motherjones--2020-05-08--There’s Never Been a More Urgent Moment to Build Black Americans’ Trust in the Medical System

On March 16 , as Idris Elba announced to the world that he had tested positive for the coronavirus , the British actor suddenly became the most famous Black person on both sides of the pond to publicly disclose a positive status .
But he didn ’ t stop with the disclosure ; the next day he offered a stark warning : “ There are so many stupid , ridiculous conspiracy theories about Black people not being able to get it , ” Elba lamented .
“ That is the quickest way to get more Black people killed.
” He @ @ @ @ @ @ @ can get it , all right ?
Stop sending out these stupid WhatsApp messages about Black people not getting it .
That ’ s ridiculous .
You ’ re making us all look stupid .
Just know you have to be as vigilant as every other race .
This disease does not discriminate.
” Elba was alluding to a messy web of conspiracy theories that , while not exclusive to Black communities , signal a deep distrust of medical establishments and the governments tasked with overseeing them .
The coronavirus pandemic , perhaps @ @ @ @ @ @ @ fore .
Shortly before Elba ’ s announcement , for instance , French-born NBA star Rudy Gobert mocked the severity of the virus by playfully rubbing his hands over the assembled media ’ s microphones ; it went viral .
( So too did a Gobert tweet from a year earlier endorsing the work of Dr. Sebi , a self-proclaimed herbalist and healer who claimed to have cured cancer and HIV with a strict dietary regime . )
And just before Elba shared his diagnosis , Ebro Darden , one of the country @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , ran a segment on his Hot 97 show , “ Ebro in the Morning , ” that came pretty close to endorsing the so-called 5G conspiracy—one that , in its loosest interpretation , suggests that physical infrastructure is making nearby residents sick and has been promulgated by R & B star Keri Hilson , among others .
“ Tell your truth , mama !
” Ebro told his listeners .
“ There ’ s nothing wrong with thinking about it , whether it ’ s factual or not , it should cross @ @ @ @ @ @ @ theories like these are relatively easy to shake off .
But they ’ re not so far-fetched if you consider , say , the work of Erin Brockovich , or the reality for mostly Black residents of Flint , who still don ’ t have clean drinking water .
As Anna Merlan , author of Republic of Lies : American Conspiracy Theorists and Their Surprising Rise to Power , recently explained on NPR , conspiracy theories often grow in communities where people feel “ locked into their circumstances ” and “ shut out @ @ @ @ @ @ @ faced with a lack of reliable data , things get murkier .
One recent Pew Research study , for instance , found that three in 10 Americans believe that the coronavirus was developed in a Chinese lab , though the theory that it was created by humans as a weapon or anything else has been repeatedly debunked .
These feelings can be particularly acute in communities of color , particularly Black communities , that have faced generations of dehumanizing scientific exploration based on racist junk science .
“ When there are current and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ also a vacuum of information , people can develop counter-narratives to fill that void , ” says Oni Blackstock , the assistant commissioner for the Bureau of HIV/AIDS Prevention and Control in the NYC Health Department .
And these inequities are not just an issue of the long-ago past : Just recently , French doctor Jean-Paul Mira , the head of the intensive care unit at a well-known hospital in Paris , suggested that European researchers test prospective COVID-19 vaccines in Africa .
“ If I could be provocative , shouldn ’ t @ @ @ @ @ @ @ there are no masks , treatment , or intensive care , a little bit like we did in certain AIDS studies or with prostitutes ?
” Setting aside for the moment the fact that there are , in fact , masks , treatment , and intensive care units on a continent of more than one billion residents , Mira ’ s comments are proof that there are still people in the world who consider Black bodies to be sub-human testing grounds .
And there ’ s still reason for Black people to distrust @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ I felt [ the coronavirus ] was a complete hoax , ” Rahmell Peebles , a 30-year-old Black man living in New York City , recently told the Associated Press .
“ This thing happens every two or four years .
We have an outbreak of a disease that seems to put everybody in a panic.
” He added , “ I ’ ve just been conditioned not to trust.
” “ I do think a lot of times these [ conspiracy ] theories are rooted in a reality , ” says @ @ @ @ @ @ @ professor at the Morehouse School of Medicine .
“ When we look at particularly the medical profession and the history of medical racism [ and ] experimentation on black bodies , it ’ s not that folks are making this up or pulling this out of the crack of their ass and just saying like , ‘ Oh , you know , everyone ’ s out to get me and there ’ s no foundation to it.
’ ” But now this problem is perhaps more urgent than ever : Black people have @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the virus—thanks in part to the increased likelihood that they have pre-existing conditions like heart disease , asthma , and diabetes .
“ The people who understand how racism works and that racism is a root cause , a fundamental cause of our so-called racial health disparities , now understand that the health disparities are really disadvantaging people in two ways , ” Camara Jones , a family doctor and epidemiologist who also worked at the Centers for Disease Control , recently told my colleague Edwin Rios .
“ It ’ s making @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and then at the point where there ’ s gon na be rationing decisions made , God forbid , those same comorbidities , preexisting conditions might disqualify those people who have greater need from getting access to the life-saving therapies that they need.
” In response , health practitioners , particularly those who understand institutional and systemic racism to be a pre-existing condition for COVID-19 , are now scrambling to fast track messaging to Black patients that doesn ’ t outright dismiss their concerns .
I recently spoke with several doctors from across @ @ @ @ @ @ @ war against COVID-19 in New York City and in Georgia , where the novel coronavirus is disproportionately killing Black and Brown residents .
While each suggests that it ’ s still too early in the pandemic to develop a complete set of hard and fast rules , or to tout specific successes , they largely agree that it ’ s absolutely crucial for medical personnel to acknowledge this history of racism when treating Black patients , affirming the reasons for their distrust , and then informing them with the best information available to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ where folks are coming from and understanding why people may have the perspectives that they have , ” says Uché Blackstock , the twin sister of Oni and a physician who is the founder of Advancing Health Equity , a racial equity consulting practice that helps train health care organizations in unconscious and structural racism .
“ And then also saying , ‘ And then we also have this evidence .
This is what we ’ re seeing.
’ ” Oni Blackstock adds , “ It ’ s an evolving situation where we @ @ @ @ @ @ @ data and information at our disposal to answer community member ’ s questions .
So I think that ’ s sort of the tension.
” She tells me that her department began hosting a series of virtual townhalls in March in a nod toward transparency .
“ What we ’ re trying to do is get out as much information as we can.
” Dr .
Rob Gore , who works in a Brooklyn emergency room , tells me that he ’ s taken to Instagram in an effort to personalize the virus @ @ @ @ @ @ @ documenting what I ’ m seeing and doing , ” Gore tells me .
“ There ’ s so many conspiracy theories and false information that ’ s out and about on the internet and stuff is coming from people ’ s own insecurities , but not people who are [ working in hospitals ] .
” With patients , he says he never dismisses their fears entirely , but makes sure to share as much of his personal story—growing up near the hospital , experiencing racism , helping with the emergency response @ @ @ @ @ @ @ makes sense to help calm them .
Malebranche also notes that in acknowledging people ’ s distrust , it ’ s important to realize it ’ s not just rooted in the Tuskegee experiment .
While the four decade study conducted by the Public Health Service , in which researchers purposefully withheld treatment for syphilis from Black residents in Alabama to see the disease ’ s long-term effects , looms large in the public ’ s imagination about medical racism , Malebranche tells me that it ’ s more recent , everyday interactions @ @ @ @ @ @ @ I ’ m very clear that a lot of [ Black ] people aren ’ t even thinking about Tuskegee when they think about distrust of the medical profession , ” he explains .
“ They just know what happened when their grandmother went to the hospital or when they saw their mom or dad have an experience with a doctor.
” Consider that as recently as 2016 , a study of first and second year medical students found that 40 percent believed that Black people had less sensitive nerve endings than white @ @ @ @ @ @ @ they did not suffer as much pain .
And over the past few months , there have been painful stories like this one in USA Today about how surviving members of a Black family in Detroit that was ravaged by the coronavirus later reported begging hospital officials to be tested ; they were turned away repeatedly .
With this in mind , Malebranche explains , “ I think the best way to train [ medical ] students to think about all these different considerations is to say , ‘ OK , hey , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ chest pain , and then part of his social history is that he had a father or a relative that went into a hospital and wasn ’ t taken seriously about his chest pain and discharged home and he died .
So he does not appreciate the health care system.
’ ” When it comes to actual outreach , the New York City health department has leaned on famous New Yorkers who are considered credible messengers to make public pleas .
In one , the Rza , from WuTang , urges people to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ uncomfortable .
“ I know these apartments can feel cramped sometimes , ” he says in a video shared by the city .
“ But now is the time to stay at home , stay with your family , stay close to them , yo.
” Uché Blackstock , who also works part-time at an urgent care facility in central Brooklyn , says that she too has seen promise in partnering with individuals and institutions outside the health care industry .
“ We need to work with churches and athletic groups to communicate @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
And those messages from trusted community members need to dispel myths about the virus .
In Chicago , for instance , gang outreach workers have been deemed essential workers by the city ’ s mayor and have fanned out across Black neighborhoods , warning people to shelter in place and wear face coverings , as my colleague Samantha Michaels recently reported .
And in Georgia ’ s Dougherty County , coroner Michael Fowler tells me he ’ s spent time with his neighbors , in person , to provide additional messaging to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ from elected officials .
Things there have been dire—the town of Albany hosted two funerals earlier this year that ended up being coronavirus “ super-spreading ” events and , as of April 23 , Fowler had recorded 103 deaths due to the virus ; he admitted to local news that funeral homes “ don ’ t have room to keep the bodies.
” The New York Times reported last month that Fowler had started visiting homes of the people who died to check their relatives were taking proper precautions .
“ I am @ @ @ @ @ @ @ see the devastation in the black community , ” he told the Times .
“ I am trying to do my part .
Preachers , a judge , a church choir member , all walks of life are dying .
My job is to pronounce death , but I believe in trying to save lives.
” By going public with the message , he tells me he thought would get his neighbors to take the threat more seriously .
It helped , he thinks , that he also works as his town ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ My community knows me .
I go to every basketball game , football , ” he tells me .
“ They know I ’ m going to be real and transparent.
” Above all , there ’ s also a simple power in who is doing the communicating and who is treating Black patients .
A lot of attention has been paid over the past few months to the country ’ s response to the 1918 flu pandemic .
Less attention has been paid to the racial context into which it erupted : @ @ @ @ @ @ @ race riots across America , when Black soldiers returning from World War I were beaten and killed by white mobs .
In a study on racial outcomes of that pandemic , physician and George Washington University professor Vanessa Northington Gamble wrote that Black patients were either denied care in white-run hospitals or were relegated to unheated attics and damp basements .
“ But despite their plight , African Americans created separate hospitals , facilities , and organizations to take care of themselves , ” Gamble wrote in the research paper , published in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ During the 1918 influenza epidemic , these institutions proved essential because of rigid racial barriers in medicine and public health.
” And , crucially , these structures are still at the center of care for Black patients today .
Trust is an elemental part of epidemiological work ; each of the doctors I spoke to is Black , and all of them reflected on being able to genuinely relate to their at-risk patients .
It is an important step .
But they also say it ’ s just the first one .

