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Sam Berger
@SamBerger_DC
, 4 tweets, 2 min read Read on Twitter
I helped manage the 2013 shutdown at OMB, so believe me when I say that they get exponentially harder to manage as time goes on. Agencies run out of carryover $, grant recipients able to cover a short time w/o federal funds can't any more, and unexpected issues crop up.
This type of management challenge is hard enough when you have a competent, committed group of people doing their best. But when you're relying on the most incompetent administration in modern American history...that's a recipe for disaster.
Great ex. from @meghanncuniff, John Waters, and @JoelAchenbach: to limit political blowback, Trump is keeping parks open w/o enough personnel. It exposes parks to damage and visitors to danger. But WH put politics over safety and our national treasures.
washingtonpost.com/national/in-sh…
“This is the first time in a long-term shutdown where the parks have remained open,” said the superintendent for the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. “What we’re finding now is it’s not really working, because you’ve got understaffing.”
washingtonpost.com/energy-environ…
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More from @SamBerger_DC see all

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Sam Berger
@SamBerger_DC
It feels like every day Trump or some other Republican floats another plan to provoke a constitutional crisis by illegally building the wall. They can be hard to track.

So here's a short thread explaining the GOP's very uncool and very illegal proposals.
First, Trump's proposal to illegally divert funding from military construction projects. He would have to declare an emergency that "requires the use of the armed forces." No such one exists, and no emergency allows Trump to turn the military into his private construction co. /2
The plan is illegal. Former DoD Deputy General Counsel Bob Taylor suggests that, before following any order from Trump to carry it out, military officials should consider "their potential criminal exposure." /3
justsecurity.org/62168/beware-p…
Read 7 tweets
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Sam Berger
@SamBerger_DC
Yesterday's confirmation that the FBI was investigating if Trump was a Russian asset has significant national security and political implications. But it also may severely curtail Trump's ability to pardon his way out of trouble.
👇 thread
nytimes.com/2019/01/11/us/…
As @benjaminwittes writes: the NYT report suggests "obstruction was the collusion, or at least part of it." The obstruction statute is "merely one set of statutes investigators might think about using to deal with a national security risk." /2
lawfareblog.com/what-if-obstru…
We know that Mueller is viewing collusion as a wide-ranging conspiracy - we know this, in part, b/c those are the charges he has brought against Russians involved in election interference. So Wittes' analysis suggests obstruction should be viewed as part of that conspiracy. /3
Read 5 tweets
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Sam Berger
@SamBerger_DC
Fascinating analysis by @benjaminwittes that obstruction is part of collusion. It's impt for another reason: it would significantly limit the president's ability to pardon co-conspirators. Pardons don't work when they're part of the conspiracy.
justsecurity.org/62174/pardon-f…
As I say in my piece: "the special counsel might argue that, to the extent the pardon recipient was a part of the larger conspiracy to interfere in the 2016 election, this subsequent act was a continuation of that conspiracy. [continued]
"After all, the use of the pardon power in this manner would interfere with lawful government functions by preventing enforcement of the law with respect to the election interference that is the subject of the larger conspiracy."
Read 3 tweets

Related threads

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✡️ Josh Shahryar ☪️
@JShahryar
Trump’s problem is that instead of writing Art of the Deal he should have read Art of War in which Sun Tzu advises that in battle, always leave your enemy a way out. For 2 years, he and the GOP refused compromise to give Dems an out. The only thing they can expect now is a fight.
IF Trump or the GOP had compromised, they could demand it back. They could at least portray themselves as people willing and capable if it. Instead, at every turn, they went for maximum gain without consideration for tomorrow. Two years of unfettered and uncompromising power.
It’s as if you have an enemy surrounded, but the enemy is still formidable... it wants to escape, but it is capable of fighting. The best idea per Art of War is to leave an escape route. Break the encirclement at some point. Make retreat more attractive than continued hostility.
Read 11 tweets
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Kenneth P. Vogel
@kenvogel
NEW: It's not just Democrats who want more information about the TRUMP administration's move to lift sanctions on Russian oligarch OLEG DERIPASKA's businesses. The GOP staff of the Senate Banking Committee is working with Dems to review the decision. nytimes.com/2019/01/04/us/…
But the TRUMP administration's sanctions relief for OLEG DERIPASKA's companies was timed to make it all-but-impossible for Congress to block. And even if it were announced at a different time, it's highly unlikely that Senate Republicans would block it. nytimes.com/2019/01/04/us/…
I asked the @USTreasury about challenges to its sanctions relief for the PUTIN-allied oligarch OLEG DERIPASKA.
Treasury referred me to a spokesman who handles sanctions. His email said he was “currently out of the office on furlough." #shutdown nytimes.com/2019/01/04/us/…
Read 3 tweets
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Roscoe B Davis🎖⭐️⭐️⭐️
@RoscoeBDavis1
On Oct 26 2006 Congress passed The Secure Fence Act 120 STAT. 2638 PUBLIC LAW 109–367 with 283 votes in the House & 80 in the Senate, including unanimous Democratic support. This included $20 billion in funding for multi layer fencing along about 600 miles of the US-Mexico border
This wasn't a solid 600 miles of continuous fencing along the border, this was bits and pieces, mostly erected with surplus Marston Mats used by the Military to laydown in areas that the ground isn't solid enough to handle landing gear, the military has mountains of it.
in 2007 Congress made clear it didn't really mean what it said. The new law was amended to make fence building optional. so you ended up with very little fencing and $20 billion pretty much unaccounted for, dispersed to heavens knows where. No one was held accountable for the $$
Read 29 tweets
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open the borders!!
@grenadine
You may see that El*n M*sk said he would fix Flint water, then instantly backpedaled, claiming the water was safe.

Here’s a short thread from me about why passing leather lead & copper rule does NOT mean Flint water is necessarily safe.
Lead is a generational problem. Even if the water were fixed TOMORROW, there are a lot of kids with serious, persistent, long term damage that will need support.
And those kids in Flint go to schools where they can’t drink the water.

In some of the best schools in Flint, some of the teachers don’t have control of their classrooms. There was an issue recently at a school where teachers were just like, habitually not in their rooms
Read 24 tweets
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Eketi Edima Ette
@eketiette
Are you one of those people who's looked back on 2017 and convinced yourself that you haven't achieved anything? Worried about catching up with your mates who seem to have done much better?

Let me tell you a story about #time.

A thread 👇
A long #time ago, back when I was about twelve or thirteen years old, my parents travelled to Uyo.

Before leaving, my mother asked me to prepare Edikang ikong soup so she and my father would eat when they returned.
When I was finished with the soup, it was supposed to look something like this:

*photo credit: waiter foodies.
Read 32 tweets
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VictoryOfTheLight
@KibBitzLaw
operationdisclosure.blogspot.com/?m=1
For the record, this had news of the Zimbabwe Coup prior to any media outlet picking it up. Mugabe had to be taken out bc he has been a puppet for decades who hides wealth of western banking cartel.
U.S. military is “technically” in Africa to fight ISIS, but that’s only half the story.

Remember who funds ISIS. 😏
Read 17 tweets

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