I saw this tweet the instant it was posted and laughed at how it reminds me of the famous July 25th call between Trump and Zelensky. He doesnt explicitly say, If you want this public benefit from me, I need a personal benefit from you, but by linking the two in the same communication its clear in context what hes proposing.
Im seeing Governor Cuomo today at The White House. He must understand that National Security far exceeds politics. New York must stop all of its unnecessary lawsuits & harrassment, start cleaning itself up, and lowering taxes. Build relationships, but dont bring Fredo!
Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 13, 2020
He met Cuomo today to discuss the federal Global Entry program for trusted travelers at airports. A week ago DHS announced that New Yorkers would be excluded from that program due to the states passage of a Green Light Law. The Green Light Law is designed to protect illegal immigrants, who are allowed to apply for drivers licenses in New York. It keeps the feds from being able to access the states DMV database, which could be used by ICE to target illegals for deportation, without a court order. If we cant see the database then you cant be part of Global Entry, countered DHS. Trump and Cuomo got together today in Washington to see if some sort of compromise might be worked out.
So far, so good. Its the bit in the tweet about unnecessary lawsuits & harrassment (or harassment) thats noteworthy. Various lawsuits have been filed by New York against the Trump administration but thats par for the course with a Democratic state and a Republican administration or vice versa. The lawsuits in New York that have made headlines are the ones the state has filed against Trump personally. There are a lot of them, from the successful effort to shut down his foundation (which resulted in a $2 million payment to various charities by the president) to an investigation of the Trump Organizations finances to the coming Supreme Court battle over whether the Manhattan D.A. can subpoena Trumps tax returns from his accountants.
Harassment is clearly a reference to those personal lawsuits. Public lawsuits by a state against the feds are cumbersome but S.O.P. in politics. Trump himself would rarely have reason to get involved in them. If hes being harassed, its by the politically motivated investigations into his and his businesss finances.
And so, in context, it looks like hes saying that if Cuomo wants a deal on Global Entry, making those investigations go away would help oil the gears a bit.
Democrats saw the tweet too and are going nuts about it:
Trump abused his power to coerce Ukraine into announcing investigations for his personal benefit by freezing military aid.
Now, he's using his powers to coerce states to stop investigations into him and his businesses.
Different corrupt purpose, same corrupt President. https://t.co/4pBqY8gAnI
Adam Schiff (@RepAdamSchiff) February 13, 2020
https://twitter.com/RepJerryNadler/status/1228040600232103937
Trump is publicly admitting that he is holding Global Entry for New Yorkers hostage in exchange for dropping lawsuits against him and his familys lawbreaking behavior.
This is corrupt, illegal, and authoritarian.
Hope Collins and Murkowski are proud of their vote. https://t.co/I49Ksj7VAm
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) February 13, 2020
As we predicted, the president is now expanding his abuse of power to blackmailing U.S. states (threatening millions of people he supposedly works for).
In this case, he's holding New York state hostage to try to stop investigations into his prior tax fraud. https://t.co/dZKhhVhMZd
Rep. Val Demings (@RepValDemings) February 13, 2020
Politico notes this passage from House Dems brief in the impeachment trial:
An acquittal would also provide license to President Trump and his successors to use taxpayer dollars for personal political ends Presidents could also hold hostage federal funds earmarked for States such as money for natural disasters, highways, and healthcare unless and until State officials perform personal political favors, the House wrote in its impeachment trial brief. Any Congressional appropriation would be an opportunity for a President to solicit a favor for his personal political purposes or for others to seek to curry favor with him. Such an outcome would be entirely incompatible with our constitutional system of self-government.
Theres no appropriation at stake this time but access to Global Entry for New Yorkers is obviously a benefit.
Meanwhile, New Yorks attorney general chimed in to tell him that Cuomo doesnt get to make deals about lawsuits:
When you stop violating the rights and liberties of all New Yorkers, we will stand down.
Until then, we have a duty and responsibility to defend the Constitution and the rule of law.
BTW, I file the lawsuits, not the Governor. https://t.co/tsOLeEgiQp
NY AG James (@NewYorkStateAG) February 13, 2020
In the Ukraine matter, his defense to charges that hed abused his power was that its in the public interest to investigate possible corruption by a former high official like Joe Biden. (Why he wanted a country like Ukraine which he regarded as untrustworthy to carry out that investigation has never been fully explained.) He wasnt going after Joe because he thought Biden would be his opponent in the election, he insisted, he was going after him in the name of draining the swamp. In this case Im guessing the defense will be that he was only referring to the lawsuits filed against his administration, not against him or his business although whether itd be appropriate for the president to condition a public benefit on a state withdrawing a possibly meritorious lawsuit against his government is itself an open question. That could be defended as also in the public interest, I suppose. Leaning on them to withdraw a personal suit is far more dubious.
He could always go with the old no quid pro quo defense and insist that he didnt mean to imply that Global Entrys fate in New York is linked to his personal fate in New York courts. The programs not named in the tweet, is it? Maybe he just happened to be thinking of Cuomo and New York, without regard to the subject of their meeting, and his mind turned to those lawsuits. Or he could do what he did with Ukraines military aid and squeeze Cuomo and New Yorkers for as long as possible before finally relenting when the political heat gets too hot. We readmitted New York to Global Entry in the end, didnt we? So whats the problem?
Maybe he wont bother offering a defense. He doesnt really need to. Pelosis being as clear as she can be that shes in no mood to chase new Trump scandals, including the big one right now involving Bill Barr and Roger Stone. Democrats are ready to get back on message policy-wise so hes free to use public benefits as personal leverage as he deems fit.
Ah well. Heres something fun thats impeachment-related Adam Schiff admitting that Hunter Biden accepting a position at a company he had no business joining maybe wasnt the best optics.
Democrat Rep. Adam Schiff: Joe Bidens son on Burismas board at a minimum an appearance of a conflicthttps://t.co/4FOcnXYhrN pic.twitter.com/F1aIK9zVXG
RNC Research (@RNCResearch) February 13, 2020