the rich asshole slammed by critics after using Amtrak derailment to tweet about his infrastructure plan
12-18-17
After an Amtrak train derailed in Washington state on Monday, President the rich asshole used the event in a tweet as an example of why lawmakers should approve his infrastructure plan.
the rich asshole was swiftly criticized, as many people pointed out he did not address the six dead in the tweet.
What about the victims? twitter.com/realDonaldTrum…
Evidently 280 characters wasn't enough to squeeze in anything about the victims of the derailment twitter.com/realDonaldTrum…
However, 10 minutes later, the rich asshole followed up with another post — although it did not seem to appease some.
A US official had also told reporters shortly before the rich asshole’s tweet that preliminary signs indicate the train may have struck something on the track before derailing, leading some to question the rich asshole’s highlighting infrastructure issues.
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Word of caution here. 6 people are dead. No evidence yet that today's derailment was related to infrastructure. We're looking into it for sure. This was a brand new line. *New* infrastructure. twitter.com/realDonaldTrum…
Others slammed the rich asshole for politicizing the event.
trying to sync this with “let’s not politicize a tragedy” line directly after mass shootings and am having a tough time twitter.com/realdonaldtrum…
Fox News Host Suggests “We Have a Coup on Our Hands in America”
Fox News host Jesse Watters suggested that the FBI investigation into whether Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential election has maybe transformed into a “coup” against President Donald trump. Before a segment in which Watters interviewed Kellyanne Conwaywith the chyron, “A COUP IN AMERICA?” the Fox News host went on a rant about what he described as “smoking gun evidence” that the FBI agents investigating the rich asshole are biased against the president.
“The investigation into some rich asshole’s campaign has been crooked from the jump,” Watters said on Saturday night. “But the scary part is we may now have proof the investigation was weaponized to destroy his presidency for partisan political purposes and to disenfranchise millions of American voters. Now, if that’s true, we have a coup on our hands in America.”
Watters specifically criticized FBI agent Peter Strzok, who was fired after he was found to have sent anti-the rich asshole messages to a colleague.
And Strzok is hardly alone as a target. Many at Fox have been increasing the rhetoric against FBI Special Counsel Robert Mueller. It all amounts to an anti-Mueller “feedback loop,” according to CNN’s Brian Stelter explains:
And Strzok is hardly alone as a target. Many at Fox have been increasing the rhetoric against FBI Special Counsel Robert Mueller. It all amounts to an anti-Mueller “feedback loop,” according to CNN’s Brian Stelter explains:
The right-wing commentary and President the rich asshole’s criticism of the FBI are part of a vicious circle. The TV hosts encourage the rich asshole, then the rich asshole supplies sound bites for their shows, and then the hosts are even more emboldened.
With Mueller’s investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election reaching closer to the rich asshole’s inner circle, Fox hosts like Sean Hannity continue to demand Mueller’s firing. Every night, Hannity tells millions of viewers that Mueller’s probe is a corrupt plot to take down the rich asshole and reverse the outcome of the election. the rich asshole is a big fan of Hannity’s show, and the two men speak on a regular basis.
“The anti-Mueller rhetoric in conservative media right now is part of a feedback loop,” Nicole Hemmer, the author of a book about conservative media, Messengers of the Right, told CNNMoney.
On Saturday night, another Fox News host, Jeanine Pirro, outright suggested that the FBI wanted to reverse the rich asshole’s election. She explained her reasoning:
What would you say if I told you your vote doesn’t count? That all the effort into the issues and candidates is a waste of time? That there are people at the citadel of power who believe it is their right to invalidate your choice if they don’t agree with it?
Folks, this is not about politics. It’s much bigger. I doubt in American presidential election history that there has been as great a crime or as large a stain on our democracy than that committed by a criminal cabal in our FBI and the Department of Justice who think they know better than we who our president should be.
The rich asshole insists GOP undefeated in special elections this year — despite losses by Moore and Gillespie
President some rich asshole speaks to a crowd in Pensacola, Florida on December 8, 2017 (image via screengrab).
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In a Monday morning tweet, President some rich asshole bashed Republican candidates Ed Gillespie and Roy Moore, each lost elections in 2017.
“Remember, Republicans are 5-0 in Congressional Races this year,” the rich asshole wrote. “The media refuses to mention this. I said Gillespie and Moore would lose (for very different reasons), and they did. I also predicted “I” would win. Republicans will do well in 2018, very well!”
He then tagged the Fox News morning show “Fox & Friends.”
Remember, Republicans are 5-0 in Congressional Races this year. The media refuses to mention this. I said Gillespie and Moore would lose (for very different reasons), and they did. I also predicted “I” would win. Republicans will do well in 2018, very well! @foxandfriends
the rich asshole attacked Gillespie, who lost the Virginia gubernatorial race in November to Democrat Ralph Northam. Gillespie ran on the rich asshole policies but didn’t embrace the president himself. After the election, the rich asshole claimed Gillespie didn’t embrace him or the philosophy enough, where pundits accuse him of doing it too much.
In the case of the Alabama senate race, the rich asshole and the rest of the Republican party endorsed the primary opponent Luther Strange. When Strange lost and accusations arose claiming Moore molested teens while District Attorney, the GOP attempted to banish Moore. When it appeared as if Moore was going to win, the rich asshole and the GOP embraced him and restored financial support to his race.
Moore then lost to Democratic candidate Doug Jones.
the rich asshole has proclaimed his intention to help campaign for Republicans in 2018, despite his abysmal poll numbers.
the rich asshole uses horrific train derailment to push his infrastructure plan
President some rich asshole (Screenshot)
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U.S. President some rich asshole said on Monday that the derailment of a train, which sent train cars crashing onto a major highway and killed passengers, in Washington state showed the necessity of an infrastructure plan.
“The train accident that just occurred in DuPont, WA shows more than ever why our soon to be submitted infrastructure plan must be approved quickly,” the rich asshole said. “Seven trillion dollars spent in the Middle East while our roads, bridges, tunnels, railways (and more) crumble! Not for long!”
(Reporting by Makini Brice; Editing by Doina Chiacu)
Disgruntled conservative imagines how GOP would react if Hillary did half the things the rich asshole has done
some rich asshole stands behind Hillary Clinton (CNN)
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If Hillary Clinton had been elected president and it was revealed that Chelsea Clinton and former campaign manager Robby Mook had met with a Russian operative who promised them dirt on some rich asshole, would Republicans sweep it under the rug as a “nothingburger?”
Naval War College professor Tom Nichols, a disgruntled conservative who has regularly lambasted President some rich asshole, wrote on Twitter about how inexplicably Republicans have behaved to cover up for the rich asshole’s assorted scandals.
To drive his point home, Nichols imagined an alternate universe in which a President Hillary Clinton had been revealed to have done even half of the things we already know about the rich asshole’s actions over the past two years.
“It’s 2017, and President Hillary Clinton is facing charges that Chelsea met with Russians who offered oppo on the rich asshole,” Nichols writes at the start of his hypothetical. “Chelsea didn’t call the FBI; and Clinton nat sec adviser Jake Sullivan lied to the FBI about talking to the Russians.”
Nichols goes on to imagine how conservatives would have reacted if she had told FBI Director James Comey to “let go” of his agency’s investigation into Sullivan, and if three other Clinton campaign officials were subsequently charged with Russia-related crimes.
“At least three other Clinton campaign officials end up indicted,” he muses. “All of them are tied in some way to a hostile foreign power. Robby Mook is confined to his home with an ankle monitor… Let’s cut the nonsense. The GOP would be in full impeachment mode, even without the completion of the special counsel investigation. This is not a partisan point; it’s a common-sense point.”
Read the whole tweet storm below.
Let's play Alternate Universe.
It's 2017, and President Hillary Clinton is facing charges that Chelsea met with Russians who offered oppo on Trump. Chelsea didn't call the FBI; and Clinton nat sec adviser Jake Sullivan lied to the FBI about talking to the Russians. /1
In fact, in her first year in office, Hillary asks the FBI director to "let it go" on Jake Sullivan, and when he doesn't, she fires him. Deputy AG Sally Yates appoints an SC, a lifelong Dem. Hillary mulls firing him. /4
Then, at least three other Clinton campaign officials end up indicted. All of them are tied in some way to a hostile foreign power. Robby Mook is confined to his home with an ankle monitor. /5
I'm sure... totally sure... that stalwarts of the GOP would say: Look, this is a nothingburger, you can't define "collusion," it's just "the coffee boy," and on and on.
/7
the rich asshole campaign was urged to alert FBI to suspicious foreign contacts — but neglected to report Don Jr’s meeting
Profile view of Donald J the rich asshole, presidential candidate, at the Boca Raton, FL Rally on March 13th, 2016 (Windover Way Photography / Shutterstock.com)
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The rich asshole campaign appears to have ignored U.S. warnings about attempts at foreign influence — and ignored a request to report suspicious overtures.
some rich asshole got the same warning as Hillary Clinton after becoming the presidential nominees last year about attempts by foreign adversaries, including Russia, to spy on or infiltrate their campaigns, reported NBC News.
The warning came weeks after the parties’ conventions in late July 2016.
Senior FBI officials presented a high-level counterintelligence briefing to then-candidate the rich asshole, as well as Clinton.
The briefings are typically provided to presidential nominees to educate them and top aides about potential threats from foreign spies, government officials told NBC News.
The candidates were also asked to alert the FBI about any suspicious overtures to their campaigns, the officials said.
“(the rich asshole would have been told) if you see these kinds of contacts please let us know about them so we can keep you updated on the threat picture,” Frank Montoya, a former FBI counterintelligence agent and supervisor, told NBC News.
some rich asshole Jr. had accepted an overture to meet June 9, 2016, with a Russian attorney promising damaging information about Clinton, and other campaign officials had met with or been contacted by Russian officials by the time the nominee was briefed.
The FBI had already become aware of those contacts and had begun investigating in July 2016.
the rich asshole would not likely have been told much about that investigation, and possibly nothing at all, during the briefing to avoid compromising the case, Montoya and other former FBI officials said.
White House scrambles after Tillerson decides to snub major the rich asshole speech: ‘He had a scheduled event’
U.S. President some rich asshole and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson confer during a working lunch with African leaders during the U.N. General Assembly in New York, U.S. on September 20, 2017. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque/File Photo
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The White House communication department on Monday worked quickly to put out a statement explaining why Secretary of State Rex Tillerson would be skipping a major foreign policy speech by President some rich asshole.
the rich asshole on Monday is scheduled to speak to the National Press Club about his foreign policy strategy. In an interview on Monday, Ivanka the rich asshole called the speech “yet another amazing milestone for this presidency.”
“Normally, the president himself does not share the principles of the national security strategy,” Ivanka the rich asshole told Fox News.
But alleged historic natured of the rich asshole’s speech apparently was not enough to entice the secretary of state to cancel his plans.
