Kelly tells ⁦@nytmike⁩ that Trump wanted to use the IRS to investigate his perceived foes, including Comey and McCabe, who were in fact targeted with rare and highly intrusive audits after Kelly left the White House. nytimes.com/2022/11/13/us/… Trump routinely sought to use the power of his office to punish those he considered his enemies. Multiple examples reported in "THE DIVIDER: Trump in the White House, 2017-2021," w/@sbg1 include demanding that Kelly strip Brennan and Clapper of security clearances 50-75 times.

Recorded threats against members of Congress increased more than tenfold in the five years after Trump was elected in 2016, according to figures from the Capitol Police, with more than 9,625 threats reported in 2021. ⁦@CatieEdmondson⁩ nytimes.com/2022/10/29/us/… In a @nytimes review earlier this year of more than 75 indictments of people charged with threatening lawmakers, more than a third involved Republican or pro-Trump individuals threatening Democrats or Republicans they found insufficiently loyal to the former president.

Two highly anticipated books out today. Am already reading and enjoying "Unchecked," by ⁦@rachaelmbade⁩ ⁦and @karoun⁩⁩, the scoopy, in-depth account of the two Trump impeachments that will stand the test of time as the definitive record. amazon.com/gp/aw/d/006304… And look forward to diving into "Weapons of Mass Delusion," by the brilliant @DraperRobert who has chronicled the rise of the right for years with riveting inside-the-room narratives and deeply reported insight. No one does what he does better. amazon.com/gp/aw/d/059330…

Yesterday we bid farewell to Steve Glasser, my father-in-law, the father of @sbg1 and three other amazing children and the grandfather of seven wonderful grandchildren. (1) @sbg1 He was a business pioneer with the soul of a journalist who gave back to his community and believed deeply in America. As Susan said in her eulogy, the Fourth of July truly was his favorite holiday. He was a patriot not a partisan. (2)

"I will fight from the inside": How Trump and his generals went to war -- with each other. An excerpt from our new book "THE DIVIDER; Trump in the White House, 2017-2021," with ⁦@sbg1⁩ in this week's ⁦@NewYorker⁩ newyorker.com/magazine/2022/… @sbg1 @NewYorker When Trump kept pushing to have a military parade down the streets of Washington, one general pushed back: "It's what dictators do."

You know it's been a long pandemic when you finally return the place you've worked for 14 years and get off on the wrong floor because you can't remember where the office is. As for those of you who kindly wrote via snail mail over the last couple years, apologies for not getting back to you.

In almost every way, Putin seems to have achieved the opposite of what he ostensibly wanted. Instead of pushing the US out of Europe, there are more American troops back on the continent. Instead of driving a wedge into the West, he has unified it. (1) Instead of reversing NATO expansion, more countries are now clamoring to join. Instead of demonstrating strength, he has been frustrated so far by a second-tier military and outmaneuvered by a savvy television comic. (2)

Trump on Putin’s aggression into eastern Ukraine: "I said, 'This is genius.' Putin declares a big portion of the Ukraine — of Ukraine. Putin declares it as independent. Oh, that’s wonderful. … I said, 'How smart is that?’"

clayandbuck.com/president-trum… Trump adds: "By the way, this never would have happened with us. Had I been in office, not even thinkable….But here’s a guy that says, you know, ‘I'm gonna declare a big portion of Ukraine independent.' … You gotta say that’s pretty savvy."

Remember the first time I visited Bagram. It was fall 2001 and no American troops had gotten there yet. The base was completely abandoned and decrepit, a total wasteland. A couple colleagues and I wanted to track the bombing that had just begun so we spent the night ... (1) ... at the top of the abandoned air traffic control tower, where there was no electricity, running water or lights. All the windows had been smashed out and the wind gushed through the tower from 360 degrees, making it quite a dark and frigid night... (2)

Fifty years ago, the ⁦@nytimes⁩ published a secret official history of the Vietnam War called the Pentagon Papers, defying government efforts to suppress a free press. This gripping oral history takes us inside the room a half century later. nytimes.com/interactive/20… The oral history is part of this special section marking the anniversary of the case. nytimes.com/spotlight/the-…

The definitive inside look at Trump's campaign to overturn a democratic election that he lost, by the all-star team of ⁦@jimrutenberg⁩ ⁦@Jo_Becker⁩ ⁦@EricLiptonNYT⁩ ⁦@maggieNYT⁩ ⁦@jmartNYT⁩ ⁦@AllMattNYT⁩ ⁦@nytmike⁩ nytimes.com/2021/01/31/us/… How Kushner and Meadows reassured McConnell that Trump would eventually face reality and acknowledge defeat.