On March 16, as Idris Elba announced to the world that he had tested positive for the coronavirus, the British actor suddenly became the most famous Black person on both sides of the pond to publicly disclose a positive status. But he didn’t stop with the disclosure; the next day he offered a stark warning: “There are so many stupid, ridiculous conspiracy theories about Black people not being able to get it,” Elba lamented. “That is the quickest way to get more Black people killed.”
He continued, “Please understand that you can get it, all right? Stop sending out these stupid WhatsApp messages about Black people not getting it. That’s ridiculous. You’re making us all look stupid. Just know you have to be as vigilant as every other race. This disease does not discriminate.”
“I think just acknowledging where folks are coming from and understanding why people may have the perspectives that they have.”
Elba was alluding to a messy web of conspiracy theories that, while not exclusive to Black communities, signal a deep distrust of medical establishments and the governments tasked with overseeing them. The coronavirus pandemic, perhaps unsurprisingly, has brought them to the fore. Shortly before Elba’s announcement, for instance, French-born NBA star Rudy Gobert mocked the severity of the virus by playfully rubbing his hands over the assembled media’s microphones; it went viral. (So too did a Gobert tweet from a year earlier endorsing the work of Dr. Sebi, a self-proclaimed herbalist and healer who claimed to have cured cancer and HIV with a strict dietary regime.) And just before Elba shared his diagnosis, Ebro Darden, one of the country’s most popular hip-hop radio personalities, ran a segment on his Hot 97 show, “Ebro in the Morning,” that came pretty close to endorsing the so-called 5G conspiracy—one that, in its loosest interpretation, suggests that physical infrastructure is making nearby residents sick and has been promulgated by R&B star Keri Hilson, among others. “Tell your truth, mama!” Ebro told his listeners. “There’s nothing wrong with thinking about it, whether it’s factual or not, it should cross your mind.”
For some, conspiracy theories like these are relatively easy to shake off. But they’re not so far-fetched if you consider, say, the work of Erin Brockovich, or the reality for mostly Black residents of Flint, who still don’t have clean drinking water. As Anna Merlan, author of Republic of Lies: American Conspiracy Theorists and Their Surprising Rise to Power, recently explained on NPR, conspiracy theories often grow in communities where people feel “locked into their circumstances” and “shut out of systems of power.” And when faced with a lack of reliable data, things get murkier. One recent Pew Research study, for instance, found that three in 10 Americans believe that the coronavirus was developed in a Chinese lab, though the theory that it was created by humans as a weapon or anything else has been repeatedly debunked.
These feelings can be particularly acute in communities of color, particularly Black communities, that have faced generations of dehumanizing scientific exploration based on racist junk science. “When there are current and past inequities, and there’s also a vacuum of information, people can develop counter-narratives to fill that void,” says Oni Blackstock, the assistant commissioner for the Bureau of HIV/AIDS Prevention and Control in the NYC Health Department.
And these inequities are not just an issue of the long-ago past: Just recently, French doctor Jean-Paul Mira, the head of the intensive care unit at a well-known hospital in Paris, suggested that European researchers test prospective COVID-19 vaccines in Africa. “If I could be provocative, shouldn’t we do this study in Africa where there are no masks, treatment, or intensive care, a little bit like we did in certain AIDS studies or with prostitutes?” Setting aside for the moment the fact that there are, in fact, masks, treatment, and intensive care units on a continent of more than one billion residents, Mira’s comments are proof that there are still people in the world who consider Black bodies to be sub-human testing grounds. And there’s still reason for Black people to distrust the medical establishments of Western countries.
“I felt [the coronavirus] was a complete hoax,” Rahmell Peebles, a 30-year-old Black man living in New York City, recently told the Associated Press. “This thing happens every two or four years. We have an outbreak of a disease that seems to put everybody in a panic.”
He added, “I’ve just been conditioned not to trust.”
“I do think a lot of times these [conspiracy] theories are rooted in a reality,” says David Malebranche, a doctor and associate professor at the Morehouse School of Medicine. “When we look at particularly the medical profession and the history of medical racism [and] experimentation on black bodies, it’s not that folks are making this up or pulling this out of the crack of their ass and just saying like, ‘Oh, you know, everyone’s out to get me and there’s no foundation to it.’”
“When we look at particularly the medical profession and the history of medical racism [and] experimentation on black bodies, it’s not that folks are making this up or pulling this out of the crack of their ass.”
But now this problem is perhaps more urgent than ever: Black people have disproportionately been infected with and died from the virus—thanks in part to the increased likelihood that they have pre-existing conditions like heart disease, asthma, and diabetes. “The people who understand how racism works and that racism is a root cause, a fundamental cause of our so-called racial health disparities, now understand that the health disparities are really disadvantaging people in two ways,” Camara Jones, a family doctor and epidemiologist who also worked at the Centers for Disease Control, recently told my colleague Edwin Rios. “It’s making them get [COVID-19] worse, and then at the point where there’s gonna be rationing decisions made, God forbid, those same comorbidities, preexisting conditions might disqualify those people who have greater need from getting access to the life-saving therapies that they need.”
In response, health practitioners, particularly those who understand institutional and systemic racism to be a pre-existing condition for COVID-19, are now scrambling to fast track messaging to Black patients that doesn’t outright dismiss their concerns. I recently spoke with several doctors from across the spectrum of health care providers waging war against COVID-19 in New York City and in Georgia, where the novel coronavirus is disproportionately killing Black and Brown residents. While each suggests that it’s still too early in the pandemic to develop a complete set of hard and fast rules, or to tout specific successes, they largely agree that it’s absolutely crucial for medical personnel to acknowledge this history of racism when treating Black patients, affirming the reasons for their distrust, and then informing them with the best information available to date.
“I think just acknowledging where folks are coming from and understanding why people may have the perspectives that they have,” says Uché Blackstock, the twin sister of Oni and a physician who is the founder of Advancing Health Equity, a racial equity consulting practice that helps train health care organizations in unconscious and structural racism. “And then also saying, ‘And then we also have this evidence. This is what we’re seeing.’”
Oni Blackstock adds, “It’s an evolving situation where we don’t always have tons of data and information at our disposal to answer community member’s questions. So I think that’s sort of the tension.” She tells me that her department began hosting a series of virtual townhalls in March in a nod toward transparency. “What we’re trying to do is get out as much information as we can.”
Just passed by an older Black man who said “It’s manmade. They already have a vaccine for it.” Holding space for counternarratives based on historical & current truths & that there are aspects of #COVID19 pandemic that are “manmade” such as the racial/ethnic inequities we see. — Dr. Oni Jahi Blackstock (@DrOniBee) May 2, 2020
Dr. Rob Gore, who works in a Brooklyn emergency room, tells me that he’s taken to Instagram in an effort to personalize the virus. “I like the idea of documenting what I’m seeing and doing,” Gore tells me. “There’s so many conspiracy theories and false information that’s out and about on the internet and stuff is coming from people’s own insecurities, but not people who are [working in hospitals].” With patients, he says he never dismisses their fears entirely, but makes sure to share as much of his personal story—growing up near the hospital, experiencing racism, helping with the emergency response after Haiti’s devastating 2010 earthquake—as makes sense to help calm them.
Malebranche also notes that in acknowledging people’s distrust, it’s important to realize it’s not just rooted in the Tuskegee experiment. While the four decade study conducted by the Public Health Service, in which researchers purposefully withheld treatment for syphilis from Black residents in Alabama to see the disease’s long-term effects, looms large in the public’s imagination about medical racism, Malebranche tells me that it’s more recent, everyday interactions that have a bigger impact. “I’m very clear that a lot of [Black] people aren’t even thinking about Tuskegee when they think about distrust of the medical profession,” he explains. “They just know what happened when their grandmother went to the hospital or when they saw their mom or dad have an experience with a doctor.”
“They just know what happened when their grandmother went to the hospital or when they saw their mom or dad have an experience with a doctor.”
Consider that as recently as 2016, a study of first and second year medical students found that 40 percent believed that Black people had less sensitive nerve endings than white people or had thicker skin, meaning they did not suffer as much pain. And over the past few months, there have been painful stories like this one in USA Today about how surviving members of a Black family in Detroit that was ravaged by the coronavirus later reported begging hospital officials to be tested; they were turned away repeatedly. With this in mind, Malebranche explains, “I think the best way to train [medical] students to think about all these different considerations is to say, ‘OK, hey, we have a gentleman coming in with chest pain, and then part of his social history is that he had a father or a relative that went into a hospital and wasn’t taken seriously about his chest pain and discharged home and he died. So he does not appreciate the health care system.’”
When it comes to actual outreach, the New York City health department has leaned on famous New Yorkers who are considered credible messengers to make public pleas. In one, the Rza, from WuTang, urges people to stay inside even if it’s uncomfortable. “I know these apartments can feel cramped sometimes,” he says in a video shared by the city. “But now is the time to stay at home, stay with your family, stay close to them, yo.”
From Brooklyn to you — @RZA has a message for all New Yorkers. Stay home, stay safe and protect your loved ones from COVID-19.#WuTang pic.twitter.com/zb0U999w8a — City of New York (@nycgov) April 28, 2020
Uché Blackstock, who also works part-time at an urgent care facility in central Brooklyn, says that she too has seen promise in partnering with individuals and institutions outside the health care industry. “We need to work with churches and athletic groups to communicate messaging around coronavirus,” she says. And those messages from trusted community members need to dispel myths about the virus. In Chicago, for instance, gang outreach workers have been deemed essential workers by the city’s mayor and have fanned out across Black neighborhoods, warning people to shelter in place and wear face coverings, as my colleague Samantha Michaels recently reported.
And in Georgia’s Dougherty County, coroner Michael Fowler tells me he’s spent time with his neighbors, in person, to provide additional messaging to what they may be seeing on television from elected officials. Things there have been dire—the town of Albany hosted two funerals earlier this year that ended up being coronavirus “super-spreading” events and, as of April 23, Fowler had recorded 103 deaths due to the virus; he admitted to local news that funeral homes “don’t have room to keep the bodies.” The New York Times reported last month that Fowler had started visiting homes of the people who died to check their relatives were taking proper precautions. “I am trying to sound the alarm because I see the devastation in the black community,” he told the Times. “I am trying to do my part. Preachers, a judge, a church choir member, all walks of life are dying. My job is to pronounce death, but I believe in trying to save lives.” By going public with the message, he tells me he thought would get his neighbors to take the threat more seriously. It helped, he thinks, that he also works as his town’s pastor and funeral director. “My community knows me. I go to every basketball game, football,” he tells me. “They know I’m going to be real and transparent.”
Above all, there’s also a simple power in who is doing the communicating and who is treating Black patients. A lot of attention has been paid over the past few months to the country’s response to the 1918 flu pandemic. Less attention has been paid to the racial context into which it erupted: one year after a series of deadly race riots across America, when Black soldiers returning from World War I were beaten and killed by white mobs. In a study on racial outcomes of that pandemic, physician and George Washington University professor Vanessa Northington Gamble wrote that Black patients were either denied care in white-run hospitals or were relegated to unheated attics and damp basements. “But despite their plight, African Americans created separate hospitals, facilities, and organizations to take care of themselves,” Gamble wrote in the research paper, published in 2010 in Public Health Reports. “During the 1918 influenza epidemic, these institutions proved essential because of rigid racial barriers in medicine and public health.” And, crucially, these structures are still at the center of care for Black patients today. Trust is an elemental part of epidemiological work; each of the doctors I spoke to is Black, and all of them reflected on being able to genuinely relate to their at-risk patients. It is an important step. But they also say it’s just the first one.