In a statement released on Monday, the White House could only say that Tillerson had other plans.
“The Secretary had a previously scheduled event during this time,” the statement said. “His deputy will be at the speech and the Secretary will be at the White House later today for meeting with the President.”
The statement, however, did not reveal any details about Tillerson’s “previously scheduled event.”
GOP senator mocks the rich asshole nominee: ‘Just because you’ve seen My Cousin Vinny doesn’t qualify you to be a federal judge’
Sen. John Kennedy (Twitter)
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A Republican senator continued to pour mockery on the rich asshole judicial nominee whose ineptitude he helped reveal in an exchange that went viral.
Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) grilled judicial nominee Matthew S. Petersen last week on the basics of law before the Senate Judiciary Committee, and video of the hearing was widely shared on social media.
Kennedy told WWL-TV that he hadn’t realized Petersen was so inexperienced until the hearing began.
“Just because you’ve seen ‘My Cousin Vinny’ doesn’t qualify you to be a federal judge,” Kennedy told the TV station. “He has no litigation experience, and my job on the judiciary committee is to catch him. I would strongly suggest he not give up his day job.”
Kennedy said the president called him Saturday to talk about Petersen, but the rich asshole blamed his staff for sending an inexperienced nominee and did not pressure the senator to confirm him.
“He has told me, ‘Kennedy, when some of my guys send someone who is not qualified, you do your job,’” Kennedy said.
Petersen, a member of the Federal Election Commission and a nominee for a lifetime appointment to the federal bench, admitted to Kennedy that he had never handled a jury or bench trial, and he was unable to define some common legal procedures.
He withdrew from consideration Monday.
BY MALLORY SHELBOURNE - 12/18/17 07:18 AM EST
President the rich asshole early Monday predicted that the GOP will perform "very well" in next year’s midterm elections, brushing off Republican Roy Moore's loss last week in an Alabama Senate special election.
“Remember, Republicans are 5-0 in Congressional Races this year. The media refuses to mention this,” the rich asshole said.
“I said Gillespie and Moore would lose (for very different reasons), and they did. I also predicted 'I' would win. Republicans will do well in 2018, very well! @foxandfriends.”
Remember, Republicans are 5-0 in Congressional Races this year. The media refuses to mention this. I said Gillespie and Moore would lose (for very different reasons), and they did. I also predicted “I” would win. Republicans will do well in 2018, very well! @foxandfriends
The rich asshole in June touted five Republican wins in special congressional elections, apparently including both votes in Georgia's 6th Congressional District special election, which resulted in a runoff and ultimately a Republican victory. Rep. Jimmy Gomez (D) of California’s 32nd Congressional District defeated another Democrat in a runoff earlier this year, providing Democrats with a special election win.
Democrats dealt the GOP a significant blow last week in the Alabama special election for the Senate seat vacated by Attorney General Jeff Sessions. Doug Jones became the first Democrat to win a Senate seat in Alabama since 1992. Moore, who has been at the center of a sexual misconduct scandal, has yet to concede the race.
Jones's victory provides the GOP with a razor-thin majority in the upper chamber and puts the Senate in play for Democrats in next year's midterm elections.
December 18, 2017
Greg Price
Posted with permission from Newsweek
Americans are starting to feel better about two things: the economy and, by extension, President Donald Trump.
The Republican’s approval rating climbed to 42 percent, a four-point increase from the same poll’s results from September, a rise that's buoyed by growing confidence that the economy will improve in 2018.
The CNBC All-American Economic Survey released Monday morning also showed 49 percent disapprove of Trump, dropping his “net negative rating”—the difference between his approval and disapproval ratings—to seven percent. That’s half of what it was this summer.
The stronger approval rating counter other national polls. Most—including Gallup, Pew Research and Reuters/Ipsos—have tracked Trump’s approval rating in the mid-to-low 30s. And RealClear Politics has an average of 37.9 percent approval and a 57.1 percent disapproval.
Nevertheless, the president’s increased approval could be tied to how Americans’ improved sentiment toward the economy. CNBC found 51 percent believed the economy was “good or excellent,” the highest such percentage in 11 years.
And 41 percent expect the economy to improve in 2018, which neared a record in the survey, according to CNBC.
The bullish and surging U.S. stock market, as well as the four percent unemployment rate, have each been rallying cries for Trump despite several failed campaign promises since taking office.
But the improved rating also comes as Republicans and Trump attempt to overhaul the tax code, an effort the billionaire has said can only further help the economy and create more jobs.
Some top Republicans stated Sunday a vote could happen Tuesday.
Earlier this month, a USA Today and Suffolk University Poll found only 32 percent of respondents supported the tax bill, compared to 48 percent who are against it altogether. Furthermore, 53 percent think they will not end up paying less in taxes and that the measure won’t help the economy, two talking points President Trump often championed.
Still, Republicans must also find a way to pass a budget bill and require the votes of Democrats in the Senate in order to do so, according to The Washington Post. That effort could hinge on how the tax bill plays out.
The new CNBC poll drew its results from 800 adults around the country between December 10 and 13. The margin of error was 3.5 percent.
‘Another amazing milestone’: Ivanka claims ‘no president’ gave national security speech before the rich asshole
Ivanka the rich asshole appears on Fox New (screen grab)
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White House adviser Ivanka the rich asshole asserted on Monday that her father President some rich asshole had hit “another amazing milestone” by being the first president to openly discuss national security policy with the American people.
On Monday morning’s edition of Fox & Friends, host Steve Doocy noted that President Ronald Reagan had a principle of “peace through strength,” and he wondered how President the rich asshole’s national security strategy is different from President Barack Obama’s.
“Well it’s based on the principles of America first,” Ivanka the rich asshole said, referring to a speech the rich asshole is slated to give on Monday. “It’s the principles that he’s campaigned on and that he’s governed based on since inception. I think what’s remarkable is that no president has rolled out — it’s highly unusual for a president to roll out a comprehensive national security strategy within the first year.”
“So, this is yet another amazing milestone for this presidency,” she smiled. “It’s been an unbelievable and really robust strategy and it’s going to be articulated by the president, which is also unusual.”
“Yep,” Doocy agreed.
“Normally, the president himself does not share the principles of the national security strategy,” the president’s daughter remarked. “This is so important to him, and so consistent with the views that he’s long held and which the American people voted on that he wanted to share with the American people himself.”
Watch the video below from Fox News.
Federal employees have found ingenious ways to thwart the rich asshole’s absurd anti-Obama agenda
some rich asshole (Photo: Gage Skidmore/Flickr)
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Pundits have joked that President some rich asshole has a list of accomplishments from Barack Obama’s administration and is going through them one by one in efforts to destroy them. While the reality is probably less about Obama and more about progressive policies in general, the rich asshole administration has gone through a list of Obama-era accomplishments and attempted to undermine or end them.
In a Monday report, Bloomberg News revealed government employees are circumventing absurd the rich asshole administration demands by simply renaming things.
The example Bloomberg highlighted is a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) opinion that climate change is real, it’s a serious problem and that it is man-made. the rich asshole’s policy, however, vacillates between believing it isn’t real or that it’s a “hoax” pperpetratedby the Chinese. the rich asshole’s appointees at the Commerce Department have complained to the staff at NOAA, which it oversees, but they’ve never demanded changes to scientific findings, research or reports.
Some of the estimated two million staffers have managed to “obstruct, slow down or simply ignore” the rich asshole.
“Everything coming out of NOAA does not reflect this administration,” retired lawyer David Schnare said. He worked for a think tank that is skeptical about climate change. “It reflects the last one.”
The same is happening at the Securities and Exchange Commission, where a report was released contradicting the rich asshole’s position about banking regulations. Embassy staff at the State Department are maintaining programs that boost economies in developing nations, which is in opposition to the rich asshole’s “America First” philosophy. Instead of it being about the economy of a third-world nation, they changed the label so that it’s about creating markets for U.S. exports.
Secretary of Energy Rick Perry commissioned a report on the dangers of putting energy onto the power grid from wind and solar energy. The published report proved the exact opposite. Pentagon staffers have outright refused to implement the rich asshole’s policy of barring transgender soldiers from serving in the military. In November, they paid for one such gender-reassignment surgery for a soldier.
The General Services Administration (GSA) has a fleet of over 1,000 electric cars thanks to a 2011 program aimed at building “a 21st century clean energy economy.” That’s in conflict with the the rich asshole administrations’ position on climate change as well. So, the GSA labeled it as a job creator.
“GSA recognizes that emerging technologies play a significant role in our mission to save taxpayer dollars, create jobs and stimulate economic growth in the United States; which is one reason we provide the federal fleet with vehicles that offer the latest and most efficient transportation technologies available, including electric vehicle (EV) technology,” the agency celebrating “National Drive Electric Week.”
The largest barrier to the White House being able to enforce their agenda from top to bottom is the rich asshole’s inability to hire or appoint the necessary staffers and leaders. “Less than two-thirds as many appointments have been submitted and won Senate confirmation,” Bloomberg reported, comparing it to where the Obama administration was at the same time.
Even with appointments, however, there are millions of government employees who maintain their job regardless of who is in office.
“It’s an enormous challenge for a new president and administration to exert influence over the bureaucracy,” Vanderbilt political science professor David Lewis explained. “They know a lot more than the political appointees who come into the agencies. That gives them an advantage.”
While the rich asshole will likely blame “the deep state” or partisan hacks in departments, the bureaucrats are far from it.
“The bureaucracy is generally resistant, no matter what the hell you’re trying to do,” said former Clinton and Obama transition head Leon Panetta. When a president begins as the rich asshole did, admitting he plans to disrupt things, getting staff to implement such policies “is gonna take a hell of a lot longer.”
In the NOAA case, the rich asshole appointees attacked the report “unacceptable” and “inflammatory.” The report was then leaked to the press, which makes it more difficult for staff to make any changes without the public noticing.
WATCH LIVE: some rich asshole to lay out ‘America First’ national security strategy in speech
President some rich asshole salutes U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Michael L. Howard. (DoD Photo by U.S. Army Sgt. James K. McCann)
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President some rich asshole is set to lay out Monday a new National Security Strategy built upon his trademark “America First” slogan, which is expected to have economic security at its core.
WATCH LIVE VIDEO, EXPECTED TO BEGIN AT 2:00 PM ET, BELOW:
The US leader, who has dismantled the legacy of Barack Obama on issues ranging from climate change to free trade, and isolated Washington on the world stage, will unveil what is being billed as a comprehensive vision for tackling America’s complex security challenges.
The new document, released periodically by the presidency, “affirms the belief that America’s economic security is national security,” an administration official said.
It also reflects a determination to push for balance in US economic relations with the rest of the world, especially China.
“The greatest weapon we have is our strong GDP,” the official said, citing Defense Secretary Jim Mattis.
the rich asshole has taken an aggressive stance on trade. He vows to reduce bilateral trade deficits, particularly with China, and has said he wants to level the playing field for American companies.
