President Trump has not taken the idea of investigations of his administration lightly.
asserted
Trump → take → administration
On Saturday, November 7, he posted on social media that he was ordering the Department of Justice to investigate Democrats’ promises to investigate the administration’s corruption and mismanagement, calling those promises “criminal.”
asserted
he → post → promises
On Monday, November 9, White House counsel Will Scharf, the top lawyer in the White House, sent a letter to Representative Robert Garcia (D-CA), who is expected to take over the House Oversight Committee, warning that the Democrat’s promise to investigate the actions of the Trump administration “may cross the line into blatant criminality.”
uncertain
promise → send → criminality
Scharf leaned on the requirement that Congress’s investigations must have a legislative purpose—a requirement that current Republican chair James Comer of Kentucky ignored—and charged that Democratic lawmakers are issuing “abusive and capricious threats…to intimidate and to interfere with the lawful functioning of government.”
asserted
lawmakers → lean → government
Then, on November 11, Aaron Reitz, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Texas, wrote to Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), who is in line to chair the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations after January, claiming that Blumenthal’s plans to investigate who donated to Trump’s ballroom and other pet causes, and under what circumstances, was an unconstitutional attempt to prevent free association.
asserted
who → write → association
He continued, suggesting that Blumenthal was trying “to intimidate citizens for engaging in philanthropic practices that will benefit our nation for generations.
asserted
that → continue → generations
Threatening Blumenthal with “significant legal consequences” for “you, your staff, employees, agents, consultants, campaign personnel, and any other person acting on your behalf or in concert with you,” he demanded Blumenthal preserve all records “relevant to your intent to deprive citizens of their core constitutional rights.”
asserted
Blumenthal → threaten → rights
Garcia and Blumenthal were having none of it.
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Garcia → have → it
Garcia told A. Martínez and Majd Al-Waheidi of NPR, “We’re not going to be deterred, and we’re certainly not going to be intimidated by Donald Trump or anyone in the administration.”
asserted
we → tell → administration
Garcia said that among the committee’s top priorities would be investigating Trump family corruption, including a $2 billion investment in Jared Kushner’s investment firm, and looking into allegations of corrupt contracts involving former Homeland Security secretary Kristi Noem and former DHS advisor Corey Lewandowski.
asserted
Garcia → say → Noem
“Our job is to investigate, to take issues to the courts, to make criminal referrals, and to write good legislation so that this kind of corruption doesn’t happen again,” Garcia said.
asserted
Garcia → investigate → corruption
Blumenthal wrote back to Reitz, saying that his letter was “just the latest in a series of unlawful actions on the part of the Trump Administration attempting to intimidate Members of Congress for engaging in constitutionally protected activity” and adding, “Your implied threat of an investigation is baseless.”
asserted
threat → write → investigation
He warned: “I will not be intimidated.”
asserted
I → warn → ?
Blumenthal told Reitz to preserve records himself, writing: “The public deserves to know the terms under which dozens of American companies were persuaded to donate millions of dollars to the President’s vanity projects, and whether lawsuits were dismissed, contracts were awarded, or regulations went unenforced in exchange for that money.
asserted
regulations → tell → money
The public deserves transparency about whether the White House and the corporations it cajoled extracted favors at the expense of American taxpayers.
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it → deserve → taxpayers
Not only are these appropriate subjects for congressional oversight, but such inquiries are among the constitutional duties that Members of Congress must undertake to become informed about matters on which legislation may be necessary.”
uncertain
legislation → undertake → which
When it appeared bullying wouldn’t work, Trump turned to rage and self-pity.
asserted
Trump → appear → rage
Yesterday morning, at 5:50, he tried to insist that it was the Democrats, not him, who are corrupt.
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who → try → 5:50
“The Democrat Party, lead [sic] by one of the most Corrupt and anti-American groups of political leaders and hacks in the history of our Country, and even the World, is doing everything in their power to get away from MASSIVE BLUE STATE CORRUPTION by saying, over and over again, that the Trump Administration is corrupt,” he posted.
asserted
he → lead → CORRUPTION
Then, echoing the words he used at his rally at the Ellipse on January 6, 2021, before he urged the crowd to move to the U.S. Capitol, he added: “Fight hard, Republicans, or you won’t have a Country left!”
asserted
you → echo → Country
He continued to rage post about Democrats’ corruption through the morning.
asserted
He → continue → morning
But by the afternoon, Attorney General Todd Blanche was walking back the suggestion that Democratic lawmakers’ promise to conduct oversight had been criminal.
asserted
promise → walk → oversight
“There can come a point when a criticism becomes a threat, and then when a threat becomes something criminal and…I never said that that point has been crossed.
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point → come → ?
I haven’t said that,” Blanche told reporters.
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Blanche → say → reporters
Scharf, too, backpedaled, saying on Newsmax that all he had asked for was “that everybody follows the law.”
asserted
everybody → backpedal → law
Even as the administration suggests congressional investigations into its behavior might be criminal, a monumental scandal has erupted in the administration.
uncertain
scandal → suggest → administration
The chief executive officer of Nvidia, the maker of the highly advanced chips at the center of AI development, resigned yesterday after news broke that he has been engaged in an extramarital affair with a woman believed to be a Chinese spy.
asserted
he → resign → woman
On October 29, Jonathan Swan, Maggie Haberman, Ana Swanson, Paul Mozur, Tripp Mickle, and Julian E. Barnes of the New York Times reported that about a year ago, intelligence agents had informed Trump that Nvidia’s Jensen Huang was engaged in an affair with Alice Huang, a woman assessed to be a Chinese intelligence agent.
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Huang → report → Huang
But Trump “chose not to do anything with the information.”
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Trump → choose → information
Ms. Huang worked for Megaspeed, a company that buys Nvidia chips and then provides computing power to Chinese companies.
asserted
that → work → companies
It has been suspected of being a cut-out company that smuggles chips to China.
asserted
that → suspect → China
According to the New York Times journalists, intelligence agents thought Ms. Huang was funneling information to Beijing.
uncertain
Huang → accord → Beijing
On Thursday, November 5, House Foreign Affairs Committee chair Brian Mast (R-FL), House Select Committee on China chair John Moolenaar (R-MI), and House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence chair Rick Crawford (R-AR) wrote to Huang requesting that he appear before their committees to brief them on his interactions with Ms. Huang, “a publicly reported People’s Republic of China (PRC) intelligence asset, and NVIDIA’s security protocols against foreign adversary espionage.”
asserted
he → write → espionage
“Recent reports raise significant national security concerns regarding the PRC’s access to sensitive U.S. technology and information,” they wrote.
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they → raise → technology
“It is vital that Congress determines the extent to which U.S. national security has been placed at risk.”
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security → determine → risk
On Sunday, November 8, Huang admitted the affair and Nvidia’s board announced it was opening an independent investigation into whether Huang was the “target of a foreign intelligence effort.”
asserted
Huang → admit → effort
On Monday, November 9, Nvidia’s stock began to drop, and on November 11 the New York Times reported on a second affair.
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Times → begin → affair
On November 12, Nvidia’s stock price dropped from $151 billion to $135 billion.
asserted
price → drop → billion
As Maureen Farrell and Rob Copeland of the New York Times reported, with Huang at the helm, Nvidia has bankrolled much of the nation’s AI buildout, and his support for it has kept the money rolling in.
asserted
money → report → it
Huang has boosted AI as important to the national security of the United States and key to the nation’s future.
asserted
Huang → boost → future
…and 30 more, not listed.
The Aporia
