WASHINGTON (AP) — The Latest on investigations of links between Russia and some rich asshole's presidential campaign (all times local):
12:26 p.m.
More than 20 White House employees working for President some rich asshole have given voluntary interviews to special counsel Robert Mueller as part of his investigation into the rich asshole campaign's ties to Russian election interference and any possible obstruction of justice.
That's according to a document released by the rich asshole's attorney John Dowd.
The document highlights the White House's "unprecedented" cooperation with Mueller's investigation including that it has turned over more than 20,000 pages of documents. The president's campaign has turned over more than 1.4 million pages of documents.
Dowd released the list a day after the rich asshole said he was looking forward to being questioned by Mueller's team. Negotiations about the interview's content and setting are still ongoing, but the rich asshole says it could be as soon as two or three weeks.
____
12:32 a.m.
President some rich asshole says he's more than willing to answer questions under oath as part of the special counsel's Russia investigation.
When asked by reporters late Wednesday about being questioned by Robert Mueller, the president said he's "looking forward to it, actually."
Mueller is investigating Russian election interference and the rich asshole's possible obstruction in the firing of the FBI director. He has been seeking an interview with the rich asshole, but White House officials had not previously confirmed that the president would grant one.
As for timing, the rich asshole said, "I guess they're talking about two or three weeks, but I'd love to do it."
He said, as he has repeatedly, that "there's no collusion whatsoever" with the Russians, and he added, "there's no obstruction whatsoever."
The Republican Plots to Get Rid of Robert Mueller Are Already Unraveling
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the rich asshole Asked The Guggenheim For A Van Gogh, But They Offered Him Something MUCH More Appropriate
The Trumps decided that despite worldwide hatred for everything they stand for, it was a good idea to ask the Guggenheim Museum to loan them a Van Gogh painting to hang in the couple’s White House private living quarters.
Unfortunately for the rich asshole, the museum said ‘America First.’
The museum curator, Nancy Spector, said the museum could not accommodate the rich asshole’s request for Van Gogh’s 1888 work, “Landscape With Snow,” and instead offered the rich asshole another painting that was nothing like it or something that is, perhaps, more appropriate — a fully-functional and well-used 18-karat gold toilet titled “America.”
For a year, the Guggenheim placed the piece in a public restroom on the fifth floor for visitors to use. Spector says that the toilet was available “should the President and First Lady have any interest in installing it in the White House.”
Spector, who is not fond of the rich asshole, tells the Washington Post the artist “would like to offer it to the White House for a long-term loan.”
“It is, of course, extremely valuable and somewhat fragile, but we would provide all the instructions for its installation and care,” she adds.
This offer is particularly hilarious because while The rich asshole is known for collecting gold-plated fixtures, he is also a notorious germaphobe who is unlikely to accept anything that has been previously used — especially by “more than one hundred thousand people” who “waited patiently in line for the opportunity to commune with art and with nature.”
Will the rich asshole accept the offer, or does he hate “America?”
POLITICS
the rich asshole Ordered Mueller Fired, but Backed Off When White House Counsel Threatened to Quit
WASHINGTON — President the rich asshole ordered the firing last June of Robert S. Mueller III, the special counsel overseeing the Russia investigation, according to four people told of the matter, but ultimately backed down after the White House counsel threatened to resign rather than carry out the directive.
The West Wing confrontation marks the first time some rich asshole is known to have tried to fire the special counsel. Mr. Mueller learned about the episode in recent months as his investigators interviewed current and former senior White House officials in his inquiry into whether the president obstructed justice.
Amid the first wave of news media reports that Mr. Mueller was examining a possible obstruction case, the president began to argue that Mr. Mueller had three conflicts of interest that disqualified him from overseeing the investigation, two of the people said.
First, he claimed that a dispute years ago over fees at the rich asshole National Golf Club in Sterling, Va., had prompted Mr. Mueller, the F.B.I. director at the time, to resign his membership. The president also said Mr. Mueller could not be impartial because he had most recently worked for the law firm that previously represented the president’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner. Finally, the president said, Mr. Mueller had been interviewed to return as the F.B.I. director the day before he was appointed special counsel in May.
Mr. McGahn disagreed with the president’s case and told senior White House officials that firing Mr. Mueller would have a catastrophic effect on some rich asshole’s presidency. Mr. McGahn also told White House officials that some rich asshole would not follow through on the dismissal on his own. The president then backed off.
Ty Cobb, the president’s lawyer who manages the White House’s relationship with Mr. Mueller’s office, said in a statement, “We decline to comment out of respect for the Office of the Special Counsel and its process.”
Mr. McGahn, a longtime Republican campaign finance lawyer in Washington who served on the Federal Election Commission, was the top lawyer on some rich asshole’s campaign. He has been involved in nearly every key decision some rich asshole has made — like the firing of the former F.B.I. director — that is being scrutinized by Mr. Mueller.
Around the time some rich asshole wanted to fire Mr. Mueller, the president’s legal team, led then by his longtime personal lawyer in New York, Marc E. Kasowitz, was taking an adversarial approach to the Russia investigation. The president’s lawyers were digging into potential conflict-of-interest issues for Mr. Mueller and his team, according to current and former White House officials, and news media reports revealed that several of Mr. Mueller’s prosecutors had donated to Democrats.
Mr. Mueller could not legally have considered political affiliations when making hiring decisions. But for some rich asshole’s supporters, it reinforced the idea that, although Mr. Mueller is a Republican, he had assembled a team of Democrats to take down the president.
Another option that some rich asshole considered in discussions with his advisers was dismissing the deputy attorney general, Rod J. Rosenstein, and elevating the department’s No. 3 official, Rachel Brand, to oversee Mr. Mueller. Mr. Rosenstein has overseen the investigation since March, when Attorney General Jeff Sessions recused himself.
some rich asshole has significantly ratcheted back his criticisms of Mr. Mueller since he hired Mr. Cobb in July. A veteran of several high-profile Washington controversies, Mr. Cobb has known Mr. Mueller for decades, dating to their early careers in the Justice Department.
He advised some rich asshole that he had nothing to gain from combat with Mr. Mueller, a highly respected former prosecutor and F.B.I. director who has subpoena power as special counsel. Since Mr. Cobb’s arrival, the White House has operated on the premise that the quickest way to clear the cloud of suspicion was to cooperate with Mr. Mueller, not to fight him.
Nonetheless, some rich asshole has wavered for months about whether he wants to fire Mr. Mueller, whose job security is an omnipresent concern among the president’s legal team and close aides. The president’s lawyers, including Mr. Cobb, have tried to keep some rich asshole calm by assuring him for months, amid new revelations about the inquiry, that it is close to ending.
The former F.B.I. director, James B. Comey, said some rich asshole asked him for loyalty and encouraged him to drop an investigation into his former national security adviser, Michael T. Flynn. Mr. Comey said he sidestepped those requests. He was soon fired.
In an interview with The New York Times in the Oval Office in July, the president pointedly kept open the option of firing Mr. Mueller, saying that the special counsel would be passing a “red line” if his investigation expanded to look at some rich asshole’s finances. some rich asshole said he never would have made Mr. Sessions the attorney general if he knew he was going to recuse himself from the investigation.
Last month, as Republicans were increasing their attacks on the special counsel, some rich asshole said in an interview with The Times that he believed Mr. Mueller was going to treat him fairly.
“NO, IT DOESN’T BOTHER ME BECAUSE I HOPE THAT HE’S GOING TO BE FAIR,” SOME RICH ASSHOLE SAID IN RESPONSE TO A QUESTION ABOUT WHETHER IT BOTHERED HIM THAT MR. MUELLER HAD NOT YET ENDED HIS INVESTIGATION. “I THINK THAT HE’S GOING TO BE FAIR.”
some rich asshole added: “There’s been no collusion. But I think he’s going to be fair.”
Those "s**thole" country comments are coming back to haunt the rich asshole.
The oldest civil rights organization in the United States is suing the rich asshole administration for ending temporary protections for tens of thousands of Haitians.
In a lawsuit filed in Maryland on Wednesday, both the NAACP and the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund (LDF) — a separate organization — sought a court injunction of a White House decision removing temporary protected status, or TPS, for around 46,000 Haitians living in the United States. TPS is granted to immigrants from countries experiencing severe domestic problems, including war and natural disasters.
President Obama extended TPS to a number of Haitians following a devastating earthquake in 2010. But the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced that status would be canceled in November, leaving the community in limbo. The suit names both former Acting Homeland Security Secretary Elaine C. Duke and the current agency head Kirstjen Nielsen. The NAACP and LDF argue that the DHS decision violates the statues of TPS and shows racial bias.
“[This] reflects an egregious departure from the TPS statute’s requirements and an intent to discriminate on the basis of race and/or ethnicity,” the complaint reads. It notes that, given Haiti’s current “food insecurity…housing shortage, and…cholera epidemic,” the White House’s decision to remove protections could have catastrophic effects.
The suit also argues that DHS’ decision to review protections for Haitians was racially motivated.