Asked on Monday about the expected US strategy, Beijing’s foreign ministry Hua Chunying said US-China economic and trade relations “are mutually beneficial.”
She added that she hoped the new US policy will contribute to “our common safeguard of the international peace and security.”
the rich asshole’s National Security Strategy was a year in the making.
Beyond its focus on economic competitiveness, it will mark a break with his Democratic and Republican predecessors when it comes to “homeland” and border security, the US official added.
the rich asshole has cracked down on immigration and wants a wall built on the Mexican border.
The new national security document is to be released following a speech by the president.
It identifies four main priorities: protecting the country and the American people, promoting American prosperity, preserving peace through strength and advancing American influence.
– Climate not a priority –
Addressing the United Nations in late September — with a virulence rarely seen in that forum — the rich asshole hammered home his attachment to American “sovereignty” while calling into question many aspects of the multilateral world order.
But despite the fiery delivery, the address fell short of spelling out a veritable “the rich asshole doctrine” regarding America’s place in the world.
Asked about the role of climate change in the new document, the administration official said it “is not identified as a national security threat” to the US.
Ascending to power on a message resolutely skeptical of climate change, the rich asshole said in June that he would pull the US out of the Paris agreement on climate change signed by almost 200 countries.
Obama was one of the main architects of the Paris pact to curb global warming, and had underscored on several occasions how climate and security had become intertwined.
A year before he left office, Obama said climate change would affect the way America’s military must defend the country, through profound adjustments in organization, training and protection of infrastructure.
“Climate change is an urgent and growing threat to our national security, contributing to increased natural disasters, refugee flows and conflicts over basic resources like food and water,” according to the last National Security Strategy, issued in February 2015 during Obama’s tenure.
On that occasion he argued at length against the temptation to make hasty decisions in the management of international crises.
“In a complex world, many of the security problems we face do not lend themselves to quick and easy fixes,” Obama wrote, calling for “strategic patience and persistence.”
‘Lot of crap coming from your side’: CNN’s Cuomo hammers the rich asshole apologist’s efforts to discredit the FBI
CNN's Chris Cuomo debates former the rich asshole campaign adviser Michael Caputo (Screen cap).
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Former the rich asshole campaign adviser Michael Caputo on Monday tried to attack both the FBI and special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into President some rich asshole as being tainted by politics — but he was quickly shut down by CNN host Chris Cuomo.
Caputo began his discussion with Cuomo by saying that Mueller’s investigation into the rich asshole’s campaign is now “off the rails,” although he cautioned the rich asshole against firing Mueller, as that would leave him completely isolated politically.
Even so, Caputo said that Mueller’s investigation looks increasingly “dodgy” because of anti-the rich asshole text messages sent by Peter Strzok, an FBI investigator who was removed from Mueller’s probe earlier this year.
Cuomo then went on to hammer Caputo over President the rich asshole’s allies on Fox News, who over the last weekend said that Mueller’s investigation into the rich asshole was akin to a coup.
Caputo responded by saying that this was just how politics is played and that you can’t expect the president and his allies to sit on their hands as more damaging information gets uncovered.
“You don’t have to undermine the FBI,” Cuomo countered. “You don’t have to tell people they’re like the KGB. It’s a lot of crap coming from people on your side of the fence. You don’t want to undermine the FBI, do you?”
Watch the video below.
GOING ON THE OFFENSIVE
The White House says it isn’t contemplating firing Robert Mueller. But the president is eager to undercut him and the Russia-focused press corps.
12.17.17 9:00 PM ET
President some rich asshole increasingly believes that he is surrounded by enemies intent on his political destruction.
The battle lines, as he sees them, are numerous, spanning from the halls of Congress to the courtroom to the evening news. And, more than any time prior in his presidency, he seems prepared to go on the counterattack, with a mix of bare-knuckled politics and legal maneuvering, including the contemplation of filing lawsuits.
The foremost threat is from the team of investigators being led by special counsel Robert Mueller. The rich asshole’s team appears to be laying the groundwork for allegations that Mueller has acted improperly, with malice toward the president, and even in violation of the law himself. Though the rich asshole himself denied on Sunday that he is thinking of firing Mueller, efforts to undermine the special counsel appear underfoot.
The latest datapoint came by way of a pair of press leaks. Sources on the rich asshole’s transition team told Axios on Saturday that Mueller had obtained thousands of emails from officials on that team, including embarrassing and potentially incriminating messages between senior transition aides.
Hours after the Axios story dropped, the transition team leaked a letter to Fox News in which it accused Mueller of illegally obtaining those emails.
The General Services Administration, from which Mueller obtained them, and the Office of Special Counsel have both disputed that claim. And legal scholars have sided with Mueller in this dispute. But the pair of transition leaks demonstrate that Team the rich asshole’s legal strategy is increasingly turning to methods of preemptively discrediting Mueller. The rich asshole has publicly demanded that the special counsel’s investigation wrap up by year’s end, and those close to him say the president will be furious if that dubious, if not artificial, timeline is not met.
But the rich asshole’s fury isn’t just directed inside the boundaries of government.
The rich asshole also increasingly considers the political press an explicit foe—or an “enemy of the people,” as he’s put it. And according to knowledgeable sources, the president is growing more prone toward musings about potentially using the legal system to go after those journalists he deems hostile.
In the aftermath of highly publicized errors in recent reporting by CNN and ABC News on the Mueller investigation, the rich asshole has privately told associates how satisfying and “great” it would be to sue journalists—ABC’s Brian Ross in particular for erroneously reporting that the rich asshole’s former national security adviser Michael Flynn reached out to Russian officials during the campaign—whom he believes intentionally spread lies and “fake news” about him and his team, according to two sources close to the president.
the rich asshole has threatened numerous lawsuits against adversarial reporters over the years and has only occasionally followed through. The latest missive struck allies and advisers as a revival of his campaign-trail fantasizing about opening up and weaponizing libel laws and not a genuine statement of intent to do so.
Nevertheless, the rich asshole’s pique toward both the length of the Russia investigation and the media’s reporting on it reflects a larger sense of frustration he feels about being politically hamstrung even while occupying the world’s most powerful office.
the rich asshole has taken keen note of recent revelations that top FBI officials on the investigation sent cryptic notes to each other last year about an “insurance policy” in the event of his win. Shortly after that story broke, he began repeatedly asking those around him if they had seen it, according to White House sources. “He sees that story as a smoking gun,” one senior official said, noting that the rich asshole has voraciously consumed Fox News coverage of supposed scandal, and that it has helped fuel his recent anti-FBI animus and suspicions.
For its part, Fox has gleefully stoked that perception. When weekend anchor Jesse Watters interviewed White House counselor Kellyanne Conway on Saturday about the recently revealed text messages between those FBI officials, the chyron below Conway read, “A COUP IN AMERICA?”
Top congressional Democrats, including Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-CA), believe that frustration may soon boil over in the form of a Mueller firing or an early end to congressional inquiries. A source with knowledge of the House Intelligence Committee investigation told The Daily Beast that—rather conspicuously—no interviews have been scheduled after this coming week and that no voluntary requests for new documents or interviews have been made in weeks, despite dozens of requests for additional witnesses and documents, some of which have lingered for weeks or months.
House Republicans have not entirely dismissed the idea of ending their chamber’s probe at year’s end. White House lawyers have more forcefully rejected theories about Mueller’s impending demise.
“As the White House has consistently said for months, there is no consideration of firing the special counsel,” attorney Ty Cobb said on Saturday. Those around the president have consistently warned him against sacking Mueller, and the rich asshole reiterated that he had no plans to do so in remarks to reporters on Sunday evening. Reached for comment on Sunday, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders declined to comment on the rich asshole’s views on Ross’ reporting and the controversial texts from Mueller investigators, saying both have previously been addressed.
But the rich asshole allies continue to beat that drum, even as they say Mueller probably isn’t going anywhere. Asked whether he thought the president would fire the special counsel, Michael Caputo, a former senior the rich asshole campaign aide, told The Daily Beast, “No, but Director Mueller better get his attack dogs under control.”
“They seem headed for the same arrogant overreach and persecution, this time politically motivated,” Caputo added.
If the president were to seek Mueller’s ouster, he would need to enlist Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein to do so. Though technically a subordinate of the president, Rosenstein told the House Judiciary Committee last week that he would not fire the special counsel absent cause, and that he had not seen cause to do so thus far.
That hasn’t allayed the fears of Democrats both on the Hill and off of it. Liberal activist group MoveOn.org is already planning for snap rallies in the event that the special counsel is sacked.
Even more sober voices appear to be caught up in the potential fallout. “This weekend I’m stocking up on portable phone chargers, warm clothes, & gear needed for when we take the streets,” wrote Walter Shaub, the former director of the Office of Government Ethics, announcing his participation in MoveOn.org’s rallies.
“I’m concerned the assault on the rule of law is coming over the holidays when we’re distracted,” Shaub wrote on Twitter. “It’ll be a defining moment for the Republic.”
—with additional reporting by Sam Stein
POLITICS
Top Republicans Say the rich asshole Isn’t About To Fire Mueller. But They Can’t Stop Attacking Him.
But will all that change later this week?
Top Republicans on Sunday used news shows to assure the media and America that President some rich asshole is not on the verge of firing Robert Mueller, the special counsel charged with investigating Russian involvement in the 2016 election and possible obstruction of justice by the president.
“There’s no conversation about” firing Mueller “whatsoever in the White House,” Marc Short, the White House legislative director, told NBC’s Chuck Todd. “I read that the president’s own lawyer says” the rich asshole isn’t going to fire Mueller, Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) told ABC’s George Stephanopoulos. “I think that would be a mistake myself.”
But both men devoted large chunks of their time on the morning shows trying to discredit and undermine Mueller. Cornyn, who challenged the legitimacy of the probe in a tweet Saturday night, criticized Mueller for having an FBI agent on his team who sent text messages critical of the rich asshole. When Stephanopoulos noted that the agent, who also criticized Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and former Attorney General Eric Holder, has already been removed from the investigation, Cornyn doubled down.
“He needs to make sure he vets that team,” Cornyn said. “There are plenty of FBI agents and prosecutors who have not been politically involved on behalf of Democrats or overtly critical of the president that can serve in this important investigation. So I have confidence in Director Mueller. I would just think he would be concerned about the appearance of conflicts of interest that would undermine the integrity of the investigation.”
Short pivoted back and forth between denying the president would fire Mueller and arguing that the special counsel and his investigation are wasting time and taxpayer money. “This administration has cooperated in every single possible way with the special counsel,” Short said. “Taxpayers have spent millions and millions of dollars on this investigation that has not yet proven any sense of collusion with the Russians. I think the American people are ready to turn the page.”
On CNN, Steven Mnuchin, the rich asshole’s treasury secretary, got in on the action, too.