motherjones--2020-05-08--Moscow Is Attacking the 2020 Election. But the Trump Administration Won’t Say How.

When Rep. John Ratcliffe ( R-Texas ) , an ardent Trump partisan whom the president has nominated to lead the Office of the Director of National Intelligence , was testifying this week at his Senate confirmation hearing , he noted several times that Russia was covertly intervening in the ongoing 2020 election .
This produced no thunderclap headlines .
And here ’ s the big question : Why the hell not ?
Moscow is again attacking American democracy , and there ’ s not much fuss about it .
Certainly not a peep from the president , who benefited from @ @ @ @ @ @ @ years ago .
One reason why Ratcliffe ’ s remarks provoked no uproar is that it is , sadly , somewhat old news , for this information has been previously and publicly stated—or understated—by US officials .
Last month , when the Senate Intelligence Committee released a report confirming the intelligence community ’ s assessment that Moscow attacked the 2016 election to help Trump , Sen. Mark Warner ( D-Va. ) , the top Democrat on the committee , noted there was “ no reason to doubt that the Russians ’ success in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in 2020.
” In an appendix to that report , Sen. Ron Wyden ( D-Ore. ) referred to “ ongoing attacks ” on the United States from Russia .
And in a recent interview with Mother Jones , Rep. Adam Schiff ( D-Calif. ) , chair of the House Intelligence Committee , remarked that “ Russian interference ” in American politics was continuing .
Intelligence officials in February warned Schiff and other House members that Russia was messing with the 2020 campaign to help Trump get reelected—a briefing that was leaked to the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the Trump administration has been withholding from Congress intelligence on these Russian efforts .
The nation is in the middle of a pandemic that has consumed the lives of tens of thousands , that jeopardizes millions more , and that has demolished the economy .
The United States is confronting a grave threat that could profoundly reshape much of the country .
But if Russia is indeed once more targeting an American election , the country is facing , at the same time , another dangerous threat , one that could further undermine @ @ @ @ @ @ @ : its democratic foundation .
Those who know of this threat owe it to the public to be blaring warnings—and to tell the citizenry what is happening and what is being done or can be done to thwart Moscow .
Of course , the person with the greatest responsibility for doing so will not .
Trump has long dismissed or discounted the Kremlin ’ s 2016 attack .
During that campaign , he and his top campaign advisers—including Donald Trump Jr. and Paul Manafort—denied Russia was intervening .
By echoing the Russian government @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and his campaign—which throughout 2016 pursued secret contacts with Putin ’ s regime or its supporters—provided cover and assistance to the Kremlin .
After becoming president , Trump referred to the Russia scandal as a “ hoax ” and , ignoring his own intelligence community ’ s findings , even embraced Putin ’ s insistence there had been no Russian foul play .
The reason for this was obvious : Trump could not accept that his “ beautiful ” electoral victory was tainted ( and perhaps determined ) by Moscow intervention .
He @ @ @ @ @ @ @ with his senior officials how to prevent further Russian attacks , for acknowledging this threat would call attention to the Kremlin ’ s pro-Trump skullduggery of 2016 .
On Thursday , Trump noted that he had recently spoken with Putin and had told him the Russia investigation was a “ hoax ” that had harmed US-Russia relations .
Trump said nothing about this conversation indicating that he had warned Putin to stand down his operation to influence the election .
Bill Barr , Trump ’ s attorney general , has also been mostly @ @ @ @ @ @ @ spent much of his time in office trying to erase the Trump-Russia scandal by misrepresenting the report of special counsel Robert Mueller and by trying to show that the FBI ’ s investigation of contacts between the Trump camp and Russia was an illegitimate probe .
Barr has launched several inquiries aimed at backing Trump ’ s claim it was all hoax—which pushes to the side the central issue of Russia ’ s past and current intervention .
( In similar fashion , conservative media has been obsessively crusading to cast the FBI @ @ @ @ @ @ @ witch hunt to take Trump down , while brazenly ignoring Putin ’ s secret information war against the United States . )
Yet as the coronavirus pandemic has demonstrated , just because Trump adopts an I-can ’ t-see-you stance , the danger does not disappear .
In February , FBI Director Christopher Wray did address Russia ’ s ongoing subversion campaign when he testified before the House Judiciary Committee .
He said Russia was presently engaged in “ information warfare ” related to the 2020 election , noting that the Kremlin was waging @ @ @ @ @ @ @ American public opinion and sow discord .
He did not get into the details or provide examples , but he told lawmakers that this clandestine operation involved social media postings , bots , and disinformation .
What might be done about this ?
“ The FBI is not going to be in the business of being the truth police and monitoring disinformation online , ” Wray said .
That seemed an indication that the Trump administration—at least the FBI—would not publicly identify or combat a Russian disinformation campaign that aimed to influence the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ notion of what Moscow is up to , no American officials are coming forward to offer the public a full picture .
The voters have only been given hints .
For example , two years ago , Dan Coats , then the DNI , said in a speech , “ It is 2018 and we continue to see Russian targeting of American society in ways that could affect our midterm elections.
” What ways ?
He did not say .
How was the government responding ?
He did not say .
And that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ hardly heading in a smooth direction .
The pandemic has raised questions about the ability of states and localities to conduct safe in-person voting , should the coronavirus remain a serious threat .
( Imagine if a second or third wave of COVID-19 hits in October or November . )
Trump and Republicans have recently been howling in protest about expanding mail-in voting .
If the nation adopted an all-mail voting system , Trump complained last month , “ you ’ d never have a Republican elected in this country again.
” ( @ @ @ @ @ @ @ mail-in elections ; many others allow for absentee voting through the mail . )
And this week , Trump installed a fundraiser crony as postmaster general , a move that violated the tradition of placing postal service veterans in this position .
Moreover , Trump has already started to destabilize the election , claiming the Democrats “ are trying to steal the Election out from under me.
” This is a signal he will decry as “ rigged ” an election that does not return him to power and attempt to exploit any @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Russians , cause .
In this tense and troubling environment , Russian intervention to help Trump or promote discord could be quite effective .
The 2020 election may well be an irresistible target for Putin , whose own standing in Russia is slipping .
For the safety and security of American democracy , any Russian attack needs to be identified by the appropriate US agencies and , if at all possible , countered .
Part of the response ought to be informing US voters of such intervention so they and the news media @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and understand its possible impact .
So far , no one in the US government has made this a top priority .
No one has taken the steps to deliver this message—the Russians are at it again—to the public in a way that will resonate .
And Putin must be loving that .
After all , attack us once with information warfare , shame on you .
Attack us twice , shame on us .