“In early 2017, DHS officials searched for evidence that Haitians in the United States were criminals and receiving public assistance. Those efforts were grounded in longstanding and particularly noxious anti-Black stereotypes,” the suit alleges. “Unable to find evidence to support their discriminatory stereotypes, DHS’s Acting Secretary ultimately offered rationales for rescinding TPS that failed to acknowledge — much less address — the ongoing conditions in Haiti that warranted extending that status.”
The NAACP and LDF are asking for the government to restore TPS for Haitians, voiding the rich asshole administration’s decision and allowing the community to remain in the United States past July 2019, the deadline before which they must leave the country.
TPS recipients have repeatedly come under fire from the rich asshole administration. The White House announced an end to TPS for thousands of Nicaraguans in November. Two months later, 200,000 Salvadorans faced the same fate. Both countries continue to face extreme domestic problems and activists argue sending TPS recipients back to their home countries could be a death sentence.
That hasn’t dissuaded the rich asshole administration from taking a hardline stance on immigration, cracking down on undocumented immigrants, threatening so-called sanctuary cities, and actively working to limit the number of highly-skilled visa recipients allowed into the country. The president has also targeted the diversity visa program, accusing other countries of sending the “worst people” to the United States.
the rich asshole’s animosity towards TPS recipients in particular has made headlines over the past 12 months. During a meeting in June, the president reportedly stated that Haitians “all have AIDS” and complained about immigrants’ various nationalities. Earlier this month, on January 11, the rich asshole allegedly referred to nations like Haiti and El Salvador as “shithole” countries, comments the White House initially declined to refute.
Those statements factor heavily into the lawsuit, which also notes that the president, in that same January 11 meeting, asked lawmakers, “Why do we need more Haitians?” and pushed for more immigrants from Norway.
“The decision by the Department of Homeland Security to rescind TPS status for Haitian immigrants was infected by racial discrimination,” said LDF head Sherrilyn Ifill. “Every step taken by the Department to reach this decision reveals that far from a rational and fact-based determination, this decision was driven by calculated, determined and intentional discrimination against Haitian immigrants.”
While the lawsuit focuses on Haitians in particular, the case could have wide-reaching implications for a number of TPS recipients, including Salvadorans and Nicaraguans. Another major group protected by TPS, meanwhile, are still waiting for the White House to decide their fate: the 57,000 Hondurans currently living in the United States.
This article has been updated to clarify the LDF as an organization separate from the NAACP.
‘It’s too quiet’: Ex-prosecutor tells Fox News ‘slighted’ former the rich asshole officials may be cooperating with Mueller
Former federal prosecutor Bob Bianchi on Fox News (Screen capture)
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Former federal prosecutor Bob Bianchi told Fox News anchor Shepard Smith on Thursday that there may be more ex-White House officials who are cooperating with special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation of President some rich asshole.
Smith pointed to reports from Bloomberg News that Mueller is winding up the obstruction of justice portion of his investigation.
Bianchi said that every time the president speaks off-the-cuff about the Mueller probe, he’s “putting himself deeper into the investigation.”
“‘Fighting back’ could be considered a corrupt purpose under the statute and that could fulfill an obstruction charge,” said Bianchi, calling it “very reckless” that the rich asshole intends to speak to investigators face to face.
“Who are the wild cards?” asked Smith, pointing to cooperation by ousted national security adviser Mike Flynn.
“Watch Reince Priebus,” said Bianchi. “It’s too quiet. Everything’s a little too quiet out there. They are speaking to people who were in the know, they’re speaking to people who may have jeopardy or people that may be jilted.”
“We know about Manafort and there are others,” said Smith. “Steve Bannon.”
“You always go for the person that feels that they’ve been slighted,” Bianchi said.
Watch the video, embedded below:
Huggies Manufacturer Using Savings From the rich asshole Tax Scam To Eliminate 5,500 Jobs
Kimberly-Clark, the company that makes Huggies, Kleenex, and many other products you use on a regular basis, brags that “nearly one-quarter of the world’s population purchase our products every day” — so why are they laying off 13% of their workforce? The answer, in short, is some rich asshole.
The company says that the rich asshole tax cuts, which Republicans have repeatedly denied are a gigantic gift to large corporations and the rich at the expense of the rest of us, is helping pay for a massive “restructuring program” that will include laying off 5,500 people and closing 10 manufacturing facilities — developments that are, if anything, the opposite of #MAGA.
Kimberly-Clark expects its effective tax rate in 2018 to be much lower than 2017 — between 23 and 26 percent — thanks to the GOP’s tax scam.
“The fourth quarter effective tax rate was 19.2 percent in 2017 and 35.7 percent in 2016. The rate in 2017 included a net benefit as a result of U.S. tax reform and related activities,” Clark says.
The maker of Kleenex and Huggies announces plans to cut up to 5,500 jobs, close 10 plants. Tax reform? The company will record a "net benefit." usatoday.com/story/money/20…
“We also anticipate ongoing annual cash-flow benefits from tax reform,” Kimberly-Clark Chief Financial Officer Maria Henry said on an earnings call Tuesday. “That provides us flexibility to continue to allocate significant capital to shareholders, while we also fund increased capital spending and our restructuring program over the next few years.”
As for the workers who depend on their jobs to put food on the table? Well, fuck them, apparently. But they deny that the GOP’s legislation had anything to do with the decision, so there’s that.
“Kimberly-Clark, a company with a long history of supporting American workers and manufacturing, is undertaking a restructuring program to retain its leadership in a rapidly evolving global marketplace by streamlining its operations and reducing costs in order to continue investing in its brands and long term growth,” the company said in a statement. “The decision to undertake this restructuring program was made independently and not as a result of the recently passed tax reform legislation.”
See? Nothing to see here. They started planning for this while Republicans were just talking about their tax plan, so their decision to move forward with it after the rich asshole gave them a massive gift is just a coincidence. Nothing to see here.
“Kimberly-Clark remains committed to American manufacturing, plans significant capital investments into its ongoing U.S. operations, and will remain a significant employer with more than 12,000 employees in the U.S.,” the company lied.
The company is anticipating a 3.1 percent increase in quarterly dividend in 2018.
If this is making America great again we’ll take the old busted America, thanks.
MSNBC’s Katy Tur rolls hilarious supercut of the rich asshole flip-flopping on whether he wants to talk to Mueller
some rich asshole crosses arms when asked about Robert Mueller investigation (Photo: Screen capture)
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It’s clear that special counsel Robert Mueller wants to interview President some rich asshole, but as MSNBC’s Katy Tur notes, the president’s willingness to do so has shifted repeatedly.
“Does President the rich asshole want to talk to Robert Mueller?” the host asked during a Thursday afternoon segment. “Well, it depends on when you ask.”
Tur then rolled a supercut of the rich asshole’s flip-flopping responses when being questioned about whether he’d speak with Mueller. On June 9, 2017, he said he’s “100 percent” interested, but on January 10, 2018, with crossed arms, he said “we’ll see what happens.”
On January 24, as it became clearer that the special counsel was zeroing in on him, the rich asshole said he was “looking forward” to being interviewed under oath — only to have White House counsel Ty Cobb walk back the comment, saying the president spoke too soon in his preparations for his trip to Davos.
Watch the supercut below, via MSNBC:
the rich asshole threatens to cut more aid to Palestinians
President the rich asshole on Thursday threatened to cut even more aid money to the Palestinians if they don’t come to the table for peace talks with Israel.
“That money is on the table and that money is not going to them unless they sit down and negotiate peace,” the rich asshole said during a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
The president knocked Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas for refusing to meet with Vice President Pence during his recent Middle East trip, a protest against the rich asshole’s decision to move the U.S. Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem and recognize that city as Israel's capital.
“They disrespected us a few weeks ago by not allowing our great vice president to see them,” the rich asshole said.
the rich asshole’s warning comes after the U.S. announced it was withholding $65 million in aid to the United Nations agency that serves Palestinian refugees. The State Department said the agency must make reforms.
Middle East peace talks have ground to a halt following the rich asshole’s announcement regarding the embassy.
The president, however, argued the Palestinians should not be upset with the United States' decision to recognize Jerusalem as the Israeli capital, even though they want east Jerusalem as a capital of a future Palestinian state.
the rich asshole said the move should help the peace process because it takes the contentious issue of Jerusalem off the table.
“You won one point," the rich asshole told Netanyahu. “You'll give up some points later in the negotiation, if there's ever a negotiation."
Netanyahu said the decision is “forever etched in the hearts of our people for generations to come.”
A spokesman for Abbas reiterated during a phone call with CNN after the rich asshole's remarks that the Palestinian Authority no longer recognizes the U.S. as a mediator in the peace process.
“If Jerusalem is off the table, then America is off the table as well,” Nabil Abu Rudeineh said.
Abu Rudeineh added that there will be no negotiations until the rich asshole administration agrees to work toward a two-state solution, according to CNN.
--This report was updated at 11:30 a.m.
President the rich asshole on Thursday insisted his relationship with British Prime Minister Theresa May is “really great,” pushing back on what he called a “false rumor” of tensions between the U.S. and U.K.
