The News Not Noise Letter: The Special Counsel’s 388-Page Biden Burn Book
Comparing the Biden and Trump classified documents cases. Plus: SCOTUS abortion news, and puppy-themed news that doesn’t suck.
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What a week. We started with an atmospheric river, then watched Republicans kill the immigration bill they had proposed, opted not to watch a bizarre Putin sit-down interview, and are closing with a bizarre report by a special counsel who declined to charge President Biden but accused him of being in decline. It’s been highly irregular. So in today’s newsletter, we’ve got the news, and then a whole section on dog news that doesn’t suck. Woof. Paid subscribers, hello! At the end you’ll find links to recordings from two Zoom sessions:
My briefing on the 2024 election
Conversation with Dr. Aliza Pressman on parenting.
Also, a few fun social posts.
Classified Documents: Biden vs. Trump
Thursday the special counsel investigating President Biden’s mishandling of classified documents released a 388-page report – and it was, shall we say, a mixed bag. On the one hand, he declined to bring criminal charges against President Biden or his aides. On the other, he went out of his way to cast doubt on Biden’s mental acuity and therefore, indirectly, his fitness for office. Let’s break this down into two parts. First, the substance: How is the Biden classified docs case different from Trump’s? Here are key differences:
Crime: Trump: indicted on 40 felony counts. Biden: Not indicted.
Amount: Trump: had around 300 classified documents. Biden: fewer than 20 documents.
Contents: Trump: Documents contained information that would make the US extremely vulnerable if revealed. This included: information about allies’ and adversaries’ military and nuclear capabilities + US human sources (i.e. spies). Biden: Docs included military and policy info about Afghanistan + Biden notebooks from his time as VP, containing some highly classified information.
Location: Trump: Stored at Mar-a-Lago accessible to the public and/or staff (Remember the bathroom picture?) Biden: stored in garage of his Delaware house and private DC office.
The Primary Reason Trump is Charged and Biden is Not:
Obstruction vs. Cooperation: Trump: He is indicted mostly for his alleged obstruction. Examples, per the indictment: Trump waited 8 months to address requests to return documents. Then told his attorney to lie to the FBI, told his aides to “hide or destroy” subpoenaed documents, misled his lawyers into signing a false certification, and tried to “delete security camera footage” at Mar-a-Lago to “conceal information from the FBI.” 102 of the roughly 300 documents he took were only retrieved when the FBI searched Mar-a-Lago. Biden: Per the special counsel, Biden fully cooperated. He “alerted authorities, turned in documents,” allowed investigators to search his properties, and sat for a 5-hour interview with the special counsel.
The Politics: The report described Biden as a “well-meaning, elderly man” with a “significantly limited” memory and “diminished faculties” who “struggl[es] to remember events.” Oof. Congressional Republicans seized on this to argue that Biden is “unfit for the Oval Office.” The White House is calling the report “politically motivated,” “misleading,” and “plain wrong.” And the White House counsel’s office has asked the Special Counsel to revise the report and exclude “highly prejudicial language.” (Special Counsel Robert Hur, a Republican, served in Trump’s Department of Justice.) It’s being compared to the Comey report, credited by some with causing Hillary Clinton to lose the 2016 election to Trump.
Some comparisons: When Trump testified to Robert Mueller he said he couldn’t recall 36 times in response to written questions. President Biden is forgetful – and so is Trump. Here’s a mash up of some recent Trump gaffes. (Biden is 81; Trump is 77). Defenders point out that the Biden White House has racked up significant accomplishments which would be hard to achieve if Biden were so out to lunch he couldn’t even remember when his son died (an allegation in the report that he disputes).
So why does a narrative about mental decline stick to Biden and not to Trump? Since the day Biden took office, Trump and allies have been on attack, promoting real and manipulated video on social and conservative media showing Biden walking into bushes, tripping and falling, forgetting his words. The prosecutor’s report feeds a Trump-fueled narrative about a Biden in mental decline. Also, to be real, Trump seems more physically and verbally energetic.
Meantime the Biden team has done little to go on the offensive. Compare: when the Trump DOJ released the Mueller report, AG Bill Barr attached a cover letter spinning and massaging the most damaging parts of the report. Barr also held a press conference shaping the narrative. With this week’s report AG Merrick Garland didn’t so much as issue a statement and the White House got technical. So the media did what the media does, grabbing and running with the most damaging story — fed and fanned by social media and political opponents.
Has anyone met Donald Trump? He’s always on the attack.
So Trump is the one going on trial for his classified docs; Biden’s the one who’s taking a blow.
Here are some other stories you should know:
SCOTUS Abortion News: A scientific paper key to the argument against the abortion pill was retracted by its publisher. The study was cited three times by a federal judge who ruled against access to mifepristone; that case is now before the Supreme Court. The publisher found that the researchers who conducted this study — and two others — were affiliated with antiabortion groups, and their work “demonstrate(d) a lack of scientific rigor that invalidates or renders unreliable the authors' conclusions.”
Evacuating Rafah: Israeli PM Netanyahu says the Israeli military will soon “go into Rafah, Hamas’ last bastion.” He’s asked the IDF to draw up plans to first evacuate Rafah, where more than 1.4 million Palestinians are seeking refuge. With 60% of housing units in Gaza destroyed, per the UN, it’s unclear where inside Gaza civilians could move.
Putin/Tucker: Continuing the theme of highly irregular behavior, Tucker Carlson gave Vladimir Putin a 2-hour platform to air grievances, and generally spew distortions and lies. One wonders whose interests this interview served.
Ukraine & Israel Funding: After the Senate’s border deal fell apart this week, the Senate managed to salvage a foreign aid package, voting 67-32 to advance funding for Ukraine and Israel. Lawmakers say they’re working over the weekend to try to get the bill to the House, but no one can say if Speaker Johnson will even bring it to a vote. That would be very bad news for Ukraine – and very good news for Putin
Good News For Wings Fans: The price of chicken wings is falling, just in time for the Super Bowl. Compared to a year ago, fresh chicken wing prices are down 5%, and frozen wing prices are down 11%. Why is this news? It’s the latest indicator of cooling inflation as the economy recovers. (And it means you can chow down for cheaper this Super Bowl Sunday!)
Here’s some news that doesn’t suck, dog edition:
There’s a lot of good news about good boys (and girls) out there right now, so we rounded up a few of our favorite canine headlines here for you.
New Tricks: Clinical trials have begun for the first anti-aging pill for dogs. You read that right. 1,000 qualifying dogs (14 lbs or more, 10 years or older) will be given the chewable pill and their lifespan and wellbeing will be monitored for four years, compared with dogs given a placebo. The company that produces the pill, a startup called Loyal, hopes their drug can extend puppy lifespan by at least a year. And researchers are optimistic that studying anti-aging treatments in mammals like dogs could lead to breakthroughs in similar treatments for humans. (Hopefully, the human version won’t be a chewy meat-flavored tablet, but you never know!)
Doggy Dreams: This story is having a moment on social media right now. A Harvard psychiatrist specializing in dreams says that dogs probably dream of their owners. How can anyone possibly know this? Scans of dogs’ brains while they sleep show their sleep cycles work similarly to humans’, with a portion of sleep involving rapid eye movement (REM sleep). REM sleep is the sleep phase when humans dream, and human dreams usually involve the things and people we frequently see or think about – even if these elements are recombined in strange, bizarre scenes. Because we know that dogs are very attached to their owners, researchers say it seems likely that our puppies’ subconscious conjures up our faces, voices, and smells when they’re dreaming. Or it could just be all in our heads. (I think Bruno mostly dreams about snacks….)
