talkingpointsmemo--2020-05-20--Biden Slams Trump For Taking Unproven COVID-19 Drug: ‘What In God’s Name Is He Doing?’

Former Vice President Joe Biden is in disbelief after President Trump claimed that he ’ s taking hydroxychloroquine , an anti-malaria drug , to prevent COVID-19 infection .
During a Yahoo News town hall Tuesday night , Biden criticized Trump ’ s shocking remarks made to reporters at the White House the day before , which the former veep likened to “ saying maybe if you inject Clorox into your blood it may cure you.
” “ C ’ mon , man !
What is he doing ?
What in God ’ s name is he doing ?
” Biden @ @ @ @ @ @ @ words of a president matter , ” Biden pointed out how Vice President Mike Pence said that he ’ s not taking the anti-malarial drug that is unproven for treatment of COVID-19 .
Two White House staffers have tested positive for COVID-19 : one of the President ’ s valet and Pence ’ s press secretary , Katie Miller .
“ You heard the vice president today or yesterday say ‘ I ’ m not using it .
I ’ m not using it.
’ The vice president of the United States , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ this is absolutely irresponsible .
There ’ s no serious medical person out there saying to use that drug .
It ’ s counterproductive .
It ’ s not going to help , but the President , he decided that ’ s an answer.
” Trump has continued to face backlash after claiming on Monday that he ’ s started taking the anti-malarial drug “ a couple weeks ago , ” despite the Food and Drug Administration warning against using the drug outside of a hospital or clinical setting .

Former Vice President Joe Biden is in disbelief after President Trump claimed that he’s taking hydroxychloroquine, an anti-malaria drug, to prevent COVID-19 infection.
During a Yahoo News town hall Tuesday night, Biden criticized Trump’s shocking remarks made to reporters at the White House the day before, which the former veep likened to “saying maybe if you inject Clorox into your blood it may cure you.”
“C’mon, man! What is he doing? What in God’s name is he doing?” Biden said.
After arguing that “the words of a president matter,” Biden pointed out how Vice President Mike Pence said that he’s not taking the anti-malarial drug that is unproven for treatment of COVID-19. Two White House staffers have tested positive for COVID-19: one of the President’s valet and Pence’s press secretary, Katie Miller.
“You heard the vice president today or yesterday say ‘I’m not using it. I’m not using it.’ The vice president of the United States,” Biden said. “Look, this is absolutely irresponsible. There’s no serious medical person out there saying to use that drug. It’s counterproductive. It’s not going to help, but the President, he decided that’s an answer.”
Trump has continued to face backlash after claiming on Monday that he’s started taking the anti-malarial drug “a couple weeks ago,” despite the Food and Drug Administration warning against using the drug outside of a hospital or clinical setting.
Watch Biden’s remarks below:


talkingpointsmemo--2020-05-20--Republican Candidate For U.S. Senate In Oregon Proclaims Allegiance To QAnon

Republican Jo Rae Perkins , now the official challenger to Sen. Jeff Merkley ( D-OR ) in November , acknowledged her Tuesday night primary win with a proclamation of her solidarity with acolytes of the QAnon conspiracy theory .
“ Where we go one , we go all , ” she says in a Twitter video , brandishing a “ # WWG1WG ” sticker with the group ’ s motto in hashtag form .
“ I stand with President Trump , I stand with Q and the team , ” she continues .
“ Thank you anons and thank you @ @ @ @ @ @ @ save our republic.
” QAnon is a sweeping far-right conspiracy theory which envisions a secret battle between President Donald Trump and a “ deep state ” supposedly working to destabilize him .
The belief system is stitched together from a series of other conspiracy theories , such as Pizzagate , comprised of often incoherent assertions .
For example , QAnon believers often baselessly accuse major Democratic and pop culture figures of being pedophiles and Satan-worshippers .
They also believe that a coming event , often referred to as “ The Storm , ” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ up and tried for their alleged heinous crimes , possibly to be executed or sent to Guantanamo Bay .
Perkins , who won the primary with a nearly 50 percent plurality of the vote , per the New York Times , has long been known to be a QAnon believer .
On her very active Facebook page , she has shared posts supposedly written by Q , the leader of the movement .
Her Twitter feed is also replete with posts about the conspiracy theory .
And in videos she released earlier in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ she ’ s holding in her Tuesday video is propped up on a bookshelf , visible in the shot .
She was even more explicit in an interview with Right Wing Watch in January .
Then , she was running a third time for a U.S. House seat .
She ultimately dropped out of that race to run for Senate instead .
Besides those two unsuccessful House bids , she also ran a losing race for U.S. Senate in 2014 .
“ I think that there ’ s probably a lot of us @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to be bold enough to say , ‘ Hey , I ’ m following Q because I want to know , because if the Q team is real , I want to know about it , ’ ” she told Right Wing Watch .
“ If the Q team is not real and it ’ s fake , I want to know about it , because we have to be willing to look at both sides of the issue.
” She called including her beliefs in her campaign a “ highly calculated risk @ @ @ @ @ @ @ genius or pure insanity.
” Her campaign did not respond to TPM ’ s request for comment .
She ’ ll run against Merkley in November , who is running for his third term .
He won his last election in 2014 by about 56 percent of the vote , and political analysts view the seat is a safe Democratic hold .

Republican Jo Rae Perkins, now the official challenger to Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR) in November, acknowledged her Tuesday night primary win with a proclamation of her solidarity with acolytes of the QAnon conspiracy theory.
“Where we go one, we go all,” she says in a Twitter video, brandishing a “#WWG1WG” sticker with the group’s motto in hashtag form.
“I stand with President Trump, I stand with Q and the team,” she continues. “Thank you anons and thank you patriots. And together, we can save our republic.”
QAnon is a sweeping far-right conspiracy theory which envisions a secret battle between President Donald Trump and a “deep state” supposedly working to destabilize him. The belief system is stitched together from a series of other conspiracy theories, such as Pizzagate, comprised of often incoherent assertions.
For example, QAnon believers often baselessly accuse major Democratic and pop culture figures of being pedophiles and Satan-worshippers. They also believe that a coming event, often referred to as “The Storm,” will leave Trump’s enemies rounded up and tried for their alleged heinous crimes, possibly to be executed or sent to Guantanamo Bay.
Perkins, who won the primary with a nearly 50 percent plurality of the vote, per the New York Times, has long been known to be a QAnon believer.
On her very active Facebook page, she has shared posts supposedly written by Q, the leader of the movement.
Her Twitter feed is also replete with posts about the conspiracy theory.
And in videos she released earlier in her campaign, the #WWG1WGA sticker she’s holding in her Tuesday video is propped up on a bookshelf, visible in the shot.
She was even more explicit in an interview with Right Wing Watch in January. Then, she was running a third time for a U.S. House seat. She ultimately dropped out of that race to run for Senate instead. Besides those two unsuccessful House bids, she also ran a losing race for U.S. Senate in 2014.
“I think that there’s probably a lot of us out there, but I just happen to be bold enough to say, ‘Hey, I’m following Q because I want to know, because if the Q team is real, I want to know about it,’” she told Right Wing Watch. “If the Q team is not real and it’s fake, I want to know about it, because we have to be willing to look at both sides of the issue.”
She called including her beliefs in her campaign a “highly calculated risk” that’s either “pure genius or pure insanity.”
Her campaign did not respond to TPM’s request for comment.
She’ll run against Merkley in November, who is running for his third term. He won his last election in 2014 by about 56 percent of the vote, and political analysts view the seat is a safe Democratic hold.


talkingpointsmemo--2020-05-20--Study Shows Coronavirus Circulating In Milan In February

MILAN — A study by Milan ’ s Polyclinic hospital indicates the coronavirus was circulating among a random sample of blood donors with no symptoms in Milan before the first domestically transmitted case was confirmed Feb. 21 in a town less than an hour away .
The study of blood samples by donors showed that 4.6 % already had antibodies against the virus at the start of the epidemic .
Researchers concluded only 1 in 20 asymptomatic carriers had developed immunity , ‘ ’ clearly showing that herd immunity remains a long way off.
’ ’ That percentage rose to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , when Italy was under lockdown .
As the lockdown wore on , longer-term immunity was more prevalent among younger donors , which researchers said indicates ‘ ’ the social distancing practices seemed to have favored young people , who had time to develop long-term immunity.
’ ’ The study , involving researchers at the Polyclinic , Milan University , Sacco Hospital and the European Oncological Institute , was released in a preliminary form before being submitted to scientific journals for peer review .
They analyzed random blood samples from Feb. 8 to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Polyclinic , which runs a transfusion center with more than 40,000 annual donors .
The researchers say all donors who tested positive showed changes in the cell count and lipid profiles , which could provide clues to identifying asymptomatic carriers .