“We’re on the same wavelength, I think, in every respect,” the rich asshole said during a meeting with May at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. "Some people don’t necessarily believe that.
“We love your country," the president added. "We have the same ideals and there’s nothing that would happen to you that we wouldn’t be there to fight for you.”
the rich asshole and May have had very public differences over the last year, sparring over counterterrorism strategies and intelligence leaks. the rich asshole has also publicly clashed with British officials.
May criticized the rich asshole last year for retweeting inflammatory images of Muslims that were posted by an account belonging to a British far-right group.
The prime minister’s office said the messages gave unwarranted attention to a group that "seeks to divide communities by their use of hateful narratives that peddle lies and stoke tensions."
“Don’t focus on me, focus on the destructive Radical Islamic Terrorism that is taking place within the United Kingdom. We are doing just fine!” the rich asshole tweeted in response.
the rich asshole scrapped a visit to London to attend the opening of the U.S. Embassy that had been anticipated early this year.
the rich asshole tweeted he decided not to attend because he is “not a big fan” of the decision to sell the old building in central London. “Bad deal. Wanted me to cut ribbon-NO!” he wrote.
On Thursday, May said the "special relationship" between the U.S. and U.K. remains strong. the rich asshole said he would be discussing the offer of a state visit with May.
The two leaders asked officials to finalize plans for the rich asshole to visit the U.K. “later this year," the British government said in a statement following the meeting.
U.S. Justice Department Recovers FBI Officials' Missing Text Messages
Jan. 25, 2018, at 1:14 p.m.
By Sarah N. Lynch
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Justice Department's internal watchdog said Thursday it recovered five months of missing text messages between two Federal Bureau of Investigation officials whom Republicans have accused of bias against President some rich asshole.
In a letter to several key Republican lawmakers, Inspector General Michael Horowitz said he would not object if the Justice Department shares with congressional committees the messages between FBI agent Peter Strzok and FBI lawyer Lisa Page that were recovered using forensic tools.
In texts that were previously released to Congress, Strzok and Page referred to the rich asshole as an "idiot" and a "loathsome human." After news reports about the messages, lawmakers demanded to see them amid Republican concerns that agency officials were biased against the rich asshole.
Strzok and Page both worked on the FBI's investigation into former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server, and they also each briefly worked on Special Counsel Robert Mueller's ongoing probe into whether the 2016 the rich asshole campaign colluded with Russia.
Their cellphones are just two of "thousands" whose texts were not backed up and stored on the FBI's systems between Dec. 14, 2016 and May 17, 2017, according to a Justice Department official.
The FBI has blamed the snafu on "misconfiguration issues" that occurred while the bureau was rolling out new software updates for Samsung 5 devices.
But Republicans have claimed the timing is suspect, especially because May 17 marks the date that Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein appointed Mueller as special counsel.
Strzok and Pages' text messages have become a focal point of congressional Republicans' investigation into whether the FBI is biased against the rich asshole and gave Clinton more favorable treatment in its investigation of her private email use.
Horowitz, whose office is conducting its own review into the FBI's handling of the Clinton matter, discovered the texts over the summer and informed Mueller. Strzok was then reassigned. Page, meanwhile, left the team in July after her 45-day detail ended.
While Republicans have accused the two of bias against the rich asshole, some of the texts suggest he was just one of many people targeted in their routine political banter.
At times, for instance, they were also critical of Clinton.
In addition, another Strzok text also appears to contradict the notion that the FBI is out to get the rich asshole, after he told Page he was hesitant to join Mueller's team because of his "gut sense and concern there's no big there there."
(Reporting by Sarah N. Lynch; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)
At Davos, idiot Rick Perry makes bizarre claim about U.S. fossil fuel exports
Exporting climate-destroying fuels is not "exporting freedom."
Energy Secretary Rick Perry said Wednesday that President some rich asshole’s big push to export fossil fuels should be seen as an effort to spread freedom throughout the world — since it gives countries another choice regarding where they get their energy.
“The United States is not just exporting energy, we’re exporting freedom,” Perry said during a Fox Business interview from the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
For Perry, giving other countries a choice of who satisfies their addiction to climate-destroying fuels like coal, oil, and natural gas is somehow increasing their freedom. But it’s really exporting dependence and exporting carbon pollution.
If the U.S. were to promote zero-carbon fuels, like solar and wind power, however, that would free countries from dependence on anyone’s dirty hydrocarbons.
Indeed, the whole point of the landmark December 2015 Paris climate agreement is that more than 190 of the world’s leading countries unanimously agreed with the overwhelming science that says the only way to avoid catastrophic climate change is to leave most of the world’s fossil fuels in the ground.
Today, thanks to the rich asshole, the United States literally sits alone as the only one of those countries now saying it will abandon this global deal, after the last two other holdouts, Nicaragua and Syria, signed on last fall.
“There’s no strings attached when you buy American LNG [liquefied natural gas],” Perry told Fox Business host Maria Bartiromo. “So that’s world-changing.”
Well, American LNG is world-changing — or, rather, climate changing — but not in a good way.
Back in 2014, the U.S. Department of Energy released an analysis of total greenhouse gas emissions from LNG. One of the country’s top methane experts told me at the time, “a close reading of the DOE report in the context of the recent literature indicates that exporting natural gas from the U.S. as LNG is a very poor idea” from a climate perspective.
More recent research paints an equally grim picture. A study in the journal Energylast month on the overall emissions impact of “U.S. liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports,” concluded that “emissions are not likely to decrease and may increase significantly due to greater global energy consumption, higher emissions in the U.S., and methane leakage.”
Total lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions for LNG are much higher than they are for regular pipeline gas because the liquefaction process is so energy-intensive and because there are even more leaks from that process and from shipping the LNG overseas.
Remember, natural gas is mostly methane, and some 86 times better at trapping heat than carbon dioxide. And earlier this month, a NASA analysis found that the jump in fossil-fuel methane emissions in the past decade “is substantially larger than in previous literature.”
Asshole Paul Ryan’s latest political gambit is appalling, even for Paul Ryan
The House Speaker takes a victory lap that's dishonest even by his standards.
On Thursday, House Speaker Paul Ryan released a statement patting himself on the back for shepherding “the longest extension of the Children’s Health Insurance Program in history” through Congress.
Millions of families across the country can now breathe a sigh of relief after the longest extension of the Children’s Health Insurance Program in history became law this week. spkrryan.us/2DyyP8e
Ryan’s statement is galling, given the political games Republicans played with CHIP since federal funding for the program lapsed four months ago.
Since it was first implemented in 1997, CHIP has cut the uninsured rate for children by 50 percent, and the program has historically enjoyed bipartisan support. But when CHIP’s budget came up for reauthorization last fall, Republicans decided to use it as a negotiating chip. As Vox explains:
The program got caught up in heated political negotiations about the future of some of the most polarizing issues in Congress: Obamacare and immigration policy.Last fall, Republicans proposed a plan to extend the CHIP program for an additional five years. But that plan included a series of deeply partisan spending cuts to cover the costs of extending CHIP — such as slashing Obamacare programs and Medicare — and Democrats refused to support the bill.
The stalemate dragged on through the holidays. States began to sound the alarm that some of the 9 million kids in the program would lose coverage imminently if Congress didn’t do something.
Then, in early January, the Congressional Budget Office released an analysis showing that extending CHIP for five years would be a relative bargain, costing just $800 million — a huge decrease over an earlier estimate of $8.2 billion.
But instead of simply approving a CHIP extension, Republican leaders in Congress continued to use the well-being of millions of kids as a political cudgel with which they could attack Democrats. Amid federal budget negotiations, Republican leadership suggested members of Congress faced a choice between funding the program and providing legal protections for the roughly 800,000 Dreamers who were brought to the country as children.
But there was no reason why Congress couldn’t both extend CHIP and help DACA recipients. Eventually, a short-term budget deal was reached that extended CHIP for five years while leaving the status of Dreamers unresolved until next month, when the federal government will again shut down unless another budget agreement is reached.
In short, Ryan taking credit for the CHIP extension is akin to a hostage-taker congratulating himself for eventually letting the hostage go. But Ryan goes even further. In his self-congratulatory statement, he suggests that it’s Democrats who don’t care about the children:
As you may know, this took longer than it should have. Last month, Speaker Ryan talked about CHIP’s history of bipartisan support. “Care for children in need should always, always go beyond party lines,” he said. Yet, five times in 2 ½ months, a majority of House Democrats voted to block both short-term and long-term extensions of CHIP funding. Even this week, with several states on the verge of running out of CHIP funds, Democrats maintained their opposition.
What Ryan doesn’t mention is that in each of the five instances he alludes to, Republicans tied funding for a CHIP extension in with poison pills Democrats were unwilling to swallow, such as gutting the Affordable Care Act’s public health fund.
Irony is dead: Nikki Haley criticizes world leaders for invoking conspiracy theories
Somebody remind her who she works for.
On Thursday, UN ambassador Nikki Haley criticized President Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority for allegedly invoking conspiracy theories during a recent speech in which he blasted the rich asshole administration for its handling of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, including its provocative move to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.
