President Donald Trump dismissed intelligence reports that the Russian government was once again attempting to interfere in US elections. On Friday morning he tweeted angrily, “Another misinformation campaign is being launched by Democrats in Congress saying that Russia prefers me to any of the Do Nothing Democrat candidates who still have been unable to, after two weeks, count their votes in Iowa. Hoax number 7!” Except that the reports were not produced by Democrats, they were part of an intelligence briefing last week to House Intelligence Committee members. The New York Times reports that, “The president’s decision to remove Joseph Maguire, the acting director of national intelligence, and install Richard Grenell, the ambassador to Germany and a fervent loyalist, was also seen as a direct outcome of the briefing.” Trump declared that he would offer the permanent position of DNI to Georgia Representative Doug Collins, but Collins has turned him down. Last week’s intelligence briefing was led by an intelligence official named Shelby Pierson, who the Washington Post reports, “said several times during the briefing that Russia had ‘developed a preference’ for Trump, according to a U.S. official familiar with her comments.”

Meanwhile Trump backer Dana Rohrabacher, a former California Congressman, said on Thursday that he did in fact dangle a Presidential pardon to Wikileaks founder Julian Assange if Assange agreed to cover up Russia’s involvement in hacking the DNC server in 2016. Rohrabacher initially denied his actions after Assange’s lawyer made them public. Rohrabacher said to reporters, “I spoke to Julian Assange and told him if he would provide evidence about who gave WikiLeaks the emails I would petition the president to give him a pardon…He knew I could get to the president.” White House Press secretary Stephanie Grisham dismissed the account saying it was a “complete fabrication,” and that Trump, “barely knows Dana Rohrabacher” and has “never spoken to him on this subject or almost any subject.” Trump has often denied knowing people after they have made statements incriminating him, such as political operative Lev Parnas.  

Meanwhile Trump headed to Colorado on Thursday for a rally in support of his ally Senator Cory Gardner who faces reelection in November. A new non-partisan poll found that Gardner faces a tough race with Colorado voters now “leaning Democratic.” Trump’s speech was so off the rails that analysts used terms like “unhinged” to describe it. During a rally that was meant to shore up support for Gardner, Trump joked about staying in office for decades, swiped at actor Brad Pitt, mocked Democratic presidential candidate Amy Klobuchar,

FEATURING ROBIN ANDERSEN – The post-debate coverage on Thursday brought with it the usual obfuscations of and unabashed biases against the Democratic Party’s clear presidential front-runner. CNN in particular had the following headlines, “Stopping Bernie Sanders just got a lot harder,” and “How Bernie Sanders Became a Millionaire.” The so-called liberal media has shifted from what was called “the Bernie Blackout” some months ago, to overtly hostile and often uninformed analysis of the critically important presidential race. 

Read her latest article is called “Factchecking NPR’s Attempted Takedown of Bernie Sanders,” HERE.

Robin Andersen teaches media studies at Fordham University and writes for Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR). Her latest article is called “Factchecking NPR’s Attempted Takedown of Bernie Sanders.

FEATURING MARGARET KIMBERLEY – Every four years Democratic Party pollsters wring their hands about who will win over Black voters as an indicator of being able to win the general election. Black voters are considered critical for the Democratic Party and indeed it is a demographic that reliably votes for the liberal party. But once presidents are elected, do they actually work to change policies that have devastated black communities or do they take the community for granted?   

Margaret Kimberley is a New York-based writer and activist for peace and justice issues. She has been an Editor and Senior Columnist for Black Agenda Report since its inception in 2006. Her work has appeared in the Dallas Morning News, Consortium News, American Herald Tribune and CounterPunch. Her new book is called Prejudential: Black America and the Presidents.

The Democratic Party’s Presidential debate on Wednesday night featured six of the top polling candidates with former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg joining in for the first time. The debate took place in Nevada where the next primary contest is scheduled this Saturday in the form of a caucus. Bloomberg, who has spent more than $300 million of his own money to blanket media outlets with commercials, set high expectations for his appearance but left most analysts disappointed. Unlike the earlier debates, candidates did not hold back from criticizing one another and Senator Elizabeth Warren in particular strongly challenged Bloomberg on allegations of sexism, misogynist language, and racist policies like stop-and-frisk, and redlining. Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders who is the current front runner held his own, and also pushed back against Bloomberg. However questions from panelists ended up similar to previous debates with echoes of right wing talking points raised as challenges to progressive policy ideas. Here are some highlights from the debate. 

