Morning Bulletin – Wednesday, April 22, 2009
A roundup of news, schedules, and key stories from CBS News:
To celebrate Earth Day 2009, President Obama travels to Newton, Iowa, today where he will tour Trinity Structural Towers at 1:20 p.m. ET, a former Maytag plant which now manufactures wind energy products. He will give remarks on the components of his energy plan at 2 p.m. ET.
“President Barack Obama is going on the road to pitch his energy plan — as well as environmentally friendly jobs production — in a hard-hit Iowa town, while administration officials make a similar push back in Washington,” the Associated Press writes.
Wall Street Journal’s Stephen Power, “EPA Previews Carbon Caps’ Impact”
BREAKING NEWS
Fairfax, VA police confirm the acting Chief Financial Officer of Freddie Mac committed suicide.
Here is his biography.
CBS News/AP: “Freddie Mac Exec Found Dead At Home”
ALSO, Vice President Biden, home in Washington, will make a “Recovery Act announcement,” according to the White House at the New Carrollton subway station at 9:30 a.m. ET. Later he will be awarded the Legal Momentum Hero Award for his work fighting domestic violence at Georgetown University.
FOREIGN AFFAIRS
“Fidel Castro said Tuesday that President Obama "misinterpreted" his brother Raul's sentiments toward the United States and bristled at any suggestion Cuba should free political prisoners or reduce official fees on money sent to the island from the U.S.” the Associated Press reports.
USA Today’s Kevin Johnson, “Former U.S. Officers To Train Mexican Police In Cartel Fight”
The Hill’s J. Taylor Rushing, “Senate Confirms Hill As Iraq Ambassador”
ECONOMY/BAILOUTS
Two months after Steven Rattner left Wall Street for Washington, his private investment company is facing a widening investigation into corruption in public pension funds — and fighting for its future,” The New York Time’s Louise Story reports.
New York Times, “For Housing Crisis, the End Probably Isn’t Near”
Washington Post, “Geithner Hints At High Bar In Letting Banks Repay Aid”
Wall Street Journal’s Damian Paletta and Deborah Solomon, “Financial Firms Lobby To Cut Cost Of TARP Exit”
CIA INTERROGATION MEMOS
“Intelligence and military officials under the Bush administration began preparing to conduct harsh interrogations long before they were granted legal approval to use such methods -- and weeks before the CIA captured its first high-ranking terrorism suspect, Senate investigators have concluded,” The Washington Post’s Joby Warrick and Peter Finn report.
“In a series of high-level meetings in 2002, without a single dissent from cabinet members or lawmakers, the United States for the first time officially embraced the brutal methods of interrogation it had always condemned,” the New York Times’ Scott Shane and Mark Mazzetti write.
“This extraordinary consensus was possible, an examination by The New York Times shows, largely because no one involved — not the top two C.I.A. officials who were pushing the program, not the senior aides to President George W. Bush, not the leaders of the Senate and House Intelligence Committees — investigated the gruesome origins of the techniques they were approving with little debate.”
CBS News’ Brian Montopoli, “Hot Topic: Is "Enhanced Interrogation" Justifiable?”
“Senior Bush administration officials made possible the spread of aggressive interrogation methods from Guantanamo to Afghanistan and Iraq, according to a report released Tuesday by the Senate Armed Services Committee,” the Wall Street Journal’s Jess Bravin writes.
100 DAYS/OBAMA ADMINISTRATION
“Ellen Moran, the White House communications director, is leaving her job after three months to be the chief of staff to Commerce Secretary Gary Locke, a White House official confirmed on Tuesday,” The New York Times’ Jackie Calmes writes.
LA Times’ Paul Richter, “Obama Invites Israeli, Palestinian and Egyptian Leaders For Talks”
CBS News’ Michelle Levi, “Obama To Celebrate 100th Day in St. Louis”
CONGRESS: Members of the House Financial Services Committee will hold a press conference on their mark up of the Credit Cardholders Bill of Rights this afternoon.
The Washington Post’s R. Jeffrey Smith, Walter Pincus and Jerry Markon report that, “the U.S. government may abandon espionage-law charges against two former lobbyists for a pro-Israel advocacy group, officials said yesterday, as a prominent House lawmaker denied new allegations that she offered to use her influence in their behalf.”
Wall Street Journal’s Peter Spiegel, Siobhan Gorman and Evan Perez, “Harman Seeks Release Of Transcripts”
Politico’s David Rogers, “Budgets Fall Short Of Obama’s Mandate”
Less than a month after the Justice Department asked a judge to drop the case against former Senator Ted Stevens of Alaska because of prosecutorial misconduct, 75 former state attorneys general from both parties have urged Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. to conduct a similar investigation of the prosecution of former Gov. Don Siegelman of Alabama, who was convicted nearly three years ago on bribery and corruption charges,” The New York Times’ John Schwartz and Charlie Savage report.
NY 20 CONGRESSIONAL RACE
Albany Times Union’s Irene Jay Liu, “Latest in the 20th: “Latest in the 20th: Murphy up by 273; Court Wrangling But End May Be Near”
USA Today, “Ex-NRCC Chair Says GOP Lost New York Special Election”
MINNESOTA SENATE RECOUNT
AP, ”Minnesota: Franken Urges Fast Appeal”
Politico’s Daniel Libit, “Franken, Coleman Press Aides Carry On”
FUTURE RACES
“Despite Democratic control of the White House and Congress, Republicans are holding their own in the money race, outraising the opposition in the national party sweepstakes, nearly matching them in the Senate, and trailing badly only in fundraising for next year's House races,” The Washington Times’ Donald Lambro reports.