Referring to a portion of the speech in which Abbas gave a lengthy lecture about the origins of Zionism, Haley said, “A speech that indulges in outrageous and discredited conspiracy theories is not the speech of a person with the courage and the will to seek peace.”
A rich asshole administration official criticizing other world leaders for invoking conspiracy theories is a bold move. During the Obama years, the rich asshole rose to national political prominence thanks to his leading role in pushing a conspiracy theory about America’s first black president being a secret Muslim from Africa. Since taking office, the rich asshole has embraced wild, baseless claims about how the “deep state” is trying to undermine him and about how millions of illegal voters cost him the popular vote. He has repeatedly retweeted Twitter accounts that traffic in conspiracy theories.
In fact, while Haley is at the UN denouncing conspiracy theories, other administration officials — with help from some Republican members of Congress— have been pushing a conspiracy theory about a cabal of FBI agents who purportedly plotted with Obama administration officials in an unsuccessful effort to prevent the rich asshole from winning the election. And during a speech to mayors on Wednesday, the rich asshole suggested that a conspiracy of some sort might explain why Obama put restrictions on selling military-grade equipment to local law enforcement agencies.
“The previous administrations — but in particular, the previous administration — they didn’t like to do that, and someday they’ll explain why,” the rich asshole said, the implication being that secret motives were at work. (The restrictions were put in place in response to the militarized tactics used by police against protesters in Ferguson, Missouri, who were demonstrating after a police officer there fatally shot Michael Brown in August 2014.)
During another part of her speech on Thursday, Haley — alluding to then-Egyptian president Anwar Sadat’s role leading role in making the 1979 Egypt-Israel peace treaty happen — asked, “Where is the Palestinian Anwar Sadat?” That comment was also a bit uncomfortable, given that Sadat was assassinated two years after the peace accord was struck.
Incoming Midwest Environmental Protection Agency chief Cathy Stepp faced a skeptical audience when she addressed her staff in Chicago for the first time earlier this month.
The rich asshole appointee’s history of rolling back enforcement of anti-pollution laws, reducing funding for scientific research and scrubbing references to human-caused climate change from government websites during her time in Wisconsin state government had put her new employees on edge.
So Stepp, 54, took the unusual step of drafting her daughter, Hannah, 23, to humanize her by introducing her at an “all hands” meeting of her 200-plus staff.
But Hannah Stepp’s charm offensive, gently roasting her mother as a mom who would do anything for her kids, didn’t necessarily have the intended effect.
Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL). Image via Wikimedia Commons.
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When attempting to both congratulate a new Washington Post reporter on her assignment to the White House beat and troll President some rich asshole, a Florida Republican somehow managed to do neither.
“Congrats on the new gig!” Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL) tweeted at reporter Seung Min Kim, who just moved from Politico to the Post. “How long till the rich asshole calls u the pretty Asian lady and asks u to give him briefings?”
Hey, @seungminkim, congrats on the new gig! How long till Trump calls u the pretty Asian lady and asks u to give him briefings? twitter.com/seungminkim/st…
Ros-Lehtinen, who is retiring this year at the end of her term, was likely referencing the president’s tendency to leer at and hit on female journalists.
Upon seeing the strange post, Twitter predictably freaked out.
“Stunning tweet from a Republican member of Congress,” foreign affairs journalist Aaron Magid wrote.
“Undermining someone’s special moment by turning them into a punchline pawn because of their race… is also racist,” Digg’s Ben Goggin noted.
Undermining someone’s special moment by turning them into a punchline pawn because of their race… is also racist. twitter.com/RosLehtinen/st…
Check out the best responses below:
Someone has not only tossed out the kool-aid but burned down the kool-aid factory. Sheeeeeesh. twitter.com/RosLehtinen/st…
Wow! This Tweet from a retiring Republican House lawmaker on the news one of the reporters for @politico is moving to the White House beat for @wapo twitter.com/RosLehtinen/st…
‘You’re on national television’: Katy Tur smokes the rich asshole loyalist who says FBI is ‘our own version of the KGB’
Katy Tur speaks to Michael Caputo (MSNBC/screen grab)
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the rich asshole surrogate Michael Caputo on Thursday said that he believes that the United States is becoming Russia and he hinted that members of the FBI are like the Soviet-era KGB service.
During an appearance on MSNBC, Caputo downplayed the news that a so-called FBI “secret society” was “>actually a joke shared between agents exchanging text messages. The “secret society” claim has been used in recent days by conservatives alleging that there is anti-the rich asshole bias in the Justice Department.
“Which comment is a joke, I don’t know,” Caputo opined to MSNBC host Katy Tur. “When I heard that these text messages were missing, I was very excited because it gave me an opportunity to tell investigators that all my text and all my emails are available except for those that went out between June 16, 2015 and January 20, 2017. Because my dog ate those.”
“They found those text messages,” Tur Pointed out. “So, that’s a bit of a moot issue.”
She then asked Caputo if Republicans who are attacking the FBI “are really grasping at straws.”
“As a some rich asshole supporter, are you saying that anybody who doesn’t support the president… that they can’t be fair?” she wondered.
Caputo agreed that “people have a right to their own opinions.”
“But people at the head of these investigations or at the deputy level of these investigations, they have to be chosen very carefully,” he stated. “Katy, some of those stuff that’s going on, it’s really concerning to me. I’m trying to keep an open mind.”
“I’m very concerned about this,” Caputo continued. “Because I’ll tell you, it turns out it might of been redundant if some rich asshole had every tried to collude with Russia. We’re turning into Russia ourselves! Complete with our own version of the KGB!”
“Who are you calling the KGB, Michael?” Tur asked, sounding slightly annoyed.
“I’m telling you, the people involved in this investigation and the things that I’m hearing that may in fact be in this [Republican anti-FBI] memo deserve to be exposed,” Caputo remarked.
“So you’re saying people in the FBI are actually part of the KGB?” Tur pressed.
“Not part of the KGB,” Caputo shot back. “I was being facetious as you know. Funny how the jokes in these text messages were hilarious to you guys.”
“But you’re on national television!” Tur interrupted. “And you’re saying people in the FBI are acting like the KGB.”
Watch the video below from MSNBC.
Shocking report finds acceptance of LGBTQ people is rolling backwards in the age of the rich asshole
Sad gay man (Shutterstock)
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The age of the rich asshole has ushered in a drop in the acceptance of LGBTQ people by Americans along with a dramatic double-digit increase in reports of anti-LGBTQ discrimination, according to a new Harris Poll commissioned by GLAAD.
This is GLAAD’s fourth annual Accelerating Acceptance report and the first to find that fewer Americans say they are comfortable with LGBTQ people in public, in schools, and in places of worship.
“Less than half of non-LGBTQ adults (49 percent) reported being ‘very’ or ‘somewhat’ comfortable with LGBTQ people across seven situations. This is a significant decline from 53 percent last year and the first time the Accelerating Acceptance report has shown a drop in acceptance for LGBTQ people,” GLAAD notes.
According to the poll, taken in November of 2017, three in ten Americans (30%) now say they are very or somewhat uncomfortable with learning a family member is LGBT, up from 27% over the prior two years.
More than one-third of Americans (37%) say they are uncomfortable with learning their child has a lesson on LGBT history in school, up from 34% in 2016.
31% say they would be uncomfortable learning their doctor is LGBT, or their child had an LGBT teacher, a 3-point increase over the prior year.
And 31% of Americans say they are uncomfortable seeing a same-sex couple holding hands, up from 29% in 2016.
Reports of anti-LGBT discrimination have increased significantly.
55% of those surveyed say they experienced sexual orientation or gender identity discrimination. That’s an increase of 11 points, up from 44% over 2016.
“In the past year, there has been a swift and alarming erosion of acceptance which can only be fought by being visible and vocal,” GLAAD President and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis said in a statement. “This report puts numbers to the bias that too many LGBTQ Americans have recently experienced. GLAAD is fighting the rollback by enlisting philanthropic leaders like the Ariadne Getty Foundation and global changemakers attending the World Economic Forum to use their platforms and move our community forward.”
‘Everyone’s great’: the rich asshole takes America First message to Davos but forgetfully declares all countries ‘great’
President some rich asshole delivers remarks to the press Jan. 18, 2018, at the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. (DOD photo by U.S. Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Dominique A. Pineiro)
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President some rich asshole may have taken an “America First” message to Davos, but on Thursday he declared that all countries are “great.”
According to a pool report, the rich asshole was asked by a reporter at Davos if America is great.
“America’s great,” the rich asshole affirmed.
“Is everybody else great?” the reporter pressed.
“Everyone’s great,” the rich asshole replied.
It was not immediately clear if African countries, which the rich asshole reportedly referred to as “shithole[s],” also met his definition of “great” nations.
the rich asshole ‘house of cards is falling apart’ as FBI ‘secret society’ conspiracy is exposed as fake: report
some rich asshole speaks to press (Photo: Screen capture)
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The rapid evaporation of the right-wing conspiracy theory about a “secret society” of FBI agents trying to overthrow President some rich asshole shows that the president’s defenders are clutching at straws and the “house of cards” being built as his defense is “already falling apart,” wrote Vanity Fair‘s Abigail Tracy on Thursday.