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When Rep. John Ratcliffe (R-Texas), an ardent Trump partisan whom the president has nominated to lead the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, was testifying this week at his Senate confirmation hearing, he noted several times that Russia was covertly intervening in the ongoing 2020 election. This produced no thunderclap headlines. And here’s the big question: Why the hell not? Moscow is again attacking American democracy, and there’s not much fuss about it. Certainly not a peep from the president, who benefited from Vladimir Putin’s clandestine intercession four years ago.
One reason why Ratcliffe’s remarks provoked no uproar is that it is, sadly, somewhat old news, for this information has been previously and publicly stated—or understated—by US officials. Last month, when the Senate Intelligence Committee released a report confirming the intelligence community’s assessment that Moscow attacked the 2016 election to help Trump, Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.), the top Democrat on the committee, noted there was “no reason to doubt that the Russians’ success in 2016 is leading them to try again in 2020.” In an appendix to that report, Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) referred to “ongoing attacks” on the United States from Russia. And in a recent interview with Mother Jones, Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), chair of the House Intelligence Committee, remarked that “Russian interference” in American politics was continuing. Intelligence officials in February warned Schiff and other House members that Russia was messing with the 2020 campaign to help Trump get reelected—a briefing that was leaked to the public—but, Schiff said, since then the Trump administration has been withholding from Congress intelligence on these Russian efforts.
The nation is in the middle of a pandemic that has consumed the lives of tens of thousands, that jeopardizes millions more, and that has demolished the economy. The United States is confronting a grave threat that could profoundly reshape much of the country. But if Russia is indeed once more targeting an American election, the country is facing, at the same time, another dangerous threat, one that could further undermine an elemental aspect of the United States: its democratic foundation. Those who know of this threat owe it to the public to be blaring warnings—and to tell the citizenry what is happening and what is being done or can be done to thwart Moscow.
Of course, the person with the greatest responsibility for doing so will not. Trump has long dismissed or discounted the Kremlin’s 2016 attack. During that campaign, he and his top campaign advisers—including Donald Trump Jr. and Paul Manafort—denied Russia was intervening. By echoing the Russian government’s own untrue denials, Trump and his campaign—which throughout 2016 pursued secret contacts with Putin’s regime or its supporters—provided cover and assistance to the Kremlin. After becoming president, Trump referred to the Russia scandal as a “hoax” and, ignoring his own intelligence community’s findings, even embraced Putin’s insistence there had been no Russian foul play. The reason for this was obvious: Trump could not accept that his “beautiful” electoral victory was tainted (and perhaps determined) by Moscow intervention. He didn’t even want to discuss with his senior officials how to prevent further Russian attacks, for acknowledging this threat would call attention to the Kremlin’s pro-Trump skullduggery of 2016.
On Thursday, Trump noted that he had recently spoken with Putin and had told him the Russia investigation was a “hoax” that had harmed US-Russia relations. Trump said nothing about this conversation indicating that he had warned Putin to stand down his operation to influence the election.
Bill Barr, Trump’s attorney general, has also been mostly MIA on this front. He has spent much of his time in office trying to erase the Trump-Russia scandal by misrepresenting the report of special counsel Robert Mueller and by trying to show that the FBI’s investigation of contacts between the Trump camp and Russia was an illegitimate probe. Barr has launched several inquiries aimed at backing Trump’s claim it was all hoax—which pushes to the side the central issue of Russia’s past and current intervention. (In similar fashion, conservative media has been obsessively crusading to cast the FBI’s investigation as a politically motivated witch hunt to take Trump down, while brazenly ignoring Putin’s secret information war against the United States.)
Yet as the coronavirus pandemic has demonstrated, just because Trump adopts an I-can’t-see-you stance, the danger does not disappear. In February, FBI Director Christopher Wray did address Russia’s ongoing subversion campaign when he testified before the House Judiciary Committee. He said Russia was presently engaged in “information warfare” related to the 2020 election, noting that the Kremlin was waging a covert social media campaign to influence American public opinion and sow discord. He did not get into the details or provide examples, but he told lawmakers that this clandestine operation involved social media postings, bots, and disinformation. What might be done about this? “The FBI is not going to be in the business of being the truth police and monitoring disinformation online,” Wray said. That seemed an indication that the Trump administration—at least the FBI—would not publicly identify or combat a Russian disinformation campaign that aimed to influence the election.
Though Wray presented a vague notion of what Moscow is up to, no American officials are coming forward to offer the public a full picture. The voters have only been given hints. For example, two years ago, Dan Coats, then the DNI, said in a speech, “It is 2018 and we continue to see Russian targeting of American society in ways that could affect our midterm elections.” What ways? He did not say. How was the government responding? He did not say. And that pattern continues.
The 2020 election is hardly heading in a smooth direction. The pandemic has raised questions about the ability of states and localities to conduct safe in-person voting, should the coronavirus remain a serious threat. (Imagine if a second or third wave of COVID-19 hits in October or November.) Trump and Republicans have recently been howling in protest about expanding mail-in voting. If the nation adopted an all-mail voting system, Trump complained last month, “you’d never have a Republican elected in this country again.” (Seventeen states now have some form of mail-in elections; many others allow for absentee voting through the mail.) And this week, Trump installed a fundraiser crony as postmaster general, a move that violated the tradition of placing postal service veterans in this position. Moreover, Trump has already started to destabilize the election, claiming the Democrats “are trying to steal the Election out from under me.” This is a signal he will decry as “rigged” an election that does not return him to power and attempt to exploit any chaos he or others, including the Russians, cause.
In this tense and troubling environment, Russian intervention to help Trump or promote discord could be quite effective. The 2020 election may well be an irresistible target for Putin, whose own standing in Russia is slipping. For the safety and security of American democracy, any Russian attack needs to be identified by the appropriate US agencies and, if at all possible, countered. Part of the response ought to be informing US voters of such intervention so they and the news media can be on the watch for it and understand its possible impact.
So far, no one in the US government has made this a top priority. No one has taken the steps to deliver this message—the Russians are at it again—to the public in a way that will resonate. And Putin must be loving that. After all, attack us once with information warfare, shame on you. Attack us twice, shame on us.


motherjones--2020-05-08--Trump Says There’s Plenty of PPE. So Why Did This Union for Nurses Have to Find Its Own?

On Wednesday , President Trump held an event at the White House to salute nurses .
But the gathering turned awkward when Sophia Adams , a nurse who heads the American Association of Nurse Practitioners , said that the supply of personal protective equipment for nurses during the coronavirus pandemic had been “ sporadic.
” Trump took issue with her statement and insisted , “ I have heard we have a tremendous supply to almost all places.
” But Trump was wrong—and one union that represents a large chunk of the nation ’ s nurses recently had to spend millions @ @ @ @ @ @ @ world to procure millions of pieces of PPE for its members .
This episode shows , yet again , how the Trump administration has not adequately assisted the nation ’ s front-line health care workers .
In late March , Randi Weingarten , president of the American Federation of Teachers , was on a call with the heads of about 40 of her union ’ s locals that represent health care workers .
Approximately 200,000 of the AFT ’ s 1.7 million members are health care workers , most of them nurses .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ , and maintenance workers in medical facilities .
On the call , these local leaders described how they and their members were coping with the coronavirus crisis .
“ It was one horror story after another about the lack of PPE and the working conditions , ” Weingarten recalls .
The level of fear—fear for their own lives and the well-being of their family members—was shocking for Weingarten : “ These are people who are normally used to situations where they can risk their health.
” Following the call , Weingarten realized it @ @ @ @ @ @ @ organize petitions , mount protests , and hold media events to demand PPE for its members .
“ I said , we have to try to figure out how to procure this stuff….People are scared shitless.
” But Weingarten had no clue how to procure medical equipment .
She did , however , have contacts .
She knew people at Empire Global Ventures , a business development firm with experience in China , where much of the world ’ s PPE is manufactured .
( The firm ’ s website boasts it “ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ them to influential Chinese business partners , providing access to non-public Chinese deal flow , managing the Chinese governmental registration and permitting process , and supplying privileged sector-specific research on the Chinese market.
” ) Empire Global found for the AFT an established importer-exporter to help acquire the equipment .
What the union was looking for were face shields , surgical masks , and N95 masks .
Even with help from the importer-exporter , it encountered many of the usual difficulties when seeking PPE in China .
Union officials at one point believed @ @ @ @ @ @ @ on the way , but then they discovered the goods were likely counterfeit .
“ There were a lot of rabbit holes , ” Weingarten says .
“ A couple of times , I thought this was never going to happen.
” Eventually , the importer-exporter was able to strike a deal with Chinese manufacturers to produce 50,000 face shields and more than 1 million surgical masks .
“ We had to pay the manufacturers before they would manufacture these supplies , ” Weingarten says , noting that her union was only able @ @ @ @ @ @ @ had enlisted reliable middle men who knew the ropes in China .
“ There were a lot of twists and turns .
It sometimes costs more to have the supplies trucked from the factory to the airport than to airship it to the United States .
You have to have someone escort the material through customs , ” she explains .
Despite the hurdles , it mostly worked out , and shipments of the face shields and surgical masks have started .
But the AFT could not swing a deal in China for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ union turned to 3M .
But here it also needed assistance .
“ If we had just called 3M and said we ’ d like to make an order…it was impenetrable , ” Weingarten says .
“ But our brokers were able to do it.
” 3M agreed to designate the AFT an allowable buyer—the union had to sign a letter noting it would not resell the N95 masks—and cut a deal to sell it 455,000 N95 masks .
About half were to come from the United States and the rest from Sweden @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
The price was $ 3 per unit for a line of N95 masks that had been discontinued and between $ 6 and $ 7 each for current versions .
Weingarten expects to receive these shipments in the coming days .
At first , Weingarten planned to spend about $ 1 million in total on PPE , but that was not enough .
The union ended up shelling out about $ 3 million .
It plans to distribute the supplies to health care providers in New York , New Jersey , Washington , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , if none of the shipments are swiped by the US government .
The Federal Emergency and Management Agency has been confiscating some PPE shipments coming into the United States .
But Weingarten figures that if she publicizes the AFT ’ s plans , the feds will be less likely to intervene .
The AFT considers this project a success for the union and its members .
But how much of a dent does it make , given the tremendous need for PPE ?
“ The Trump administration , ” remarks Weingarten , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ will be needed in this pandemic .
But only 11.7 million have been distributed .
That ’ s less than one-third of 1 percent .
So what we ’ re distributing is a good percent of that .
But it ’ s a drop in the bucket .
The federal government has to do its job.
” Weingarten notes that her experience as a PPE procurer reinforces her dismay at the Trump administration ’ s response to the pandemic : “ What the hell has the federal government been doing ?
How dare @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
It ’ s the entity in the best position to manage the supply chain for tests , swabs , ventilators , and PPE .
And this is where they fall flat .
Every time I hear Donald Trump say there are more tests and more PPE than ever , I think about my members and how it has been hard to get these things.
” And there ’ s another thing Weingarten is angry about .
After Congress passed the $ 2 trillion coronavirus rescue package , Education Secretary Betsy Devos warned @ @ @ @ @ @ @ from this measure to teachers unions .
“ We try to step up , ” Weingarten complains , “ and they say we are barring you.
” Weingarten doesn ’ t yet know if the union will continue to pursue additional PPE for its members .
It depends on what its budget will allow .
“ Trump , ” she adds , “ has failed to do his job and protect the health and safety of the people who are protecting us….I didn ’ t know how to be a supply clerk either @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and figured it out , and I ’ m not the federal government .
We are spending money for what employers , states , and the federal government should be paying for .
”