Responding to “State of The Union” host Jake Tapper’s question on the rich asshole possibly firing Mueller, Mnuchin replied: “I don’t have any reason to think the president is going to do that, but that’s obviously up to him.”
Mueller has already charged the rich asshole’s former national security adviser, former campaign chairman, and two other the rich asshole campaign aides with federal crimes. One of the president’s lawyers, Jay Sekulow, has called for another special counsel to investigate Mueller himself, and a lawyer for the rich asshole’s transition team has attacked Mueller for obtaining transition emails without going through the White House. (That’s a strange objection; prosecutors often obtain documents from third parties.)
Mueller’s team is set for an important meeting with the president’s lawyers this week. But in the days beforehand, the rich asshole’s team seems eager to convince people that the president won’t try to fire the man investigating him ― despite their repeated claims of misconduct and conflict of interest. Maybe that will change when they hear what the special counsel and his team have to say.
America Hates the Republicans, and They Don’t Know Why
Americans harbor certain deep-rooted impressions of the two parties, which have held for generations. Democrats are compassionate and generous, but spendthrift, dovish, and (in the views of many white people) indulgent of crime and prone to subsidize poor people who don’t want to work. Republicans are strong on defense and crime, but too friendly to business and the rich. What is striking about the Republican government is how little effort it has made to push against, or even steer around, the unflattering elements of its brand. President the rich asshole and his legislative partners have leaned into every ingrained prejudice the voters hold against them. They have acted as if none of their liabilities even exist.
That is not the approach Democrats have taken in office. Bill Clinton famously fashioned himself as a “New Democrat,” angering his base on crime and welfare and declaring the era of big government over. Barack Obama did not position himself quite so overtly against his party’s brand — which had recovered in part because of Clinton’s success — but he did take care to avoid confirming political stereotypes. Obama frequently invoked the importance of parenting and personal responsibility. He did not slash the defense budget, and took pains to woo Republican support for criminal-justice reform. Obama tried repeatedly to get Republicans to compromise on a deal to reduce the budget deficit. Whatever the merits of these policies, they reflect a grasp of the party’s innate liabilities.
George W. Bush took some protective steps when he ran for president in 2000. Bush branded himself as a “compassionate conservative,” even the ideological heir to Clinton, but without the sex scandal, and distanced himself from elements of the party like Robert Bork and Tom DeLay. The rally-around-the-flag effect of the 9/11 attacks enabled Bush to use the Republican strong-on-defense brand, freeing him from the need to take any defensive measures. Bush ran for reelection as a standard-issue Republican. And after, as his presidency collapsed, his successors did little to distance themselves from its core agenda. In 2008, John McCain relied on the personal reputation he had built as a war hero and then during his few years as a maverick Bush critic. In 2012, Mitt Romney relied on the overhang from the great recession. Neither took serious steps to play against type.
In many respects, the rich asshole did. He promised to raise taxes on himself and other wealthy people, give everybody terrific health care, break up the big banks, take on Big Pharma, spend a trillion dollars on infrastructure, and rewrite every trade agreement. These promises played a crucial role in helping attract downscale Democrats in the Midwest who had voted for Obama but now saw the rich asshole as the economic populist candidate. In office, he has abandoned every one of these promises.
The unpopularity of the rich asshole and his party is no mystery. Despite the continuing growth of the economy, public antipathy has swollen well beyond the normal backlash experienced by a party in control of government. The public simply hates everything they’re doing.
The Washington Post rounded up polling on the rich asshole’s major initiatives. Other than the appointment of Neil Gorsuch, and the economic recovery the rich asshole inherited, opposition to every other element is overwhelming.
What steps is the rich asshole taking to correct this? Apparently none. On Thursday, he posed symbolically cutting red tape and excessive government regulations. (The pages were, in fact, blank.) Friday, he gave a speech to FBI trainees in which he touted his pro-cop credentials and mocked legal immigrants. He simply continues to reinforce the brand identity that has made him historically unpopular.
The way partisan stereotypes work is that people tend to believe them unless presented with very compelling evidence to the contrary. Republicans convinced themselves that they could pass a gigantic corporate tax cut, and that the public, which strongly opposes corporate tax cuts, would somehow reward them. Last month, Tara Golshan asked several Republican members of Congress about polls showing heavy opposition to corporate tax cuts. Most of them refused to believe it. “I would love to see those polls, because those aren’t polls of my constituents,” said one. “It would be interesting to see an accurate poll of 100 million Americans,” said another. “I don’t believe that poll,” said a third.
It is hardly the case that Republicans are united or even generally satisfied with their work over the last year. Far from it — in some ways, they are at each others’ throats. But almost none of the recriminations they express touch upon public opposition to their core agenda. Instead, Republicans in Congress complain about the rich asshole’s tweeting too much, and the rich asshole complains about Congress’s occasional displays of independence. Everybody blames somebody else for the failure of health-care repeal, without coming to grips with the inherent difficulty of taking insurance away from people when you promised to give them better insurance.
Amazingly, passing a deeply unpopular tax cut for rich people was a consensus solution to the party’s low standing with the public. Republicans have agreed on this step because some of them want it fervently (especially donors) and nobody opposes it. The notion of undertaking an ideological course correction and doing actually popular things seems not to have gained any consideration whatsoever.
the rich asshole Team Calls Mueller Action ‘Totally Illegal,’ Will Demand Return of Emails, Report Says
by Alberto Luperon | 11:30 am, December 17th, 2017
The rich asshole team are none too pleased about the special counsel obtaining emails from the transition. If this report bears out, then they are going to demand a return.
“What they did is totally illegal, and they need to fix it,” said a source close to the transition, according to Axios. This person reportedly said that the transition, which still exists in order to wind-down the operation, will send Special Counsel Robert Mueller a letter demanding investigators return the emails. They claim they are willing to hand over vetted messages.
An Axios report from Saturday first reported that the Mueller team got their hands on emails from 12 accounts connected to the transition. This included messages belonging to son-in-law and Senior Adviser to the President, Jared Kushner, who himself served in the transition team and faced scrutiny in the special counsel’s Russia probe. The rich asshole team complained these were illegally obtained, but Special Counsel’s spokesman Peter Carr told various outlets that the process was perfectly legal.
Transitions officials told Axios that the emails were used as the basis for questioning officials.
Mueller’s probe into Moscow’s election interference so far netted two convictions. the rich asshole campaign adviser George Papadoupolos and former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, both for lying to the FBI about their conversations with Russians.
The investigation involves whether the rich asshole campaign helped out in Kremlin-directed cyberhacking efforts to helped the president win the election. the rich asshole has called the allegation a “witch hunt” by Democrats. His team has denied rumors that he will fire Mueller.
‘Beyond Stupid’: Lawyer Shreds the rich asshole Team’s Claim That Mueller Illegally Obtained Emails
by Alberto Luperon | 4:02 pm, December 17th, 2017
Three the rich asshole judicial nominees stumble — with Republicans
BY LYDIA WHEELER - 12/17/17 04:07 PM EST
Controversy is swirling over the quality of candidates that President the rich asshole is nominating to lifetime appointments on the federal courts.
In the last week, the GOP chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee has pressed the White House to not proceed with two controversial candidates — including one who had never tried a case in court.
A third nominee on Thursday struggled to answer relatively easy questions about basic principles of law during a cringeworthy appearance before the Senate Judiciary Committee.
After learning from his questioning that Matthew Petersen, a nominee for the District Court for the District of Columbia, had not handled a jury trial and had probably taken five or fewer depositions, Kennedy bore down on him, asking Petersen about the last times he’d read either the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure or the Federal Rules of Evidence.
Petersen said that as a Federal Election Commission member, he didn’t need to read those federal standards on a “day-to-day basis.”
“As a trial judge, you’re obviously going to have witnesses. Can you tell me what the ‘Daubert standard’ is?” Kennedy then asked.
“I don’t have that readily at my disposal,” Petersen said of a rule regarding expert testimony in federal court.
“Do you know what a 'motion in limine' is?” Kennedy asked a moment later, referring to a request to exclude certain evidence in a trial.
Petersen said he hadn’t had time to “do a deep dive,” before later saying that he would “probably not be able to give you a good definition right here at the table.”
Liberal groups that have sought to excoriate the rich asshole’s nominees reacted with a mix of glee and horror.
“This is humiliating for the rich asshole administration,” said Nan Aron, president of the liberal Alliance for Justice, commenting both on Petersen’s performance and the two nominees that Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) said should be withdrawn.
She also argued they are just the tip of the spear when it comes to flawed judicial nominees.
“Frankly, these three are problematic but they are not the only ones,” she said.
After Grassley’s request, the White House relented and withdrew the nominations of Brett Talley and Jeff Mateer.
Talley, who was tapped to be a federal judge in Alabama, had never tried a case before in court and was rated by the American Bar Association (ABA), unanimously, as unqualified.
Senators also didn’t learn until after he was voted out of committee that he was married to White House counsel Donald McGhan’s chief of staff. Talley did not list his wife as a family member who could present a potential conflict of interest on his Senate questionnaire.
Mateer’s problem was past speeches in which he compared homosexuality to bestiality and described transgender children as a part of “Satan’s plan.” He was nominated for a seat on a federal district court in Texas.
It’s not clear that Petersen will fall after a performance deemed “embarrassing” by Josh Blackman, an associate professor of law at the South Texas College of Law in Houston.
“Those were questions any third-year law student should be able to answer,” he said. “One of the exact same questions Kennedy asked him, I was asked in an interview for a clerkship.”
The conservative court watcher said Petersen should have prepared better. Even if he lacked litigation experience, Blackman said he could have at least faked it.
Lack of litigation experience, he said, “is a knock on the nominee, but once you’re nominated you can come up to speed.”
Blackman said the obsession with trial experience is overrated because very few federal cases go to trial. The sort of experience you need for federal district court, he said, is not the kind of experience you need to be trying misdemeanors in a county court.
The White House argued Peterson has the exact experience needed for the D.C. court.
“Mr. Peterson has spent nearly a decade as a Commissioner of an important federal agency overseeing its litigation on regulatory issues – the very kinds of issues federal district court in D.C. decides,” White House spokesman Hogan Gidley said in a statement to The Hill.
“It is no surprise the President’s opponents keep trying to distract from the record-setting success the President has had on judicial nominations, which includes a Supreme Court Justice and twelve outstanding circuit judges in his first year.”
the rich asshole has nominated judges at a record pace. In his first year in office, he has seen six nominees confirmed to district court slots and 12 nominees confirmed to circuit courts.
This includes Leonard Steven Grasz, who also received a “not qualified” rating from the ABA when he was confirmed to the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals this week.
Carl Tobias, a professor of law at the University of Richmond School of Law, said the recent stumbles should be a warning that the White House and the Senate Judiciary Committee need to slow down and put more care into the vetting process.
He said more senators will follow Kennedy and question the quality of candidates if they don’t.