In a post-midnight announcement on his last day in office, Trump grants pardons or commutations to 143 people, including Steve Bannon, Kwame Kilpatrick, Elliott Broidy, Robin Hayes, Rick Renzi and Duke Cunningham. Not on the list: Giuliani, any member of the Trump family or Trump himself. Of course, there are 11 hours left.

Excited for our great friend @AshleyRParker as she takes over as White House bureau chief for the @washingtonpost. She’s done a stellar job these last four years and has earned a deserved reputation as a must-read by anyone who cares about Washington.

washingtonpost.com/pr/2021/01/19/… @AshleyRParker @washingtonpost She’s going to be joined by a formidable team including @agearan @seungminkim @AnnieLinskey
@CleveWootson @mviser @WaPoSean, each of them an all-star. They will be tough competition but good company in endless van pools.

As we near 400,000 covid deaths in the US in a year, ⁦@smervosh⁩ ⁦⁦@ByMikeBaker⁩ ⁦@PatriciaMazzei⁩ and ⁦@bymarkwalker⁩ look back on how it all went so wrong. nytimes.com/2021/01/17/us/… Chilling fact: Had the nation done what Washington State did in minimizing deaths, about 220,000 fewer people would be dead now.

In announcing that he will join a challenge to the electors, Hawley cites Democrats who did the same in 2005 after George W. Bush won reelection. He is right that a small number of Democrats in both houses objected then and forced a debate in both chambers … (1) … only the second time that had happened since the rules were adopted in 1877. The difference is that objectors said unambiguously that their goal was not to overturn the results but merely to prompt a discussion of what they saw as irregularities. … (2)

How would Trump be different in a second term? Really not much at all. “I think I’d be similar,” he said. Which is exactly what his supporters want and his opponents fear. nytimes.com/2020/08/27/us/… What’s one thing Trump would do differently if he had it to do over again? "I think it’s mostly people. I wouldn’t have used certain people,” he says.

Even the revered Brent Scowcroft didn’t always get his way. In a secret 20-year-old @Miller_Center oral history released for the first time since his death, he reflected on where he wished he had done things differently. nytimes.com/2020/08/12/us/… @Miller_Center Among other things, he said he tried to fire Gen. Schwarzkopf, wanted to keep the war going longer to destroy more of the Republican Guard, sought to reverse the ceasefire provision allowing Saddam Hussein to use his helicopters and would have bombed to save the Marsh Arabs.

RIP Brent Scowcroft, who served two presidents as national security adviser and was always a trusted steward of foreign policy through tumultuous times. It was 30 years ago this week that Iraq invaded Kuwait, touching off the global crisis that tested Scowcroft and his friends George Bush, Jim Baker and Dick Cheney. The @Miller_Center has a fascinating documentary on that team. pbs.org/show/statecraf…

Three presidents are paying tribute to John Lewis — Clinton, Bush 43 and Obama. You can watch here: nytimes.com/2020/07/30/us/… Bush: “Listen, John and I had our disagreements, of course, but in the America John Lewis fought for and the America that I believe in differences of opinion are inevitable elements and evidence of democracy in action.”

Powerful story on what went wrong: Trump's approach to the virus was not just a misjudgment but a deliberate strategy to pass off responsibility to the states. ⁦@shearm⁩ ⁦@noahweiland⁩ ⁦@EricLiptonNYT⁩ @maggieNYT⁩ ⁦@SangerNYT⁩ ⁦ nytimes.com/2020/07/18/us/… The virus task force was sidelined while Meadows convened a different group in his office with Birx the only health official included. She was a constant source of upbeat news for the president and his aides, walking the halls with charts emphasizing that outbreaks were easing.

Mary Trump's book comes out tomorrow and it's a fascinating inside look into the family that brought us our 45th president. Aside from some specific allegations (cheating his way to college by paying someone else to take his SAT), it offers a scathing assessment ... (1) of a man she portrays as deeply scarred by his upbringing: "Donald today is much as he was at three years old: incapable of growing, learning, or evolving, unable to regulate his emotions, moderate his responses, or take in and synthesize information. … " (2)