MILAN — A study by Milan’s Polyclinic hospital indicates the coronavirus was circulating among a random sample of blood donors with no symptoms in Milan before the first domestically transmitted case was confirmed Feb. 21 in a town less than an hour away.
The study of blood samples by donors showed that 4.6% already had antibodies against the virus at the start of the epidemic. Researchers concluded only 1 in 20 asymptomatic carriers had developed immunity, ‘’clearly showing that herd immunity remains a long way off.’’
That percentage rose to 7% by the beginning of April, when Italy was under lockdown. As the lockdown wore on, longer-term immunity was more prevalent among younger donors, which researchers said indicates ‘’the social distancing practices seemed to have favored young people, who had time to develop long-term immunity.’’
The study, involving researchers at the Polyclinic, Milan University, Sacco Hospital and the European Oncological Institute, was released in a preliminary form before being submitted to scientific journals for peer review.
They analyzed random blood samples from Feb. 8 to April 24 of 800 donors at the Polyclinic, which runs a transfusion center with more than 40,000 annual donors. The researchers say all donors who tested positive showed changes in the cell count and lipid profiles, which could provide clues to identifying asymptomatic carriers.


talkingpointsmemo--2020-05-20--Pompeo Hosted Ritzy Taxpayer-Funded Dinners With CEOs And GOP Power Players

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo held about two dozen private lavish soirees , known as “ Madison Dinners , ” with prominent political and corporate leaders using taxpayer funds , an NBC News investigation found .
Pompeo and his wife hosted the posh dinners in the Diplomatic Reception Rooms at the State Department beginning in 2018 up until March this year , when COVID-19 began shutting down the country .
The affairs , paid for by State Department ’ s Emergencies in the Diplomatic and Consular Service Appropriation fund , were slated to continue until at least October .
Invitees @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Neil Gorsuch , Fox News hosts Laura Ingraham and Brian Kilmeade , American Conservative Union head Matt Schlapp and his wife Mercedes , GOP operative Karl Rove , and anti-abortion lobbyist Marjorie Dannenfelser of the Susan B. Anthony List .
Various corporate executives , such as Raytheon CEO Thomas Kennedy and AOL co-founder Steve Case , were also invited .
Unnamed officials told NBC News that they were concerned that the dinners were serving as fundraiser-esque events with guest lists that Pompeo could use if he were to run for office .
Invitations @ @ @ @ @ @ @ aim to “ share ideas on the future of America and the World ” and “ further our diplomatic goals.
” State Department spokesperson Morgan Ortagus described the functions as “ a world-class opportunity to discuss the mission of the State Department and the complex foreign policy matters facing our exceptional nation ” in a statement to NBC News .
And yet diplomats and foreign officials only made up 14 percent of the invite lists .
NBC ’ s investigation comes amid public scrutiny over President Donald Trump ’ s firing of State @ @ @ @ @ @ @ after Pompeo recommended the watchdog ’ s ouster .
Linick had been in the middle of investigating the Trump administration ’ s controversial arms sale to Saudi Arabia and allegations that Pompeo had ordered one of his aides to carry out personal errands .
However , it is not known whether the inspector general had opened a probe into the secretary of state ’ s dinners .

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo held about two dozen private lavish soirees, known as “Madison Dinners,” with prominent political and corporate leaders using taxpayer funds, an NBC News investigation found.
Pompeo and his wife hosted the posh dinners in the Diplomatic Reception Rooms at the State Department beginning in 2018 up until March this year, when COVID-19 began shutting down the country. The affairs, paid for by State Department’s Emergencies in the Diplomatic and Consular Service Appropriation fund, were slated to continue until at least October.
Invitees included Supreme Court Justices Samuel Alito and Neil Gorsuch, Fox News hosts Laura Ingraham and Brian Kilmeade, American Conservative Union head Matt Schlapp and his wife Mercedes, GOP operative Karl Rove, and anti-abortion lobbyist Marjorie Dannenfelser of the Susan B. Anthony List. Various corporate executives, such as Raytheon CEO Thomas Kennedy and AOL co-founder Steve Case, were also invited.
Unnamed officials told NBC News that they were concerned that the dinners were serving as fundraiser-esque events with guest lists that Pompeo could use if he were to run for office.
Invitations to the dinners state that the gatherings aim to “share ideas on the future of America and the World” and “further our diplomatic goals.” State Department spokesperson Morgan Ortagus described the functions as “a world-class opportunity to discuss the mission of the State Department and the complex foreign policy matters facing our exceptional nation” in a statement to NBC News.
And yet diplomats and foreign officials only made up 14 percent of the invite lists.
NBC’s investigation comes amid public scrutiny over President Donald Trump’s firing of State Department inspector general Steven Linick last week after Pompeo recommended the watchdog’s ouster.
Linick had been in the middle of investigating the Trump administration’s controversial arms sale to Saudi Arabia and allegations that Pompeo had ordered one of his aides to carry out personal errands.
However, it is not known whether the inspector general had opened a probe into the secretary of state’s dinners.


talkingpointsmemo--2020-05-20--France Says Reopening Hasn’t Sparked Uptick In COVID-19 Infections

PARIS — French authorities say they observe no signs of increase in the numbers of people infected with the coronavirus @ @ @ @ @ ended its lockdown .
French Health minister Olivier Veran says the number of COVID-19 patients @ @ @ @ @ is decreasing , along with people treated in intensive care units .
He cautioned “ @ @ @ @ @ the virus isn ’ t there ” as the country gradually lifts restrictions .
New @ @ @ @ @ been recently discovered among slaughterhouse workers in western France and police officers in northern France @ @ @ @ @ health workers in hospitals and nursing homes will see their salary increase as part of @ @ @ @ @ the public health system .
France has reported at least 143,400 cases of the virus @ @ @ @ @ .

PARIS — French authorities say they observe no signs of increase in the numbers of people infected with the coronavirus 10 days after the country ended its lockdown.
French Health minister Olivier Veran says the number of COVID-19 patients arriving each day at hospitals is decreasing, along with people treated in intensive care units.
He cautioned “this doesn’t mean the virus isn’t there” as the country gradually lifts restrictions. New clusters of COVID-19 cases have been recently discovered among slaughterhouse workers in western France and police officers in northern France.
Veran also promised that health workers in hospitals and nursing homes will see their salary increase as part of a new government plan for the public health system.
France has reported at least 143,400 cases of the virus and more than 28,000 deaths.


talkingpointsmemo--2020-05-21--Michigan AG Rips Into ‘Petulant Child’ Trump For Refusing To Wear Mask

Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel torched President Trump after he failed to wear a mask while visiting a Ford plant outside of Detroit Thursday afternoon .
On Wednesday evening , Nessel urged Trump in an open letter ahead of his visit to comply with executive orders by Michigan Gov .
Gretchen Whitmer ( D ) and Ford ’ s policy , which mandates masks in an effort to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus .
Nessel then doubled down on her request during an interview on CNN the next morning , saying that if the President doesn ’ t @ @ @ @ @ @ @ won ’ t be welcomed back to enclosed facilities in her state .
Although Trump brought a mask with the presidential seal during his visit to the Ford plant on Thursday , he refused to wear it on camera because he “ didn ’ t want to give the press the pleasure of seeing it.
” When asked during an interview on CNN later Thursday about her thoughts on Trump refusing to wear a mask , Nessel responded that “ it ’ s exactly right ” that the President won ’ t be @ @ @ @ @ @ @ actions were “ extremely disappointing and yet totally predictable.
” Nessel then compared Trump to a “ petulant child who refuses to follow the rules ” before adding that her remark is “ no joke ” due to the overwhelming amount of deaths nationwide from the COVID-19 pandemic .
“ He ’ s conveying the worst possible message to people who can not afford to be on the receiving end of terrible misinformation , ” Nessel said .
“ And it ’ s very , very concerning.
” Pressed on what message she @ @ @ @ @ @ @ by not wearing a mask at the Ford plant , Nessel responded that it ’ s “ the same message ” he conveyed upon entering office in 2017 , which she said is “ I don ’ t care about you.
” “ I don ’ t care about your health , about your safety , your welfare , ” Nessel said .
“ I don ’ t care about anyone but myself , and he ’ s continuously sent this message .
”

Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel torched President Trump after he failed to wear a mask while visiting a Ford plant outside of Detroit Thursday afternoon.
On Wednesday evening, Nessel urged Trump in an open letter ahead of his visit to comply with executive orders by Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) and Ford’s policy, which mandates masks in an effort to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus. Nessel then doubled down on her request during an interview on CNN the next morning, saying that if the President doesn’t adhere to the mask-wearing policy, he won’t be welcomed back to enclosed facilities in her state.
Although Trump brought a mask with the presidential seal during his visit to the Ford plant on Thursday, he refused to wear it on camera because he “didn’t want to give the press the pleasure of seeing it.”
When asked during an interview on CNN later Thursday about her thoughts on Trump refusing to wear a mask, Nessel responded that “it’s exactly right” that the President won’t be welcomed back to her state because his actions were “extremely disappointing and yet totally predictable.”
Nessel then compared Trump to a “petulant child who refuses to follow the rules” before adding that her remark is “no joke” due to the overwhelming amount of deaths nationwide from the COVID-19 pandemic.
“He’s conveying the worst possible message to people who cannot afford to be on the receiving end of terrible misinformation,” Nessel said. “And it’s very, very concerning.”
Pressed on what message she thinks the President sent to Michigan residents by not wearing a mask at the Ford plant, Nessel responded that it’s “the same message” he conveyed upon entering office in 2017, which she said is “I don’t care about you.”
“I don’t care about your health, about your safety, your welfare,” Nessel said. “I don’t care about anyone but myself, and he’s continuously sent this message.”
Watch Nessel’s remarks below:


talkingpointsmemo--2020-05-21--Rent Is Still Due in Kushnerville

Rent Is Still Due in Kushnerville

This story first appeared at ProPublica .
ProPublica is a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative newsroom .
Sign up for The Big Story newsletter to receive stories like this one in your inbox .
It was the day after April rent was officially due — April 6 — and Kevin Maddox was officially late .
The week before , he had lost both of his jobs within a few days of each other .
Both were at food-service warehouses .
“ My job is to get the food to the restaurants , and if no one ’ s going to the restaurants @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a job , ” Maddox said .
So he filed for unemployment and now stood outside his small rental row house just beyond the Baltimore city line watching his young daughter as she rode around in her plastic car .
His spirits were relatively high , all things considered .
Both employers told him they ’ d take him back , as soon as things opened back up .
That maybe helped explain why he still wore the cap from one of the warehouses : Maines Paper & Food Service Inc. “ This @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ It ’ s tough .
But I ’ m hoping it ’ ll be over in a month .
They say it ’ s supposed to be over in a month.
” More than a month later , it is not over .
And there have been few better places to track the economic unraveling and social stress of the pandemic lockdowns than the large housing complex where Maddox lives , Dutch Village , and a handful of other complexes in the Baltimore area owned by the same company .
That ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to exactly the sort of workers who have been most affected by the crisis : both those whose jobs are likeliest to have been eliminated — casino workers , food-service workers , hotel housekeepers — and those whose jobs are likeliest to have been plunged into at-risk overdrive — Amazon warehouse workers , delivery drivers , nursing home aides , cleaners .
Here , there is nary a telecommuting professional to be found .
Here , there is no escaping the upheaval .
The need in the complexes is so great that one @ @ @ @ @ @ @ become a main distribution spot for free food from the Baltimore County school department : Every Monday through Thursday , a truck arrives at Cove Village and parks on Driftwood Court from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m .
Families line up for a breakfast , lunch and snack , with an extra set given out on Thursday to tide kids over on Friday .
There is another reason to track the upheaval in these complexes .
It happens that they are owned by the company led until not long ago by the person @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s response to the crisis : Jared Kushner , son-in-law of President Donald Trump .
The Kushner Companies , in which Jared still holds a large financial stake , has come under scrutiny in recent years for its litigious pursuit of tenants who allegedly owed back rent or broke leases , and for the poor conditions of many of the units .
It was even the subject of a Netflix television documentary that aired just as the lockdowns first went into effect .
But the pandemic has now thrust Kushnerville , which @ @ @ @ @ @ @ County , some with as many as 1,000 units each , into unfamiliar territory .
For years , tenants have learned to dread the aggressive tactics of their landlord : late-payment notices and court summons slapped on their doors , late fees and “ court costs ” and attorney fees added to bills , and , in some cases , even threats of jail time .
Disclosure of those tactics led to a class-action lawsuit and a lawsuit by the state attorney general .
The Kushner entities have denied wrongdoing .
( A @ @ @ @ @ @ @ bid to form a class , which is on appeal ; the attorney general ’ s suit is ongoing . )
Now , though , that whole apparatus of intimidation has been disabled by the temporary ban on evictions .
Without that final stage of the process for forcing payment , the rest of the apparatus has fallen away .
There are , for the time being , no late fees , no “ court costs , ” no summonses on doors .
And even without that threat , many tenants are managing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , thanks partly to enhanced unemployment benefits and the cash payments in the CARES Act .
Instead , everyone is waiting for the next phase , when the safety-net payments ebb , when the evictions resume and when the jobs do or do not come back , while contending with the eternal problems at Kushnerville : maintenance breakdowns , mice infestations and water leaks .
And bringing this waiting into particularly stark relief here is the fact that whatever comes next — the strength of the nation ’ s recovery — will depend @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Jared Kushner himself , in his new role , 40 miles down the road .
The same week as Kevin Maddox was watching his daughter play outside , another young man was out walking at another Kushner-owned complex 15 miles to the east , Whispering Woods .
The man , who did not want his name used , was heading to the unit where he lives with his fiancée and their child , from the one where her mother and father live , up the block .
Both units were late on April @ @ @ @ @ @ @ was supposed to go back to work on a crew that repaves city roads , but then the pandemic came and shut the work down .
He and his fiancée , meanwhile , both had to give up their jobs in the food-service department of a nursing home 20 miles away .
The local bus system was cut back so far that they couldn ’ t get there anymore , and the day care for their child had also shut down .
They had received the same form letter from the Kushner Companies @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , that other tenants in the complexes had gotten .
It stated that rent was still due on the 5th of every month , but that there would be no late fees for the time being .
The company , which declined to comment ( or to respond to a list of tenant complaints cited in this article ) , would also no longer charge an extra fee for paying rent online .
The young man regarded the promised leniency warily .
“ They act like they care about us so much , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” he said .
“ They still want the money.
” Not that he had any particular animus against the complex ’ s owner .
He did not even know who that was .
“ Who Jared Kushner ?
” he said .
Nearby , Steve Williams was walking his dog .
He and his wife , who had lived there for two years , had also been unable to pay on time because he hadn ’ t been working after having a couple of heart attacks and her hours working as a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ back as a result of the pandemic .
He had also gotten the letters promising leniency from the management office and was also wary of how much stock to put in them , given management ’ s record .
“ I ’ ve been a renter for 20 years , and I ’ ve never seen anything like that , ” he said .
“ I ’ ve never seen someone get put out so fast as around here .
Thirty days , and you ’ re gone.
” With evictions on hold @ @ @ @ @ @ @ he was more worried about an immediate concern : bedbugs .
They had been getting worse of late , he said .
The more time one spent at the complexes , the more it seemed as if every other person you talked to had lost their job or had their hours greatly reduced .
And that was representative of broader trends .
The Wall Street Journal reported that nearly 40 % of households earning less than $ 40,000 a year — a category that many in Kushnerville fall into — experienced at least @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the rate in households earning between $ 40,000 and $ 100,000 and triple that of those earning more than $ 100,000 .
A few at Kushnerville that week were feeling more secure .
Siera Ford was moving mattresses into her family ’ s new unit at another Kushner-owned complex , Harbor Point Estates .
She was moving into a new unit because a ceiling pipe had burst at her family ’ s former unit at Harbor Point , destroying many of their belongings .
This was the second time this had happened in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ she said , at least the managers moved fairly quickly to get them into a new unit .
“ They do accommodate , ” she said .
Ford had already paid her April rent and was confident of being able to pay on time in future months , as well , given her in-demand work as a delivery driver .
“ My job is secure , ” she said .
“ I ’ m Amazon.
” For one Kushnerville family , the bar on evictions had not come in time , and their @ @ @ @ @ @ @ downturn accelerated .
Jennifer and Bob Scrimger had been living at Whispering Woods since 2015 with four children .
She worked as a waitress at Chili ’ s and he did freelance computer-repair work .
As time went on , they said , they started having more maintenance problems in their unit , especially water leaks , mold and mice .
Troubles came to a head late last summer and fall , when water , apparently from the outdoor HVAC unit , began flowing into the downstairs , ruining the carpet and threatening @ @ @ @ @ @ @ furniture outside to protect it and management threatened to fine them for doing so .
The mold worsened throughout the house , as did the mice , who were getting in through a hole under the kitchen sink .
All the troubles started taking a toll on Jennifer ’ s mental health .
She started having panic attacks and stuttering , something she ’ d never done before , and she wondered whether the conditions in the house had a role in her getting bacterial infections on her feet .
Her performance at @ @ @ @ @ @ @ she had always ranked high in the customer ratings , which were posted on a big board for all to see , but she now fell to second from last .
She eventually contacted a Baltimore County inspection officer , who produced a list of needed repairs for Westminster Management , among them repairing a hole in the living room ceiling , replacing the water-damaged kitchen cabinet , remediating mold in a bedroom and addressing the mice infestation .
But by that point , the company had already begun eviction proceedings .
