Somebody is filling the mailboxes of Washington reporters and investigators with a report that bluntly claims retired Gen. James Mattis, President Trump’s “mad dog” first Pentagon chief, authored the famous New York Times hit piece “Anonymous” and a longer book, A Warning.
The 33-page report, titled, “Disclosure of Anonymous: 2020 election,” suggests that the goal of the attacks by Anonymous was to set Mattis up for a 2020 presidential bid. It looks somewhat authentic and even includes blacked-out sections, but a source with a knowledge of who Anonymous is laughed it off. Mattis has also denied it. …
- Jockeying has started on the House Energy and Commerce Committee among Republicans eager to replace retiring Rep. Greg Walden. There’s buzz Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers is a leading choice. But others are pointing to committee elder Rep. Michael C. Burgess, who has expanded his fundraising team with a goal of filling GOP coffers. He just added Erin Casey French as his new Washington fundraiser to his Texas team headed by Susan Lilly.
- U.S. Customs and Border Protection does a lot more than catch and deport illegal immigrants, and acting Commissioner Mark A. Morgan is on a campaign to tell the story of how his agents last year saved the lives of nearly 5,000 migrants, such as those crossing the Rio Grande. “I think this is just one of those stories that just gets lost,” he said. “They’re putting their lives on the line to rescue those people, 4,900 individuals that I truly believe that had CBP not been there, they would have perished.”
- Geoquant, a “political risk intelligence platform” driven by artificial intelligence, is predicting President Trump’s reelection. The company tell us that its “Instability Risk Indicator” is lower than it was in 2016 ad 2018, suggesting “government turnover is unlikely in the 2020 election.”