“Kennedy deserves some credit,” he said. “He’s dubious of these nominees.”
Kennedy told Yahoo News on Friday that Petersen should have been able to answer his questions.
“I enthusiastically supported President the rich asshole for president, and I still do. In the past year, I have supported nearly every one of President the rich asshole’s picks, but I don’t blindly support them,” he said.
“I ask questions that I expect them to be able to answer,” he continued. “In doing so, I’m just doing my job.
‘Baloney’: Congressman Eric Swalwell hits back at Mueller unlawful email story
Damien Sharkov
Posted with permission from Newsweek
Rumors about the future of the investigation into alleged Russian links to President Donald Trump’s campaign continue to swirl Sunday, after a transition team lawyer accused the special counsel investigation of obtaining tens of thousands of emails unlawfully.
Democratic lawmaker Jackie Speier said Friday that word had spread on Capitol Hill Trump was preparing a speech and setting up to fire Special Counsel Robert Mueller. But speaking Saturday Ty Cobb, White House special counsel, told CNN: "As the White House has consistently said for months, there is no consideration of firing the special counsel."
Related: Putin does not follow Donald Trump on Twitter, but Kremlin briefs him on the tweets
But later the same day a top Trump transition team official once again casted aspersions over the legitimacy of the investigation, sending a letter to several congressional committees claiming that Mueller's team improperly obtained thousands of emails from the General Services Administration (GSA).
The letter, written by Kory Langhofer, counsel to the transition team known as Trump for America, Inc. (TFA), also called on the committees "to protect future presidential transitions from having their private records misappropriated by government agencies, particularly in the context of sensitive investigations intersecting with political motives.”
Democratic lawmaker Eric Swalwell was among the first to hit back at the claims: “‘Private documents’ on a U.S. Government, public email system? What are they afraid was found? Baloney. This is another attempt to discredit Mueller as his#TrumpRussia probe tightens,” he wrote on Twitter.
“Of course Mueller obtained emails from a third party,” Renato Mariotti, a former federal prosecutor, said, also on Twitter. “Prosecutors in most white-collar criminal investigations do that. It’s not ‘inappropriate’ or even unusual. Anyone who claims otherwise has no idea what they’re talking about.”
It is not the first time Republicans have raised doubts about the Mueller team’s alleged anti-Trump agenda—which Democrats argue is a fabrication to discredit the investigation.
“I’m increasingly worried Republicans will shut down the House intelligence committee investigation at the end of the month,” Adam Schiff, the leading Democrat on the House intelligence committee said prior to reports of the letter this weekend.
Ted Lieu a Democratic representative for California accused Republican Senator John Cornyn of "partisan talk," when he suggested Mueller must "clean house of partisans" on social media.
"Dear @JohnCornyn: FBI Director Christopher Wray gave over $39,000 exclusively to Republicans. Are you okay with that?" Lieu asked on Twitter. "Because if you are, then you need to shut up with the partisan talk about our dedicated, professional and patriotic FBI officials."
The wave of Republican concern about the investigation stems from a report about Peter Strzok, the deputy head of counterintelligence at the FBI, who was working on Mueller’s investigation until he was removed during the summer. The reason for his dismissal appears to stem from Mueller's discovery that Strzok exchanged text messages critical of Trump with a lawyer assigned to the probe.
Some members of Trump's party have taken the incident to argue for much deeper scrutiny of the entire probe. Ohio Republican lawmaker Jim Jordan, said that if everyone on Mueller’s team who was “anti-Trump” were kicked off the investigation, “I don't know if there'd be anyone left.' Jordan also added that “the public trust in this whole thing is gone,” referring to the Mueller inquiry NBC reported.
"The depths of this anti-Trump bias on the Mueller team just goes on and on," said Steve Chabot, another Ohio Republican, NPR reported. "It's absolutely shocking."
The Trump administration has pledged its cooperation with Mueller so far. A source speaking on the condition of anonymity told CNN that Trump lawyers are planning a meeting with the special counsel as soon as next week.
Democratic lawmaker Jackie Speier said Friday that word had spread on Capitol Hill Trump was preparing a speech and setting up to fire Special Counsel Robert Mueller. But speaking Saturday Ty Cobb, White House special counsel, told CNN: "As the White House has consistently said for months, there is no consideration of firing the special counsel."
Related: Putin does not follow Donald Trump on Twitter, but Kremlin briefs him on the tweets
But later the same day a top Trump transition team official once again casted aspersions over the legitimacy of the investigation, sending a letter to several congressional committees claiming that Mueller's team improperly obtained thousands of emails from the General Services Administration (GSA).
The letter, written by Kory Langhofer, counsel to the transition team known as Trump for America, Inc. (TFA), also called on the committees "to protect future presidential transitions from having their private records misappropriated by government agencies, particularly in the context of sensitive investigations intersecting with political motives.”
Democratic lawmaker Eric Swalwell was among the first to hit back at the claims: “‘Private documents’ on a U.S. Government, public email system? What are they afraid was found? Baloney. This is another attempt to discredit Mueller as his#TrumpRussia probe tightens,” he wrote on Twitter.
“Of course Mueller obtained emails from a third party,” Renato Mariotti, a former federal prosecutor, said, also on Twitter. “Prosecutors in most white-collar criminal investigations do that. It’s not ‘inappropriate’ or even unusual. Anyone who claims otherwise has no idea what they’re talking about.”
It is not the first time Republicans have raised doubts about the Mueller team’s alleged anti-Trump agenda—which Democrats argue is a fabrication to discredit the investigation.
“I’m increasingly worried Republicans will shut down the House intelligence committee investigation at the end of the month,” Adam Schiff, the leading Democrat on the House intelligence committee said prior to reports of the letter this weekend.
Ted Lieu a Democratic representative for California accused Republican Senator John Cornyn of "partisan talk," when he suggested Mueller must "clean house of partisans" on social media.
"Dear @JohnCornyn: FBI Director Christopher Wray gave over $39,000 exclusively to Republicans. Are you okay with that?" Lieu asked on Twitter. "Because if you are, then you need to shut up with the partisan talk about our dedicated, professional and patriotic FBI officials."
The wave of Republican concern about the investigation stems from a report about Peter Strzok, the deputy head of counterintelligence at the FBI, who was working on Mueller’s investigation until he was removed during the summer. The reason for his dismissal appears to stem from Mueller's discovery that Strzok exchanged text messages critical of Trump with a lawyer assigned to the probe.
Some members of Trump's party have taken the incident to argue for much deeper scrutiny of the entire probe. Ohio Republican lawmaker Jim Jordan, said that if everyone on Mueller’s team who was “anti-Trump” were kicked off the investigation, “I don't know if there'd be anyone left.' Jordan also added that “the public trust in this whole thing is gone,” referring to the Mueller inquiry NBC reported.
"The depths of this anti-Trump bias on the Mueller team just goes on and on," said Steve Chabot, another Ohio Republican, NPR reported. "It's absolutely shocking."
The Trump administration has pledged its cooperation with Mueller so far. A source speaking on the condition of anonymity told CNN that Trump lawyers are planning a meeting with the special counsel as soon as next week.
the rich asshole’s censorship of science will kill people
Gleb Tsipursky
Posted with permission from Newsweek
Do you want your medical treatment to be based on science? The Trump administration doesn’t.
It banned the top US public health agency, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), from using seven words, including “evidence-based” and “science-based.”
Prominent public health advocates have expressed outrage about these measures. For example, Sandro Galea, dean of the Boston University School of Public Health,tweeted, “This is astonishing. It would be a parody of a flailing effort to limit the effectiveness of #publichealth if it did not suggest a real problem. #7words.”
Such censorship is a direct blow at the essence of science: accurately describing the physical world around us. Science is the best method that we as human beings have of figuring out the truth of reality, and wishing away the facts by trying to substitute them with “ alternative facts ” will greatly impede scientific progress.
Moreover, these measures will cause many more people to get sick and die. After all, how can the CDC implement effective public health interventions if it cannot use terms like “evidence-based” and “science-based” in its official documents?
To be clear, the CDC cannot get around this censorship by using terminology like “based on scientific studies.”
In fact, the Trump administration directed the CDC to replace "science-based" and "evidence-based" with "CDC bases its recommendations on science in consideration with community standards and wishes."
So apparently it wants doctors to shift away from treating people based on the best scientific research, and instead move toward the fuzzy standard of “community wishes.”
Unfortunately, “community members” are too easily fooled by false but emotionally appealing claims.
For instance, the homeopathy industry is a multi-billion dollar business. Homeopathy is based on the false claim of the benefit of super-diluted substances and the principle of “like cures like.”
While it has been debunked by hundreds of studies, people still want to believe in magic-like cures. Homeopathy is not harmless, yet despite the fact that it kills people every day, only recently has the federal government taken steps to address this problem.
Unfortunately, under the new guidelines, these steps may be rolled back, and the CDC may have to take homeopathy “under consideration.”
For another example, consider the false claim that vaccines cause autism. This belief isspread widely across the US, and leads to many people failing to vaccinate their children against diseases like measles.
While measles was practically eliminated in the US by 2000, in recent years outbreaks of measles have been on the rise in the US, driven by parents failing to vaccinate their children in a number of communities.
Donald Trump has frequently expressed the false view that vaccines cause autism, and we should be very concerned about this being one of the “community wishes” taken under consideration.
So what would happen if the CDC is unable to make accurate recommendations and implement effective public health policy?
Simple: people will get sick and die. The diseases and deaths will come from among the most vulnerable. Hundreds of babies have already died due to taking homeopathic medications which were not vetted by the Food and Drug Administration. 2017 has seen the largest measles outbreak in the US, which mainly impacts children and babies.
Many more children and babies will get sick and die as a direct result of the Trump administration’s censorship of science.
However, these deaths will not be visible, just like the hundreds of thousands of deaths from pollution every year in the US are not visible. Because it is very difficult to trace an individual’s death to a specific polluter, the polluters get off scot-free with killing thousands of people every year.
The Trump administration has already taken many steps that will result in thousands more people dying from pollution every year by rolling back government protections on pollution. Its steps in censoring the science on public health will result in many, many more children, babies, and adults getting sick and dying.
Yet because it will be incredibly difficult to trace a specific baby’s death to the Trump administration’s censorship, it will also get off scot-free.
However, we can take steps to reverse this and other attacks on science that will cost many people their lives. You can make a difference by Tweeting your thoughts using the hashtag #CDC7words and emailing, writing, and calling your federal elected officials to express your concerns over this deadly censorship.
Gleb Tsipursky is the author of The Truth-Seeker’s Handbook: A Science-Based Guide. He is an Assistant Professor at The Ohio State University, President of the non-profitIntentional Insights and co-founder of the Pro-Truth Pledge.
It banned the top US public health agency, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), from using seven words, including “evidence-based” and “science-based.”