The @ @ @ @ @ @ @ $ 917 , plus about $ 50 in monthly water fees — but the eviction letter from the company ’ s law firm accused them of violating their lease by not letting a workman into the house , for not keeping the house in “ neat , clean , good and sanitary condition , ” and for having people in the house who weren ’ t on the lease .
Jennifer Scrimger disputed the first claim .
She took great offense at the second .
“ They kept telling me it was my @ @ @ @ @ @ @ I can ’ t make black dirt form on the ceiling .
I don ’ t have that capability.
” And she said that management had full documentation on which kids lived in the house .
More likely , she said , the family was being punished for complaining about the house ’ s problems .
Regardless , on Jan. 15 the Scrimgers were out for good , trailed by a nearly $ 2,000 bill of repair charges that Westminster said they owed .
And for lack of alternative solutions , they settled @ @ @ @ @ @ @ with Bob ’ s ex-girlfriend , the mother of three of his children , in her trailer in a mobile-home park near Whispering Woods , hard by the Washington-New York Amtrak line .
They paid the ex-girlfriend , who works the early-morning shift at a convenience store , $ 800 per month to have them .
It was a very crowded fit : four kids and four adults , including the ex-girlfriend ’ s infirm and elderly father .
The Scrimgers had talked about saving up to buy their own trailer in the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ clearly not sustainable .
“ It ’ s a double-wide , but yeah , it is tight , ” Bob said .
And then came the shutdowns , which put the home-buying dreams on hold .
On March 15 , Jennifer worked her last shift at Chili ’ s , which switched to takeout only .
Bob ’ s computer-repair work grew scarce .
Jennifer filed for unemployment benefits , but Maryland ’ s online application system buckled under the heavy demand .
To try to get through , Jennifer would call on @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Their $ 1,200-per-person CARES Act payment never arrived , they said ; $ 1,450 was claimed to cover Bob ’ s child-support debts for another child , and the rest became hung up in bureaucratic limbo .
Meanwhile , Whispering Woods still remains very present in the family ’ s life .
They are in close touch with their friends there , and Jennifer still keeps the binders in which she had kept all of her many communications with Westminster Management and the county inspector , to defend herself against a Kushner @ @ @ @ @ @ @ perhaps provide evidence for her own legal claim against the company .
One evening in mid-April , they sat out in front of the trailer , as Jennifer flipped through the binders .
Her daughter , Lilly , who has since turned 5 , came outside to ask what she was doing , and she told her she was talking about their house .
“ The house we used to live in , Boo-Boo.
” “ When are we going to live there ?
” “ We ’ re not going to move @ @ @ @ @ @ @ April 29 , Jared Kushner praised the Trump administration ’ s response to the pandemic as a “ great success story ” on “ Fox and Friends.
” “ The federal government rose to the challenge and this is a great success story and I think that that ’ s really what needs to be told , ” he said .
Kushner predicted a swift economic comeback .
“ May will be a transition month .
… I think you will see by June , a lot of the country should be back @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that by July the country is really rocking again , ” he said .
The next day , April would conclude with more than 20 million lost jobs and the worst unemployment rate since the Great Depression .
The day before that interview , the country had topped 1 million in confirmed coronavirus cases .
On April 28 , another tenant stood outside her unit at Whispering Woods worrying how she was going to make May rent in a few days .
The tenant , a woman in her 30s who also didn @ @ @ @ @ @ @ had seen her hours at a medical billing company cut in half .
She was one of the many to suffer from the ills of the health care industry , which despite the surge in demand for COVID-19 treatment was seeing virtually all of its other business fall away .
“ They can ’ t fire me , because they still need me , but they can ’ t afford me , so we ’ re stuck , ” she said .
Her Honda Civic had recently been repossessed , so to get @ @ @ @ @ @ @ caught rides with friends .
She had started applying for a second job : Walmart , Amazon , Domino ’ s .
She , too , had gotten the leniency letters , but she was worried how long that would last .
“ We don ’ t got a voice here , ” she said .
“ It ’ s Trump ’ s son-in-law that takes care of everything , so no matter you do , you ’ re going to get to get beat out in court.
” There were some signs @ @ @ @ @ @ @ wearing thin .
A few days earlier , a management-office employee had marched down to the home of the asphalt-crew worker to ask when they were going to pay their $ 1,200 April rent .
His wife told the management employee that they were paying it week by week , a few hundred dollars at a time , just like they always did , even though doing so had incurred late fees before the crisis .
And , as she later recounted , she demanded to know what would come after the eviction @ @ @ @ @ @ @ give you all this money , are you going to turn around and put me out ?
’ That ’ s what I asked her .
‘ When all of this lifts up , are you going to be trying to put people out ?
’ If you ’ re going to hound us like that , you don ’ t want us here.
” The management office had also been clashing with Alejandra Polanco , 44 , who had decided to move out after eight years in the complex because she was @ @ @ @ @ @ @ maintenance troubles in her unit .
After she had informed them of her plan to leave , she said , the management office had retroactively charged her $ 200 more rent for each of the three past months , saying that her prior year ’ s lease had expired .
It was tough for her to make the extra payments , since the seafood restaurant she worked at was now takeout only , but she was planning on paying them .
“ I don ’ t want to hurt my credit , ” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ next rent payment , $ 950 , were the two young men who now lived in the Scrimgers ’ former unit .
They had been in the same job-training class at Goodwill the year before .
One , Corey Demery , 27 , had stayed on for a job there , driving a forklift at $ 11 per hour , but had lost the job as result of the crisis .
The other , Delvonte Warren , 26 , had a job tryout just before the crisis hit at a Floor & Décor @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
He was thinking of getting a job at Taco Bell .
His girlfriend , who also lived with them , was due with their first child in two months .
“ It ’ s a hard time for it to happen , ” he said .
Around the country , the vast majority of tenants in complexes like Kushnerville were managing to get their April rent paid as the month neared its close .
The National Multifamily Housing Council reported that as of April 26 , 91.5 % of renters in professionally @ @ @ @ @ @ @ payments of that month ’ s rent , down only slightly from 95.6 % in the same month the year before .
The CARES cash and unemployment benefits , which the federal government had enhanced by $ 600 per week , had served their purpose , at least for those who had made it through the balky application system for the latter .
It was hard to see , though , how the rent-payment rates would hold up in months to come .
For many residents of Kushnerville , the CARES money was @ @ @ @ @ @ @ unemployment benefits were due to expire at the end of July .
And in Maryland , the bar on eviction was due to be lifted once the governor declared an end to the coronavirus state of emergency .
( There is also a separate federal ban on evictions in buildings backed by federally financed mortgages , which applies to many Kushner complexes .
That ban lasts until July 25 . )
Among those left grappling with the new eviction calculus as the calendar rolled into May was Shayla Milton .
She had given @ @ @ @ @ @ @ weeks earlier , was on maternity leave from her job at one of the two big local Amazon warehouses and was trying to decide whether to go back when the leave ended in a few weeks .
Her husband worked for Amazon , too , at the other warehouse , but he had stopped going to work because he was so worried about the risk of catching the coronavirus — there had been several cases at his warehouse .
Amazon had for a while allowed workers to skip work without penalty , but @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Milton had , while on maternity leave , started driving for Uber and was considering sticking with that for now .
It seemed somehow easier to control her exposure to the coronavirus there , with the windows open and constant sanitizing of her car , than in the high-pressure whirlwind of the warehouse .
Looking around her , Milton wondered what would become of her neighbors after the crisis passed .
“ Once that eviction ban is lifted , ” she said , “ I really think they ’ re going to kick @ @ @ @ @ @ @ paying their rent.
” But she and her family were soon going to move out of Kushnerville , she hoped , to buy a small house .
She had gotten tired of the water leaking through the roof and the constant mice .
“ We ’ re supposed to leave in a few months , ” Milton said .
“ I can ’ t wait.
” Even a moment that should have offered hope , or at least a respite — the first full day of a partial relaxation of local stay-at-home orders @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in Kushnerville .
Police responding to a nuisance call in Cove Village after a cook-out shot and killed a 29-year-old local man with a gun .
( The police portrayed it as self-defense ; one witness told The Baltimore Sun the man had dropped the gun and fled . )
Two days later , there were still traces of the violence along the curb : disposable medical gloves and plastic wrappers for defibrillator electrodes and bandages .
Bullet holes were visible in one door frame .
Deja Byrd , who works in a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s , heard the shooting that night but thought at first that it was firecrackers .
When she learned later what had in fact happened , she was not entirely surprised .
“ Their patience is wearing thin , ” she said .
Did she mean the patience of the police or residents ?
“ Everyone , ” she said .

