DC Deciphered

Making politics make sense. Former lawyer, current D.C. decipherer. For thoughts longer than 140 characters see blog below!

[EU says Elon should not lie abt my blue check @emptywheel]

Understand: Trump is having random police departments arrest these people to COVER UP how his corrupt contracting fucked up the reflecting pool.

These arrests are a criminal cover-up of Trump's own corruption.

[DC Deciphered @DCdeciphered]

@atrupar Looks like some sort of strange Courtney Love/Callista Gingrich mashup

[Jake Tapper 🦅 @jaketapper]

NYT: A major flu outbreak has sickened nearly 160 troops at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas weeks after Defense Secretary Hegseth announced that U.S. troops would no longer be required to be vaccinated for the flu, defense officials said.

https://t.co/fFIt8Mhyzg

[Jonathan O'Connell @jocwapo]

New on White House ballroom project:

Trump’s budget office on Friday quietly redirected $352M in Secret Service funds largely meant for staff training and retention to “White House Security Measures.”

Source tells us it’s for the ballroom project.

https://t.co/NBQp9vJn8s

[ProPublica @propublica]

When the Pentagon announced a $620 million loan last year to a startup linked to Donald Trump Jr., defense officials and the company tried to tamp down suspicions of cronyism.

We found that the request came directly from the White House.
https://t.co/ejXPkLasNM

[Joe Gould @reporterjoe]

Scooplet: Republicans quietly killed Sen. Elizabeth Warren's amendment to bar DOD from investing in companies tied to President Donald Trump, his Cabinet and their families.

It failed in a party-line vote last week during SASC’s closed-door NDAA markup

https://t.co/vf2IPxZEWq

[Andrew Desiderio @AndrewDesiderio]

SCOOP: The State Dept told Congress *yesterday* that Iran’s oil exports are a primary revenue source for terrorism financing—just hours after U.S. & Iran signed MOU that includes oil sanctions relief, and as Trump is downplaying Iran’s illicit behavior

https://t.co/vpUmBqKKmK

[Aaron Rupar @atrupar]

BLUMENTHAL: Was the Capitol attacked on January 6?

BERTHIAUME: Uh. We had activity outside the Capitol, protests and such

BLUMENTHAL: Was the Capitol attacked? You're supposed to be the inspector general

BERTHIAUME: There was protest activity

[The New York Times @nytimes]

Breaking News: The Justice Dept. is seeking to throw out a lawsuit against Elon Musk’s company, xAI, over the data center's air pollution, saying it has the right to run polluting gas-burning turbines in Mississippi despite not having permits for them. https://t.co/CxztBM0baD

[Aaron Rupar @atrupar]

NEWS CENTER MAINE: This is the first reelection campaign that you're run since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. I was hoping you could talk to me a little bit about your vote to confirm Kavanaugh and whether you regret that?

SUSAN COLLINS: I do not regret that vote.

[Zachary Cohen @ZcohenCNN]

New: US intel agencies have recently assessed that Iran can effectively turn the Strait of Hormuz on & off -- at will -- going forward, meaning it has acquired a powerful new ability to hurt the global economy as a result of Trump/Israel starting the war, sources tell me & @NatashaBertrand.

“We have now handed Iran de facto control over the strait – a weapon more powerful than any nuke,” 1 of the sources said.

[Jeff Stein @jstein_star]

New: Trump’s crypto firm expected to soon get US bank charter

Would allow US firms to settle transactions in Trump’s stablecoin, giving Trump family a cut, without disclosure

No announcement but expectation across Hill & industry is coming within weeks

https://t.co/fpOj5NQ3HT

[DC Deciphered @DCdeciphered]

@derektmuller But would Murkowski still vote no (or against the Party) as often if her vote was the difference maker?

[Kyle Griffin @kylegriffin1]

BREAKING WSJ:

The Trump Justice Department's senior leadership closed an investigation of Paramount's bid for Warner Bros. Discovery before career staffers who were concerned about the acquisition had an opportunity to object, according to people familiar with the matter.
https://t.co/saJVgnYMOu

[Aaron Blake @AaronBlake]

This feels a lot like Trump nominating Gaetz, and then Bondi suddenly seeming more acceptable.

Clayton had a moderate reputation. He's also the guy who has gone on CNBC twice in recent weeks to defend Trump's anti-weaponization fund and to seed suspicion about voter fraud.

[Acyn @Acyn]

Talarico: There's been a lot of talk in this race about what it means to be a real man. Here's what real men don't do. They don't lie and cheat their way through life. They don't sell their soul to the highest bidder. They don't steal from other people in order to enrich themselves. Real men serve others, weak men serve themselves. And so I welcome this debate about what it means to be a man. 

And I don't think Ken Paxton or Ted Cruz are in a position to tell anybody what a real man is.

[Acyn @Acyn]

Talarico: The fact that politicians, including Ted Cruz, are throwing embarrassing, cheap nicknames at their political opponents instead of focusing on improving Texans’ lives—that is that's everything that's wrong with our politics.

It looks a lot more like professional wrestling, right? You've got these old guys lathered up in their fake tan, throwing cheesy nicknames at each other. And those nicknames, they don't lower the cost of groceries.

[Adam Wren @adamwren]

New in @playbookdc: Air rehearsal for the UFC fight Sunday held up angry midwestern members of Congress on the runway at DCA yesterday.

The pilot informed the peeved passengers that if they wanted to register their frustration, they should call their congressperson.

[Matt Viser @mviser]

SCOOP: Despite insisting that a $1.776 billion “anti-weaponization” fund has been scrapped, the administration is quietly assuring allies that payout plans remain on track, @S_Fitzpatrick reports.
https://t.co/MD2pfzIGIZ

[Olivia Beavers @Olivia_Beavers]

NEW: President Trump and his allies have discussed pushing lawmakers to pass a resolution aimed at voiding his first-term impeachments, people familiar with the matter tell us.

“It should be done because I did nothing wrong,” Trump said in an interview.  

“I think it makes a lot of sense the more the evidence comes out, the more we know they really were sham impeachments,” said Speaker Mike Johnson, who said he has discussed the matter with Trump. Johnson added that he has had more detailed conversations with some of the president’s allies in the legal world, including Harvard law professor emeritus Alan Dershowitz and Jay Sekulow, a conservative lawyer who represented Trump during his first impeachment trial.
https://t.co/xGg7Y4IV6J

W/ @AnnieLinskey @natalieandrews