Prominent public health advocates have expressed outrage about these measures. For example, Sandro Galea, dean of the Boston University School of Public Health,tweeted, “This is astonishing. It would be a parody of a flailing effort to limit the effectiveness of #publichealth if it did not suggest a real problem. #7words.”
Such censorship is a direct blow at the essence of science: accurately describing the physical world around us. Science is the best method that we as human beings have of figuring out the truth of reality, and wishing away the facts by trying to substitute them with “ alternative facts ” will greatly impede scientific progress.
Moreover, these measures will cause many more people to get sick and die. After all, how can the CDC implement effective public health interventions if it cannot use terms like “evidence-based” and “science-based” in its official documents?
To be clear, the CDC cannot get around this censorship by using terminology like “based on scientific studies.”
In fact, the Trump administration directed the CDC to replace "science-based" and "evidence-based" with "CDC bases its recommendations on science in consideration with community standards and wishes."
So apparently it wants doctors to shift away from treating people based on the best scientific research, and instead move toward the fuzzy standard of “community wishes.”
Unfortunately, “community members” are too easily fooled by false but emotionally appealing claims.
For instance, the homeopathy industry is a multi-billion dollar business. Homeopathy is based on the false claim of the benefit of super-diluted substances and the principle of “like cures like.”
While it has been debunked by hundreds of studies, people still want to believe in magic-like cures. Homeopathy is not harmless, yet despite the fact that it kills people every day, only recently has the federal government taken steps to address this problem.
Unfortunately, under the new guidelines, these steps may be rolled back, and the CDC may have to take homeopathy “under consideration.”
For another example, consider the false claim that vaccines cause autism. This belief isspread widely across the US, and leads to many people failing to vaccinate their children against diseases like measles.
While measles was practically eliminated in the US by 2000, in recent years outbreaks of measles have been on the rise in the US, driven by parents failing to vaccinate their children in a number of communities.
Donald Trump has frequently expressed the false view that vaccines cause autism, and we should be very concerned about this being one of the “community wishes” taken under consideration.
So what would happen if the CDC is unable to make accurate recommendations and implement effective public health policy?
Simple: people will get sick and die. The diseases and deaths will come from among the most vulnerable. Hundreds of babies have already died due to taking homeopathic medications which were not vetted by the Food and Drug Administration. 2017 has seen the largest measles outbreak in the US, which mainly impacts children and babies.
Many more children and babies will get sick and die as a direct result of the Trump administration’s censorship of science.
However, these deaths will not be visible, just like the hundreds of thousands of deaths from pollution every year in the US are not visible. Because it is very difficult to trace an individual’s death to a specific polluter, the polluters get off scot-free with killing thousands of people every year.
The Trump administration has already taken many steps that will result in thousands more people dying from pollution every year by rolling back government protections on pollution. Its steps in censoring the science on public health will result in many, many more children, babies, and adults getting sick and dying.
Yet because it will be incredibly difficult to trace a specific baby’s death to the Trump administration’s censorship, it will also get off scot-free.
However, we can take steps to reverse this and other attacks on science that will cost many people their lives. You can make a difference by Tweeting your thoughts using the hashtag #CDC7words and emailing, writing, and calling your federal elected officials to express your concerns over this deadly censorship.
Gleb Tsipursky is the author of The Truth-Seeker’s Handbook: A Science-Based Guide. He is an Assistant Professor at The Ohio State University, President of the non-profitIntentional Insights and co-founder of the Pro-Truth Pledge.
Republicans refusing to continue the rich asshole investigation
Lauren Gill
Posted with permission from Newsweek
Republicans are refusing to name new witnesses in the Congressional investigation into the Trump campaign's alleged collusion with Russia during the 2016 election and may be prematurely winding down the probe, according to the ranking Democrat in the House Intelligence Committee.
Firing off a nine-tweet thread on Friday, Adam Schiff (D–California) warned he had become “increasingly worried Republicans will shut down the House Intelligence Committee investigation at the end of the month,” before going on to explain that the Majority hasn’t lined anyone up to testify after Dec. 22.
Firing off a nine-tweet thread on Friday, Adam Schiff (D–California) warned he had become “increasingly worried Republicans will shut down the House Intelligence Committee investigation at the end of the month,” before going on to explain that the Majority hasn’t lined anyone up to testify after Dec. 22.
I’m increasingly worried Republicans will shut down the House Intelligence Committee investigation at the end of the month.
Here’s why:
Here’s why:
“Yet, Republicans have scheduled no witnesses after next Friday and none in 2017. We have dozens of outstanding witnesses on key aspects of our investigation that they refuse to contact and many document requests they continue to sit on,” he wrote.
Since March, our investigation has made important progress. We’ve interviewed numerous key witnesses behind closed doors, held public hearings, reviewed thousands of documents, identified new leads — all to understand and expose Russia's meddling and protect our democracy.
He also said Republicans are skirting their duties to obtain the documents they need for the investigation, which has been ongoing since January.
“Despite our repeated urging, Majority has declined to issue subpoenas in numerous avenues of the investigation, where there's simply no other way to get the information. Some refusals we’ve made public, like witnesses hiding behind nonexistent privileges, many others we haven’t,” Schiff tweeted.
He wrote that Republicans have further complicated the investigation by planning to interview two witnesses out-of-state next week, forcing lawmakers to choose between attending the depositions or voting on the tax bill. He added that the witnesses were able to come to Washington, D.C.
The witnesses are reportedly Trump’s longtime assistant Rhona Graff and Felix Sater, a Trump associate who worked on a deal to construct a Trump Tower in Moscow, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Schiff said shutting down the Congressional probe would then give Republicans justification to curtail special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into the Trump campaign’s alleged collusion with Russia.
A handful of GOP lawmakers have called for firing Mueller, with Rep. Matt Gaetz (R–Florida) charging last week that the probe had become "infected" with "intractable bias" against Trump.
He was referring to text messages sent from FBI agent Peter Strzok to his girlfriend during the 2016 campaign saying unflattering things about Trump. Strzok was quickly fired from the probe after the messages were uncovered.
So far, less than a dozen key players have testified before Congress, including Attorney General Jeff Sessions, Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, Trump’s former campaign chairman Paul Manafort, and Trump’s eldest son Donald Trump Jr.
Most recently, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein testified before the House Intelligence Committee about alleged bias within the Department of Justice against Trump. Rosenstein said he had so far seen no good cause to fire Mueller.
Fox News suggests the Mueller investigation is an anti-the rich asshole coup as Kellyanne Conway says ‘the fix was in’
Lauren Gill
Posted with permission from Newsweek
White House senior adviser Kellyanne Conway charged that the FBI’s investigation into the Trump campaign’s alleged collusion with Russia during the 2016 election was unfairly stacked against the president since before he moved into the Oval Office in a Saturday Fox News interview during which the show’s host suggested that there might be an anti-Trump “coup on our hands.”
Conway appeared on Jesse Watters program, Watters’ World, to talk about the newly revealed content of text messages sent between FBI officials Peter Strzok and Lisa Page.
When asked what she thought they meant when they said “they need to protect America from Trump and need to have an insurance policy against his presidency,” Conway tore into the investigation's credibility.
"The fix was in against Donald Trump from the beginning, and they were pro-Hillary. We understand that people have political views but they are expressing theirs with such animus and such venom towards the now president of the United States they can't possibly be seen as objective or transparent or even-handed or fair,” she said.
As she spoke, the banner below Conway and Watters screamed "A COUP IN AMERICA?"
Watters proceeded to ask “how dangerous” Conway thought it was that people were “plotting what appears to be some sort of subversion campaign” against Trump.
“It’s toxic, it’s lethal, and it may be fatal to the continuation of people arguing that that matter is since behind us, he won he’s the president, and the Mueller investigation is something separate,” she answered.
Conway then slammed critics for defending the integrity of the probe by alleging that Trump is against the FBI, repeating the claim that he isn’t under investigation, “we’re told.”
Released on Tuesday, Strzok and Page’s messages referred to Trump as an “idiot” and “douche. At one point, Strzok told Page he was considering “an insurance policy” if Trump were elected. Page had also told Strzok that maybe he was meant to “protect the country from that menace,” according to records reviewed by Politico.
Mueller immediately dismissed Strzok from the probe after learning of the messages in late July. Page had stopped working for Mueller's office before the messages came out.
Watters assessed the texts as evidence of a coup, or sudden, violent, and illegal seizure of power from the government, in America.
“The investigation into Donald Trump’s campaign has been crooked from the jump. But the scary part is we may now have proof the investigation was weaponized to destroy his presidency for partisan political purposes and to disenfranchise millions of American voters. Now, if that’s true, we have a coup on our hands in America,” he said.
But critics said Watters' statement was in ill-taste, charging he was getting into dangerous territory by bringing the word "coup" into the conversation.
"I'm an academic studying coups. This is embarrassing and dangerous. There is no coup in America, but there is a de-facto state propaganda outlet named Fox News,” wrote political scientist Marcel Dirsus.
"I’ve interviewed coup plotters, torture victims, generals, politicians they toppled & dozens whose lives were destroyed by actual coups & coup attempts. This language is so dangerous for democracy—and it’s precisely what you see before purges (which Fox News hosts are advocating),” tweeted Brian Klaas, a fellow in comparative politics at the London School of Economics.
Conway appeared on Jesse Watters program, Watters’ World, to talk about the newly revealed content of text messages sent between FBI officials Peter Strzok and Lisa Page.
When asked what she thought they meant when they said “they need to protect America from Trump and need to have an insurance policy against his presidency,” Conway tore into the investigation's credibility.
"The fix was in against Donald Trump from the beginning, and they were pro-Hillary. We understand that people have political views but they are expressing theirs with such animus and such venom towards the now president of the United States they can't possibly be seen as objective or transparent or even-handed or fair,” she said.
.@KellyannePolls: "The fix was in against @realDonaldTrumpfrom the beginning, and they were pro-Hillary... They can't possibly be seen as objective or transparent or even-handed or fair."
Watters proceeded to ask “how dangerous” Conway thought it was that people were “plotting what appears to be some sort of subversion campaign” against Trump.
“It’s toxic, it’s lethal, and it may be fatal to the continuation of people arguing that that matter is since behind us, he won he’s the president, and the Mueller investigation is something separate,” she answered.
Conway then slammed critics for defending the integrity of the probe by alleging that Trump is against the FBI, repeating the claim that he isn’t under investigation, “we’re told.”
Released on Tuesday, Strzok and Page’s messages referred to Trump as an “idiot” and “douche. At one point, Strzok told Page he was considering “an insurance policy” if Trump were elected. Page had also told Strzok that maybe he was meant to “protect the country from that menace,” according to records reviewed by Politico.
Mueller immediately dismissed Strzok from the probe after learning of the messages in late July. Page had stopped working for Mueller's office before the messages came out.
Watters assessed the texts as evidence of a coup, or sudden, violent, and illegal seizure of power from the government, in America.