This story first appeared at ProPublica. ProPublica is a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative newsroom. Sign up for The Big Story newsletter to receive stories like this one in your inbox.
It was the day after April rent was officially due — April 6 — and Kevin Maddox was officially late. The week before, he had lost both of his jobs within a few days of each other. Both were at food-service warehouses. “My job is to get the food to the restaurants, and if no one’s going to the restaurants, then I’m out of a job,” Maddox said. So he filed for unemployment and now stood outside his small rental row house just beyond the Baltimore city line watching his young daughter as she rode around in her plastic car.
His spirits were relatively high, all things considered. Both employers told him they’d take him back, as soon as things opened back up. That maybe helped explain why he still wore the cap from one of the warehouses: Maines Paper & Food Service Inc.
“This is tough,” he said. “It’s tough. But I’m hoping it’ll be over in a month. They say it’s supposed to be over in a month.”
More than a month later, it is not over. And there have been few better places to track the economic unraveling and social stress of the pandemic lockdowns than the large housing complex where Maddox lives, Dutch Village, and a handful of other complexes in the Baltimore area owned by the same company. That’s partly because these complexes are home to exactly the sort of workers who have been most affected by the crisis: both those whose jobs are likeliest to have been eliminated — casino workers, food-service workers, hotel housekeepers — and those whose jobs are likeliest to have been plunged into at-risk overdrive — Amazon warehouse workers, delivery drivers, nursing home aides, cleaners.
Here, there is nary a telecommuting professional to be found. Here, there is no escaping the upheaval. The need in the complexes is so great that one of them, Cove Village, has become a main distribution spot for free food from the Baltimore County school department: Every Monday through Thursday, a truck arrives at Cove Village and parks on Driftwood Court from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Families line up for a breakfast, lunch and snack, with an extra set given out on Thursday to tide kids over on Friday.
There is another reason to track the upheaval in these complexes. It happens that they are owned by the company led until not long ago by the person now tasked with overseeing the federal government’s response to the crisis: Jared Kushner, son-in-law of President Donald Trump. The Kushner Companies, in which Jared still holds a large financial stake, has come under scrutiny in recent years for its litigious pursuit of tenants who allegedly owed back rent or broke leases, and for the poor conditions of many of the units. It was even the subject of a Netflix television documentary that aired just as the lockdowns first went into effect.
But the pandemic has now thrust Kushnerville, which consists of nine complexes in inner-suburban Baltimore County, some with as many as 1,000 units each, into unfamiliar territory. For years, tenants have learned to dread the aggressive tactics of their landlord: late-payment notices and court summons slapped on their doors, late fees and “court costs” and attorney fees added to bills, and, in some cases, even threats of jail time. Disclosure of those tactics led to a class-action lawsuit and a lawsuit by the state attorney general. The Kushner entities have denied wrongdoing. (A judge this year denied the plaintiffs’ bid to form a class, which is on appeal; the attorney general’s suit is ongoing.)
Now, though, that whole apparatus of intimidation has been disabled by the temporary ban on evictions. Without that final stage of the process for forcing payment, the rest of the apparatus has fallen away. There are, for the time being, no late fees, no “court costs,” no summonses on doors. And even without that threat, many tenants are managing to make their rent, for now, thanks partly to enhanced unemployment benefits and the cash payments in the CARES Act.
Instead, everyone is waiting for the next phase, when the safety-net payments ebb, when the evictions resume and when the jobs do or do not come back, while contending with the eternal problems at Kushnerville: maintenance breakdowns, mice infestations and water leaks. And bringing this waiting into particularly stark relief here is the fact that whatever comes next — the strength of the nation’s recovery — will depend partly on what can be accomplished by Jared Kushner himself, in his new role, 40 miles down the road.
The same week as Kevin Maddox was watching his daughter play outside, another young man was out walking at another Kushner-owned complex 15 miles to the east, Whispering Woods. The man, who did not want his name used, was heading to the unit where he lives with his fiancée and their child, from the one where her mother and father live, up the block. Both units were late on April rent. His fiancée’s father was supposed to go back to work on a crew that repaves city roads, but then the pandemic came and shut the work down. He and his fiancée, meanwhile, both had to give up their jobs in the food-service department of a nursing home 20 miles away. The local bus system was cut back so far that they couldn’t get there anymore, and the day care for their child had also shut down.
They had received the same form letter from the Kushner Companies’ property management arm, Westminster Management, that other tenants in the complexes had gotten. It stated that rent was still due on the 5th of every month, but that there would be no late fees for the time being. The company, which declined to comment (or to respond to a list of tenant complaints cited in this article), would also no longer charge an extra fee for paying rent online.
The young man regarded the promised leniency warily. “They act like they care about us so much, but they really don’t,” he said. “They still want the money.” Not that he had any particular animus against the complex’s owner. He did not even know who that was. “Who Jared Kushner?” he said.
Nearby, Steve Williams was walking his dog. He and his wife, who had lived there for two years, had also been unable to pay on time because he hadn’t been working after having a couple of heart attacks and her hours working as a file clerk had just been cut way back as a result of the pandemic. He had also gotten the letters promising leniency from the management office and was also wary of how much stock to put in them, given management’s record. “I’ve been a renter for 20 years, and I’ve never seen anything like that,” he said. “I’ve never seen someone get put out so fast as around here. Thirty days, and you’re gone.” With evictions on hold for the time being, though, he was more worried about an immediate concern: bedbugs. They had been getting worse of late, he said.
The more time one spent at the complexes, the more it seemed as if every other person you talked to had lost their job or had their hours greatly reduced. And that was representative of broader trends. The Wall Street Journal reported that nearly 40% of households earning less than $40,000 a year — a category that many in Kushnerville fall into — experienced at least one job loss in March, double the rate in households earning between $40,000 and $100,000 and triple that of those earning more than $100,000.
A few at Kushnerville that week were feeling more secure. Siera Ford was moving mattresses into her family’s new unit at another Kushner-owned complex, Harbor Point Estates. She was moving into a new unit because a ceiling pipe had burst at her family’s former unit at Harbor Point, destroying many of their belongings. This was the second time this had happened in their five years there, but, she said, at least the managers moved fairly quickly to get them into a new unit. “They do accommodate,” she said.
Ford had already paid her April rent and was confident of being able to pay on time in future months, as well, given her in-demand work as a delivery driver. “My job is secure,” she said. “I’m Amazon.”
For one Kushnerville family, the bar on evictions had not come in time, and their plight would only worsen as the economic downturn accelerated. Jennifer and Bob Scrimger had been living at Whispering Woods since 2015 with four children. She worked as a waitress at Chili’s and he did freelance computer-repair work. As time went on, they said, they started having more maintenance problems in their unit, especially water leaks, mold and mice. Troubles came to a head late last summer and fall, when water, apparently from the outdoor HVAC unit, began flowing into the downstairs, ruining the carpet and threatening the furniture. The Scrimgers put the furniture outside to protect it and management threatened to fine them for doing so. The mold worsened throughout the house, as did the mice, who were getting in through a hole under the kitchen sink.
All the troubles started taking a toll on Jennifer’s mental health. She started having panic attacks and stuttering, something she’d never done before, and she wondered whether the conditions in the house had a role in her getting bacterial infections on her feet. Her performance at Chili’s started to decline; she had always ranked high in the customer ratings, which were posted on a big board for all to see, but she now fell to second from last. She eventually contacted a Baltimore County inspection officer, who produced a list of needed repairs for Westminster Management, among them repairing a hole in the living room ceiling, replacing the water-damaged kitchen cabinet, remediating mold in a bedroom and addressing the mice infestation.
But by that point, the company had already begun eviction proceedings. The Scrimgers had been paying their rent — $917, plus about $50 in monthly water fees — but the eviction letter from the company’s law firm accused them of violating their lease by not letting a workman into the house, for not keeping the house in “neat, clean, good and sanitary condition,” and for having people in the house who weren’t on the lease. Jennifer Scrimger disputed the first claim. She took great offense at the second. “They kept telling me it was my dirt,” she said. “I can’t make black dirt form on the ceiling. I don’t have that capability.” And she said that management had full documentation on which kids lived in the house. More likely, she said, the family was being punished for complaining about the house’s problems.
Regardless, on Jan. 15 the Scrimgers were out for good, trailed by a nearly $2,000 bill of repair charges that Westminster said they owed. And for lack of alternative solutions, they settled on a less-than-ideal fallback: moving in with Bob’s ex-girlfriend, the mother of three of his children, in her trailer in a mobile-home park near Whispering Woods, hard by the Washington-New York Amtrak line. They paid the ex-girlfriend, who works the early-morning shift at a convenience store, $800 per month to have them. It was a very crowded fit: four kids and four adults, including the ex-girlfriend’s infirm and elderly father. The Scrimgers had talked about saving up to buy their own trailer in the mobile-home park, since this arrangement was clearly not sustainable. “It’s a double-wide, but yeah, it is tight,” Bob said.
And then came the shutdowns, which put the home-buying dreams on hold. On March 15, Jennifer worked her last shift at Chili’s, which switched to takeout only. Bob’s computer-repair work grew scarce. Jennifer filed for unemployment benefits, but Maryland’s online application system buckled under the heavy demand. To try to get through, Jennifer would call on the phone, early on Sunday mornings. Their $1,200-per-person CARES Act payment never arrived, they said; $1,450 was claimed to cover Bob’s child-support debts for another child, and the rest became hung up in bureaucratic limbo.
Meanwhile, Whispering Woods still remains very present in the family’s life. They are in close touch with their friends there, and Jennifer still keeps the binders in which she had kept all of her many communications with Westminster Management and the county inspector, to defend herself against a Kushner claim for the alleged back charges or perhaps provide evidence for her own legal claim against the company.
One evening in mid-April, they sat out in front of the trailer, as Jennifer flipped through the binders. Her daughter, Lilly, who has since turned 5, came outside to ask what she was doing, and she told her she was talking about their house.
“About what house?” Lilly said.
“The house we used to live in, Boo-Boo.”
“When are we going to live there?”
“We’re not going to move back.”
“Into a new house?”
“We’re working on it.”
Two weeks later, on April 29, Jared Kushner praised the Trump administration’s response to the pandemic as a “great success story” on “Fox and Friends.” “The federal government rose to the challenge and this is a great success story and I think that that’s really what needs to be told,” he said. Kushner predicted a swift economic comeback. “May will be a transition month. … I think you will see by June, a lot of the country should be back to normal, and the hope is that by July the country is really rocking again,” he said.
The next day, April would conclude with more than 20 million lost jobs and the worst unemployment rate since the Great Depression. The day before that interview, the country had topped 1 million in confirmed coronavirus cases.
On April 28, another tenant stood outside her unit at Whispering Woods worrying how she was going to make May rent in a few days. The tenant, a woman in her 30s who also didn’t want her name used, had seen her hours at a medical billing company cut in half. She was one of the many to suffer from the ills of the health care industry, which despite the surge in demand for COVID-19 treatment was seeing virtually all of its other business fall away. “They can’t fire me, because they still need me, but they can’t afford me, so we’re stuck,” she said. Her Honda Civic had recently been repossessed, so to get to the office she took Ubers or caught rides with friends. She had started applying for a second job: Walmart, Amazon, Domino’s. She, too, had gotten the leniency letters, but she was worried how long that would last. “We don’t got a voice here,” she said. “It’s Trump’s son-in-law that takes care of everything, so no matter you do, you’re going to get to get beat out in court.”
There were some signs that the company’s forbearance was wearing thin. A few days earlier, a management-office employee had marched down to the home of the asphalt-crew worker to ask when they were going to pay their $1,200 April rent. His wife told the management employee that they were paying it week by week, a few hundred dollars at a time, just like they always did, even though doing so had incurred late fees before the crisis. And, as she later recounted, she demanded to know what would come after the eviction ban was lifted. “When I give you all this money, are you going to turn around and put me out?’ That’s what I asked her. ‘When all of this lifts up, are you going to be trying to put people out?’ If you’re going to hound us like that, you don’t want us here.”
The management office had also been clashing with Alejandra Polanco, 44, who had decided to move out after eight years in the complex because she was tired of all the leaks and other maintenance troubles in her unit. After she had informed them of her plan to leave, she said, the management office had retroactively charged her $200 more rent for each of the three past months, saying that her prior year’s lease had expired. It was tough for her to make the extra payments, since the seafood restaurant she worked at was now takeout only, but she was planning on paying them. “I don’t want to hurt my credit,” she said.
Also scrambling for their next rent payment, $950, were the two young men who now lived in the Scrimgers’ former unit. They had been in the same job-training class at Goodwill the year before. One, Corey Demery, 27, had stayed on for a job there, driving a forklift at $11 per hour, but had lost the job as result of the crisis. The other, Delvonte Warren, 26, had a job tryout just before the crisis hit at a Floor & Décor warehouse, but nothing came of it. He was thinking of getting a job at Taco Bell. His girlfriend, who also lived with them, was due with their first child in two months. “It’s a hard time for it to happen,” he said.
Around the country, the vast majority of tenants in complexes like Kushnerville were managing to get their April rent paid as the month neared its close. The National Multifamily Housing Council reported that as of April 26, 91.5% of renters in professionally managed buildings had made at least partial payments of that month’s rent, down only slightly from 95.6% in the same month the year before. The CARES cash and unemployment benefits, which the federal government had enhanced by $600 per week, had served their purpose, at least for those who had made it through the balky application system for the latter.
It was hard to see, though, how the rent-payment rates would hold up in months to come. For many residents of Kushnerville, the CARES money was already out the door. The enhanced unemployment benefits were due to expire at the end of July. And in Maryland, the bar on eviction was due to be lifted once the governor declared an end to the coronavirus state of emergency. (There is also a separate federal ban on evictions in buildings backed by federally financed mortgages, which applies to many Kushner complexes. That ban lasts until July 25.)
Among those left grappling with the new eviction calculus as the calendar rolled into May was Shayla Milton. She had given birth to her second child a few weeks earlier, was on maternity leave from her job at one of the two big local Amazon warehouses and was trying to decide whether to go back when the leave ended in a few weeks. Her husband worked for Amazon, too, at the other warehouse, but he had stopped going to work because he was so worried about the risk of catching the coronavirus — there had been several cases at his warehouse. Amazon had for a while allowed workers to skip work without penalty, but that policy had ended May 1. Milton had, while on maternity leave, started driving for Uber and was considering sticking with that for now. It seemed somehow easier to control her exposure to the coronavirus there, with the windows open and constant sanitizing of her car, than in the high-pressure whirlwind of the warehouse.
Looking around her, Milton wondered what would become of her neighbors after the crisis passed. “Once that eviction ban is lifted,” she said, “I really think they’re going to kick everyone out that hasn’t been paying their rent.”
But she and her family were soon going to move out of Kushnerville, she hoped, to buy a small house. She had gotten tired of the water leaking through the roof and the constant mice. “We’re supposed to leave in a few months,” Milton said. “I can’t wait.”
Even a moment that should have offered hope, or at least a respite — the first full day of a partial relaxation of local stay-at-home orders on May 16 — only brought horror in Kushnerville. Police responding to a nuisance call in Cove Village after a cook-out shot and killed a 29-year-old local man with a gun. (The police portrayed it as self-defense; one witness told The Baltimore Sun the man had dropped the gun and fled.)
Two days later, there were still traces of the violence along the curb: disposable medical gloves and plastic wrappers for defibrillator electrodes and bandages. Bullet holes were visible in one door frame.
Deja Byrd, who works in a warehouse for the spice manufacturer McCormick’s, heard the shooting that night but thought at first that it was firecrackers. When she learned later what had in fact happened, she was not entirely surprised. “Their patience is wearing thin,” she said. Did she mean the patience of the police or residents? “Everyone,” she said.