2010 AZ Senate: CBS News’s Brian Montopoli, “Minuteman To Challenge McCain In Primary”
2010 PA Senate: Allentown Morning Call’s Scott Kraus, “Specter-Toomey Rematch May Force a Choice Between Ideology and Electability”
2010 CT Senate: Politico’s Glenn Thrush, “Dodd’s Presidential Campaign Sees Red”
NY Governor 2010: Politico’s Kenneth P. Vogel, “Religious Right Defends Rudy”
(AP)
“President Barack Obama is going on the road to pitch his energy plan — as well as environmentally friendly jobs production — in a hard-hit Iowa town, while administration officials make a similar push back in Washington,” the Associated Press writes.
Wall Street Journal’s Stephen Power, “EPA Previews Carbon Caps’ Impact”
BREAKING NEWS
Fairfax, VA police confirm the acting Chief Financial Officer of Freddie Mac committed suicide.
Here is his biography.
CBS News/AP: “Freddie Mac Exec Found Dead At Home”
ALSO, Vice President Biden, home in Washington, will make a “Recovery Act announcement,” according to the White House at the New Carrollton subway station at 9:30 a.m. ET. Later he will be awarded the Legal Momentum Hero Award for his work fighting domestic violence at Georgetown University.
FOREIGN AFFAIRS
(AP)
USA Today’s Kevin Johnson, “Former U.S. Officers To Train Mexican Police In Cartel Fight”
The Hill’s J. Taylor Rushing, “Senate Confirms Hill As Iraq Ambassador”
ECONOMY/BAILOUTS
Two months after Steven Rattner left Wall Street for Washington, his private investment company is facing a widening investigation into corruption in public pension funds — and fighting for its future,” The New York Time’s Louise Story reports.
New York Times, “For Housing Crisis, the End Probably Isn’t Near”
Washington Post, “Geithner Hints At High Bar In Letting Banks Repay Aid”
Wall Street Journal’s Damian Paletta and Deborah Solomon, “Financial Firms Lobby To Cut Cost Of TARP Exit”
CIA INTERROGATION MEMOS
(AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
“In a series of high-level meetings in 2002, without a single dissent from cabinet members or lawmakers, the United States for the first time officially embraced the brutal methods of interrogation it had always condemned,” the New York Times’ Scott Shane and Mark Mazzetti write.
“This extraordinary consensus was possible, an examination by The New York Times shows, largely because no one involved — not the top two C.I.A. officials who were pushing the program, not the senior aides to President George W. Bush, not the leaders of the Senate and House Intelligence Committees — investigated the gruesome origins of the techniques they were approving with little debate.”
CBS News’ Brian Montopoli, “Hot Topic: Is "Enhanced Interrogation" Justifiable?”
“Senior Bush administration officials made possible the spread of aggressive interrogation methods from Guantanamo to Afghanistan and Iraq, according to a report released Tuesday by the Senate Armed Services Committee,” the Wall Street Journal’s Jess Bravin writes.
100 DAYS/OBAMA ADMINISTRATION
“Ellen Moran, the White House communications director, is leaving her job after three months to be the chief of staff to Commerce Secretary Gary Locke, a White House official confirmed on Tuesday,” The New York Times’ Jackie Calmes writes.
LA Times’ Paul Richter, “Obama Invites Israeli, Palestinian and Egyptian Leaders For Talks”
CBS News’ Michelle Levi, “Obama To Celebrate 100th Day in St. Louis”
CONGRESS: Members of the House Financial Services Committee will hold a press conference on their mark up of the Credit Cardholders Bill of Rights this afternoon.
The Washington Post’s R. Jeffrey Smith, Walter Pincus and Jerry Markon report that, “the U.S. government may abandon espionage-law charges against two former lobbyists for a pro-Israel advocacy group, officials said yesterday, as a prominent House lawmaker denied new allegations that she offered to use her influence in their behalf.”
Wall Street Journal’s Peter Spiegel, Siobhan Gorman and Evan Perez, “Harman Seeks Release Of Transcripts”
Politico’s David Rogers, “Budgets Fall Short Of Obama’s Mandate”
Less than a month after the Justice Department asked a judge to drop the case against former Senator Ted Stevens of Alaska because of prosecutorial misconduct, 75 former state attorneys general from both parties have urged Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. to conduct a similar investigation of the prosecution of former Gov. Don Siegelman of Alabama, who was convicted nearly three years ago on bribery and corruption charges,” The New York Times’ John Schwartz and Charlie Savage report.
NY 20 CONGRESSIONAL RACE
Albany Times Union’s Irene Jay Liu, “Latest in the 20th: “Latest in the 20th: Murphy up by 273; Court Wrangling But End May Be Near”
USA Today, “Ex-NRCC Chair Says GOP Lost New York Special Election”
MINNESOTA SENATE RECOUNT
AP, ”Minnesota: Franken Urges Fast Appeal”
Politico’s Daniel Libit, “Franken, Coleman Press Aides Carry On”
FUTURE RACES
“Despite Democratic control of the White House and Congress, Republicans are holding their own in the money race, outraising the opposition in the national party sweepstakes, nearly matching them in the Senate, and trailing badly only in fundraising for next year's House races,” The Washington Times’ Donald Lambro reports.
2010 AZ Senate: CBS News’s Brian Montopoli, “Minuteman To Challenge McCain In Primary”
2010 PA Senate: Allentown Morning Call’s Scott Kraus, “Specter-Toomey Rematch May Force a Choice Between Ideology and Electability”
2010 CT Senate: Politico’s Glenn Thrush, “Dodd’s Presidential Campaign Sees Red”
NY Governor 2010: Politico’s Kenneth P. Vogel, “Religious Right Defends Rudy”
Mike Huckabee on GOP "rock stars," 2012, health care reform and more.