Bloomberg News said on Thursday that special counsel Robert Mueller is wrapping up the obstruction of justice portion of his investigation.
This comes just as the latest pro-the rich asshole conspiracy theory about an insidious plot by “deep state” operatives to take down the president has been exposed as a misunderstanding of an offhand joke between former FBI investigators Peter Strzok and Lisa Page.
Republican congressmen and Fox News have been breathlessly hyping the text story since Monday, but “(o)utside the bubble however, the rich asshole’s house of cards is already falling apart.”
On Wednesday, Rep. Ron Johnson (R-WI) was forced to admit that he had no evidence of an actual renegade FBI group and that the text from Page could have been sent in jest.
“The disconnect between ‘fake news’ and reality, and the rich asshole’s difficulty differentiating between the two, could be dangerous as he prepares to face Mueller,” said Vanity Fair.
the rich asshole’s “sense of victimization plays well on Fox News, and with the rich asshole’s base, but it’s not a real legal strategy,” Tracy wrote.
In the meantime, the rich asshole’s allies in Congress and the conservative media are carpet-bombing the FBI and Mueller’s credibility with a confidential memo authored by former the rich asshole transition team official Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA) and other attacks.
However, Tracy warned, the rich asshole’s political defenders will only be of use to him so long as Republicans remain the majority in Congress. If the Democrats are able to take the House and Senate in 2018, the president will lose his protective cordon of lawmakers.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) | Wikimedia Commons
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Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) on Thursday slammed Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) and other GOP congressmen rushing to accuse the FBI of impropriety during the 2016 presidential election.
Johnson, the chairman of the Senate Homeland Security committee, on Tuesday told Fox News he has an “informant” that’s told him about a group [within the FBI] who are holding secret meetings off-site.”
“There is so much smoke here, so much suspicion,” Johnson declared, before adding he’s yet to “dig into” those allegations.
Johnson joined the ranks of other Congressional Republicans, including Reps. Trey Gowdy (R-SC) and Matt Gaetz (R-FL), who took to TV this week to tease the release of Rep. Devin Nunes’ (R-CA) anti-FBI memo. They also floated the existence of a “secret society” within the FBI, pointing to a single text between FBI officials Peter Strzok and Lisa Page widely believed to have been a joke.
Speaking on the Senate floor, Schumer blasted Republicans for engaging in efforts to “discredit” the FBI.
“Republicans and the right-wing media have been desperate to distract the nation from his investigation,” Schumer told his colleagues.
“It got so out of hand, I couldn’t believe this, that a Republican congressman suggested special counsel [Robert] Mueller’s investigation was a ‘coup’ on the floor of the House,” Schumer said, referring to a speech Gaetz gave in November 2017. “That congressman ought to go back and read his Constitution and read his history books. Rule of law is not a coup.”
“That political smear campaign has now bled into a spiraling and delusional attack on the FBI itself,” Schumer continued, noting the same people who wrote “a secret memo of partisan talking points, full of innuendo and glaring omissions, intended to suggest widespread corruption at the Dept. of Justice and the FBI” are the “same Republicans are now trying to release the slanderous memo … to the public.”
“On, and on, and on, conspiracy theories with virtually no fact,” Schumer said.
As Fox News’ Chad Pergram reports, Schumer later targeted Johnson directly, insisting his colleague’s attacks on the FBI “looked crazy …. delusional …. [and] paranoid.”
After days of hyping the alleged “secret society,” Johnson on Thursday conceded it’s a “real possibility” those FBI officials’ remarks were made “in jest.”
Fox hypes bogus FBI ‘secret society’ dozens of times — then goes silent after it’s revealed as a joke
GOP congressmen speak to Fox News (screen grab)
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Fox News on Thursday ceased discussion about an alleged anti-the rich asshole “secret society” in the FBI after the notion was revealed as a joke.
According to TV Eyes, Fox News made 90 mentions of the so-called “secret society” in January. The network and GOP guests alleged that text message showed that FBI agents were out to get President some rich asshole.
However, text messages obtained by ABC News on Wednesday suggested that FBI agents were joking when they used the term “secret society.”
But that report was never mentioned by Fox News and there is no record of a clarification from the conservative network.
Media Matters’ Lis Power counted 20 mentions of “secret society” just on the Tuesday and Wednesday editions Fox & Friends, widely considered to be the rich asshole’s favorite morning show.
Fox's next program, America's Newsroom, aired the term "secret society" 10 times on Tuesday/Wednesday (For example, anchor Sandra Smith hyped "explosive new claims of an anti-Trump secret society")
Just like F&F -- today there's been no mention, no clarification, nothing.
Watch the video below from Fox News.
‘This began with Devin Nunes’: Shep Smith exposes GOP’s ‘bogus’ memo as a ‘weapon of partisan mass distraction’
Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA) and Fox News host Shep Smith (Screengrab / composite)
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Fox News’ Shep Smith on Thursday tore apart the “bogus” Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA) memo, tearing into the House Intelligence Committee chairman for hyping “a weapon of partisan mass distraction” meant to distract from the Russia investigation and “behoove” some rich asshole’s relentless attacks on core Democratic values.
Smith was reacting to an anti-FBI memo written by Nunes that alleges impropriety on the part of the FBI and Department of Justice during the 2016 presidential election. That memo is the culmination of Nunes’ many efforts to distract from special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation and provide cover to the rich asshole.
“This began with Devin Nunes,” Smith reminded viewers. “The same Devin Nunes who last year made White House surveillance claims, staged a rush to the White House to purportedly share surveillance information with the administration, but actually took information from the administration and staged a report of it.”
“At its core, it was PR,” Smith said. “And it was bogus.” The Fox News host noted Smith “will not share the memo in question”—not to investigators, the DOJ or his Republican colleague on the Senate intel committee. He also referenced assistant Attorney General Stephen Boyd’s letter to Nunes Wednesday warning a public release of the memo without proper oversight would be “extremely reckless.”
“A memo can be a weapon of partisan mass distraction,” Smith said. “Especially at a pivotal moment in American history, when it behooves the man in charge for supporters to believe the institutions can’t be trusted, investigators are corrupt, and the news media are liars. Context matters.”
Watch the video below, via Fox News:
the rich asshole ordered Mueller’s firing, then backed off: New York Times
FILE PHOTO: Special Counsel Robert Mueller departs after briefing members of the U.S. Senate on his investigation into potential collusion between Russia and the the rich asshole campaign on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., June 21, 2017. REUTERS/Joshua Roberts
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President some rich asshole last June ordered Special Counsel Robert Mueller fired but backed down after the White House counsel threatened to resign rather than follow his directive, The New York Times reported on Thursday, citing four people told of the matter.
There were no immediate responses to requests for comment from White House lawyers and press officials.
Mueller, who is investigating allegations of Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. election, learned of the incident in recent months as his investigators interviewed current and former senior White House officials in an inquiry into whether the president obstructed justice, the Times reported.
Amid media reports that Mueller was looking into a possible obstruction case, the rich asshole argued that the former FBI director had three conflicts of interest that disqualified him from overseeing the probe, two of the people said, according to the Times.
First, the rich asshole said that a dispute years ago over fees at the rich asshole National Golf Club in Sterling, Virginia, had led Mueller to resign his membership, the newspaper reported.
The president also said Mueller could not be impartial because he had most recently worked for a law firm that previously represented the president’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner. the rich asshole also said Mueller had been interviewed to return as the director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation the day before he was appointed special counsel in May, the Times reported, citing the two people.
White House counsel Donald McGahn said he would quit rather than follow through on the order to fire Mueller, the Times reported, citing the people.
Lots of people are pointing and laughing at Sen. Ron Johnson after he uncorked ridiculous claims about a mysterious underground FBI clique.
Two days after not only appearing on Fox News and claiming he could confirm the existence of a rogue “secret society” within the FBI dedicated to bring down some rich asshole, but also announcing there was an “informant” to corroborate the story, Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) has emerged as a national punchline as the whole GOP charade has collapsed in spectacular fashion.
The caper represents just the latest desperate attempt by Republicans to protect the White House from creeping legal jeopardy.
The strategy is aggressively transparent: The GOP is trying to dismantle trust in the FBI so that if and when the the rich asshole White House faces indictments, the public relations defense will revolve around the claim of how untrustworthy federal law enforcement is.
It’s an astonishing position to take for a political party that “have often sold ourselves as the party of law enforcement, and not just on the state and local level, but the federal level as well,” Rep. Charlie Dent said on Wednesday, urging his Republican colleagues to “temper” their anti-FBI rhetoric.
But it’s too late for Johnson, who’s now paying a price for his reckless behavior.
His step-on-a-rake routine began Tuesday night when he claimed a single text message between two FBI employees proved there was “a group that was holding secret meetings off-site” and reflected “corruption, more than bias.”
Keep in mind, this is the chairman of Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, going on national television and just making stuff up about some kind of Deep State conspiracy within the FBI.
Still, the fever swamp GOP press loved it.
