requirements: He avoids publicity, he gets out of the way on policy decisions, and he dismisses employees Trump views as meddlesome.
A coronavirus ward? How U.S. hospitals are preparing for this new threat
U.S. hospitals are stocking up on gowns and goggles and holding refresher courses in infection control amid a growing outbreak of a novel strain of coronavirus that has already killed more than 1,360 people in China.
Since it began spreading last year, the coronavirus known as 2019-nCoV has prompted the World Health Organization to declare a global health emergency, U.S. officials to strongly advise against travel to China and some experts to predict a worldwide pandemic.
In the United States, just 14 people have been diagnosed with the coronavirus so far, though officials say they expect those numbers to rise. Hundreds of people have already shown up at American healthcare facilities with symptoms of the virus, forcing staff to don face masks and put patients in isolation rooms while awaiting test results.
The Seattle Times
Where others failed, now Amazon is taking up the case against the president
[…] “Amazon Web Services v. United States of America” seems to me to have the potential to develop into a full-blown political scandal. The motions made Monday show that our little Seattle online bookstore has decided to throw standard business and lobbying caution to the wind by joining into an all-out, and overtly political, war with the U.S. president.
At issue is a $10 billion Defense Department contract to transition the military into cloud computing. These are typically boring but important public bid fights, in which both companies and the government must follow arcane procurement rules on complex proposals that can run to tens of thousands of pages.
Long story shorter: Amazon thought it had won the big contract, but then lost it to Microsoft last fall after a seemingly abrupt turnaround. That’s where all hell breaks loose.
The Guardian
Trump ‘turns back the clock’ by luring drilling companies to pristine lands
The Trump administration has offered oil companies a chunk of the American west and the Gulf of Mexico that’s four times the size of California – an expansive drilling plan that threatens to entrench the industry at the expense of other outdoor jobs, while locking in enough emissions to undermine global climate policy.
Energy companies have leased 9.9m acres from the unprecedented 461m acres put up for rent by the Trump administration, according to a new analysis from the Wilderness Society.
The fossil fuels extracted from those leases could equal half a year of emissions from China, the world’s top carbon polluter.
Marie Yovanovitch: former ambassador warns of ‘amoral’ US foreign policy
The former US ambassador to Ukraine, Marie Yovanovitch, has warned that the US had adopted an “amoral” foreign policy that “substitutes threats, fear and confusion for trust”.
In her first public remarks since leaving the US foreign service two weeks ago, Yovanovitch said that the Trump administration’s handling of foreign policy risked alienating allies and driving them into the arms of other partners they find more reliable. […]
“We need to be principled, consistent and trustworthy,” she said while accepting an award for diplomacy at Georgetown University. “To be blunt, an amoral, keep-them-guessing foreign policy that substitutes threats, fear and confusion for trust cannot work over the long haul.”
Deutsche Welle
415 million children grow up in war zones, Save the Children reports
Children face a great risk than ever before of growing up surrounded by war, sexual abuse and recruitment into armed groups, a study by the charity Save the Children reported. Children in Africa are the most affected.
Nearly one in six children around the world — 415 million children in all — were living in a conflict zone in 2018, more than double the figure recorded in 1995, according to a report released Thursday by Save the Children.
"It's staggering that the world stands by while children are targeted with impunity," the charity's chief executive Inger Ashing said in a statement. "Since 2005, at least 95,000 children were recorded to have been killed or maimed, tens of thousands of children abducted, and millions of children denied access to education or health services after their hospitals were attacked."
How the US's CIA and Germany's BND spied on world leaders
In Munich in 1970, representatives of Germany's Federal Intelligence Service (BND) and their counterparts in the US's Central Intelligence Agency signed a top-secret agreement. CIA spies would later say they considered the operation, called Rubicon by the BND and Minerva in the United States, the "intelligence coup of the century."
A recent collaboration by the German public broadcaster ZDF, the US's Washington Post newspaper and Swiss Television has revealed the entire story. According to the report, the German and US foreign intelligence services jointly operated the Swiss company Crypto AG, one of the world's market leaders in encryption technology, founded by the Swedish inventor Boris Hagelin. […]
Crypto AG's customers included Iran, Saudi Arabia and countries in South America and Africa. Only the Soviet Union and China never bought Crypto AG products.