“The investigation into Donald Trump’s campaign has been crooked from the jump. But the scary part is we may now have proof the investigation was weaponized to destroy his presidency for partisan political purposes and to disenfranchise millions of American voters. Now, if that’s true, we have a coup on our hands in America,” he said.
But critics said Watters' statement was in ill-taste, charging he was getting into dangerous territory by bringing the word "coup" into the conversation.
"I'm an academic studying coups. This is embarrassing and dangerous. There is no coup in America, but there is a de-facto state propaganda outlet named Fox News,” wrote political scientist Marcel Dirsus.
I’ve interviewed coup plotters, torture victims, generals, politicians they toppled & dozens whose lives were destroyed by actual coups & coup attempts
This language is so dangerous for democracy—and it’s precisely what you see before purges (which Fox News hosts are advocating)
Mueller gets bipartisan defense despite controversies over bias
BY MALLORY SHELBOURNE - 12/17/17 01:08 PM EST
Democratic and Republican lawmakers on Sunday defended special counsel Robert Mueller and his investigation amid attempts by conservatives to discredit the probe.
Conservative pundits and some Republican lawmakers have questioned Mueller’s investigation after a report about the potential bias of an FBI agent previously assigned to the Russia probe.
Even as Mueller faces intensifying criticism from some quarters, both Republicans and Democrats during Sunday television interviews defended the integrity of the Russia investigation, which has consumed the rich asshole administration for the better part of its first year in the White House.
Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), the No. 2 Republican in the Senate, defended Mueller, but insisted the special counsel must rid itself of any partisan investigators.
“I have a lot of admiration and respect for Director Mueller,” Cornyn told ABC’s “This Week."
“But I would think he would want to eliminate challenges to the integrity of his investigation by eliminating agents who have taken positions either in text messages or through their political activity that undermine the integrity of the results of the investigation.”
A former member of Mueller's team, FBI agent Peter Strzok, sent partisan messages to his then-girlfriend, another former member of the team, last year during the presidential campaign. Mueller removed the agent from his team after the messages were discovered. Cornyn praised the move.
Several other members of Mueller's team have donated to Democratic presidential campaigns and organizations in the past, according to Federal Election Commission filings.
Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.), who sits on the Senate Intelligence Committee and is therefore part of the panel’s own Russia investigation, said he does not think the fact that an agent on Mueller's team sent some anti-the rich asshole messages “taints the entire process” of the special counsel’s probe.
“Obviously, I don't think it taints the entire process. But it certainly taints that season of it,” Lankford told CBS’s “Face the Nation.”
“And it's something you should look at with any political investigation that he was on at the time," Lankford continued. "Again, we want our FBI agents to be neutral and to be nonpolitical. Not very actively engaged politically.”
But Lankford emphasized that the special counsel must determine if the agent was “directing the investigation one way or the other.”
Democrats have long defended Mueller’s investigation and warned against any attempts to end the probe, with bipartisan groups of lawmakers introducing legislation aimed at protecting the special counsel.
Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) defended Mueller on Sunday and called on Republicans to end their attacks on the investigation.
“You have got somebody who, by all accounts, is an independent person, somebody who has got lots of integrity,” Van Hollen told ABC’s “This Week.”
“And you see a concerted effort out of the White House to undermine the investigation. I really hope our Republican colleagues will not join in subverting that process and trying to end this investigation.”
Sen.-elect Doug Jones (D-Ala.), who as a Democrat from a deep-red state is likely to walk a fine line in the Senate between the two parties once he is sworn in, defended Mueller and said he doesn’t see any reason why the probe could be “tainted.”
“I would be very surprised if Bob Mueller did anything that illegally obtained or anything like that,” Jones told CNN's Jake Tapper on "State of the Union." “He is the consummate professional. And that investigation is proceeding. It's going to go forward. I don't see any taint at this point.”
Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), a red-state Democrat who is on the Senate Intelligence Committee, said he does not think Mueller nor the investigation have been “compromised.”
“I think that he is the person, the right person, that when he finishes his investigation that we're going to have confidence it was done in a fair and balanced way. I truly believe that,” Manchin told NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
The White House, for its part, has denied rumored plans to fire Mueller, which a top administration aide reiterated during another Sunday interview.
“There's no conversation about that whatsoever in the White House, Chuck,” White House legislative affairs director Marc Short told NBC’s “Meet The Press."
“You guys keep bringing that up. We've continued to cooperate at every single possible way with that investigation," he said.
Mueller's team issued a rare statement defending its methods following the controversy over obtaining documents.
“When we have obtained emails in the course of our ongoing criminal investigation, we have secured either the account owner’s consent or appropriate criminal process,” Peter Carr, a spokesman for the special counsel’s office, said in a statement to The Hill on Sunday.
Mueller’s probe has led to the indictment of two former the rich asshole campaign officials and a guilty plea from former national security adviser Michael Flynn.
Former the rich asshole campaign chairman Paul Manafort and his former business associate, Richard Gates, pleaded not guilty to charges related to their political work in Ukraine. Flynn, however, pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about his conversations with the Russian ambassador to the United States.
the rich asshole says he won’t fire Mueller during impromptu presser outside White House
President some rich asshole talks to reporters on the White House lawn (Screen capture)
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President some rich asshole bookended his weekend with a second impromptu conversation with reporters on the White House lawn on Sunday night.
In it, he said that things with the special counsel Bob Mueller’s investigation are “not looking good,” but denied he has any intention of firing Mueller, as some Democrats have warned.
“No, I’m not,” the rich asshole said when asked if he’s contemplating terminating Mueller and thereby quashing the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.
.@POTUS was just asked on the South Lawn about special counsel obtaining transition emails. "Not looking good, not looking good."
I asked if he is considering firing Robert Mueller, he answered: "No, I'm not."
Watch the video, embedded below:
the rich asshole says he's not considering firing Mueller
BY JULIA MANCHESTER - 12/17/17 05:15 PM EST
President the rich asshole said Sunday he is not considering firing special counsel Robert Mueller, amid concerns that the administration was trying to halt the investigation into Russian election meddling.
"No, I'm not," the rich asshole said after a reporter asked him if he was thinking about firing the special counsel.
His remark comes among mounting rumors that the rich asshole was considering firing Mueller and attacks by the rich asshole allies on the special counsel.
The president was also asked about a slew of the rich asshole transition team emails obtained by Mueller as apart of the probe.
"I can't imagine there's anything on them frankly because as we've said there's no collusion, no collusion," he continued.
A lawyer for the rich asshole's transition team said on Saturday that the emails were obtained illegally.
Mueller's team responded by defending their possession of the emails.
“When we have obtained emails in the course of our ongoing criminal investigation, we have secured either the account owner’s consent or appropriate criminal process,” Peter Carr, a spokesman for the special counsel’s office, said in a statement to The Hill.
the rich asshole’s comments come as Republicans have ramped up pressure on the Mueller probe, saying there are signs of ant-the rich asshole bias.
Text messages surfaced last week between FBI agent Peter Strzok and colleague Lisa Page criticizing the rich asshole during the presidential campaign.
Strzok, who was dismissed from Mueller's team earlier this year, had said Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) was "an idiot like the rich asshole," while Page called the rich asshole "a loathsome human."
"God, Hillary should win 100,000,000-0," Strzok said in another message to Page.
Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Oh.) revealed on Saturday that he received an assurance from House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) that subpoenas would be issued for various senior FBI and Justice Department officials, including Strozk and Page.
However, House Intelligence Committee Chairman Trey Gowdy said on Sunday that the courts are responsible for handling complaints against Mueller.
Despite the outrage from Republicans, the rich asshole’s lawyer presiding over his response to the Russia probe dismissed rumors last week that the rich asshole would fire Mueller.
"As the White House has repeatedly and emphatically said for months, there is no consideration at the White House of terminating the special counsel,” Cobb said in a statement.
Ex-Bush adviser: GOP is spewing ‘B.S. and baloney’ about Mueller while doing Putin’s dirty work
House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence Chairman Devin Nunes (R-CA) speaks to the media about President some rich asshole's allegation that his campaign was the target of wiretaps on Capitol Hill in Washington March 7, 2017. REUTERS/Aaron P. Bernstein
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As GOP lawmakers do their best to undermine the FBI and Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into possible Russian collusion with President some rich asshole’s campaign team, a former Bush-era ethics attorney suggested another investigation be opened.
Appearing on MSNBC, the rich asshole critic and Republican Richard Painter assailed GOP lawmakers who are attacking the FBI and undermining the rule of law, calling their attacks “a bunch of B.S. and baloney.”
“What’s going on here is that members of Congress want to carry President the rich asshole’s water, here, in attacking Robert Mueller,” Painter said, “but it’s not going to work because Robert Mueller is a Republican. He was appointed by a Republican Deputy Attorney General.”
Painter said that if a second special counsel is appointed, that person should be looking into the millions of dollars donated to Republicans by Putin-allied Russians living in the U.S..
“These members of Congress are clearly very defensive about Robert Mueller,” Painter said. “And none of those claims against Mueller have any basis.”
Republicans like Rep. Devin Nunes (CA) who are trying to hamstring the Mueller probe are “fronting for Vladimir Putin,” said Painter.
Watch the video below via MSNBC:
the rich asshole team demands Mueller return thousands of emails — but promises to ‘vet’ them and give them back
File picture taken on August 11, 2017 shows White House adviser Jared Kushner listening as US President some rich asshole speaks to the press on at his Bedminster National Golf Club in New Jersey (AFP Photo/JIM WATSON)
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President some rich asshole’s transition team on Sunday demanded that Special Counsel Robert Mueller return “tens of thousands” of emails that were sent and received on government accounts before the 45th president took office.
A “source close to the rich asshole’s transition told Axios on Sunday that the team plans to send a letter to Mueller this week demanding the return of emails that were reportedly obtained by the Special Counsel’s Office.
In the letter, the transition officials plan to say they will promise to return the emails to Mueller after “privilege” documents are redacted, according to Axios.
In a letter to Congress on Sunday, attorneys for the president argued that some of the emails should have been shielded by attorney-client privilege and other privileges.
A spokesperson for Mueller’s office defended the way the emails were obtained in a statement over the weekend.
“When we have obtained emails in the course of our ongoing criminal investigation, we have secured either the account owner’s consent or appropriate criminal process,” spokesperson Peter Carr said.
‘A reckless con man as president’: LA Times burns the rich asshole to the ground in brutal editorial
some rich asshole during CNN debate (Photo: Screen capture via video)
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Writing in the LA Times, author and human rights activist Ariel Dorfman took the American electorate to task for electing “a reckless con man as president,” adding the country is now facing a reckoning.
Dorfman admitted that he is tired of hearing about investigations into Russian collusion in the 2016 election of President some rich asshole when the focus should be on how in the hell did American voters let his election happen.
