Afghanistan has begun an audit of all ballots cast in its infamous June 14 presidential runoff, following white-knuckle weekend negotiations in Kabul refereed by Secretary of State Kerry. The audit process is expected to take weeks. Despite supervision by an international team of monitors, further allegations of cheating and corruptions leveled by the Abdullah and/or Ghani factions won’t be even mildly surprising. It’s taken nearly 13 years, but we’ve finally succeeded in altering Afghanistan from a totalitarian theocracy into, well, Florida.
Kerry has now pivoted to meetings in Vienna aimed at salvaging negotiations over Iran’s nuclear ambitions ahead of next Sunday’s deadline for an accord. Happily, he was also able to make time for a photo op with Frank-Walter Steinmeier, the German Foreign Minister, to aver what “great friends” the two nations are, despite continuing fallout from revelations that one of the great friends has been spying on the other. Revelations notwithstanding, you can bet the spying has been mutual and will continue to be so, but probably a little more clandestine in future.
Perhaps Kerry can spare time for a trip to Ireland to quell another international crisis in the making. Garth Brooks, ready to hit the comeback trail, was booked to play five concerts at Dublin’s Croke Park later this month, but Dublin city council would only agree to grant permits for three, prompting the singer to cancel all of them. Disappointed fans have mounted protests, and Ticketmaster has now put a hold on refunds until Thursday, as negotiations between Brooks and the city continue.
Wednesday, the House Rules Committee sits down at 10:00 a.m. to mull over a draft resolution “providing for authority to initiate litigation for actions by the President inconsistent with his duties under the Constitution of the United States.” The resolution is crucial to the next phase of Speaker Boehner’s ongoing attempt to make himself into the most embarrassing Washington laughingstock since Wilbur Mills.
Also on Wednesday, teabagging Senator-wannabe Chris McDaniel will hold a press conference to announce his next moves, after claiming last week that he’s unearthed 8,300 “questionable ballots,” a number which – if accurate – would more than erase the 7,667-vote win by Thad Cochran in last month’s runoff. I’m no Jeane Dixon, but I’m pretty confident that his next moves will involve petulance, paranoia, hyperbolic accusations, and a whole crawfish boil full of lawsuits.
The Senate Armed Services Committee will meet behind closed doors Tuesday to hear testimony from the Vice Chair of the Joint Chiefs and senior administration officials about Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl’s release from Taliban hands. Defense Secretary Hagel will appear before the House Armed Services Committee on the same topic on Wednesday. Bergdahl, meanwhile, has been cleared to return to active duty following treatment at a military hospital, as the Army continues its formal review of the circumstances of his capture in 2009.
Fed Chair Janet Yellen delivers a semiannual report to Congress this week, with appearances before the Senate Banking Committee and the House Financial Services Committee.
It was announced today that Citigroup has agreed to cough up $4 billion in fines to the Justice Department, $2.5 billion in consumer relief, and $500 million in compensation to the FDIC and various states for its role in the subprime mortgage crisis. The bank has been in sluggish negotiations with the government over penalties for some time now, but apparently the threat of a lawsuit has done wonders to clear its collective mind and prompt some action.
President Obama will deliver another speech on the economy Tuesday, this one in McLean, Virginia. Thursday, he heads to New York City for a fundraiser/roundtable for the Democratic National Committee.