Meanwhile a new Huff Post/You Gov poll found that Democrats are largely satisfied with the field of candidates running to be the party’s nominee and see Senator Sanders as the front runner, likely to win the nomination. Sanders also cinched the endorsement of one of the nation’s most prominent Muslim advocacy organizations, Emgage Action. According to the organization’s CEO Wa’el Alzayat, “More than any other presidential candidate, Sen. Sanders has built a historically inclusive and forward-thinking movement: one that represents America as a set of ideas grounded in the belief that all humans are equal and worthy of a dignified life.” Emgage Action polled its members and about 75% backed Sanders. Former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, now retired but still a prominent figure in the Democratic Party, said this week that it was possible there would be a “brokered convention” in Milwaukee this summer. He told Associated Press, “We’ve had brokered conventions before, and we’ve always come up with good candidates. It’s not the end of the world. It just slows the process down.”

President Donald Trump’s friend and colleague Roger Stone has just been sentenced to more than 3 years in prison after being convicted of multiple federal charges in relation to the Special Counsel investigation of the President. Trump has flouted norms over the past two weeks openly attempting to interfere in the sentencing recommendations of his friend. Attorney General William Barr, who pulled back on the 7-9 year sentence recommendations made by federal prosecutors has said he may resign over Trump’s interference. Still, the federal judge in the case, Amy Berman Jackson, who Trump has also improperly targeted, said in a speech during the sentencing hearing that Stone was, “was not prosecuted for standing up for the president; he was prosecuted for covering up for the president.” She added, “The truth still exists, the truth still matters….Roger Stone’s insistence that it doesn’t, his belligerence, his pride in his own lies are a threat to our mo...

FEATURING MELINA ABDULLAH – Super Tuesday March 3rd, when voters in more than a dozen states including California vote in the primary elections, Los Angeles County will also be picking its District Attorney. Incumbent Jackie Lacey, who has faced protests from Black Lives Matter Los Angeles over her refusal to charge police officers responsible for fatal shootings, is fighting for her political life. Lacey faces two challengers, George Gascon and Rachel Rossi, both of who say they are the progressive alternative to her. 

Melina Abdullah, Professor and Chair of the Department of Pan African Studies at California State University of Los Angeles, active with the Los Angeles chapter of Black Lives Matter.

Reports emerged late on Tuesday that Attorney General William Barr is considering resigning from his position in the face of continued public taunting by President Donald Trump. According to an unnamed source within the Trump administration referring to Barr, “He has his limits.” The Post explained that, “Trump has defied Barr’s requests, both public and private, to keep quiet on matters of federal law enforcement. It was not immediately clear Tuesday whether Barr had made his posture known directly to Trump. The administration officials said Barr seemed to be sharing his position with advisers in hopes the president would get the message that he should stop weighing in publicly on the Justice Department’s ongoing criminal investigations.” Last week in an interview with ABC News, Barr said that Trump’s tweets on the matter of Roger Stone’s sentencing recommendations, were making it “impossible” for him to do his job. Meanwhile, unbowed, Trump declared himself the nation’s “chief law enforcement officer” – a title that is traditionally claimed by the Attorney General. Speaking to reporters Trump also admitted that his tweets make Barr’s job harder but added, “We have a great attorney general and he’s working very hard.” Meanwhile top Republican lawmakers rallied around Barr including Senators Mitch McConnell and Lindsey Graham and Representative Kevin McCarthy, all of whom signed on to a letter saying that Barr was, “a man of the highest character and unquestionable integrity.” 

Trump on Tuesday issued pardons and sentence commutations for 11 people, with the highest profile clemency granted to former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich, a Democrat, who had been serving a 14-year sentence on a corruption conviction. Blagojevich had been a contestant on Trump’s show The Celebrity Apprentice. Republican state lawmakers in Illinois slammed Trump’s decision saying that Blagojevich was, “the face of public corruption.” Trump also pardoned Paul Pogue, a man who was serving a sentence over tax fraud and whose family donated $200,000 to Trump’s presidential campaign. And he pardoned Bernard Kerik, a former New York Police Commissioner who has been pointed out as being, “a frequent Mar-a-Lago guest and Fox News pundit.” Analysts pointed out a striking pattern that Trump’s pardons and sentence commutations of people who have committed very similar crimes to his own. 

The top six Democratic Presidential contenders are debating one another in Nevada on Wednesday evening.

FEATURING BETH ROTMAN – The latest national poll of voter preferences for the Democratic Party primary shows former New York mayor Mike Bloomberg jumping 15 percentage points to second place in the race. Bloomberg has surged past former Vice President Joe Biden and Senator Elizabeth Warren to poll at 19% support now. 