On Wednesday, President Trump held an event at the White House to salute nurses. But the gathering turned awkward when Sophia Adams, a nurse who heads the American Association of Nurse Practitioners, said that the supply of personal protective equipment for nurses during the coronavirus pandemic had been “sporadic.” Trump took issue with her statement and insisted, “I have heard we have a tremendous supply to almost all places.” But Trump was wrong—and one union that represents a large chunk of the nation’s nurses recently had to spend millions of dollars and navigate the chaotic supply-chain world to procure millions of pieces of PPE for its members. This episode shows, yet again, how the Trump administration has not adequately assisted the nation’s front-line health care workers.
In late March, Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, was on a call with the heads of about 40 of her union’s locals that represent health care workers. Approximately 200,000 of the AFT’s 1.7 million members are health care workers, most of them nurses. This slice also includes physicians, technicians, and maintenance workers in medical facilities. On the call, these local leaders described how they and their members were coping with the coronavirus crisis. “It was one horror story after another about the lack of PPE and the working conditions,” Weingarten recalls. The level of fear—fear for their own lives and the well-being of their family members—was shocking for Weingarten: “These are people who are normally used to situations where they can risk their health.”
“It was one horror story after another about the lack of PPE and the working conditions.”
Following the call, Weingarten realized it was not enough for the union to organize petitions, mount protests, and hold media events to demand PPE for its members. “I said, we have to try to figure out how to procure this stuff….People are scared shitless.”
But Weingarten had no clue how to procure medical equipment. She did, however, have contacts. She knew people at Empire Global Ventures, a business development firm with experience in China, where much of the world’s PPE is manufactured. (The firm’s website boasts it “supports its clients entering China by introducing them to influential Chinese business partners, providing access to non-public Chinese deal flow, managing the Chinese governmental registration and permitting process, and supplying privileged sector-specific research on the Chinese market.”) Empire Global found for the AFT an established importer-exporter to help acquire the equipment.
What the union was looking for were face shields, surgical masks, and N95 masks. Even with help from the importer-exporter, it encountered many of the usual difficulties when seeking PPE in China. Union officials at one point believed they had a shipment of N95 masks on the way, but then they discovered the goods were likely counterfeit. “There were a lot of rabbit holes,” Weingarten says. “A couple of times, I thought this was never going to happen.”
Eventually, the importer-exporter was able to strike a deal with Chinese manufacturers to produce 50,000 face shields and more than 1 million surgical masks. “We had to pay the manufacturers before they would manufacture these supplies,” Weingarten says, noting that her union was only able to pull off these deals because it had enlisted reliable middle men who knew the ropes in China. “There were a lot of twists and turns. It sometimes costs more to have the supplies trucked from the factory to the airport than to airship it to the United States. You have to have someone escort the material through customs,” she explains. Despite the hurdles, it mostly worked out, and shipments of the face shields and surgical masks have started.
But the AFT could not swing a deal in China for the high-priority N95 masks, so the union turned to 3M. But here it also needed assistance. “If we had just called 3M and said we’d like to make an order…it was impenetrable,” Weingarten says. “But our brokers were able to do it.” 3M agreed to designate the AFT an allowable buyer—the union had to sign a letter noting it would not resell the N95 masks—and cut a deal to sell it 455,000 N95 masks. About half were to come from the United States and the rest from Sweden, where the company has several facilities. The price was $3 per unit for a line of N95 masks that had been discontinued and between $6 and $7 each for current versions. Weingarten expects to receive these shipments in the coming days.
At first, Weingarten planned to spend about $1 million in total on PPE, but that was not enough. The union ended up shelling out about $3 million.
It plans to distribute the supplies to health care providers in New York, New Jersey, Washington, Oregon, and possibly other states—that is, if none of the shipments are swiped by the US government. The Federal Emergency and Management Agency has been confiscating some PPE shipments coming into the United States. But Weingarten figures that if she publicizes the AFT’s plans, the feds will be less likely to intervene.
“There were a lot of rabbit holes. A couple of times, I thought this was never going to happen.”
The AFT considers this project a success for the union and its members. But how much of a dent does it make, given the tremendous need for PPE? “The Trump administration,” remarks Weingarten, “says that 3.5 billion respirator masks will be needed in this pandemic. But only 11.7 million have been distributed. That’s less than one-third of 1 percent. So what we’re distributing is a good percent of that. But it’s a drop in the bucket. The federal government has to do its job.”
Weingarten notes that her experience as a PPE procurer reinforces her dismay at the Trump administration’s response to the pandemic: “What the hell has the federal government been doing? How dare they not do what’s needed. It’s the entity in the best position to manage the supply chain for tests, swabs, ventilators, and PPE. And this is where they fall flat. Every time I hear Donald Trump say there are more tests and more PPE than ever, I think about my members and how it has been hard to get these things.”
And there’s another thing Weingarten is angry about. After Congress passed the $2 trillion coronavirus rescue package, Education Secretary Betsy Devos warned states not to give funds they receive from this measure to teachers unions. “We try to step up,” Weingarten complains, “and they say we are barring you.”
Weingarten doesn’t yet know if the union will continue to pursue additional PPE for its members. It depends on what its budget will allow. “Trump,” she adds, “has failed to do his job and protect the health and safety of the people who are protecting us….I didn’t know how to be a supply clerk either. But I got on the phone and figured it out, and I’m not the federal government. We are spending money for what employers, states, and the federal government should be paying for.”


motherjones--2020-05-08--“Not Who We Are”? This Is All America Has Ever Been.

