We Resist: Day 405

One of the difficulties in resisting the Trump administration, the Republican Congressional majority, and Republican state legislatures (plus the occasional non-Republican who obliges us to resist their nonsense, too, like we don't have enough to worry about) is keeping on top of the sheer number of horrors, indignities, and normalization of the aggressively abnormal that they unleash every single day.

So here is a daily thread for all of us to share all the things that are going on, thus crowdsourcing a daily compendium of the onslaught of conservative erosion of our rights and our very democracy.

Stay engaged. Stay vigilant. Resist.

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Here are some things in the news today:

Earlier today by me: Hope Hicks Testifies Her Job Requires Her to Lie.

I'm short on time today, so please forgive this truncated version of the daily resistance thread...

Cynthia McFadden, William M. Arkin, Kevin Manahan, and Ken Dilanian at NBC News: U.S. Intel: Russia Compromised Seven States Prior to 2016 Election. "The U.S. intelligence community developed substantial evidence that state websites or voter registration systems in seven states were compromised by Russian-backed covert operatives prior to the 2016 election — but never told the states involved, according to multiple U.S. officials. Top-secret intelligence requested by President Barack Obama in his last weeks in office identified seven states where analysts — synthesizing months of work — had reason to believe Russian operatives had compromised state websites or databases. Three senior intelligence officials told NBC News that the intelligence community believed the states as of January 2017 were Alaska, Arizona, California, Florida, Illinois, Texas, and Wisconsin."

Natasha Bertrand at the Atlantic: Roger Stone's Secret Messages with WikiLeaks. "On March 17, 2017, WikiLeaks tweeted that it had never communicated with Roger Stone, a longtime confidante and informal adviser to [Donald] Trump. In his interview with the House Intelligence Committee last September, Stone, who testified under oath, told lawmakers that he had communicated with WikiLeaks via an "intermediary," whom he identified only as a "journalist." He declined to reveal that person's identity to the committee, he told reporters later. Private Twitter messages obtained by The Atlantic show that Stone and WikiLeaks, a radical-transparency group, communicated directly on October 13, 2016 — and that WikiLeaks sought to keep its channel to Stone open after Trump won the election. The existence of the secret correspondence marks yet another strange twist in the White House's rapidly swelling Russia scandal."

[Content Note: Video may autoplay at link] Kara Scannell, Pamela Brown, Gloria Borger, and Jim Sciutto at CNN: Mueller Team Asks About Trump's Russian Business Dealings as He Weighed a Run for President. "Investigators for special counsel Robert Mueller have recently been asking witnesses about Donald Trump's business activities in Russia prior to the 2016 presidential campaign as he considered a run for president, according to three people familiar with the matter. Questions to some witnesses during wide-ranging interviews included the timing of Trump's decision to seek the presidency, potentially compromising information the Russians may have had about him, and why efforts to brand a Trump Tower in Moscow fell through, two sources said. The lines of inquiry indicate Mueller's team is reaching beyond the campaign to explore how the Russians might have sought to influence Trump at a time when he was discussing deals in Moscow and contemplating a presidential run."

Shane Harris, Carol D. Leonnig, Greg Jaffe, and Josh Dawsey at the Washington Post: Kushner's Overseas Contacts Raise Concerns as Foreign Officials Seek Leverage. "Officials in at least four countries have privately discussed ways they can manipulate Jared Kushner, the president's son-in-law and senior adviser, by taking advantage of his complex business arrangements, financial difficulties, and lack of foreign policy experience, according to current and former U.S. officials familiar with intelligence reports on the matter. Among those nations discussing ways to influence Kushner to their advantage were the United Arab Emirates, China, Israel, and Mexico, the current and former officials said."

Buckle up. Paul Manafort’s trial date has been set: Monday, September 17. https://t.co/QVsHkilTuU

— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) February 28, 2018

Nicole Lafond at TPM: Four Commerce Department Political Appointees Ousted over Background Checks. "Four political appointees in the Department of Commerce lost their jobs Tuesday over issues with their background checks, as Chief of Staff John Kelly cracks down on staffers operating under an interim security clearance. According to The Washington Post, the Commerce Department determined that the four appointees — Fred Volcansek, who was a senior adviser to Secretary Wilbur Ross, and aides Chris Garcia, Edgar Mkrtchian, and Justin Arlett — should not have access to classified information."

"The breadth of Hammer’s power in Florida can be seen in the ways that state employees, legislators, and the governor defer to her—she gives orders, and they follow them."https://t.co/WkGYXbPZOL

— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) February 28, 2018

What have you been reading that we need to resist today?