But with the text message now public — “Are you going to give out your calendars? Seems kind of depressing. Maybe it should just be the first meeting of the secret society” — it’s clear to any rational thinking person that the message was sent in jest, i.e., Let’s form a secret society, haha.
On Thursday, Johnson essentially confirmed that the text message was not, in fact, a gateway into a mysterious, the rich asshole-hating FBI underground. Instead, it was a joke made between friends. (The senator still hasn’t explained the “informant” nonsense.) Fox News has since punted on the whole charade.
Speaking on the floor of U.S. Senate Thursday, Chuck Schumer (D-NY) belittled Johnson for making “delusional” and “paranoid” claims about the FBI.
On Twitter, Johnson continues to get roasted over his dopey “secret society” claim:
I, for one, applaud Sen Johnson for exposing the FBI secret society. I believe it includes the Deep State, the illumanati, Knights of Columbus, New Kids on the Block, and Ted Cruz’s father.
Well done Senator. Well done. twitter.com/mikedelmoro/st…
Maybe the next time Johnson feels the need to run to Fox News and spread lies about the FBI, he’ll think twice.
the rich asshole ordered White House Counsel Don McGahn to fire Bob Mueller last summer — here’s why he didn’t
Robert Mueller in the Oval Office on July 20, 2012. (Photo by Pete Souza.)
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In a New York Times report Thursday, it was revealed President some rich asshole told White House counsel Don McGahn to fire Robert Mueller — but McGahn said he’d quit.
The order came last June and it marks the first time “the rich asshole is known to have tried to fire the special counsel,” The Times said.
It’s unclear if Mueller knew about the incident during the time, but recent interviews from former senior White House officials alerted Mueller’s team of the incident. The investigation into the rich asshole not only deals with potential collusion with Russia but whether the president obstructed justice when he fired former FBI director James Comey.
CNN legal analysts Jeffrey Toobin said that it can’t be proof of obstruction of justice because the rich asshole never fired Mueller.
The story is developing and we’ll fill you in as facts become available.
Why are Republicans letting the rich asshole's son-in-law, and one of his closest advisers, off the hook?
Jared Kushner, some rich asshole’s son-in-law and senior White House aide, is “spooked” about testifying to the Senate Judiciary Committee, according to Chuck Grassley (R-IA), the chairman of the committee.
Republicans seem ready to give Kushner a pass, despite a pile of concerns and red flags about his actions and behavior.
The committee is probing Russia’s interference in the 2016 election and its ties to the the rich asshole campaign, where Kushner was involved at a senior level.
Kushner had agreed to testify to the committee, but after transcripts of interviews with Fusion GPS founder Glenn Simpson were released, he changed his mind.
“It looks like our chances of getting a voluntary interview with Mr. Kushner has been shot,” Grassley said.
The tepid response to a key figure backing out of previously planned testimony is part of a pattern of Republicans covering for the rich asshole and his underlings. Rather than representing the will of a majority of Americans who want to get to the bottom of the scandal, Republicans and their allies at outlets like Fox News are playing a game of interference on the rich asshole’s behalf.
The reaction is especially glaring considering Kushner’s actions.
Thanks to his repeated Russian contacts, Kushner has been cited as someone who the FBI investigation has been focusing on. But that doesn’t seem to bother Republicans.
Kushner was one of the principals, along with some rich asshole Jr. and campaign chairman Paul Manafort, who took a meeting at the rich asshole Tower with Russians peddling campaign dirt on Hillary Clinton.
He was also a key decision maker who worked to implement the the rich asshole campaign’s digital strategy, which has also come under investigation. The campaign’s digital director, Brad Parscale, recently confirmed that Kushner and Eric the rich asshole were “were joint deputy campaign managers” and that “not one person made a decision without their approval.”
His actions since complicate matters further. While the rich asshole has put his son-in-law in charge of major issues, like the Middle East peace process, Kushner has repeatedly been caught failing to include all of his assets on federal disclosure forms. The behavior has led several Democrats to call for his security status to be revoked.
Kushner is central to the Russia story and the related actions of the the rich asshole campaign and administration. That he is backing out of congressional testimony should push Republicans to be even more interested in what he might have to say under oath.
Instead, they are backing off and letting Kushner — and the rich asshole — off the hook.
Anderson Cooper just made fun of Ron Johnson for dodging reporters: ‘He was late for his first secret society meeting’
Anderson Cooper (CNN / Screengrab)
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During Thursday’s “AC360,” host Anderson Cooper couldn’t help but poke fun at Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) for his major flub over a claim that the FBI had a “secret society.”
The news sent the right-wing conspiracy theorists spinning as some kind of verification that the so-called “deep state” existed as an internal shadow government to undermine President some rich asshole.
The reality, it turns out is that the text was nothing more than a joke and an obvious one at that. FBI agents Lisa Page and Peter Strzok were joking about a Vladimir Putin “beefcake” calendar and the first meeting of a fake secret society. For those who read the entire context of the text it became obvious that it was a joke. Johnson, however, spent Wednesday claiming it was proof of some kind of sedition and refused to release the full context of the text.
Today, Johnson became the fool. As reporters rushed to get a comment about the error from the senator, Johnson fled.
“As you saw, he was really eager to get into that elevator,” Cooper noted of the tape of Manu Raju chasing Johnson. “It’s almost like he was late for his first secret society meeting.”
Watch the full commentary below:
Indiana Rep. Jim Banks tried to explain his support for the rich asshole at a recent town hall, but his constituents were having none of it.
Defending some rich asshole’s wildly unpopular agenda can be a thankless task, even for a Republican congressman representing a red state.
Indiana Rep. Jim Banks found that out this week while holding a contentious town hall meeting with voters at a VFW post in Fort Wayne.
Widely mocked for his positions on the debt, taxes, the government shutdown, and immigration, Banks was met with a wall of laughter when he tried to separate himself from the rich asshole and said voters should follow the president on Twitter to understand his agenda.
“You work for us!” came the cries from some within the crowd of nearly 100 voters. Banks has voted with the rich asshole 93 percent of the time.
Again and again at the Q&A session, locals ridiculed Banks.
“People like him have told me my whole life, ‘Don’t vote Democrat because they’re gonna run up the debt,'” said one voter. “And every time I vote for a Republican, they run up debts more than Democrats.”
Banks’ proud support of the recently passed GOP tax bill also did not go over well.
“It angers me that you voted for this bill and that the message you are relaying about this bill is misleading at best,” said one Fort Wayne resident. “This bill paints a disastrous economic picture for us average Americans.”
Perhaps the most poignant and heated moments of the town hall came when Banks was repeatedly pressed about the fate of nearly one million young undocumented immigrants, or DREAMers, who were brought to the U.S. as young children and who the rich asshole and the GOP are now threatening to deport.
Democrats are trying to get Republicans to support a clean, stand-alone bill to codify the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program that President Barack Obama put in place to protect DREAMers — the same program the rich asshole canceled last September.
At the Fort Wayne town hall, that issue tied in with denunciations of the rich asshole’s campaign pledge to build a border wall.
“Americans are not supposed to pay for that wall,” one angry voter stressed to Banks. “Mexico is supposed to pay for the wall. Please do not mess with American tax dollars to build a wall that we did not want.”
That was immediately followed by a constituent who called out Banks’ hypocrisy: “You post a lot about your pro-life views and protecting the sanctity of life. So as a Christian man, how do you justify using the lives of DREAMers as bargaining chips?”
Following loud, boisterous applause, the man continued. “I guess the Jesus I learned about would support a clean DACA bill, without question.”
When Banks responded by suggesting a hardliner immigration bill being sponsored by House Republicans would be the solution, constituents erupted in anger, with one demanding, “What would Jesus do?”
Good question.
OOPS: Republican senator’s FBI conspiracy theory was based on a joke
"Just connecting the dots."
On Thursday morning, Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) went on NPR and tried to defend a wild conspiracy theory he and other the rich asshole-supporting Republican members of Congress have been talking about for several days. It did not go well.
Johnson tried to stand by his claim that a “secret society” within the FBI was trying to oust President the rich asshole. When an NPR host pointed out to Johnson that it appears the text message he based his entire conspiracy theory on was just a joke, the senator became defensive, and then tried to change the topic to the Hillary Clinton email investigation.
“You [focused] on two words from one of the texts which was a ‘secret society’… you suggested this might mean a secret group within the FBI holding meetings offsite and you went on to say ‘this could be corruption at the highest levels of the FBI,” the NPR host said. “That reference may have been a joke. I’m just wondering if you feel you might have jumped to conclusions here?”
Johnson said that he was “just connecting the dots” based on information he had heard from “all kinds of people.” He went on to deny that he’s a part of a Republican effort to discredit the FBI.
“My involvement goes back three years and the sham investigation into what I believe was a crime by Secretary Clinton,” Johnson said. “By the way, another pretty important piece of information to come from the last batch of texts is that we now know that President Obama received a text or an email from Clinton–”
The host cut him off, saying “we don’t have the time to go back in history.”