A couple of days after the death of a 25-year-old Black man in Georgia named Ahmaud Arbery became widely known , a Mother Jones editor suggested to a group of reporters of color that we should publish something on the shocking video that was soon to go viral .
It showed two white men chasing Arbery , who was jogging down a rural road in his own neighborhood , and gunning him down .
Our responses were identical : We were all so tired .
Is there anything new to be said about the killing of young Black men who @ @ @ @ @ @ @ attract the attention of white people who feel threatened and decide to kill them ?
How many times can we decry racism and beg to be seen as fully human ?
But while my colleagues and I felt exhausted , well-meaning people of all races littered my social media feeds with a rallying cry that is a variation on a theme as familiar as it is fundamentally empty .
It boiled down to the old trope : “ This is not who we are !
” Soon my exhaustion turned to frustration : @ @ @ @ @ @ @ are .
And yet , by treating every single senseless death , every single racial profiling incident , every attack on Black people , every example of the disproportionate vulnerability of people of color to economic and now coronavirus devastation as some aberration , America is given a kind of absolution .
Our racist society is off the hook .
First , consider what happened to Ahmaud Arbery .
On February 23 , Arbery , an avid runner , went for a jog in Satilla Shores , a majority white town in rural @ @ @ @ @ @ @ away with his mother .
While he was jogging , several people called 911 to report that a Black man was running down the street .
Gregory McMichael and his son Travis decided that a young Black man wearing shorts and running peacefully in their neighborhood must have been a burglary suspect .
They chased him down and three shots are heard in the video , with the third fired at point-blank range .
His death was caught on tape .
The case is now on its third prosecutor .
The first one @ @ @ @ @ @ @ McMichael , who is a former investigator in the district attorney ’ s office .
The second recused himself because his son works in the district attorney ’ s office that once employed Gregory McMichael .
But before his recusal , he wrote a letter saying the father and son were innocent because of Georgia ’ s stand-your-ground laws and other laws that allow a private citizen to attempt an arrest if an offense is committed in his presence , or if he has immediate knowledge of it .
Eventually a video of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ national outcry and demands for justice .
Politicians across the ideological spectrum tweeted out statements decrying the killing of Arbery , and , naturally , vowing to fight for justice .
Does all that outrage really matter ?
The national backlash over Arbery ’ s killing took place against the backdrop of a parallel crisis .
The novel coronavirus has killed nearly 80,000 people in the United States and shows no signs of abating , thanks to the wholly incompetent response from President Donald Trump and his administration .
Black people have disproportionately @ @ @ @ @ @ @ as my colleagues Edwin Rios and Sinduja Rangarajan showed in their investigation of the racial breakdown of death rates from COVID-19 .
As the virus rages and continue to spreads , the country is hastily trying to adapt to social distancing , which involves the practice of wearing masks and staying at least six feet away from anyone you don ’ t live with .
Public health experts have been saying for months that the only way out of this crisis is wide-scale testing , contact tracing , and social distancing measures until @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in typical American fashion , it appears we ’ re going to try to police our way out of it—even though over-policing has yet to solve any of society ’ s ills .
First there is the problem of wearing a mask while black .
As I reported last month , the practice of covering your face is anxiety-inducing in the Black community : Then , many cities and states have criminalized standing too close together by deploying police officers to arrest or fine anyone defying the orders .
It went as expected @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
In New York City , photos and videos of police officers arresting Black people for not social distancing , while white people were able to sunbathe in parks and not social distance without being disturbed , went viral .
On Thursday , Brooklyn ’ s district attorney ’ s office released the first data from social distancing arrests .
Between March 17 and May 4 , 40 people were arrested for violations .
Thirty-five were Black .
Four were Latino .
One was white .
Mayor Bill de Blasio returned to the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ affect on people of color did not “ reflect our values.
” Reflecting values or not , it turns out , the statistics throughout the city are even worse .
Many critics have compared the arrests to the controversial stop-and-frisk tactic , a New York Police Department policy where officers stopped , questioned , and searched people on the street which led to the disproportionate arrests of people of color there .
The policy was created under former mayor Michael Bloomberg and has been frequently denounced by de Blasio .
And yet , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , more than two months after they shot and killed Arbery , Gregory and Travis McMichael were arrested and charged with murder and aggravated assault .
And these arrests took place only after a video of the shooting went viral , sparking a national outcry .
The arrests never quite feel like justice because they often don ’ t lead to guilty convictions .
After all , in the end , that ’ s also not who we are .

Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.
A couple of days after the death of a 25-year-old Black man in Georgia named Ahmaud Arbery became widely known, a Mother Jones editor suggested to a group of reporters of color that we should publish something on the shocking video that was soon to go viral. It showed two white men chasing Arbery, who was jogging down a rural road in his own neighborhood, and gunning him down.
Our responses were identical: We were all so tired.
Is there anything new to be said about the killing of young Black men who are engaged in everyday activities until they attract the attention of white people who feel threatened and decide to kill them? How many times can we decry racism and beg to be seen as fully human? But while my colleagues and I felt exhausted, well-meaning people of all races littered my social media feeds with a rallying cry that is a variation on a theme as familiar as it is fundamentally empty. It boiled down to the old trope: “This is not who we are!”
Soon my exhaustion turned to frustration: In fact, this is who we are. And yet, by treating every single senseless death, every single racial profiling incident, every attack on Black people, every example of the disproportionate vulnerability of people of color to economic and now coronavirus devastation as some aberration, America is given a kind of absolution. Our racist society is off the hook.
First, consider what happened to Ahmaud Arbery. On February 23, Arbery, an avid runner, went for a jog in Satilla Shores, a majority white town in rural Georgia. He lived just two miles away with his mother. While he was jogging, several people called 911 to report that a Black man was running down the street. Gregory McMichael and his son Travis decided that a young Black man wearing shorts and running peacefully in their neighborhood must have been a burglary suspect. They chased him down and three shots are heard in the video, with the third fired at point-blank range. His death was caught on tape.
The case is now on its third prosecutor. The first one recused herself because she previously employed Gregory McMichael, who is a former investigator in the district attorney’s office. The second recused himself because his son works in the district attorney’s office that once employed Gregory McMichael. But before his recusal, he wrote a letter saying the father and son were innocent because of Georgia’s stand-your-ground laws and other laws that allow a private citizen to attempt an arrest if an offense is committed in his presence, or if he has immediate knowledge of it.
Eventually a video of the attack went viral, sparking a national outcry and demands for justice. Politicians across the ideological spectrum tweeted out statements decrying the killing of Arbery, and, naturally, vowing to fight for justice.
The video of #AhmaudArbery sickens me to my core. Exercising while Black shouldn't be a death sentence.https://t.co/GV7GFju7tr — Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) May 5, 2020
.@GBI_GA Director Reynolds has offered resources & manpower to D.A. Durden to ensure a thorough, independent investigation into the death of #AhmaudArbery. Georgians deserve answers. State law enforcement stands ready to ensure justice is served. https://t.co/ktLiPf7LoY — Governor Brian P. Kemp (@GovKemp) May 6, 2020
Does all that outrage really matter? The national backlash over Arbery’s killing took place against the backdrop of a parallel crisis. The novel coronavirus has killed nearly 80,000 people in the United States and shows no signs of abating, thanks to the wholly incompetent response from President Donald Trump and his administration. Black people have disproportionately borne the brunt of this crisis, as my colleagues Edwin Rios and Sinduja Rangarajan showed in their investigation of the racial breakdown of death rates from COVID-19.
As the virus rages and continue to spreads, the country is hastily trying to adapt to social distancing, which involves the practice of wearing masks and staying at least six feet away from anyone you don’t live with. Public health experts have been saying for months that the only way out of this crisis is wide-scale testing, contact tracing, and social distancing measures until there’s a vaccine. But in typical American fashion, it appears we’re going to try to police our way out of it—even though over-policing has yet to solve any of society’s ills.
First there is the problem of wearing a mask while black. As I reported last month, the practice of covering your face is anxiety-inducing in the Black community:
For many Black people, weighing whether or not to wear a mask comes down to deciding whether or not to risk getting racially profiled, which could turn deadly, or contracting COVID-19, which could also turn deadly. “Am I going to risk my health or am I going to risk it all and pray that no one in this open-carry state mistakes me for a volatile?” George Wesley, a Black man from Newport News, Virginia, told me.
Then, many cities and states have criminalized standing too close together by deploying police officers to arrest or fine anyone defying the orders. It went as expected, at least for people of color. In New York City, photos and videos of police officers arresting Black people for not social distancing, while white people were able to sunbathe in parks and not social distance without being disturbed, went viral. On Thursday, Brooklyn’s district attorney’s office released the first data from social distancing arrests. Between March 17 and May 4, 40 people were arrested for violations. Thirty-five were Black. Four were Latino. One was white.
Mayor Bill de Blasio returned to the tried-and-true refrain, claiming that the disproportionate affect on people of color did not “reflect our values.”
Saving lives in this pandemic is job one. The NYPD uses summonses and arrests to do it. Most people practice social distancing, with only hundreds of summonses issued over 6 weeks. But the disparity in the numbers does NOT reflect our values. We HAVE TO do better and we WILL. pic.twitter.com/VFEFV724wU — Mayor Bill de Blasio (@NYCMayor) May 8, 2020
Reflecting values or not, it turns out, the statistics throughout the city are even worse.
BREAKING: NYPD just released coronavirus enforcement data from March 16 to May 5. There were 374 summonses issued, which is not many. BUT: Of those, an astounding 304 or 81% were given to people who are black or Hispanic. pic.twitter.com/vHw0NjR0oF — Pervaiz Shallwani (@Pervaizistan) May 8, 2020
Many critics have compared the arrests to the controversial stop-and-frisk tactic, a New York Police Department policy where officers stopped, questioned, and searched people on the street which led to the disproportionate arrests of people of color there. The policy was created under former mayor Michael Bloomberg and has been frequently denounced by de Blasio. And yet, racist policing policies persist.
On Thursday, more than two months after they shot and killed Arbery, Gregory and Travis McMichael were arrested and charged with murder and aggravated assault. And these arrests took place only after a video of the shooting went viral, sparking a national outcry. The arrests never quite feel like justice because they often don’t lead to guilty convictions. After all, in the end, that’s also not who we are.


motherjones--2020-05-08--“It’s Totally Expected”: Trump Shrugs Off Historic Unemployment Numbers

After spending nearly 20 minutes lashing out at familiar targets related to the Russia investigation , President Donald Trump used his appearance on Fox & Friends Friday morning to play down the significance of the newest jobs report , which revealed the US economy lost a staggering 20.5 million jobs in April , the highest level of unemployment since the Great Depression .
“ It ’ s fully expected , there ’ s no surprise , ” Trump said just as the Bureau of Labor Statistics released the grim numbers .
“ Everybody knows that.
” He did not offer @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the millions of Americans now unemployed .
“ Somebody said , ‘ Oh , look at this , even the Democrats aren ’ t blaming me for that , ' ” he continued .
In fact , Democrats , as well as anti-Trump conservatives , have laid the blame for the tanked economy directly on his doorstep , arguing that a more aggressive and systematic approach to containing the spread of the novel coronavirus would have lessened the current economic catastrophe .
It was just the latest example of the increasing disconnect between @ @ @ @ @ @ @ botched coronavirus response and the magical thinking required to buoy the president ’ s campaign to present a rosy view of his administration ’ s performance amid the ongoing crisis .
Moreover , Trump ’ s insistence that Friday ’ s jobs report had been fully anticipated fails to square with his previous predictions that the crisis would “ disappear ” like a “ miracle.
” Nor do they track with top economic adviser Larry Kudlow ’ s forecast back in February that the US would avoid an “ economy tragedy.
” “ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ they ’ ll be back very soon , ” Trump insisted , again ignoring warnings from economists that a recovery is nowhere close .
“ People are ready to go , we ’ ve got to get it open .