“What is it, in our American soul that allowed the Russians to be successful?” he asked.
“Those were not Russians voting in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, handing the election to the Republican candidate by a bit more than 80,000 votes. They were American men and women,” Dorfman wrote. “As were the 62,984,825 others who decided that such a troublesome, inflammatory figure expressed their desires and dreams. the rich asshole could be impeached or resign, or his policies could simply implode under the weight of their malice, divisiveness and mendacity, and the country would still be defined and pressed by the same conditions and dread that enabled his rise.”
“Now, every desperate American must gaze in the mirror and interrogate the puzzled face and puzzling fate that stares back: What did I do or not do that made the cataclysm possible?” he continued. “Did I ignore past transgressions that corrode today’s society: the discrimination, the sexism, the violence, the authoritarianism, the intolerance, the imperial ambitions, the slavery and greed and persecutions that have darkened America’s story? Did I overestimate the strength of our democracy and underestimate the decency of my neighbors? Was I too fearful, too complacent, too impatient, too angry? Whom did I not talk to, whom did I not persuade? What privilege and comforts, what overwork and debts, kept me from giving my all? What injustice or humiliation or bigoted remark did I witness and let pass? How can I help to recover our country, make it once more recognizable, make it luminous and forgiving?”
“We must vigorously protest the president’s craven actions, but above all we need to acknowledge that what ultimately matters is not what a foreign power did to America, but what America did to itself,” he lectured. “The crucial question of what is wrong with our country, what could have driven us to this edge of catastrophe, cannot be resolved by a special counsel or a Democratic takeover of the House of Representatives or spectacular revelations about Russia’s interference.”
You can read the whole scathing piece here.
America still hasn't reckoned with the election of a reckless con man as president
DEC 17, 2017 |
I'm tired of hearing about how Russia intervened in the recent U.S. election and tired of the talk about collusion, and I'm especially fed up with the speculation that all this will doom the rich asshole presidency.
My weariness is not due to a lack of indignation at how a foreign country covertly helped a reckless con man become president. And I would certainly celebrate if the uncovering of crimes forced President the rich asshole to abandon the White House and slink back to his tower. But I fear that the Russia investigations — and the hope that they will save the republic — are turning too many opponents of this administration into passive, victimized spectators of a drama performed by remote actors over which they have no control.
The psychic, intellectual and emotional energy expended on this issue would be better employed, I believe, by addressing a more fundamental concern: What was it, what is it, in our American soul that allowed the Russians to be successful?
Russians voting in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin [didn't hand] the election to the Republican candidate by a bit more than 80,000 votes.
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Those were not Russians voting in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, handing the election to the Republican candidate by a bit more than 80,000 votes. They were American men and women. As were the 62,984,825 others who decided that such a troublesome, inflammatory figure expressed their desires and dreams. The rich asshole could be impeached or resign, or his policies could simply implode under the weight of their malice, divisiveness and mendacity, and the country would still be defined and pressed by the same conditions and dread that enabled his rise. America would still need to engage in a process of national self-scrutiny to fathom how such a nightmare could have been avoided, how it can be prevented from happening again.
Such a process will prove arduous and gut-wrenching. I should know. As a Chilean who is now also an American citizen, I went through a similar grueling quest to comprehend the origins of another political disaster: the 1973 overthrow of the Chilean people's peaceful revolution and its leader, Salvador Allende. I had to learn that attributing that tragedy to foreign entities did not alleviate or overcome it.
In 1973, a military coup against Allende, the democratically elected president of Chile, terminated an extraordinary experiment in social and economic justice. The assault was aided and abetted by the United States. For many years after the coup, I dwelled on Washington's responsibility for the brutal dictatorship of Gen. Augusto Pinochet.
And yet, some years after Pinochet's depredations forced me to flee Chile with my wife and our first son, I stopped automatically alluding to America's role in my country's misfortune. I continued to be outraged by the invasion of our sovereignty, which had also occurred in places as diverse as Guatemala, Iran and Indonesia. But I realized that obsessing about what America had done was delaying a more imperative obligation: to minutely, painfully, collectively examine what had gone awry in my own land. How could our attempt to build a nation free of exploitation have paved the way for a tyrannical regime?
It took many years for the self-criticism to bear fruit, but without it the followers of Allende could never have built a coalition with the Christian Democrats, many of whose members were fierce opponents of the revolution's radical measures. They had at first thoughtlessly welcomed the coup. Our coalition beat Pinochet in a 1988 plebiscite and then voted into office a center-left president two years later. Since then, Chile has organized five more presidential elections. Yet another will take place Sunday, and whatever its outcome, Chileans can be certain that our democracy is robust enough not to be fooled by foreign intelligence agencies.
As an immigrant who has embraced America as his home, I would hope that my compatriots here might be inspired by the way Chile went about healing its wounds. Our confusion and angst forced us to look deep inside our despair, and deeper still into the enigmas and abyss of history in search of a response to the Pinochet tragedy. The fundamental ethical work went beyond politics and intellectual theories to more personal, more intimate, more piercing territory. Chileans had to think ourselves out of our crisis.
Such a process of inquiry and exorcism began in the U.S. soon after the election, with no lack of culprits to blame. And yet so far the multiple, conflicting theories and explanations for the rich asshole's startling victory have not produced a common national narrative that might unify the opposition and point the way forward.
Now, every desperate American must gaze in the mirror and interrogate the puzzled face and puzzling fate that stares back: What did I do or not do that made the cataclysm possible? Did I ignore past transgressions that corrode today's society: the discrimination, the sexism, the violence, the authoritarianism, the intolerance, the imperial ambitions, the slavery and greed and persecutions that have darkened America's story? Did I overestimate the strength of our democracy and underestimate the decency of my neighbors? Was I too fearful, too complacent, too impatient, too angry? Whom did I not talk to, whom did I not persuade? What privilege and comforts, what overwork and debts, kept me from giving my all? What injustice or humiliation or bigoted remark did I witness and let pass? How can I help to recover our country, make it once more recognizable, make it luminous and forgiving?
We must vigorously protest the president's craven actions, but above all we need to acknowledge that what ultimately matters is not what a foreign power did to America, but what America did to itself. The crucial question of what is wrong with our country, what could have driven us to this edge of catastrophe, cannot be resolved by a special counsel or a Democratic takeover of the House of Representatives or spectacular revelations about Russia's interference.
Our inevitable moment of reckoning should be seen as an opportunity rather than an obstacle. Thomas Paine, that foreigner, that immigrant, that subversive who loved America, said it best in December of 1776, as his adopted homeland's inaugural revolution was in danger of being defeated: "Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph."
I cannot guess whether we will be spirited enough to find the consolatory answers to our crisis. What I do not doubt, as America cries out for a second and much needed revolution, is that a long night of searching lies ahead of us.
Ariel Dorfman is the author of "Homeland Security Ate My Speech" and the forthcoming novel "Darwin's Ghosts." He lives with his wife Angélica in Chile and in Durham, N.C., where he is professor emeritus of literature at Duke University.
‘Appropriate criminal process’: Mueller’s office fires back over Kushner emails — and the rich asshole team is screwed
Former FBI Director Robert Mueller said cyber security will be the number one future threat in the country, but for the time being, "counterterrorism and stopping terrorist attacks" is more important. (Photo: Kit Fox/Medill Flickr)
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Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s office over the weekend shot down Republican complaints that emails from the rich asshole’s transition team — including inner-circle members like Jared Kushner — were illegally provided to investigators.
After Mueller’s office obtained thousands of emails from the rich asshole transition team, officials with the rich asshole for America claimed that the emails had been illegally turned over by the General Services Administration because the account owners never received notification about the request.
That assertion was immediately shot down by top Democrats and career law enforcement officials.
“Their claims themselves are weak and are meant to persuade people who know nothing about criminal investigations,” former federal prosecutor Renato Mariotti tweeted on Saturday.
In a statement to Buzzfeed early Sunday morning, Mueller’s office rebuked claims that investigators obtained the emails inappropriately.
“When we have obtained emails in the course of our ongoing criminal investigation, we have secured either the account owner’s consent or appropriate criminal process,” Special Counsel’s Office spokesperson Peter Carr told BuzzFeed New
“I’m very spoiled.” Marines forced to sit through 12-minute the rich asshole brag-a-thon
DECEMBER 15, 2017
Instead of thanking Marines for their service, some rich asshole forced them to listen to an extended rant about his favorite subject: the greatness of some rich asshole.
It is always about some rich asshole. Even when it is supposed to be about the Marines serving their country, the rich asshole still makes it about himself.
That narcissistic approach to the entire world flared up again Friday when the rich asshole met with a group of Marines and subjected them to a 12-minute rant about himself.
the rich asshole was visiting Marine Helicopter Squadron One, in Quantico, Virginia. That’s the group in charge of helicopter transportation for the president onboard Marine One.
Most presidents would take the opportunity to limit their remarks to praising the service and dedication of this team, who are responsible for securing one of the most important figures in the American government.
Instead, the rich asshole dedicated a considerable chunk of his remarks to comments about himself.
Describing the service members as “the ones taking care of my helicopter,” the rich asshole boasted, “I’ve had many helicopters. You know, I’m very spoiled; I’ve had helicopters.”
Minutes later, the rich asshole forced the captive audience — they couldn’t just walk out on the man who is unfortunately their commander in chief — to hear him once again recount the 2016 election.
He bragged about his “very successful campaign” that he “won very easily.” He then recounted how “we had 306 Electoral College votes to 223, or something like that.”
the rich asshole actually won 304; Hillary Clinton won 227.
the rich asshole did not bother telling the Marines about how he lost the popular vote by nearly 3 million to Clinton, or that his approval rating as president has never been near 50 percent and is currently in the low 30s.
He did go on to describe incorrect predictions of his electoral college numbers as “voter suppression.” Real voter suppression tactics were used by Republicans in the race, trying to aid the rich asshole by lowering the number of Democratic-leaning voters who could cast their ballots.
RICH ASSHOLE: Remember they used to say, “There is no way for the rich asshole to get to 270.” Remember? Over and over again. That’s called voter suppression. If you believe that, you might say, “I love the rich asshole but I’m not going to waste my time — let’s go see a movie and we’ll come home and watch the results tonight.” Right? But everybody said, “No, I’m not going to a movie; we’re going to vote.” And they voted. And we didn’t get to 270; we got 306 [sic]. That’s even better, right?
Out of 56 presidential election, the rich asshole’s performance in the 2016 electoral college ranks 46th.
Doing this to the troops is the latest in a series of disrespectful moves against the military. the rich asshole uses them a backdrop and surrounds himself with generals in an attempt to play-act as a leader.
But he refuses to take responsibility for ordering them into battles where they have lost their lives, and pursues policies that would hurt them in their twilight years as veterans.
The military isn’t some rich asshole’s plaything or sounding board for his failing presidency, and he should be ashamed for treating them that way.
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