For days, Johnson and House Republicans like Matt Gaetz (R-FL) have been pushing the “secret society” conspiracy theory based on a set of text messages sent between two FBI officials, Peter Strzok and Lisa Page, that were reviewed by members of Congress but not released publicly.
Notably, Johnson and company repeatedly declined opportunities to provide any evidence substantiating their claims. And since some of these same Republicans have already shown themselves willing to go to any length to help President the rich asshole by trying to discredit the FBI’s investigation into him, many were skeptical.
Notably, Johnson and company repeatedly declined opportunities to provide any evidence substantiating their claims. And since some of these same Republicans have already shown themselves willing to go to any length to help President the rich asshole by trying to discredit the FBI’s investigation into him, many were skeptical.
It turns out skepticism was warranted. On Tuesday night, ABC News published the lone text message from Page to Strzok that Republicans have used as the basis for an entire conspiracy. Suffice it to say it is not incriminating.
ABC News has obtained the "secret society" text...
It's a stand alone message from Lisa Page:
"Are you even going to give out your calendars? Seems kind of depressing. Maybe it should just be the first meeting of the secret society" abcnews.go.com/Politics/exclu…
Yet more than an hour after ABC’s report was published, Gaetz was on CNN still insisting that Strzok and Page are at the center of a “conspiracy, meeting with their secret society, building out their ‘insurance policy'” against the rich asshole. And on Fox News, hosts Laura Ingraham and Sean Hannity continued pushing the conspiracy as if it hadn’t already been debunked.
ABC’s report debunking the “secret society” conspiracy theory was published on the same day that two other anti-Mueller conspiracy theories pushed by Republicans fell apart. New reporting strongly indicated there was nothing suspicious about some Strzok-Page text messages not being retained, and House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes (R-CA) decided not to make public a memo prepared by his office that purportedly details misconduct related to the FBI’s investigation into the rich asshole.
All of these specious claims seem designed to muddy the waters of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into the rich asshole campaign. And when all else fails, Republicans who want to do the rich asshole’s bidding start talking about Hillary Clinton.
For instance, during a Fox News interview on Tuesday, Johnson was asked if he thinks the rich asshole should allow Mueller to interview him. He replied that he has no opinion on the matter because “I’m really more on the Hillary Clinton email scandal.”
the rich asshole’s 24-Year-Old Deputy Drug Czar To Resign After Questions Over Work History
After graduating college, the only other job Taylor Weyeneth had was working on the rich asshole’s presidential campaign.
Taylor Weyeneth, a controversial member of the rich asshole administration who came under scrutiny in early January over his lack of qualifications, will resign his post later this month, The Washington Post reported on Wednesday evening.
“Mr. Weyeneth has decided to depart ... at the end of the month,” the White House said in a statement obtained by the Post. He had previously been reassigned to “administrative work” after questions arose about his background.
Weyeneth, a 24-year-old former the rich asshole campaign worker, was appointed last year to be the deputy chief of staff at the Office of National Drug Control Policy, or ONDCP, the agency tasked with coordinating federal drug-control efforts. However, as the Post originally reported, Weyeneth had nearly no previous experience after he graduated college in May 2016, aside from working for some rich asshole’s presidential campaign and transition.
Questions quickly arose about his qualifications after multiple discrepancies popped up on several of his résumés and reports surfaced that another job he held at a New York law firm in 2015 ended after Weyeneth failed to show up for work.
He appeared to rise quickly at the ONDCP due to a high level of staff turnover and numerous vacancies at the agency. During the recent government shutdown, the Post noted, Weyeneth was one of three employees at the agency that continued to work after he was listed as essential.
News of his departure comes just a week after 10 Democratic senators expressed their displeasure with Weyeneth’s appointment. In a letter sent to the White House, the group accused the rich asshole of failing to fill key roles at the ONDCP and the Drug Enforcement Agency and falling behind on promises to tackle the opioid epidemic.
“You have claimed that the opioid epidemic is a top priority for your administration, but the personnel you have staffing these key agencies – and the lack of nominees to head them – is cause for deep concern,” the group wrote. “This crisis knows no bounds, and we are committed to working across party lines with anyone who is serious about addressing this devastating epidemic.”
the rich asshole’s pick for senior drug policy job steps down
Chantal Da Silva
Posted with permission from Newsweek
A 24-year-old former Trump campaigner who was given a senior post in the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy will step down at the end of the month, the Washington Post reported.
Taylor Weyeneth's only professional experience before assuming the position of Deputy Chief of Staff for the ONDCP was working on the Trump 2016 presidential election campaign.
Before that, he had been in college at New York's St John's University, where he graduated in May 2016.
"Mr Weyeneth has decided to depart ONDCP at the end of the month," the White House told The Post.
The ONDCP has been in charge of combating the opioid epidemic in the U.S., with its office overseeing the government's billion-dollar anti-drug campaigns.
Drug overdoses are the leading cause of death for Americans under 50, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and President Donald Trump had vowed to address the crisis.
But the drug office has seen high turnover in staff in the year since Trump took office and the White House attributed Weyeneth's rise to the top of the ONDCP as being a result of staff departures, according to The Post.
“ONDCP leadership recognizes that we have lost a few talented staff members and that the organization would benefit from an infusion of new expert staff,” said a January 3 memo from acting director Richard Baum. “The functions of the Chief of Staff will be picked up by me and the Deputy Chief of Staff.”
Nonpartisan oversight group American Oversight posted a document it has identified as one of Weyeneth's résumés, outlining a string of previous jobs, mostly administrative posts.
The Post had previously detailed inconsistencies and outright inaccuracies on three résumés Weyeneth had submitted to the government.
On all three, the 24-year-old had claimed to have a master's degree from Fordham University, but a university spokesman said he had not completed his course work.
Read more: Trump administration promotes 24-year-old to help lead fight against opioid epidemic
He had also changed the dates of a number of jobs listed on his résumé, including one position at a New York law firm, of which a partner alleged that Weyeneth had been "discharged" from the company because of his poor attendance.
The appointment of Weyeneth to a senior drug policy position sparked backlash from watchdogs and members of the public, with many pointing out that the college graduate was "unqualified" for the job.
A member of the Trump administration's opioid commission also recently admonished the undertaking of being a "sham" by Republican-led Congress.
"The thing's a charade," former Democratic Representative Patrick Kennedy told CNN.
Read more: Trump opioid commission's work is a 'sham,' member says
"You can't expect to stem the tide of a public health crisis that is claiming over 64,000 lives per year without putting your money where your mouth is."
The commission, which made 56 recommendations, including setting up drug courts nationwide to direct drug abusers to treatment rather than the prison system, officially ended its work on December 1.
A White House official had told The Post Weyeneth had been hired in March demonstrating "his passion and commitment on the issue of opioids and drug addiction."
The 24-year-old was said to have become passionate about the issue after a relative's death from a heroin overdose several years ago.
The White House did not immedaitely respond to a request for comment.
Taylor Weyeneth's only professional experience before assuming the position of Deputy Chief of Staff for the ONDCP was working on the Trump 2016 presidential election campaign.
Before that, he had been in college at New York's St John's University, where he graduated in May 2016.
202-224-3121"Mr Weyeneth has decided to depart ONDCP at the end of the month," the White House told The Post.
The ONDCP has been in charge of combating the opioid epidemic in the U.S., with its office overseeing the government's billion-dollar anti-drug campaigns.
Drug overdoses are the leading cause of death for Americans under 50, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and President Donald Trump had vowed to address the crisis.
But the drug office has seen high turnover in staff in the year since Trump took office and the White House attributed Weyeneth's rise to the top of the ONDCP as being a result of staff departures, according to The Post.
“ONDCP leadership recognizes that we have lost a few talented staff members and that the organization would benefit from an infusion of new expert staff,” said a January 3 memo from acting director Richard Baum. “The functions of the Chief of Staff will be picked up by me and the Deputy Chief of Staff.”
Nonpartisan oversight group American Oversight posted a document it has identified as one of Weyeneth's résumés, outlining a string of previous jobs, mostly administrative posts.
Who is @realDonaldTrump
hiring for key jobs? We uncovered the resume of the 24-year-old with a senior drug policy job. See more from the @washingtonpost here: washingtonpost.com/investigations…
The Post had previously detailed inconsistencies and outright inaccuracies on three résumés Weyeneth had submitted to the government.
On all three, the 24-year-old had claimed to have a master's degree from Fordham University, but a university spokesman said he had not completed his course work.
Read more: Trump administration promotes 24-year-old to help lead fight against opioid epidemic
He had also changed the dates of a number of jobs listed on his résumé, including one position at a New York law firm, of which a partner alleged that Weyeneth had been "discharged" from the company because of his poor attendance.
The appointment of Weyeneth to a senior drug policy position sparked backlash from watchdogs and members of the public, with many pointing out that the college graduate was "unqualified" for the job.
Taylor Weyeneth, 24 years old, has had two jobs since college.
(1) He was fired from a law firm for not showing up to work.
(2) He worked on Trump's campaign
And Trump appointed him as deputy chief of staff for the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP).
Disgusting!
(1) He was fired from a law firm for not showing up to work.