He has spent hundreds of millions of dollars of his own limitless resources on ad buys around the country blanketing television stations and online spaces with his face. 

But, as journalists dig into his past Bloomberg’s own crass statements and rightwing policies have sown doubt. Yet, a growing number of progressive and liberal organizations and individuals have puzzlingly endorsed Bloomberg for President. 

The New York Times over the weekend explained why – Bloomberg has spent billions of dollars supporting causes over many years, and organizations beholden to his charitable giving may be worried about crossing their largest funder.

Beth Rotman, Money in Politics & Ethics Program Director for Common Cause.

FEATURING ISABELLA COTA SCHWARZ – While many of us are familiar with rightwing Christian evangelical efforts to undermine women’s reproductive rights here in the US, an insidious network of American-run clinics worldwide has been found to be pushing their anti-abortion message. 

A new investigation by Open Democracy found that the Trump-linked organization Heartbeat International based in Ohio, operates so-called Crisis Pregnancy Centers in 18 different countries. Journalists went undercover for this first-of-its kind investigation and found such centers were spreading misinformation and outright lies in order to deter women from having abortions. 

Read her article ‘“Revealed: US-linked anti-abortion centres ‘lie’ and ‘scare women’ across Latin America,” HERE, the full report “Exclusive: Trump-linked religious ‘extremists’ target women with disinformation worldwide,” HERE, and all the 50.50 investigation pieces, HERE.

Isabella Cota Schwarz is a journalist focused on finance and investigative reporting. She was a correspondent for Reuters and Bloomberg News in the United Kingdom, Costa Rica and in her native Mexico before becoming independent. She has worked with Quinto Elemento Lab and her work has been published in The Guardian, The Independent, Univision and BusinessWeek, among others. She authored a story on Open Democracy entitled, “Revealed: US-linked anti-abortion centres ‘lie’ and ‘scare women’ across Latin America.” It is part of a broader story called Trump-linked religious ‘extremists’ target women with disinformation worldwide.

President Donald Trump has continued his attempts to influence a federal case against his friend Roger Stone despite widespread and bipartisan condemnation of his unethical interference into the matter and even a public denunciation by his own Attorney General William Barr. On Tuesday morning Trump tweeted, “Everything having to do with this fraudulent investigation is badly tainted and, in my opinion, should be thrown out.” He added, “If I wasn’t President, I’d be suing everyone all over the place… ….BUT MAYBE I STILL WILL. WITCH HUNT!” Trump has echoed the request by Roger Stone’s lawyers for a new trial and has also taken specific aim at the federal Judge on the case, Amy Jackson Berman, who refused to delay Stone’s sentencing. She said the sentencing hearing would take place this Thursday as planned. Meanwhile the Federal Judges Association has called an emergency meeting to discuss Trump and Barr’s improper interference in federal cases. The Association’s members include 1,100 lifetime federal judges that ordinarily focus on judicial compensation legislation involving judges, and other non-political matters. And on Sunday more than 2,000 former employees of the Justice Department called on Mr. Barr to resign. 

In election-related news, the latest national poll of voter preferences conducted by NPR, PBS Newshour and Marist has found Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders surging by 9 percentage points and retaining his front runner status with 31% support now. Former New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg also jumped 15 points to come in second place at 19%. Former Vice President Joe Biden is now at 15% while Senator Elizabeth Warren is at 12%. Meanwhile Sanders has earned the backing of a prominent Latino organization Mijente. Politico reported that Mijente, which has never before endorsed a Presidential candidate, asked its members to vote for their preference and 70% voted to endorse Sanders. The Vermont Senator drew a massive crowd of 17,000 people at the Tacoma Dome near Seattle in Washington on Monday night and among his main messages was a warning against Bloomberg.

The New York Times over the weekend detailed the immense “Empire of Influence” that Bloomberg has bought for himself, donating billions of dollars of his fortune to organizations, many of which are now loathe to criticize him or have even outright endorsed his presidential bid. The Times explained, “A former Republican who joined the Democratic Party in 2018, Mr. Bloomberg has long mingled support for progressive causes with more conservative positions on law enforcement,

FEATURING ANU JOSHI – New York Governor Andrew Cuomo met with President Trump on Thursday to negotiate a resumption of the “trusted travelers” programs that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) had recently suspended in his state. In a letter to New York State officials, acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf said that the move was in direct response to the recent passage of the Driver’s License Access and Privacy Act in New York. The law allows undocumented immigrants the right to obtain legal drivers licenses and protects their identity from the federal government.  

Anu Joshi, Senior Director of Immigrant Rights Policy at the New York Immigration Coalition.