BBC News
Australia fires: 113 animal species 'need emergency help'
Australia has identified 113 animal species which will need "urgent help" after their numbers and habitats were devastated by recent bushfires.
In a welcome finding, there appeared to be no extinctions, said the government. But almost all species on the list had lost at least 30% of their habitat due to the mammoth blazes in the south and east over Australia's summer.
Koalas and wallabies, as well as bird, fish and frog species are among those needing the most help, said experts.
The Times
Sinn Fein’s Irish election success puts spanner in works of Brexit
A Sinn Fein coalition government in Ireland will complicate already “fraught” Brexit negotiations between Britain and the European Union, a senior diplomat has warned.
The republican party’s leader, Mary Lou McDonald, claimed yesterday that she might “well be” the next Irish leader after her party topped the popular vote in Saturday’s election.
She said that her party had already “won” the election having secured 24.5 per cent of first-preference votes ahead of the two main traditional parties Fianna Fail and Fine Gael. “I think it would be a mighty thing to have a Sinn Fein taoiseach and also a woman perhaps in the job, but you might say ‘she would say that wouldn’t she?,’” she said.
Al Jazeera
UN lists firms linked to illegal Israeli settlements in West Bank
The United Nations human rights office has issued a report on companies it said have business ties to illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, a long-delayed move likely to draw the ire of Israel and its main ally, the United States.
In a statement on Wednesday, the UN body said it identified 112 business entities which it has reasonable grounds to conclude have ties with Israeli settlements - 94 domiciled in Israel and 18 in six other countries.
It identified companies listed in the US, France, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Thailand and the United Kingdom.
Afghan war: US, Taliban close to 'reduction in violence' deal
A US-Taliban agreement on the "reduction in violence" in Afghanistan is expected to be announced "very soon", the group's official has said.
"We have made some significant progress and will soon release a statement on the agreement on reduction of violence in Afghanistan," the Taliban official told Al Jazeera on Wednesday.
The agreement could lead to the signing of a peace deal between the United States and the Taliban to end Afghanistan's 18-year war, the US's longest conflict.
Reuters
Coronavirus death toll leaps in China's Hubei province
The Chinese province at the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak reported a record rise in the death toll on Thursday under a new method for diagnosing cases, as health experts warned the epidemic could get worse before it gets better.
Health officials in Hubei province said 242 people had died from the flu-like virus on Wednesday, the fastest rise in the daily count since the pathogen was identified in December, and bringing the total number of deaths in the province to 1,310. The previous record rise in the toll was 103 on Feb. 10.
Russia's security service tells internet firms to hand over user data
Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) has ordered some of the country’s major internet companies to give it continuous access to their systems, The Bell investigative website reported late on Tuesday, citing three sources at the firms.
It said the measure would affect a string of Russian internet services that have been added to a list of entities obliged to hand over user data and messages to Russian law enforcement agencies on request.
The list, drawn up by Russian communications watchdog Roskomnadzor, contains more than 200 entities such as popular messenger service Telegram, some Yandex services, social network VK and classified advertisement website Avito.ru.
USA Today
'Invisible' and 'toxic' oil made the Deepwater Horizon spill worse than thought, study says
The worst oil spill in U.S. history was much worse than had been thought, a new study suggests, as the Deepwater Horizon spill of 2010 unleashed "toxic and invisible" oil into the Gulf of Mexico.
"According to our findings, the toxic extent of the spill may have been as much as 30 percent larger than satellite data previously estimated," said study co-author Igal Berenshtein of the University of Miami, in a statement.
The findings revealed that a large part of the spill was invisible to satellites, and yet toxic to marine wildlife.
Congress questions the readiness of the Census Bureau
Democratic lawmakers criticized Census officials Wednesday saying with only weeks until the 2020 count is fully underway the bureau’s preparations are “woefully inadequate” to accurately track the nation’s population.
“There are grave challenges facing this year’s Census and, to be honest, I don’t have full confidence that the administration is equipped to handle them,’’ said Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., chairwoman of the House Oversight and Reform Committee.
Murkowski asked by reporters if Trump learned a lesson from impeachment: �There haven�t been very strong indicators this week that he has.�
— Nicholas Fandos (@npfandos) February 12, 2020