talkingpointsmemo--2020-05-21--Mike Pompeo Is In The Hot Seat For… Well, A Lot

This piece is part of our weekly Prime series on corruption and the Trump Swamp , but it has been moved outside of the paywall while we cover COVID-19 .
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is in the hot seat this week , and boy has he earned it .
On Friday , the President — at Pompeo ’ s suggestion — fired the top government watchdog at the State Department .
Steve Linick joins the swelling ranks of inspectors general summarily dismissed without much of an explanation .
“ I went to the President and made clear to him @ @ @ @ @ @ @ performing a function in a way that we had tried to get him to , ” Pompeo said of Linick ’ s firing , which didn ’ t help the secretary ’ s case .
Within hours of the dismissal , the news got worse for Pompeo : House Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Eliot Engel ( D-NY ) said he ’ d learned that Linick had opened an investigation into Pompeo , suggesting the dismissal was retaliatory and done in self-preservation .
Pompeo denied knowledge of any such investigation , but pretty soon @ @ @ @ @ @ @ reported that he had to have been aware of at least one — Pompeo declined to be interviewed for the investigation , the Times reported , and instead opted to answer written questions from Linick ’ s office .
The subject of that investigation is , aside from Linick ’ s firing itself , perhaps the most damaging news of the week for Pompeo : It concerns the “ emergency ” powers he used last year to shepherd $ 8 billion in arms sales to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates without @ @ @ @ @ @ @ TPM that this “ may be another reason for Mr. Linick ’ s firing , ” and unnamed senior officials told Politico that Pompeo disregarded their advice when he invoked the waiver for the arms sales .
Though Pompeo cited “ Iranian malign activity ” in announcing the emergency waiver a year ago , an unnamed former official told Politico that there was “ nothing going on ” in Iran that marked a change from the month prior to the use of emergency powers .
The arms sales were fishy at the time @ @ @ @ @ @ @ commented on Pompeo ’ s move , “ there is no new emergency reason to sell bombs to Saudi Arabia to drop in Yemen ” — but having Linick fired as he investigated them is downright stinky .
Linick ’ s other ongoing investigations are , reportedly , a little bit more fun .
Multiple outlets reported , for example , that Linick was investigating whether Pompeo had ordered a political employee to run errands for him , including cooking dinner , walking the dog and picking up dry cleaning .
Quite a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Riga has a more comprehensive rundown here .
But the pièce de résistance of Pompeo ’ s swampiness came in an NBC News profile of his “ Madison dinners , ” in which the secretary of State reportedly wooed future donors to his potential Senate campaign with taxpayer-funded soirées at the department .
It simply must be read to be believed .
House Democrats want answers , but it ’ s long been clear the administration could care less about their oversight efforts .
Meanwhile , the State Department ’ s director of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Akard , is keeping that job while filling in as the new inspector general — meaning that he ’ ll be overseeing it himself .
Prior to joining the State Department , Akard served as chief of staff at the Indiana Economic Development Corporation , The Washington Post ’ s Josh Rogin noted — under then-Gov .
Mike Pence .
Here ’ s what else we were watching this week : • None The Trump administration gave a drug-making contract worth up to $ 812 million to a small Virginia firm founded less @ @ @ @ @ @ @ removed the IG investigating Elaine Chao .
Chao ’ s husband , Mitch McConnell , already vetted the replacement .
• Trump ’ s preferred construction firm lands $ 1.3 billion border wall contract , the biggest so far • Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin unveils a prepaid debit card with Trump ’ s name on it • The ex-pharma exec leading Trump ’ s COVID-19 vaccine program has $ 10 million in stock options for a company getting federal funding

This piece is part of our weekly Prime series on corruption and the Trump Swamp, but it has been moved outside of the paywall while we cover COVID-19.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is in the hot seat this week, and boy has he earned it.
On Friday, the President — at Pompeo’s suggestion — fired the top government watchdog at the State Department. Steve Linick joins the swelling ranks of inspectors general summarily dismissed without much of an explanation.
“I went to the President and made clear to him that Inspector General Linick wasn’t performing a function in a way that we had tried to get him to,” Pompeo said of Linick’s firing, which didn’t help the secretary’s case.
Within hours of the dismissal, the news got worse for Pompeo: House Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Eliot Engel (D-NY) said he’d learned that Linick had opened an investigation into Pompeo, suggesting the dismissal was retaliatory and done in self-preservation.
Pompeo denied knowledge of any such investigation, but pretty soon after that, the New York Times reported that he had to have been aware of at least one — Pompeo declined to be interviewed for the investigation, the Times reported, and instead opted to answer written questions from Linick’s office.
The subject of that investigation is, aside from Linick’s firing itself, perhaps the most damaging news of the week for Pompeo: It concerns the “emergency” powers he used last year to shepherd $8 billion in arms sales to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates without the standard congressional review.
Engel told TPM that this “may be another reason for Mr. Linick’s firing,” and unnamed senior officials told Politico that Pompeo disregarded their advice when he invoked the waiver for the arms sales.
Though Pompeo cited “Iranian malign activity” in announcing the emergency waiver a year ago, an unnamed former official told Politico that there was “nothing going on” in Iran that marked a change from the month prior to the use of emergency powers.
The arms sales were fishy at the time — Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) commented on Pompeo’s move, “there is no new emergency reason to sell bombs to Saudi Arabia to drop in Yemen” — but having Linick fired as he investigated them is downright stinky.
Linick’s other ongoing investigations are, reportedly, a little bit more fun.
Multiple outlets reported, for example, that Linick was investigating whether Pompeo had ordered a political employee to run errands for him, including cooking dinner, walking the dog and picking up dry cleaning. Quite a call back to Scott Pruitt! Kate Riga has a more comprehensive rundown here.
But the pièce de résistance of Pompeo’s swampiness came in an NBC News profile of his “Madison dinners,” in which the secretary of State reportedly wooed future donors to his potential Senate campaign with taxpayer-funded soirées at the department. It simply must be read to be believed.
House Democrats want answers, but it’s long been clear the administration could care less about their oversight efforts.
Meanwhile, the State Department’s director of the Office of Foreign Missions, Stephen Akard, is keeping that job while filling in as the new inspector general — meaning that he’ll be overseeing it himself.
Prior to joining the State Department, Akard served as chief of staff at the Indiana Economic Development Corporation, The Washington Post’s Josh Rogin noted — under then-Gov. Mike Pence.
Here’s what else we were watching this week:


talkingpointsmemo--2020-05-21--Michigan Judge Gives Whitmer A Win In GOP-Majority Legislature’s Lawsuit