After spending nearly 20 minutes lashing out at familiar targets related to the Russia investigation, President Donald Trump used his appearance on Fox & Friends Friday morning to play down the significance of the newest jobs report, which revealed the US economy lost a staggering 20.5 million jobs in April, the highest level of unemployment since the Great Depression.
“It’s fully expected, there’s no surprise,” Trump said just as the Bureau of Labor Statistics released the grim numbers. “Everybody knows that.” He did not offer any messages of support or concern for the millions of Americans now unemployed.
“Somebody said, ‘Oh, look at this, even the Democrats aren’t blaming me for that,'” he continued. In fact, Democrats, as well as anti-Trump conservatives, have laid the blame for the tanked economy directly on his doorstep, arguing that a more aggressive and systematic approach to containing the spread of the novel coronavirus would have lessened the current economic catastrophe. It was just the latest example of the increasing disconnect between the stark reality of Trump’s botched coronavirus response and the magical thinking required to buoy the president’s campaign to present a rosy view of his administration’s performance amid the ongoing crisis.
Moreover, Trump’s insistence that Friday’s jobs report had been fully anticipated fails to square with his previous predictions that the crisis would “disappear” like a “miracle.” Nor do they track with top economic adviser Larry Kudlow’s forecast back in February that the US would avoid an “economy tragedy.”
“Those jobs will all be back and they’ll be back very soon,” Trump insisted, again ignoring warnings from economists that a recovery is nowhere close. “People are ready to go, we’ve got to get it open.


motherjones--2020-05-09--California Is Sending Every Voter a Ballot This Fall. The Rest of the Country Is Running Out of Time

California Is Sending Every Voter a Ballot This Fall. The Rest of the Country Is Running Out of Time.

California Gov .
Gavin Newsom notched a major victory for the ongoing push for increased mail voting Friday when he ordered that all of the state ’ s 20.6 million voters be mailed a ballot for the November elections , citing the need to balance public health concerns and the massive desire to vote this fall .
“ There ’ s a lot of excitement around this November ’ s election in terms of making sure that you can conduct yourself in a safe way , and make sure your health is protected , ” Newsom said Friday , according @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s mandate lands amidst a major political fight over increased mail voting across the country as a means to allow people to cast ballots without having to risk gathering in long lines and small spaces to vote in person , and get poll workers sick , especially after 16 states had to delay or cancel elections in the wake of the pandemic .
The poster case for potential problems was the April 7 election in Wisconsin , which included the national Democratic primary and a contentious state supreme court race .
The @ @ @ @ @ @ @ delay the election and allow for increased applications for mail ballots but was successfully blocked by state Republicans and the state supreme court .
Public health officials in Wisconsin say there isn ’ t enough testing and contact tracing data to know whether the election led to a spike in coronavirus cases but , according to state data , 67 people who tested positive for the virus after the election said they had been at the polls , according to the Associated Press .
In Florida , another state that pushed forward with @ @ @ @ @ @ @ concerns , at least two poll workers later tested positive for the virus .
But , again , the data available is insufficient to ascertain whether they got sick because of the election itself or contracted it somewhere else .
For months , congressional Democrats—led by Sens .
Ron Wyden of Oregon and Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota—have pushed legislation to mandate all states offer no excuse mail voting for eligible voters .
Local officials around the country have also called for increased access for mail voting , but have also asked for funding @ @ @ @ @ @ @ have pushed back , led by President Trump who extolled Republicans to “ fight very hard ” against mail voting , inaccurately claiming that the practice “ doesn ’ t work out well for Republicans ” and saying the practice lends itself to voter fraud .
In a Saturday tweet claiming that all elections in California are “ rigged , ” Trump noted that Democrats “ fought like crazy to get all mail in only ballots , and succeeded.
” Democrats managed to get $ 400 million in election funding for states in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ have so far been unable to get Republicans to support vote by mail requirements , even as recent polling data suggests that a majority of Americans are concerned about voting during the pandemic and overwhelmingly support allowing those who want to the option of voting by mail .
Five states currently do elections primarily via mail ballot : Colorado , Hawaii , Oregon , Utah , and Washington .
Nearly two dozen additional states allow for primarily-mail elections for specific elections , such as school board contests , or in places where the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ according to the National Conference of State Legislatures .
Every state allows for some form of voting by mail—typically known as absentee voting—but 16 states require an “ excuse ” to vote by mail such as jury duty or being out of state during the election .
Several states have temporarily waived the excuse requirement but , as it stands , voters in the remaining states will still largely have to go vote in person in the fall , precisely when public health experts fear a resurgence of coronavirus could make the situation @ @ @ @ @ @ @ spring .
Proactively sending mail ballots to voters , even if they hadn ’ t applied , has been tried in other places .
Adrian Fontes , the chief election official in Maricopa County , Arizona—one of the largest voting jurisdictions in the country—sought to mail all registered Democrats a ballot ahead of the state ’ s March presidential preference election only to be blocked by a local court .
Katie Hobbs , Arizona ’ s Secretary of State and a Democrat , subsequently asked the state legislature to allow for primarily-mail elections @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Even though the request came from the state ’ s bipartisan group of local election officials , Hobbs told Mother Jones the effort was blocked due to partisan Republican opposition .
“ We can ’ t just act like everything ’ s normal when it comes to elections , ” said last month .
Hobbs said that after the defeat in the state legislature , local officials were considering mailing applications to all registered voters .
That tactic was employed by several local jurisdictions in Wisconsin ahead of the April 7 election there @ @ @ @ @ @ @ election workers safe .
More recently , two major cities in Wisconsin , Racine and Milwaukee , each decided to take a similar route and send registered voters mail ballot applications .
In California , Newsom ’ s mandate will take some work .
Elections are already complicated , and ramping up to primarily-mail elections is even more complicated and , at best , takes months of lead time and coordination between vendors , local election officials , and state officials , not to mention sustained public education efforts .
California , though @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to pull this off because 14 of the state ’ s 58 counties already mail ballots to every registered voter , the Times noted .
Still , there are concerns .
In Los Angeles alone , 2 million voters will now become mail voters , according to the plan .
Kim Alexander , the president of the California Voter Foundation , told the Times that elections were already “ unfunded mandates ” and that “ this is going to be an even bigger expense for counties.
” While mailing in ballots should be @ @ @ @ @ @ @ plenty of groups who would struggle with reductions to in-person voting : disabled voters who need assistance or special equipment to mark their ballot , young people and some minority voters who tend to have more transitory addresses .
The Times reported that Newsom ’ s plan doesn ’ t have specific rules for counties to operate in-person voting locations , but Joseph Holland , registrar of voters in Santa Barbara County and president of the California Association of Clerks and Elections Officials , told the paper that counties need flexibility to deal @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in the fall , and that there will be in-person voting options .
Newsom also said that he envisions “ the appropriate number of physical sites ” for voting in the fall .