(2) He worked on Trump's campaign
And Trump appointed him as deputy chief of staff for the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP).
Disgusting!
"The thing's a charade," former Democratic Representative Patrick Kennedy told CNN.
Read more: Trump opioid commission's work is a 'sham,' member says
"You can't expect to stem the tide of a public health crisis that is claiming over 64,000 lives per year without putting your money where your mouth is."
The commission, which made 56 recommendations, including setting up drug courts nationwide to direct drug abusers to treatment rather than the prison system, officially ended its work on December 1.
A White House official had told The Post Weyeneth had been hired in March demonstrating "his passion and commitment on the issue of opioids and drug addiction."
The 24-year-old was said to have become passionate about the issue after a relative's death from a heroin overdose several years ago.
The White House did not immedaitely respond to a request for comment.
GOP judiciary chair gives up on questioning ‘spooked’ Jared Kushner about the rich asshole Tower meeting — and blames Democrats
Jared Kushner, photo by Lori Berkowitz Photography [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
DON'T MISS STORIES. FOLLOW RAW STORY!
Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA), the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, on Thursday said the panel has concluded interviewing witnesses to the July 2016 the rich asshole Tower meeting, and blamed Democrats for “spooking” potential witnesses—including top some rich asshole aide Jared Kushner.
Grassley also said “it’s time to start release” of the transcripts surrounding that meeting.
“I have said all along that I favor as much transparency as possible in our investigations—but at the appropriate time, so we don’t undermine our work,” Grassley wrote in a statement. “I had hoped to speak with all the witnesses surrounding the rich asshole Tower meeting before releasing any of those interview transcripts. But the ranking member [Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA)] unilaterally released the transcript of Fusion GPS founder Glenn Simpson. That has spooked other potential witnesses.”
“As a result, it looks like our chances of getting a voluntary interview with Mr. Kushner have been shot,” Grassley wrote. “He has already provided his account to the Intelligence Committee.”
Earlier this month, Feinstein released a transcript of Simpson’s testimony before the committee without consulting Grassley. Her decision came as Republicans ramped up their efforts to discredit the dossier compiled with he helped of Simpsons’ firm, Fusion GPS.
“The innuendo and misinformation circulating about the transcript are part of a deeply troubling effort to undermine the investigation,” Feinstein said at the time.
Grassley said Feinstein’s decision to release that transcript “undermines the integrity of the committee’s oversight work. The ranking Democrat later said she regretted not informing Grassley about her decision before releasing Simpson’s testimony.
“I don’t make an excuse but I’ve had a bad cold and maybe that slowed down my mental facilities a little bit,” she said.
Despite Grassley’s supposed frustration with Feinstein’s decision to release Simpson’s testimony, the GOP committee chairman claims he is now interested in full transparency on those witness testimonies.
WATCH: DOJ spokeswoman refuses to answer any of Chris Cuomo’s questions for four straight minutes
Chris Cuomo interviews DOJ spokeswoman Sarah Flores (Screen cap).
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Department of Justice spokeswoman Sarah Isgur Flores appeared on CNN Thursday for an interview about President some rich asshole’s attacks on the FBI and the Department of Justice — but she flat-out refused to answer any of host Chris Cuomo’s questions for four straight minutes.
During a portion of his interview with Flores, Cuomo asked a series of eleven different questions that Flores flat-out refused to answer. He started off by asking about President the rich asshole’s attacks on FBI agent Peter Strzok, to which Flores replied that “I’m not going to talk about individual personnel at the FBI right now.”
Cuomo then moved on to asking about Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ meeting with special counsel Robert Mueller.
“I’m not talking about anything that happened in the special counsel’s office, that’s up to them to do their investigation,” she replied. “I’m not getting in the middle of that.”
He then asked her if the rich asshole had confidence in FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, whom he has frequently attacked on Twitter.
“I’m not going to talk about individual personnel at the FBI,” she replied.
He then asked her if FBI Director Christopher Wray had threatened to resign if the rich asshole kept insisting that he oust McCabe.
“You’ll have to ask Christopher Wray that,” she said.
“Do you have any knowledge about whether that’s true?” Cuomo followed up.
“I’m not going to talk about conversations that happen between Christopher Wray and the attorney general,” she replied.
In fact, Flores would continue to refuse to answer questions until Cuomo finally switched topics and asked her about the DOJ’s efforts to protect conservatives’ free speech rights on college campuses.
Watch the video below.
DON'T MISS STORIES. FOLLOW RAW STORY!
Department of Justice spokeswoman Sarah Isgur Flores appeared on CNN Thursday for an interview about President some rich asshole’s attacks on the FBI and the Department of Justice — but she flat-out refused to answer any of host Chris Cuomo’s questions for four straight minutes.
During a portion of his interview with Flores, Cuomo asked a series of eleven different questions that Flores flat-out refused to answer. He started off by asking about President the rich asshole’s attacks on FBI agent Peter Strzok, to which Flores replied that “I’m not going to talk about individual personnel at the FBI right now.”
Cuomo then moved on to asking about Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ meeting with special counsel Robert Mueller.
“I’m not talking about anything that happened in the special counsel’s office, that’s up to them to do their investigation,” she replied. “I’m not getting in the middle of that.”
He then asked her if the rich asshole had confidence in FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, whom he has frequently attacked on Twitter.
“I’m not going to talk about individual personnel at the FBI,” she replied.
He then asked her if FBI Director Christopher Wray had threatened to resign if the rich asshole kept insisting that he oust McCabe.
“You’ll have to ask Christopher Wray that,” she said.
“Do you have any knowledge about whether that’s true?” Cuomo followed up.
“I’m not going to talk about conversations that happen between Christopher Wray and the attorney general,” she replied.
In fact, Flores would continue to refuse to answer questions until Cuomo finally switched topics and asked her about the DOJ’s efforts to protect conservatives’ free speech rights on college campuses.
Watch the video below.
Six months in, Kelly emerges as policy force
When John Kelly was brought in six months ago to be President the rich asshole’s second chief of staff, his mission was clear: bring order to a White House plagued by infighting and leaks.
the rich asshole repeated his message Wednesday during an impromptu question-and-answer session with reporters in the West Wing.
“He’s doing great. He’s doing great,” the rich asshole said of Kelly as the chief of staff stood nearby. “Fake news yesterday, or two days ago. We put out a tweet praising somebody, but only when they get a false story.”
the rich asshole appeared to be referring to the Vanity Fair piece.
The president made his unexpected appearance during an immigration briefing with a senior administration official. the rich asshole outlined his immigration plan, which pre-empted remarks from the official and ensured he — and not his staff — delivered his message.
While Kelly has his detractors, he has also brought stability to the White House and is widely respected, even by those frustrated that some of their access to the president is more limited.
Jordain Carney and Mike Lillis contributed to this story.
Fox warns the rich asshole: Don’t testify under oath. You will get caught lying.
JANUARY 25, 2018
"This is a very, very dangerous environment."
some rich asshole has gone back to publicly insisting he’s willing to speak to special counsel Robert Mueller under oath, but even the sycophants at Fox News know he wouldn’t survive that without perjuring himself.
the rich asshole went from being “100 percent” willing to testify under oath in the Russia investigation to saying he might not speak to Mueller at all. Then on Wednesday night, the rich asshole went back to promising he would be willing to speak to Mueller under oath and that he’s even “looking forward to it.”
the rich asshole’s lawyers are already quietly worrying he might perjure himself in that setting, but the rich asshole fans at “Fox & Friends” are not ashamed to make that declaration out loud.
On Thursday morning, Judge Andrew Napolitano told the show’s co-hosts that if the rich asshole is subpoenaed by the Mueller grand jury, he should plead the 5th, even though it would be “politically catastrophic.”
If Mueller can get the rich asshole talking, Napolitano said, it would give Mueller “an opportunity to trip him up.”
“They tripped up George Papadopoulos, they tripped up Mike Flynn,” Napolitano continued, attempting to paint the rich asshole as a potential victim. But Flynn and Papadopoulos were not just charged; they pleaded guilty to crimes.
Napolitano exposed his own false premise moments later when he pointed out that the rich asshole’s jeopardy stems from the fact that the rich asshole would be disadvantaged by the facts.
“He doesn’t know what they know about him, he doesn’t know what others have said under oath about him,” Napolitano said. “It is very easy for them to trip him up and get him to say something that is contradictory to what he already said.”
Co-host Ainsley Earhardt then volunteered, out loud, that it was “smart” for the rich asshole to lie about being willing to testify, then back out of it later.
“His attorneys have been saying they want him to do it because he says he wants to do it,” Napolitano fretted. “I just hope that they don’t because this is a very, very dangerous environment.”
Napolitano is right about one thing. the rich asshole is caught in a trap, forced to decide between voluntarily speaking to Mueller or forcing a subpoena, and a politically disastrous invocation of the 5th Amendment. The last thing the rich asshole wants to do, though, is actually face prison time for lying.
Fortunately for Mueller, the rich asshole has already said plenty in public to implicate himself. the rich asshole can run from Mueller, but he can’t hide from his own self-evident obstruction.
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