Michigan Court of Claims Judge Cynthia Stephens ruled that Gov .
Gretchen Whitmer ’ s ( D ) emergency declaration and accompanying stay-at-home orders were legal , a big initial win in a case that may end up at the state Supreme Court .
“ The Court concludes that plaintiffs ’ challenges to the Governor ’ s authority to declare a state of emergency under the EPGA and to issue Executive Orders in response to a statewide emergency situation under the EPGA are meritless , ” Stephens wrote .
She added , in a concession to the legislature , that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ state ’ s emergency laws , the Emergency Management Act of 1976 , with her successive declarations based on the same , ongoing emergency .
But , the other emergency law , called the Emergency Power of the Governors Act of 1945 , granted her sufficient authority so that it didn ’ t matter .
Whitmer ’ s lawyers had made a similar argument in initial filings — that even if she hadn ’ t fulfilled the qualifications of the newer law , which includes mandated authorization from the legislature , she was @ @ @ @ @ @ @ called it a “ belt and suspenders ” situation — “ even if the belt is removed , the suspenders remain.
” Per Michigan Senate Majority Leader Mike Shirkey , the legislature will appeal the decision .
“ While we are disappointed by aspects of this determination , we are vindicated in our assertion that the Governor acted unlawfully in attempting to extend the states of emergency and disaster under the Emergency Management Act without legislative approval , ” he said in a statement .
“ We are confident in our position and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s move is unsurprising .
Stephens herself during last week ’ s oral arguments suggested that the case will likely ultimately end up before her “ big bosses ” at the state Supreme Court .
The Republican-controlled legislature sued Whitmer at the end of April after they let her old emergency declaration expire without extending it .
When she declared a new one via executive order , and a stay-at-home order to accompany it , they accused her of executive overreach and filed the suit .

Michigan Court of Claims Judge Cynthia Stephens ruled that Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s (D) emergency declaration and accompanying stay-at-home orders were legal, a big initial win in a case that may end up at the state Supreme Court.
“The Court concludes that plaintiffs’ challenges to the Governor’s authority to declare a state of emergency under the EPGA and to issue Executive Orders in response to a statewide emergency situation under the EPGA are meritless,” Stephens wrote.
She added, in a concession to the legislature, that the governor had violated one of the state’s emergency laws, the Emergency Management Act of 1976, with her successive declarations based on the same, ongoing emergency. But, the other emergency law, called the Emergency Power of the Governors Act of 1945, granted her sufficient authority so that it didn’t matter.
Whitmer’s lawyers had made a similar argument in initial filings — that even if she hadn’t fulfilled the qualifications of the newer law, which includes mandated authorization from the legislature, she was covered by the older one. They called it a “belt and suspenders” situation — “even if the belt is removed, the suspenders remain.”
Per Michigan Senate Majority Leader Mike Shirkey, the legislature will appeal the decision.
“While we are disappointed by aspects of this determination, we are vindicated in our assertion that the Governor acted unlawfully in attempting to extend the states of emergency and disaster under the Emergency Management Act without legislative approval,” he said in a statement. “We are confident in our position and will appeal this ruling.”
The legislature’s move is unsurprising. Stephens herself during last week’s oral arguments suggested that the case will likely ultimately end up before her “big bosses” at the state Supreme Court.
The Republican-controlled legislature sued Whitmer at the end of April after they let her old emergency declaration expire without extending it. When she declared a new one via executive order, and a stay-at-home order to accompany it, they accused her of executive overreach and filed the suit.
Read Stephens’ order here:


talkingpointsmemo--2020-05-21--Herdman Faces High Stakes In Job At Helm Of DC DOJ Office

The U.S. Attorney ’ s Office at the center of President Trump ’ s politicization of the Justice Department will soon have a new boss .
His name is Justin Herdman , and he ’ s currently the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio , in Cleveland .
Attorney General Bill Barr praised Herdman ’ s appointment earlier this week , as he continues to oversee a range of investigations into Trump ’ s political opponents and after having interfered in two cases to benefit friends of the President .
The stakes for Herdman are high .
Sen. @ @ @ @ @ @ @ endorsed Herdman ’ s nomination to the post of U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio in 2017 , said in a statement to TPM that the office which Herdman will soon be leading has been “ used as a political arm of the White House.
” “ The last two people that held this post had their careers made or destroyed based on their loyalty to President Trump and Bill Barr , rather than the rule of law , ” Brown said .
“ Justin Herdman will have to make the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ this office with the rule of law as his guidepost , or if he ’ ll fold to this Administration ’ s political interests.
” “ I hope Mr. Herdman will do Ohio proud and restore the rule of law to both the office of the U.S. Attorney for the District Of Columbia and the Flynn case , ” Brown added .
Herdman has his work cut out for him .
The past few months have seen Timothy Shea , the acting U.S. Attorney and a former Barr adviser , help the attorney @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to benefit friends of the President ’ s .
The New York Times reported on Thursday that Shea had restructured the office ’ s criminal division over the past week .
“ Knowing the office the way I do , I suspect that morale is in the basement , ” Randall D. Eliason , a former chief of the D.C. office ’ s public corruption unit and professor at the George Washington University School of Law , told TPM .
“ The biggest challenge for [ Herdman ] is going to be demonstrating @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s not a political actor for Barr , that he ’ s an independent thinker.
” Earlier this month , the office made a stunning , unprecedented reversal in the case of former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn .
Shea signed off on a motion to drop charges in the case , after Flynn had already pleaded guilty .
One D.C. prosecutor resigned in protest .
The move came at Barr ’ s direction , and cited misleading and unsubstantiated conspiracy theories about the circumstances of Flynn ’ s 2017 interview with @ @ @ @ @ @ @ dropping the charges .
That case remains active , so long as the D.C .
Circuit Court doesn ’ t force District Judge Emmett Sullivan to stop his current bid to have a retired judge oppose the DOJ ’ s request to drop the charges .
The Flynn fiasco came two months after the same office recommended a light sentence for GOP operative and longtime Trump associate Roger Stone , contradicting an earlier filing that had asked for Stone to spend at least six years behind bars .
Five federal prosecutors resigned from @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
“ The damage that ’ s being done to the reputation of the DOJ for being apolitical is tremendous , and it ’ s going to take a long time to fix that damage , ” Eliason said .
“ So the task for anyone would be first to restore morale.
” Barb McQuade , a former U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan , said Herdman would have to address the politicization of the office early on , following his confirmation .
“ If you ignore it , it ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ so he has to acknowledge that there ’ s been this rift , and tell them how he ’ s gon na make it better , and show through his conduct that he means what he says , ” McQuade said .
She added that Shea ’ s apparent willingness to “ do the dirty work for Barr in many ways paves the way for Herdman to come in.
” “ [ Shea ] was willing to bend to the pressure of Barr , who was very interested in intervening in cases , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that there are two systems of justice : one for the President , and one for everyone else.
” Apart from the Flynn and Stone cases , the D.C. office continues to run investigations into public corruption and government fraud .
Politico reported on Tuesday that the investigation into Sen. Richard Burr ( R-NC ) is being run out of the D.C. office , along with DOJ headquarters ’ s Public Integrity Section .
The handling of sensitive cases like that could serve as a signal of how Herdman ’ s tenure will @ @ @ @ @ @ @ after serving as U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio — based in Cleveland — since 2017 .
Sen. Brown recommended Herdman for the job in 2017 , after meeting with him , along with Sen .
Rob Portman ( R-OH ) .
A longtime prosecutor , Herdman made headlines last summer for forcefully denouncing white supremacist ideology after bringing charges against an Ohio white nationalist .
“ If you ’ re willing to step out and say those things , it does demonstrate independence , ” McQuade noted .