California Gov. Gavin Newsom notched a major victory for the ongoing push for increased mail voting Friday when he ordered that all of the state’s 20.6 million voters be mailed a ballot for the November elections, citing the need to balance public health concerns and the massive desire to vote this fall.
“There’s a lot of excitement around this November’s election in terms of making sure that you can conduct yourself in a safe way, and make sure your health is protected,” Newsom said Friday, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Newsom’s mandate lands amidst a major political fight over increased mail voting across the country as a means to allow people to cast ballots without having to risk gathering in long lines and small spaces to vote in person, and get poll workers sick, especially after 16 states had to delay or cancel elections in the wake of the pandemic.
The poster case for potential problems was the April 7 election in Wisconsin, which included the national Democratic primary and a contentious state supreme court race. The state’s Democratic governor tried to delay the election and allow for increased applications for mail ballots but was successfully blocked by state Republicans and the state supreme court. Public health officials in Wisconsin say there isn’t enough testing and contact tracing data to know whether the election led to a spike in coronavirus cases but, according to state data, 67 people who tested positive for the virus after the election said they had been at the polls, according to the Associated Press.
In Florida, another state that pushed forward with its primary election in March amidst coronavirus concerns, at least two poll workers later tested positive for the virus. But, again, the data available is insufficient to ascertain whether they got sick because of the election itself or contracted it somewhere else.
For months, congressional Democrats—led by Sens. Ron Wyden of Oregon and Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota—have pushed legislation to mandate all states offer no excuse mail voting for eligible voters. Local officials around the country have also called for increased access for mail voting, but have also asked for funding assistance to make the change.
Republicans have pushed back, led by President Trump who extolled Republicans to “fight very hard” against mail voting, inaccurately claiming that the practice “doesn’t work out well for Republicans” and saying the practice lends itself to voter fraud. In a Saturday tweet claiming that all elections in California are “rigged,” Trump noted that Democrats “fought like crazy to get all mail in only ballots, and succeeded.”
Democrats managed to get $400 million in election funding for states in the ongoing coronavirus relief packages, but have so far been unable to get Republicans to support vote by mail requirements, even as recent polling data suggests that a majority of Americans are concerned about voting during the pandemic and overwhelmingly support allowing those who want to the option of voting by mail.
Five states currently do elections primarily via mail ballot: Colorado, Hawaii, Oregon, Utah, and Washington. Nearly two dozen additional states allow for primarily-mail elections for specific elections, such as school board contests, or in places where the population is small and dispersed widely, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Every state allows for some form of voting by mail—typically known as absentee voting—but 16 states require an “excuse” to vote by mail such as jury duty or being out of state during the election. Several states have temporarily waived the excuse requirement but, as it stands, voters in the remaining states will still largely have to go vote in person in the fall, precisely when public health experts fear a resurgence of coronavirus could make the situation just as dangerous as it was this spring.
Proactively sending mail ballots to voters, even if they hadn’t applied, has been tried in other places. Adrian Fontes, the chief election official in Maricopa County, Arizona—one of the largest voting jurisdictions in the country—sought to mail all registered Democrats a ballot ahead of the state’s March presidential preference election only to be blocked by a local court. Katie Hobbs, Arizona’s Secretary of State and a Democrat, subsequently asked the state legislature to allow for primarily-mail elections in the fall but was denied. Even though the request came from the state’s bipartisan group of local election officials, Hobbs told Mother Jones the effort was blocked due to partisan Republican opposition. “We can’t just act like everything’s normal when it comes to elections,” said last month.
Hobbs said that after the defeat in the state legislature, local officials were considering mailing applications to all registered voters. That tactic was employed by several local jurisdictions in Wisconsin ahead of the April 7 election there, boosting turnout while keeping voters and election workers safe.
More recently, two major cities in Wisconsin, Racine and Milwaukee, each decided to take a similar route and send registered voters mail ballot applications.
In California, Newsom’s mandate will take some work. Elections are already complicated, and ramping up to primarily-mail elections is even more complicated and, at best, takes months of lead time and coordination between vendors, local election officials, and state officials, not to mention sustained public education efforts. California, though, is better poised than other states to pull this off because 14 of the state’s 58 counties already mail ballots to every registered voter, the Times noted.
Still, there are concerns. In Los Angeles alone, 2 million voters will now become mail voters, according to the plan. Kim Alexander, the president of the California Voter Foundation, told the Times that elections were already “unfunded mandates” and that “this is going to be an even bigger expense for counties.”
While mailing in ballots should be easier for most Californians, there are plenty of groups who would struggle with reductions to in-person voting: disabled voters who need assistance or special equipment to mark their ballot, young people and some minority voters who tend to have more transitory addresses. The Times reported that Newsom’s plan doesn’t have specific rules for counties to operate in-person voting locations, but Joseph Holland, registrar of voters in Santa Barbara County and president of the California Association of Clerks and Elections Officials, told the paper that counties need flexibility to deal with public health concerns as they exist in the fall, and that there will be in-person voting options. Newsom also said that he envisions “the appropriate number of physical sites” for voting in the fall.


motherjones--2020-05-09--In Leaked Audio, Barack Obama Warns That Donald Trump Is Corrupting the “Rule of Law”

Former President Barack Obama said Friday that the Department of Justice ’ s decision to drop charges against former Trump National Security Advisor Michael Flynn means that the “ basic understanding of rule of law is at risk.
” The comments were made in a private web chat conversation with members of the Obama Alumni Association , a recording of which was obtained by Yahoo News ’ Michael Isikoff , who wrote about the comments late Friday .
Obama , who had once fired Flynn as his director of the Defense Intelligence Agency for being “ chaotic [ and ] @ @ @ @ @ @ @ on the recording that the news about Flynn ’ s case had been “ somewhat downplayed ” but was incredibly worrying .
“ And the fact that there is no precedent that anybody can find for someone who has been charged with perjury just getting off scot-free , ” Obama said .
“ That ’ s the kind of stuff where you begin to get worried that basic—not just institutional norms—but our basic understanding of rule of law is at risk .
And when you start moving in those directions , it can @ @ @ @ @ @ @ seen in other places.
” Isikoff notes that Obama misstated Flynn ’ s charge : He had pled guilty to lying to FBI investigators , not perjury .
Flynn ’ s guilty plea came in late 2017 after he lied to FBI agents about whether he ’ d talked with then-Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak during the presidential transition period in January 2017 .
As reported by Mother Jones ‘ Dan Friedman , in November 2017 Flynn pled guilty to lying to FBI agents about the conversations with Kislyak , while also admitting that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ efforts to influence foreign diplomats during a December 2016 UN resolution on condemning Israeli settlement construction .
Misrepresenting the truth was a regular habit of Flynn ’ s .
He also admitted lying to the Justice Department in a Foreign Agents Registration Act filing by claiming he was not aware that he was lobbying for Turkey .
And he ’ d lied to Vice President Mike Pence about the call with Kislyak , which Trump acknowledged .
During his sentencing hearing on December 18 , 2018 , Emmet Sullivan , the federal judge @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ arguably … sold [ his ] country out , ” and added that he wasn ’ t going to hide his “ disgust [ and ] disdain for this criminal offense.
” Flynn repeatedly declined to withdraw his guilty plea , and told the judge he didn ’ t think he ’ d been set up to lie to the FBI .
Trump has repeatedly said Flynn was treated unfairly by the FBI , and Attorney General William Barr had tasked federal prosecutors with reviewing the case as part of his sustained @ @ @ @ @ @ @ counsel Robert Mueller ’ s investigation into Trump associates and the Russian interference efforts in the 2016 US elections .
Barr has already forced prosecutors to reduce a sentencing recommendation for Roger Stone , a longtime Trump adviser , causing several federal prosecutors from the case to withdraw in protest .
Barr had also previously caused prosecutors in the Flynn case to lower a sentencing recommendation .
When the Justice Department moved to drop his case this week , it said in a filing that FBI agents had no valid reason to have @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , and therefore couldn ’ t prove that a crime occurred .
Obama pointed to the Flynn case Friday—and the Trump administration ’ s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic—as why November ’ s election is particularly important .
“ So I am hoping that all of you feel the same sense of urgency that I do , ” Obama said .
“ Whenever I campaign , I ’ ve always said , ‘ Ah , this is the most important election.
’ Especially obviously when I was on the ballot , that always @ @ @ @ @ @ @ important election .
This one—I ’ m not on the ballot—but I am pretty darn invested .
We got to make this happen .
”

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Former President Barack Obama said Friday that the Department of Justice’s decision to drop charges against former Trump National Security Advisor Michael Flynn means that the “basic understanding of rule of law is at risk.”
The comments were made in a private web chat conversation with members of the Obama Alumni Association, a recording of which was obtained by Yahoo News’ Michael Isikoff, who wrote about the comments late Friday.
Obama, who had once fired Flynn as his director of the Defense Intelligence Agency for being “chaotic [and] insubordinate,” Isikoff notes, said on the recording that the news about Flynn’s case had been “somewhat downplayed” but was incredibly worrying.
“And the fact that there is no precedent that anybody can find for someone who has been charged with perjury just getting off scot-free,” Obama said. “That’s the kind of stuff where you begin to get worried that basic—not just institutional norms—but our basic understanding of rule of law is at risk. And when you start moving in those directions, it can accelerate pretty quickly as we’ve seen in other places.”
Isikoff notes that Obama misstated Flynn’s charge: He had pled guilty to lying to FBI investigators, not perjury. Flynn’s guilty plea came in late 2017 after he lied to FBI agents about whether he’d talked with then-Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak during the presidential transition period in January 2017. As reported by Mother Jones‘ Dan Friedman, in November 2017 Flynn pled guilty to lying to FBI agents about the conversations with Kislyak, while also admitting that he had lied to the FBI about efforts to influence foreign diplomats during a December 2016 UN resolution on condemning Israeli settlement construction. Misrepresenting the truth was a regular habit of Flynn’s. He also admitted lying to the Justice Department in a Foreign Agents Registration Act filing by claiming he was not aware that he was lobbying for Turkey. And he’d lied to Vice President Mike Pence about the call with Kislyak, which Trump acknowledged.
During his sentencing hearing on December 18, 2018, Emmet Sullivan, the federal judge during sentencing, told Flynn that he “arguably … sold [his] country out,” and added that he wasn’t going to hide his “disgust [and] disdain for this criminal offense.” Flynn repeatedly declined to withdraw his guilty plea, and told the judge he didn’t think he’d been set up to lie to the FBI.
Trump has repeatedly said Flynn was treated unfairly by the FBI, and Attorney General William Barr had tasked federal prosecutors with reviewing the case as part of his sustained scrutiny of convictions related to former special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Trump associates and the Russian interference efforts in the 2016 US elections. Barr has already forced prosecutors to reduce a sentencing recommendation for Roger Stone, a longtime Trump adviser, causing several federal prosecutors from the case to withdraw in protest. Barr had also previously caused prosecutors in the Flynn case to lower a sentencing recommendation. When the Justice Department moved to drop his case this week, it said in a filing that FBI agents had no valid reason to have questioned Flynn at the time he lied, and therefore couldn’t prove that a crime occurred.
Obama pointed to the Flynn case Friday—and the Trump administration’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic—as why November’s election is particularly important.
“So I am hoping that all of you feel the same sense of urgency that I do,” Obama said. “Whenever I campaign, I’ve always said, ‘Ah, this is the most important election.’ Especially obviously when I was on the ballot, that always feels like it’s the most important election. This one—I’m not on the ballot—but I am pretty darn invested. We got to make this happen.”