The U.S. Attorney’s Office at the center of President Trump’s politicization of the Justice Department will soon have a new boss.
His name is Justin Herdman, and he’s currently the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio, in Cleveland. Attorney General Bill Barr praised Herdman’s appointment earlier this week, as he continues to oversee a range of investigations into Trump’s political opponents and after having interfered in two cases to benefit friends of the President.
The stakes for Herdman are high.
Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH), who endorsed Herdman’s nomination to the post of U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio in 2017, said in a statement to TPM that the office which Herdman will soon be leading has been “used as a political arm of the White House.”
“The last two people that held this post had their careers made or destroyed based on their loyalty to President Trump and Bill Barr, rather than the rule of law,” Brown said. “Justin Herdman will have to make the choice — if he’ll oversee this office with the rule of law as his guidepost, or if he’ll fold to this Administration’s political interests.”
“I hope Mr. Herdman will do Ohio proud and restore the rule of law to both the office of the U.S. Attorney for the District Of Columbia and the Flynn case,” Brown added.
Herdman has his work cut out for him.
The past few months have seen Timothy Shea, the acting U.S. Attorney and a former Barr adviser, help the attorney general interfere in two ongoing criminal cases to benefit friends of the President’s. The New York Times reported on Thursday that Shea had restructured the office’s criminal division over the past week.
“Knowing the office the way I do, I suspect that morale is in the basement,” Randall D. Eliason, a former chief of the D.C. office’s public corruption unit and professor at the George Washington University School of Law, told TPM. “The biggest challenge for [Herdman] is going to be demonstrating to people in the office that he’s not a political actor for Barr, that he’s an independent thinker.”
Earlier this month, the office made a stunning, unprecedented reversal in the case of former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn. Shea signed off on a motion to drop charges in the case, after Flynn had already pleaded guilty. One D.C. prosecutor resigned in protest.
The move came at Barr’s direction, and cited misleading and unsubstantiated conspiracy theories about the circumstances of Flynn’s 2017 interview with the FBI to make the case for dropping the charges.
That case remains active, so long as the D.C. Circuit Court doesn’t force District Judge Emmett Sullivan to stop his current bid to have a retired judge oppose the DOJ’s request to drop the charges.
The Flynn fiasco came two months after the same office recommended a light sentence for GOP operative and longtime Trump associate Roger Stone, contradicting an earlier filing that had asked for Stone to spend at least six years behind bars.
Five federal prosecutors resigned from the case in protest at the time.
“The damage that’s being done to the reputation of the DOJ for being apolitical is tremendous, and it’s going to take a long time to fix that damage,” Eliason said. “So the task for anyone would be first to restore morale.”
Barb McQuade, a former U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan, said Herdman would have to address the politicization of the office early on, following his confirmation.
“If you ignore it, it’s the elephant in the room, so he has to acknowledge that there’s been this rift, and tell them how he’s gonna make it better, and show through his conduct that he means what he says,” McQuade said.
She added that Shea’s apparent willingness to “do the dirty work for Barr in many ways paves the way for Herdman to come in.”
“[Shea] was willing to bend to the pressure of Barr, who was very interested in intervening in cases,” McQuade said. “It suggests that there are two systems of justice: one for the President, and one for everyone else.”
Apart from the Flynn and Stone cases, the D.C. office continues to run investigations into public corruption and government fraud. Politico reported on Tuesday that the investigation into Sen. Richard Burr (R-NC) is being run out of the D.C. office, along with DOJ headquarters’s Public Integrity Section.
The handling of sensitive cases like that could serve as a signal of how Herdman’s tenure will go.
Herdman is coming to D.C. after serving as U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio — based in Cleveland — since 2017.
Sen. Brown recommended Herdman for the job in 2017, after meeting with him, along with Sen. Rob Portman (R-OH).
A longtime prosecutor, Herdman made headlines last summer for forcefully denouncing white supremacist ideology after bringing charges against an Ohio white nationalist.
“If you’re willing to step out and say those things, it does demonstrate independence,” McQuade noted.


talkingpointsmemo--2020-05-21--Trump Gripes That Fox News Isn’t Doing Enough To Get Him Reelected

President Trump jabbed at his on-again-off-again favorite news network for supposedly not helping his reelection effort in a Thursday afternoon @ @ @ @ @ , Trump slammed Fox News for having “ garbage littered all over , ” accusing @ @ @ @ @ s hosts and contributors of repeating “ the worst of Democrat speaking points.
” Trump @ @ @ @ @ the network comes just days after host Neil Cavuto reacted with alarm to the revelation @ @ @ @ @ , the anti-malaria drug that is unproven to treat the novel coronavirus , as a @ @ @ @ @ on Monday .
The President ’ s Thursday afternoon tweet isn ’ t the first @ @ @ @ @ siding with Democrats .
Trump railed against the network in a tweet late last month @ @ @ @ @ talking points .
”

President Trump jabbed at his on-again-off-again favorite news network for supposedly not helping his reelection effort in a Thursday afternoon tweet.
In his tweet, Trump slammed Fox News for having “garbage littered all over,” accusing some of the network’s hosts and contributors of repeating “the worst of Democrat speaking points.”
….Hahn, Richard Goodstein, Donna Brazile, Niel Cavuto, and many others. They repeat the worst of the Democrat speaking points, and lies. All of the good is totally nullified, and more. Net Result = BAD! CNN & MSDNC are all in for the Do Nothing Democrats! Fox WAS Great! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 21, 2020
Trump’s latest tirade against the network comes just days after host Neil Cavuto reacted with alarm to the revelation that Trump is taking hydroxychloroquine, the anti-malaria drug that is unproven to treat the novel coronavirus, as a precaution while speaking to reporters on Monday.
The President’s Thursday afternoon tweet isn’t the first to accuse Fox News of siding with Democrats. Trump railed against the network in a tweet late last month for “being fed Democrat talking points.”
.@FoxNews just doesn’t get what’s happening! They are being fed Democrat talking points, and they play them without hesitation or research. They forgot that Fake News @CNN & MSDNC wouldn’t let @FoxNews participate, even a little bit, in the poor ratings Democrat Debates….. — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 26, 2020


talkingpointsmemo--2020-05-21--The Flynn Dismissal Fiasco Has Somehow Gotten Even Messier

An appeals court added another layer of complexity to the already convoluted mess surrounding the Justice Department ’ s effort to drop the Michael Flynn case .
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C .
Circuit responded Thursday to Flynn ’ s request that it intervene in his judge ’ s handling of the matter .
The appeals court ordered that the judge , U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan of D.C. , respond within the next 10 days to Flynn ’ s request that he drop the case .
The appeals court also invited the Justice Department to submit @ @ @ @ @ @ @ himself is being asked to file the briefing with the appeals court is a remarkable development that speaks to the extraordinary situation that has been created by the Justice Department ’ s sudden reversal in its Flynn prosecution .
Usually there would be a party opposing Flynn who could take up the mantle of explaining to the appeals court that it need not intervene at this point .
Flynn pleaded guilty in December 2017 to lying to the FBI , and even as Flynn tried to back out of that plea in recent @ @ @ @ @ @ @ its prosecution of him .
That is until a few weeks ago when the Justice Department — after a several-month pressure campaign from President Trump and his allies — said it wanted to drop the case because it no longer believed Flynn ’ s false statements to the FBI were material to the 2016 Russia investigation .
Instead of immediately granting the dismissal , Flynn ’ s judge , U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan of D.C. , appointed a retired judge to act as a so-called “ amicus ” ( or “ friend @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the DOJ request and to brief Sullivan on whether he is legally obligated to drop the case .
Sullivan also asked the court-appointed amicus , John Gleeson , to brief him on the potential that Flynn face contempt of court proceedings for perjury — a likely reference to the repeated occasions Flynn affirmed the guilty plea in court .
Earlier this week , Flynn filed a petition with the appeals court asking the court to reverse the invitation for the amicus briefing and to order Sullivan to dismiss the case .
Flynn also @ @ @ @ @ @ @ case to another judge for all other district court proceedings .
Thursday ’ s order is asking for a response from Sullivan to only the dismissal request .
The panel that issued it was Judge Karen Henderson , a George H.W .
Bush appointee , Judge Robert Wilkins , an Obama appointee ; and Judge Neomi Rao , an appointee of President Trump ’ s .

An appeals court added another layer of complexity to the already convoluted mess surrounding the Justice Department’s effort to drop the Michael Flynn case.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit responded Thursday to Flynn’s request that it intervene in his judge’s handling of the matter. The appeals court ordered that the judge, U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan of D.C., respond within the next 10 days to Flynn’s request that he drop the case. The appeals court also invited the Justice Department to submit its own response.
That the judge himself is being asked to file the briefing with the appeals court is a remarkable development that speaks to the extraordinary situation that has been created by the Justice Department’s sudden reversal in its Flynn prosecution. Usually there would be a party opposing Flynn who could take up the mantle of explaining to the appeals court that it need not intervene at this point.
Flynn pleaded guilty in December 2017 to lying to the FBI, and even as Flynn tried to back out of that plea in recent months, the Justice Department vigorously defended its prosecution of him. That is until a few weeks ago when the Justice Department — after a several-month pressure campaign from President Trump and his allies — said it wanted to drop the case because it no longer believed Flynn’s false statements to the FBI were material to the 2016 Russia investigation.
Instead of immediately granting the dismissal, Flynn’s judge, U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan of D.C., appointed a retired judge to act as a so-called “amicus” (or “friend of the court”) to oppose the DOJ request and to brief Sullivan on whether he is legally obligated to drop the case. Sullivan also asked the court-appointed amicus, John Gleeson, to brief him on the potential that Flynn face contempt of court proceedings for perjury — a likely reference to the repeated occasions Flynn affirmed the guilty plea in court.
Earlier this week, Flynn filed a petition with the appeals court asking the court to reverse the invitation for the amicus briefing and to order Sullivan to dismiss the case. Flynn also wants the appeals court to reassign the case to another judge for all other district court proceedings.
Thursday’s order is asking for a response from Sullivan to only the dismissal request. The panel that issued it was Judge Karen Henderson, a George H.W. Bush appointee, Judge Robert Wilkins, an Obama appointee; and Judge Neomi Rao, an appointee of President Trump’s.
Read the order below: