the rich asshole praises himself for meeting with Dems: ‘My performance got great reviews… the ratings were fantastic’
some rich asshole speaks to his cabinet (CNN/screen grab)
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President some rich asshole on Wednesday praised himself over a Tuesday meeting with Democrats on immigration reform.
According to the president, the 55-minute televised meeting with Democrats had “great ratings” and the news media sent him notes to compliment his performance.
“We brought them together in this room and it was a tremendous meeting,” the rich asshole opined in a televised address to his cabinet. “Actually, it was reported as incredibly good and my performance — some of them called it a performance, I consider it work — but it got great reviews by everybody other than two networks who were phenomenal for about two hours.”
“And then after that, they were called by their bosses and said, ‘Oh, wait a minute,'” the president continued. “Unfortunately, a lot of those anchors sent us letters saying that was one of the greatest meetings they’ve ever witnessed. And they were great for about two hours. They were phenomenal.”
the rich asshole added: “They probably wish they didn’t send us those letters of congratulations but it was good. I’m sure the ratings were fantastic. They always are.”
The president predicted that “the media will ultimately support the rich asshole because if the rich asshole doesn’t win in three years, they’re all out of business.”
“You guys will be out of business,” he warned members of the media who were present.
Watch the video below from CNN.
the rich asshole on potential Mueller interview: 'We'll see what happens'
· President some rich asshole on Wednesday refused to say whether or not he would be willing to be interviewed by special counsel Robert Mueller.
· "We'll see what happens," the president said, adding than an interview might even be "unlikely" given what he considers his innocence.
· The comments represent a striking departure from June of last year, when the rich asshole said he'd "100 percent" testify under oath.
CNBC.com
President some rich asshole on Wednesday did not dismiss the prospect of sitting down for an interview with special counsel Robert Mueller, saying, "we'll see what happens."
"There has been no collusion between the rich asshole campaign and Russians, or the rich asshole and Russians," the president said at a press conference with Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg.
the rich asshole then changed the subject to Hillary Clinton, his Democratic opponent in the 2016 presidential race.
Pressed again as to whether he would meet with Mueller's team, the rich asshole again said, "We'll see what happens," before suggesting that he might not need to be interviewed at all.
"When they have no collusion, and nobody has found any collusion at any level, it seems unlikely that you would even have an interview," he said.
the rich asshole's equivocating answer was a stark departure from the hard-charging optimism he expressed in June of last year, when he said he would be "100 percent" willing to testify under oath as part of the investigation.
In the months since then, the rich asshole's former national security adviser, Michael Flynn, has pleaded guilty to lying to federal investigators, as has another of the rich asshole's former campaign aides. His former campaign manager, Paul Manafort, and Manafort's longtime associate, Rick Gates, have both been indicted on multiple counts related to money laundering.
This post, originally published Oct. 11, 2017, has been updated with President the rich asshole's remarks Wednesday.
President the rich asshole displayed a fundamental misunderstanding of existing libel standards Jan. 10 when he said during a televised Cabinet meeting there should be “meaningful recourse in our courts” if a news outlet publishes “something that's totally false and knowingly false.”
“He's right — and that's what the law is now,” said George Freeman, executive director of the Media Law Resource Center.
Asserting that “our current libel laws are a sham and a disgrace and do not represent American values or American fairness,” the president pledged to “take a very strong look at that.” Yet these “current libel laws” the rich asshole loathes do not exist — not as he described them, anyway.
“You can't say things that are false — knowingly false — and be able to smile as money pours into your bank account,” the rich asshole said, as if exposing the way the media works now.
Existing legal standards already prohibit news outlets from publishing harmful claims they know to be false. the rich asshole would have voters believe journalists operate with total impunity, but news outlets that defame or invade the privacy of the people they cover can be sued into extinction. Just ask Gawker, which went bankrupt and shuttered last year after losing a case brought by Hulk Hogan.
Rolling Stone, which already has settled one libel suit resulting from a retracted report about sexual assault at the University of Virginia, put its majority ownership stake on the block in September, two days before a federal appeals court said a second lawsuit could move forward.
The consequences of bad reporting can be severe — contrary to the president's depiction of a Wild West environment. Even when mistakes are minor and there is no legal risk, news outlets often hold themselves — and one another — accountable.
The president's remarks Wednesday echoed his October declaration that “it's frankly disgusting the way the press is able to write whatever they want to write, and people should look into it.”
the rich asshole revived his long-standing libel grievance one day after his personal attorney, Michael Cohen, filed a defamation suit against BuzzFeed.
the rich asshole's position on the freedom that the press does enjoy is there is too much of it. He tweeted in October about challenging NBC's broadcast license and raised the specter of a congressional investigation of “the Fake News Networks in OUR country.”
Just to give you a sense of how extreme the rich asshole's view really is: His own spokeswoman, Sarah Huckabee Sanders — who can rip the media with the best of them — declined in an Oct. 5 briefing to reinforce the idea that a congressional probe could be warranted. Instead, she focused on the rich asshole's frustration with news outlets' coverage priorities and, when pressed about whether the president really wants an investigation, suggested he might not have been serious.
“I don't know that that's the case,” Sanders said, “but I do think that we should call on all media to a higher standard.”
I do not know, either. As I have written before, if the rich asshole were serious about, say, weakening libel protections for journalists — something he talked about as a candidate — the best way to follow through would be to nominate federal judges willing to reverse decades of legal precedent. His pick for the Supreme Court, Neil M. Gorsuch, did not fit the bill.
the rich asshole's inaction does not mean he is not hostile to the First Amendment, however. He has said before that he likes England's libel standards better than the United States'.
Addressing his first Cabinet meeting of 2018, President some rich asshole touted his administration's accomplishments and said his White House would address the nation's libel laws, which he called a "sham and a disgrace." (Jan. 10) AP
WASHINGTON — President the rich asshole renewed his call for a federal libel law on Wednesday, saying people who are subject to false and defamatory accusations should have "meaningful recourse" in federal courts.
"Our current libel laws are a sham and a disgrace, and do not represent American values or American fairness," the rich asshole said at a Cabinet meeting Wednesday, saying the issue was on his administration's 2018 agenda. "You can't say things that are false — knowingly false — and be able to smile as money pours into your bank account. We're going to take a very, very strong look at that. And I think what the American people want to see is fairness."
It's not a new proposal for the president, who threatened to “open up our libel laws’’ during his campaign for president as he pushed back against unfavorable stories. This time, the proposal comes a week after the publication of a tell-all book about the White House that portrayed the rich asshole in unflattering terms.
the rich asshole's private lawyers have threatened lawsuits, sending cease-and-desist letters to the book's author and publisher — and to former White House strategist Steve Bannon, who cooperated with author Michael Wolff, who was previously a columnist for USA TODAY.
More: the rich asshole lawyer sends cease-and-desist to Michael Wolff, publisher over explosive book
In the United States, libel and defamation are largely governed by state law, but within the restrictions of the First Amendment. The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that public figures — like the president — must clear a high hurdle in order to prove defamation.
At the cabinet meeting Wednesday, the rich asshole also complained about television news coverage of his negotiations with members of Congress on Wednesday. He claimed that network news anchors were complementary of his handling of the meeting — even sending the rich asshole letters telling him so — before network bosses weighed in.
the rich asshole's attacks against the press also came amid a certain playfulness with reporters in the room for his cabinet meeting. After Tuesday's hour-long televised coverage of his immigration negotiations, he greeted the journalists with a wry, "Welcome back to the studio. Nice to have you." And he ended with, "We appreciate your being here, and you've gotten very familiar with this room."
At one point, he suggested that he was singularly responsible for high television ratings that are keeping news organizations afloat.
"I'm sure their ratings were fantastic; they always are — which is why I think the media will ultimately support the rich asshole in the end, because they're going to say, if the rich asshole doesn’t win in three years, they're all out of business," he said.
"But the boom holders are still going to be there, so that's good. Those are the people I like."
Stung by Michael Wolff's book, the rich asshole calls for stronger U.S. libel laws
President calls U.S. libel laws 'a sham and a disgrace' after Fire and Fury questions his mental fitness
Thomson Reuters Posted: Jan 10, 2018 3:47 PM ET Last Updated: Jan 10, 2018 3:47 PM ET
U.S. President some rich asshole said on Wednesday that his administration will examine whether U.S. libel laws can be strengthened after a new book questioned his mental fitness to serve as president.
"Our current libel laws are a sham and a disgrace and do not represent American values or American fairness, so we're going to take a strong look at that," he told reporters as he met members of his cabinet.
In Fire and Fury: Inside the rich asshole White House, author Michael Wolff questions the rich asshole's mental fitness, portraying him as child-like with a short attention span. the rich asshole had often complained about U.S. libel laws on the 2016 campaign trail.
"We are going to take a strong look at our country's libel laws, so that when somebody says something that is false and defamatory about someone, that person will have meaningful recourse in our courts," the rich asshole said.
· Controversial author of the rich asshole book expresses regret over Bannon's 'difficult situation'
To prove libel, a public figure must show a writer or publisher acted with actual malice in publishing a false statement. Malice is either reckless or purposeful disregard for the truth.
Reporters file out of the cabinet room before the rich asshole begins a meeting Wednesday. (Jonathan Ernst/Reuters)
In what was seen as an attempt to show the rich asshole is mentally fit and in command, the president had kept a pool of reporters, including a TV camera, inside of a meeting he had on Tuesday with U.S. lawmakers on immigration.
Reporters would have typically been escorted out after a few opening remarks, but they were kept in the meeting for 55 minutes as the rich asshole and his Republicans debated immigration policy and ideas with Democratic members.
On Wednesday in the same room where the rich asshole met members of his cabinet, the president was ecstatic that TV networks had focused heavy attention on the immigration meeting.
"Some of them called it a performance. I consider it work," the rich asshole said.
01-10-2018
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Latest on investigations of Russian meddling in the 2016 election (all times local):
3:35 p.m.
President some rich asshole says it “seems unlikely” that he’ll give an interview in special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into potential coordination between Russia and the rich asshole campaign.
the rich asshole says during a joint news conference with the prime minister of Norway that “we’ll see what happens” on whether he’ll provide an interview to Mueller’s team.
The special counsel’s team of investigators has expressed interest in speaking with the rich asshole, but no details have been worked out.
the rich asshole is again reiterating that there was “no collusion” between his 2016 presidential campaign and Russia. He says, “It seems unlikely you’d even have an interview.”
the rich asshole’s lawyers have previously stated their determination to cooperate with Mueller’s requests.
__
10:50 a.m.
President some rich asshole is accusing Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein of being “underhanded and a disgrace” for disclosing details of a dossier of allegations about his ties to Russia during the campaign.
He is also again lashing out at the investigations of Russian meddling in the 2016 election, urging Republicans to take control of the inquiries and repeating his claim that they are on a “witch hunt.”
A day earlier, Feinstein, who faces a primary challenge in her re-election this year, released the transcript of the Senate Judiciary Committee’s closed-door August interview with an official from the political opposition research firm Fusion GPS, which commissioned the dossier.
Endangered California Republican Darrell Issa announces his retirement
Rep. Darrell Issa
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Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA), one of the most endangered House Republicans heading into the 2018 midterm elections, has announced his plans to retire at the end of his current term.
“Throughout my service, I worked hard and never lost sight of the people our government is supposed to serve,” Issa announced on Wednesday. “Yet with the support of my family, I have decided that I will not seek re-election in California’s 49th District.”
News of Issa’s retirement was first broke by local news source OC Daily and has been subsequently confirmed by Fox News.
Although Issa represents what has long been a solid Republican district, he barely won reelection in 2016 after his district voted for Democrat Hillary Clinton by nine points.
Democrat Doug Applegate, a retired Marine Colonel who narrowly lost to Issa in 2016, is expected to run for the district’s seat this year, as is Orange County Democratic Party executive director Mike Levin.
Read Issa’s full statement below.
White House says federal judge’s DACA ruling ‘outrageous’
White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders.
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A federal judge’s ruling late on Tuesday that barred President some rich asshole from ending a program shielding young people brought to the United States illegally from deportation was “outrageous,” White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said on Wednesday.
“An issue of this magnitude must go through the normal legislative process,” Sanders said. “President the rich asshole is committed to the rule of law, and will work with members of both parties to reach a permanent solution that corrects the unconstitutional actions taken by the last administration.”
Senate Dems issue scathing report: ‘the rich asshole stands practically idle’ against Putin’s threat to US democracy
the rich asshole's relationship with Moscow has stalked the first year of his presidency, with key former aides under a US investigation for alleged collaboration with the Kremlin. (SPUTNIK/AFP / Mikhail KLIMENTYEV)
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Senate Democrats warned that Russia has been interfering with European democracies and hammered the rich asshole administration for failing to take steps to prevent foreign meddling in U.S. politics.
No Republicans signed on to the 200-page report issued Wednesday by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee’s Democratic minority, who singled out President some rich asshole for criticism, reported the Associated Press.
Today I'm releasing a #RussiaReport documenting Vladimir Putin's 20-year attack on democratic institutions in his own country and Europe. To protect against what the Kremlin did to the U.S. in 2016, we need to first understand Putin's pattern. foreign.senate.gov/press/ranking/…
The report details how the Kremlin attempted to influence politics in 19 European nations, which Senate Democrats say foreshadowed Russian meddling in the 2016 election won by the rich asshole — who has dismissed intelligence and law enforcement findings on the topic as “fake news.”
“Never before has a U.S. president so clearly ignored such a grave and growing threat to U.S. national security,” the report warns.
Sen. Ben Cardin (D-MD) said he hoped the report would show Americans the “true scope and scale” of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s efforts to undermine western democracies.
“While President the rich asshole stands practically idle, Mr. Putin continues to refine his asymmetric arsenal and look for future opportunities to disrupt governance and erode support for the democratic and international institutions that the United States and Europe have built over the last 70 years,” Cardin said.
CNN’s Cuomo shuts down ex-the rich asshole aide’s attacks on dossier author: He told the FBI about Russia — ‘you guys didn’t’
CNN's Chris Cuomo grills former the rich asshole campaign aide Michael Caputo (Screen cap).
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CNN’s Chris Cuomo hammered former the rich asshole campaign adviser Michael Caputo on Wednesday by pointing out that ex-MI6 agent Christopher Steele went to the FBI when he encountered evidence of Russian interference in the 2016 election — whereas some rich asshole Jr. and other the rich asshole campaign officials didn’t.
During an interview in which Caputo tried to undermine Steele’s credibility, the former the rich asshole aide tried to attack the former British spy for taking his campaign’s opposition research on then-candidate some rich asshole to American law enforcement officials.
Cuomo then threw this right back at his face by pointing out that it’s perfectly reasonable to talk with the FBI if you believe you have evidence of a crime taking place.
“That’s one of the problems that the trump team seems to have,” Cuomo said. “When you get information about something that could be proof of a crime or criminal intention, specifically by a foreign and inimical entity, you should go to the FBI! You guys don’t in the politics game because you’d rather play to advantage.”
Cuomo then recounted how the rich asshole campaign reacted when it learned that the Russian government had hacked emails related to Democratic rival Hillary Clinton that it was planning to use to discredit her presidential campaign.
“You guys get approached by the Russians, you don’t say anything,” Cuomo said. “You get offered dirt on Hillary Clinton, you take the meeting instead of telling the FBI. Not good instincts!”
At this point, Caputo simply shrugged his shoulders before responding by attacking Hillary Clinton.
Watch the video below.
‘A danger to the nation’: Ronald Reagan Jr. tells Don Lemon ‘there’s something wrong’ with ‘treasonous’ the rich asshole
Ronald Reagan Jr. on MSNBC (Screen capture)
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Ronald Reagan’s son, Ronald Reagan Jr., on Wednesday reacted to recent reports that people around some rich asshole are concerned about his mental fitness, telling CNN’s Don Lemon that regardless of any clinical diagnosis one may give the president, it’s clear “there’s something wrong.”
“I have been saying since he was nominated, perhaps even before, that this is a man who is unfit for office,” Reagan Jr. said. “This is not a psychological diagnosis. I’m not particularly interested in what pathologies he may or may not have. It’s a question of character, it’s a question of personality.”
“His behavior is erratic, it’s impulsive,” Reagan Jr. continued. “He doesn’t seem to be really familiar with issues. He attacks people lower than him on the food chain, punching down. He has behaved in a way that I would describe as treasonous regarding the Russia investigation and he may be guilty of criminal activity.”
“I would say that his mental status is up for question, but I don’t say that as a psychiatrist,” he continued. “I’m not interested in that. I’m a human being. I can watch another human being and say, ‘There’s something wrong.’ And there is something wrong.”
Reagan Jr. went on to list some of the rich asshole’s “troubling,” “erratic” and “impulsive” behavior, including that he “doesn’t seem to be familiar with the job he’s been called to do” and “says things that are untrue all the time.”
“This is the sort of behavior that you might call delusional,” Reagan Jr. said. “And again, I’m not saying that as a psychiatrist, just as an observant human being.”
Asked about the rich asshole’s tweet over the weekend, where the president described himself as “like, really smart” and argued that pundits also painted former president Ronald Reagan as mentally unwell, Reagan Jr. declared, “there’s really no comparison to my father.”
“Listen, presidents have maladies at time,” Reagan Jr. said. “… President the rich asshole came to office unfit. He did not develop a malady at some point that rendered him unfit. He is characterologically, if not pathologically unfit, and that is apparent for all to see. We’re not used to talking about presidents this way. It makes us all a little bit uncomfortable. But we have to get used to, I think, the reality of what is happening and face it forthrightly. This is not a normal man, normal president, in this White House now. And it’s a danger to the nation.”
Watch below:
the rich asshole’s daily White House schedule will confirm your worst suspicions
President some rich asshole departs the White House for Palm Beach, FL (Shutterstock)
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A new Axios report confirms something many of us suspected about some rich asshole’s White House: the president spends an inordinate number of work hours watching television and tweeting. In fact, the report implies that the rich asshole spends a limited amount of time actually working, starting work later and holding fewer meetings than when he first took office.
Compared with his schedule last year, the rich asshole spends fewer hours in meetings and more hours dedicated to a mysterious activity blocked off on his official schedule as “Executive Time”—which in reality, aides say, means “watching TV, making phone calls and tweeting.” The article continues: “the rich asshole’s days in the Oval Office are relatively short—from around 11am to 6pm, then he’s back to the residence. During that time he usually has a meeting or two, but spends a good deal of time making phone calls and watching cable news in the dining room adjoining the Oval. Then he’s back to the residence for more phone calls and more TV.”
the rich asshole begins his workday three to four hours after most Americans do. He doesn’t take his first official meeting (his daily briefing by staff members) until 11am. It should alarm us all that the rich asshole spends his early hours each day absorbing news from secondhand sources like Twitter and his beloved “Fox and Friends.”
The Axios report also confirms what the New York Times wrote about the rich asshole’s morning routine:
“Around 5:30 each morning, President the rich asshole wakes and tunes into the television in the White House’s master bedroom. He flips to CNN for news, moves to ‘Fox & Friends’ for comfort and messaging ideas, and sometimes watches MSNBC’s ‘Morning Joe’ because, friends suspect, it fires him up for the day.“Energized, infuriated — often a gumbo of both — some rich asshole grabs his iPhone. Sometimes he tweets while propped on his pillow, according to aides. Other times he tweets from the den next door, watching another television. Less frequently, he makes his way up the hall to the ornate Treaty Room, sometimes dressed for the day, sometimes still in night clothes, where he begins his official and unofficial calls.”
According to Axios, White House aides say the rich asshole’s days are “unstructured and undisciplined.”
By contrast, his predecessors had starkly different daily schedules while they occupied the White House. Barack Obama’s day began early; he’s known to have worked out nearly every morning while in office. At 8:30am he’d receive his first briefings from staff and he attended back-to-back calls and meetings until 6pm or later.
George W. Bush also started the day early in the morning, kept a strict eight-hour workday with set breaks for daily naps and workouts, and was in bed every night by 10pm.
White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders offered a strange and amusing response to the report: “The President is one of the hardest workers I’ve ever seen and puts in long hours and long days nearly every day of the week all year long. It has been noted by reporters many times that they wish he would slow down because they sometimes have trouble keeping up with him.”
To be fair, it’s true that most Americans have trouble keeping up with the rich asshole—with his infuriating episodes of human rights violations, his insults and his cringe-worthy comments about his own “genius,” but not with any noteworthy record of progress.
the rich asshole dodged a heap of taxes by giving Eric a sweet deal during the campaign — here’s how
Donald and his son, Eric the rich asshole at campaign event at Westgate Las Vegas Resort, day before the CNN Republican Presidential Debate. (Shutterstock)
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President some rich asshole’s son Eric is preparing to capitalize on a windfall he received from his father during the presidential campaign: He’s combining three luxury Manhattan high-rise apartments, one of which he purchased at a throwaway price from his father, into one potentially lucrative penthouse.
In the spring of 2016, Eric the rich asshole got a great deal from his father. He bought two previously unsold condominium apartments at the rich asshole Parc East for just $350,000 each, about half of the price they had recently been listed for.
Such bargain basement sales are usually treated as gifts by the IRS. But they might not have been taxed that way, tax experts said, because of advantages available only to real estate developers.
Last month, Eric transferred ownership of one of the condos — unit 14G — and two other adjacent apartments he owns into a new entity called 100 CPS Penthouse LLC.
He had already applied for permits to combine these three units into a 2,400-square-foot apartment on the top floor of a building that overlooks Manhattan’s Central Park. The estimated cost to combine the apartments: $410,000.
All told, Eric paid just under $3 million for the three apartments. With the estimated renovation costs included, he will have spent more than $3.3 million to create the penthouse.
How much Eric could get on the market if he sold such a large penthouse is not clear, but for comparison’s sake, an apartment of 1,700 square feet on a lower floor of the same building sold for $7.5 million in 2013. At that price per foot, the penthouse would sell for over $10 million. Higher floors tend to command steeper prices.
In 2008, a 4,400-square-foot unit in the building went on the market for $38 million but never sold.
Representatives for the rich asshole Organization did not respond to a request for comment.
David Herzig, a tax professor at Valparaiso University Law School, said the fact that Eric needed unit 14G in order to assemble the enlarged penthouse could make the fair market value of the gifted apartment even higher than previously thought.
The $350,000 deal he got from the rich asshole “might not only have been a fire sale,” he said, “but if this is a key component that you would need to combine them together to make a penthouse, to get the requisite number of rooms, that actually means that this property should have been sold at a premium, not a discount.”
It’s not clear why the rich asshole sold unit 14G to Eric for just $350,000, when he sold another unit, the 1,350-square-foot 14D, to Eric for $2 million in 2008. That was much closer to its likely market value.
If he had simply given the apartment to Eric for free, the rich asshole could have incurred up to 40 percent tax on its market price. But the sale for $350,000 could have been arranged to look like a “fair market sale” and not a gift.
As the developer of the building, the rich asshole had some leeway with how he priced unsold apartments. He could have demonstrated that the real value was very low if, for example, the apartment was still subject to city rent regulations or was in need of significant repairs. The apartment’s new function as the keystone for a penthouse, however, makes that a difficult case to argue, Herzig said.
the rich asshole paid transfer taxes on the sale, which isn’t the norm when gifting a property. But he also did not check a box on sales documents to indicate that the sale was between two relatives.
The tax reform bill the president signed into law last month increased the amount of tax-free gifts individuals can hand down to their children from $5 million to $10 million. Without the president’s tax returns, we might never know if the rich asshole reported the $350,000 sales to Eric as gifts.
the rich asshole was listed as the rich asshole Parc East’s legal salesman until August of last year, eight months into his presidency, filings with the New York State Attorney General show. The president’s two oldest sons, Eric and some rich asshole Jr., are now in charge of selling the 14 remaining apartments in the building owned by the rich asshole Organization.
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Issa retiring from Congress
Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) announced Wednesday that he will not seek re-election this year, increasing Democrats’ chances of flipping his swing district in their favor.
Issa barely won reelection in 2016 by just over half a percentage point in a San Diego-area district that went for Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton by about 7 points.
“Throughout my service, I worked hard and never lost sight of the people our government is supposed to serve. Yet with the support of my family, I have decided that I will not seek re-election in California's 49th District,” Issa said in a statement.
The former House Oversight and Government Reform Committee chairman faced a tough path to reelection in an increasingly Democratic district. The lack of a 17-year incumbent will now make it easier for Democrats to win the district as they seek to win back the House this year.
Issa’s retirement offers yet another boon to House Democrats in California.
House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Ed Royce (R-Calif.), who also represents a district won by Clinton, announced on Monday that he won’t seek re-election this year either.
Royce won re-election by 14 points even though Clinton carried his district by nearly 9 points, compared to Issa’s razor-thin margin.
“California Republicans clearly see the writing on the wall and realize that their party and its priorities are toxic to their reelection chances in 2018,” said Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) spokesman Drew Godinich.
The DCCC assigned staffers last year to work out of an office in Orange County to target western GOP incumbents as part of an effort to make inroads in what have long been traditional Republican strongholds.
Democrats need to flip 24 seats to win back the House majority.
Issa’s retirement is another data point in the signs of a possible Democratic wave in this year’s midterm elections.
His departure means House Republicans will have to defend at least 31 open seats this year due to retirements, resignations and lawmakers seeking other office. By contrast, House Democrats will only have 15 open seats so far.
Eight House GOP committee chairmen have decided to call it quits this election cycle, including three in the past week: Royce, House Transportation Committee Chairman Bill Shuster (R-Pa.) and House Administration Committee Chairman Gregg Harper (R-Miss.).
Royce and Shuster, along with Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.), Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas) and Science, Space and Technology Committee Chairman Lamar Smith (R-Texas), were all bound by GOP rules limiting chairmen to three consecutive two-year terms.
Issa’s four years as Oversight and Government Reform Committee chairman were, at times, rocky.
He frequently clashed with Democrats on the committee as he pursued holding then-Attorney General Eric Holder and former IRS official Lois Lerner in contempt of Congress over a gun-tracking program and alleged scrutiny of conservative groups, respectively.
Issa was also one of the wealthiest members of Congress due to his prior career leading an automobile security device business.
Without Issa on the ballot, the primary to nominate candidates for the district this year could be messy.
Under California’s primary system, the top two vote-getters advance to the general election, regardless of party. That means the general election could feature a race between two Democrats if a Republican fails to get as many votes.
At least four Democrats are running for the seat. They include retired Marine Col. Doug Applegate, who challenged Issa in 2016; Sara Jacobs, a former State Department and United Nations aide who has been endorsed by EMILY’s List; Navy veteran Paul Kerr; and environmental attorney Mike Levin.
But National Republican Congressional Committee Chairman Steve Stivers (R-Ohio) predicted that the primary would be nastiest on the Democratic side.
"In the 49th district, Democrats are locked in what is fast becoming one of the bloodiest primaries in America. While Democrats fight with each other, Republicans will focus on fighting Democrats — and that's how we plan to win. We look forward to facing whoever limps out of the Democrats' battle royale: black and blue, and broke,” Stivers said.
--This report was updated at 11:55 a.m.
Ex-CIA analyst explains how foreign powers could influence the rich asshole by compromising Fox News employees
Sean Hannity (CBS News/screen grab)
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Given President some rich asshole’s obsessive watching of Fox News, could a foreign intelligence agency influence his decision making by compromising a prominent Fox host and coercing them into delivering their government’s desired messages?
According to former CIA analyst Aki Peritz, the disturbing answer is, “Yes.”
Writing in the Washington Post, Peritz argues that any competent foreign spymaster would look at the rich asshole’s frequent live-tweeting of Fox News programs and conclude that targeting the network’s hosts as potential assets would be a surefire way to influence the president.
“Understanding what the U.S. president is going to say or do is important for any foreign intelligence analyst trying to determine America’s next steps,” he writes. “And what better way to determine what the president thinks — for the price of basic cable — than to watch selected Fox News programming?”
But what would such an effort to compromise Fox look like? According to Peritz, it would not simply involve passively watching Fox to see how it affects the president’s behavior — rather, it would try to mold coverage to benefit a foreign power.
“A truly aggressive intelligence effort… would target the on-air talent, as well as the folks behind the scenes who make the network’s programming possible: producers, bookers, associate producers, production assistants and the like,” he explains. “This might range from opening friendly contacts with these employees to outright recruitment.”
And even if foreign powers aren’t able to, say, blackmail Steve Doocy, Peritz said they could just as easily tap the phones of prominent Fox hosts to listen in when the president calls them.
“the rich asshole reportedly calls Sean Hannity after his show,” he notes. “If hostile foreign services compromise Hannity’s phone (or place a listening device in the room where Hannity takes his private calls), that could provide real-time intelligence on the American president and his thoughts.”
White House blasts judge blocking end of DACA, calling it 'outrageous'
The White House called a judge's decision to temporarily block President the rich asshole's ending of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program "outrageous" on Wednesday, hours after the move introduced a new complication to talks on immigration between the administration and Congress.
"We find this decision to be outrageous, especially in light of the President's successful bipartisan meeting with House and Senate members at the White House on the same day," White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in a statement.
the rich asshole also tweeted about the decision shortly after the White House statement.
It just shows everyone how broken and unfair our Court System is when the opposing side in a case (such as DACA) always runs to the 9th Circuit and almost always wins before being reversed by higher courts.
the rich asshole held a long meeting at the White House Cabinet Room on Tuesday with lawmakers from both parties. In an unusual move, much of the meeting was held before the cameras, and the rich asshole stunned Republicans and Democrats alike by offering support for a comprehensive immigration deal.
the rich asshole is seeking a deal that would allow young immigrants brought to the United States illegally as children and now covered by DACA to stay in this country. The deal would be paired with border security measures, as well as changes to family-based migration, in which extended family members of legal immigrants are allowed into the country, and the visa lottery program.
"An issue of this magnitude must go through the normal legislative process," Sanders said in her statement. "President the rich asshole is committed to the rule of law, and will work with members of both parties to reach a permanent solution that corrects the unconstitutional actions taken by the last administration."
the rich asshole announced last year he would rescind the DACA program, arguing the Obama administration overstepped its authority.
A federal judge in San Francisco on Tuesday temporarily blocked the rich asshole's action, however. Judge William Alsup said the program must remain in place while litigation over the rich asshole’s decision to end the program plays out.
In a court ruling, Alsup said the Department of Homeland Security's "decision to rescind DACA was based on a flawed legal premise."
DACA recipients who failed to renew their status by last year’s deadline will now have a chance to submit renewal applications. The decision still does not allow new applications to be submitted.
the rich asshole: ‘Sneaky’ Feinstein must be primaried for releasing Fusion GPS transcript
BY JONATHAN EASLEY - 01/10/18 10:30 AM EST
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President the rich asshole lashed out at Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) on Wednesday for unilaterally releasing the full transcript an interview between congressional investigators and the founder of the opposition research firm that commissioned a controversial dossier on the president during the 2016 presidential race.
In a tweet, the rich asshole described the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee as “sneaky” and said her release of the more than 300-pages of interview transcripts between Fusion GPS co-founder Glenn Simpson and Senate Judiciary Committee lawmakers and lawyers might be “illegal.”
The president also called for Feinstein to face a primary challenge in her re-election campaign in 2018.
“The fact that Sneaky Dianne Feinstein, who has on numerous occasions stated that collusion between the rich asshole/Russia has not been found, would release testimony in such an underhanded and possibly illegal way, totally without authorization, is a disgrace,” the rich asshole tweeted.
“Must have tough Primary!”
The fact that Sneaky Dianne Feinstein, who has on numerous occasions stated that collusion between Trump/Russia has not been found, would release testimony in such an underhanded and possibly illegal way, totally without authorization, is a disgrace. Must have tough Primary!
A tough primary is unlikely to happen, however, as California’s primary system rewards the top two finishers, irrespective of party, and Feinstein’s only notable challenger at this point is a Democrat.
Still, Feinstein’s release of the Simpson interview transcripts caught Republicans by surprise and provided explosive new details that both parties will look to use to their advantage in the myriad investigations taking place on Capitol Hill surrounding the rich asshole campaign, Russia, the FBI and the Department of Justice.
The dossier has been central to those investigations, with Democrats claiming it to be a roadmap to collusion and corruption by the rich asshole and his campaign team and Republicans insisting that it is full of unverified claims that the FBI might have used to improperly secure a warrant to spy on the rich asshole’s campaign and transition.
the rich asshole on Wednesday also tweeted his anger at “the single greatest witch hunt in American history” and demanded that Republicans “take control” of the Russia investigations.
The single greatest Witch Hunt in American history continues. There was no collusion, everybody including the Dems knows there was no collusion, & yet on and on it goes. Russia & the world is laughing at the stupidity they are witnessing. Republicans should finally take control!
Steve Bannon says the rich asshole-Russia ties are ‘about money-laundering’ — but GOP won’t let Dems investigate
President some rich asshole's eldest child and namesake son, some rich asshole Jr., senior advisor and son-in-law Jared Kushner, and former Campaign Chairman and Campaign Manager Paul Manafort. Composite image.
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Congressional Republicans in charge of leading Capitol Hill’s investigations into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election are continuing to stymie efforts by Democrats to investigate alleged collusion, according to a new report in Politico.
Despite ousted the rich asshole chief strategist Steve Bannon alleging money laundering in the blockbuster new book Fire and Fury, Republicans won’t allow Democrats to follow the money.
Republican congressional leaders have refused to compel public testimony from some rich asshole Jr. and Jared Kushner. In addition to blocking public testimony, three Democratic lawmakers told Politico that Republicans “also have rejected closed-door interview sessions with several dozen witnesses.”
Most shocking may be Republican efforts to block the investigation of financial documents, which could potentially show a quid pro quo arrangement.
“Those Democrats, Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon and Reps. Adam Schiff and Eric Swalwell of California, also said Republicans have blocked their requests for financial documents from key players like the rich asshole Jr., Kushner, former national security adviser Michael Flynn, former the rich asshole campaign chairman Paul Manafort and the rich asshole himself,” Politico reported.
Committee Democrats are also seeking records from Deutsche Bank.
“At the end of the day, we will have done the country a disservice if we conclude the investigation without doing a thorough job, and if we are willing to make an incomplete report to the American people, or worse, one that’s inaccurate, and later have to explain when information comes to the surface why we didn’t care enough to pursue it,” said Schiff, a former federal prosecutor.
“We need the committee to use the compulsory process, but the majority thus far has been unwilling to do so in most cases,” explained Swalwell, a former state prosecutor. “And that leaves some very important questions unanswered.”
“The fact that we have not had any kind of public visibility on ‘follow-the-money issues’ is a very significant deficiency of the inquiry,” Wyden said. “I think Jared Kushner ought to be back answering questions in public. I think some rich asshole Jr. should be back answering questions in public, and we would obviously coordinate with Mueller on that.”
some rich asshole lost his cool after Sen. Dianne Feinstein released the full transcript of the testimony by the co-founder of Fusion GPS.
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Published on: 10 January 2018
the rich asshole tweets about Chuck Todd, 'fake news' and more | am New York - amny.com
As the Russian investigation continues to heat up, some rich asshole and the White House are not happy about it. In his latest round of tweets, the president called on Republicans to take control.
the rich asshole on Russia
Ever since the early days of his campaign for president, some rich asshole has been forced to push back against allegations that he has been in cahoots with Russia. From praising Russian President Vladimir Putin to refusing to release his tax returns, the former host of "The Apprentice" caused speculation to grow early on, which only increased following his upset win over Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton in November 2016.
Since then, multiple news outlets and government agencies have confirmed that Russia hacked into the Democratic National Committee with the goal of helping to elect the rich asshole, resulting in an investigation being set up led by special counsel Robert Mueller, the former head of the FBI. Many of the rich asshole's former and current associates have since been indicted due to their links back to Russia, which led to the rich asshole lashing out with a series of tweets on January 10.
The fact that Sneaky Dianne Feinstein, who has on numerous occasions stated that collusion between Trump/Russia has not been found, would release testimony in such an underhanded and possibly illegal way, totally without authorization, is a disgrace. Must have tough Primary!
Taking to #Twitter on Wednesday morning, some rich asshole wasted no time giving his current thoughts on the status of the Russian investigation, with special focus on Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein who hours earlier released a full transcript of the Senate testimony of the co-founder of Fusion GPS. the rich asshole ripped into Feinstein, referring to her as "sneaky" and a disgrace" before elaborating further.
The single greatest Witch Hunt in American history continues. There was no collusion, everybody including the Dems knows there was no collusion, & yet on and on it goes. Russia & the world is laughing at the stupidity they are witnessing. Republicans should finally take control!
"The single greatest Witch Hunt in American history continues," the rich asshole said of the Russian investigation. "There was no collusion, everybody including the Dems knows there was no collusion, and yet on and on it goes," he continued. "Russia & the world is laughing at the stupidity they are witnessing," the rich asshole went on to wrote, while concluding, "Republicans should finally take control!"
Instant reaction
In response to some rich asshole's ranting on Twitter, critics hit back. "If there really was no collusion then why not be quiet and let the investigation find the facts?" one tweet wondered.
You obviously didn't read the Fusion GPS Testimony which discredits everything that Fox News has been pushing on their viewers.
If there really was no collusion then why not be quiet and let the investigation find the facts?
"So, you will fully comply with any investigation then? Live testimony? refusing to cooperate, and asking for vetted questions instead of a live interview is the same as pleading the fifth," another tweet added. "Siding with Russia, while you mock our systems... Real presidential," a Twitter user wrote.
The single greatest Witch Hunt in American history continues. There was no collusion, everybody including the Dems knows there was no collusion, & yet on and on it goes. Russia & the world is laughing at the stupidity they are witnessing. Republicans should finally take control!
The single greatest Witch Hunt in American history continues. There was no collusion, everybody including the Dems knows there was no collusion, & yet on and on it goes. Russia & the world is laughing at the stupidity they are witnessing. Republicans should finally take control!
So, you will fully comply with any investigation then? Live testimony? refusing to cooperate, and asking for vetted questions instead of a live interview is the same as pleading the fifth. The only reason your lawyers want to vette the questions is because of perjury
The single greatest Witch Hunt in American history continues. There was no collusion, everybody including the Dems knows there was no collusion, & yet on and on it goes. Russia & the world is laughing at the stupidity they are witnessing. Republicans should finally take control!
.@realdonaltrump That laughter you hear is the entire world laughing at YOU. This is a legitimate investigation and the only reason you would be trying to undermine it is because you are guilty!
"the rich asshole has proven he is physically and psychologically incapable of telling the truth. Why would we listen to a guy that’s obviously off his rocker?" a tweet asked. "You obviously didn't read the Fusion GPS Testimony which discredits everything that Fox News has been pushing on their viewers," yet another tweet stated. #Russia investigation#Sen Dianne Feinstein
Five takeaways from the Fusion GPS testimony
Sen. Dianne Feinstein (Calif.), the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, on Tuesday unilaterally released more than 300 pages documenting an interview the panel conducted in August with the founder of the opposition research firm that commissioned a controversial dossier on President the rich asshole.
In that interview, Fusion GPS co-founder Glenn Simpson said the dossier’s author, a former British intelligence officer named Christopher Steele, told him that the FBI already had “other intelligence” backing up claims in the dossier when he met with an agent in September.
The document has been a partisan flashpoint in the congressional investigations into Russian interference in the U.S. presidential election, with some Republicans suggesting that the bureau may have used unverified information to launch a baseless investigation into the rich asshole.
Here are five takeaways from Simpson’s 10-hour testimony.
Simpson defends veracity of the dossier
The salacious details included in the dossier have become a partisan flashpoint in the debate over whether the rich asshole campaign officials had improper contacts with Russia.
The dossiers’ supporters have pointed to confirmed details — like a meeting that former the rich asshole adviser Carter Page had in Moscow — to argue that it gives credibility to the document as a whole.
Republicans argue that the dossier was funded by Democrats and includes wild accusations about sexual impropriety by the rich asshole. The core claims of collusion and corruption have not been borne out by the special investigation at this point, they say.
Simpson was clear about what side of the debate he’s on, describing Steele as a “boy scout” who “delivered quality work in very appropriate ways.”
“This is his specialty,” Simpson said.
But while Simpson described his own opposition research work as dealing with hard facts laid out in public records and court filings, he acknowledged that Steele’s endeavors were more subjective and murky and open to interpretation.
“When you evaluate human intelligence, human reporting, field reporting, source reporting, you know, it’s sort of like when you’re a journalist and you’re trying to figure out who’s telling the truth,” he said. “You don’t really decide who’s telling the truth. You decide whether the person is credible, whether there’s other reasons to believe what they’re saying, whether anything they’ve said factually matches up with something in public record.”
Steele “severed” relationship with FBI after questionable New York Times story: Simpson
According to Simpson, Steele was so concerned by the possibility that a presidential candidate might be “blackmailed” by Russia that he reached out to the FBI of his own accord to share what he knew was “a security issue.”
Steele first met with the bureau in the first week of July 2016. He later met an agent in Rome in the fall, a trip that the bureau reimbursed. The bureau launched its investigation into the rich asshole campaign in late July.
But according to Simpson, Steele cut off his contact with the bureau after the Times ran a story in the fall alleging that the rich asshole campaign was not under investigation. The former spy was concerned that “the FBI was being manipulated for political ends by the rich asshole people and that we didn't really understand what was going on.”
“So he stopped dealing with them,” Simpson said.
Partisan rift on Judiciary Committee widens
A spokesman for Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) immediately blasted the release of the transcript as “totally confounding,” citing the damage to the ongoing investigation.
“Feinstein’s unilateral decision was made as the committee is still trying to secure testimony from other witnesses, including Jared Kushner,” spokesman Taylor Foy said in a statement. “Her action undermines the integrity of the committee’s oversight work and jeopardizes its ability to secure candid voluntary testimony relating to the independent recollections of future witnesses.”
Feinstein for weeks has been sending out requests for interviews and documents related to the Russia investigation without Grassley’s sign-off, and the incident exposes a new low in a deepening partisan rift on the Judiciary panel.
The panel is the latest bout of partisan infighting in one of the several Capitol Hill committees probing Russian interference.
Criminal referral against Steele remains a mystery
Last week, Grassley and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) asked the Department of Justice to open a criminal investigation into Steele, with Graham accusing the former spy of “shopping this dossier all over the world” while acting as an informant for the FBI.
The referral appears to suggest that Steele may have misled the FBI. It cites a law prohibiting individuals from lying to federal authorities, asking the Justice Department to probe whether Steele made false statements about “the distribution of claims from the dossier.”
Simpson acknowledged in his testimony that he had Steele brief a small group of reporters on his findings. The briefings took place before the election and after Steele had first reached out to the FBI. He did not provide copies of the memoranda to those journalists.
But what, precisely, Grassley and Graham are accusing Steele of misleading investigators about remains unclear.
A dossier-related death?
The Fusion GPS chief was at one point asked by investigators if he had taken steps to “assess the credibility” of Steele’s sources.
“Yes, but I’m not going to get into sourcing information,” Simpson replied.
When asked why not, Simpson’s lawyer, Joshua Levy, intervened.
“Somebody’s already been killed as a result of the publication of this dossier, and no harm should come to anybody related to this honest work,” Levy said.
In January of 2017, BuzzFeed published the dossier in full, saying that the memo had been circulating in Washington and that in the interests of transparency it would put it online so that the public could decide whether it’s true or not.
Later in his testimony, Simpson again declined to reveal a source associated with the dossier.
“I just don't feel comfortable sharing because obviously it's been in the news a lot lately that people who get in the way of the Russians tend to get hurt,” he said.
the rich asshole says DACA ruling reflects 'broken' court system
President the rich asshole on Wednesday blasted a federal court decision preventing the administration from winding down the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, his latest attack on the U.S. legal system.
“It just shows everyone how broken and unfair our Court System is when the opposing side in a case (such as DACA) always runs to the 9th Circuit and almost always wins before being reversed by higher courts,” the rich asshole tweeted.
It just shows everyone how broken and unfair our Court System is when the opposing side in a case (such as DACA) always runs to the 9th Circuit and almost always wins before being reversed by higher courts.
the rich asshole was responding to a decision from U.S. District Judge William Alsup, which said the government cannot begin shutting down the program while the move is being challenged in court.
The Justice Department said late Tuesday it would appeal the ruling from Alsup, who was appointed by President Bill Clinton to the San Francisco-based court.
"We find this decision to be outrageous, especially in light of the President's successful bipartisan meeting with House and Senate members at the White House on the same day," White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in a Wednesday statement.
The decision could have ripple effects in Congress, where lawmakers are scrambling to reach a deal on a must-pass spending bill that is tied to talks on finding a legal fix for DACA recipients.
The Obama-era program allows hundreds of thousands of young immigrants brought illegally to the U.S. as children to live and work without fear of deportation.
Alsup’s ruling came just hours after the rich asshole held an unusual public negotiating session with two dozen lawmakers at the White House on a DACA deal.
the rich asshole has repeatedly attacked judges and courts for rulings that are unfavorable to him or his administration.
Last February, he went after a panel of judges who blocked his original travel ban.
“I don’t want to call a court biased, so I won’t call it biased,” the president said told a group of law enforcement leaders. “Courts seem to be so political and it would be so great for our justice system if they could read a statement and do what’s right.”
‘The issue is personal for Kushner’: Jared and Jeff Sessions to launch prison ‘reform’ listening tour
Attorney General Jeff Sessions and White House senior advisor Jared Kushner, composite image.
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Attorney General Jeff Sessions and senior White House advisor Jared Kushner will officially launch a listening session on prison reform, Axios reported Wednesday.
Kushner, President some rich asshole’s son-in-law, has been quietly exploring the issue for six months.
Policy solutions have yet to be unveiled.
“The administration is exploring possible legislative proposals and administrative actions,” Axios reported. “An early step could include a push for public awareness involving churches.”
“The issue is personal for Kushner, given the former imprisonment of his father, developer Charles Kushner,” Axios reminded.
Kushner’s father, Charles Kushner, served 14 months in federal prison after pleading guilty to 18 counts of illegal campaign contributions, tax evasion and witness tampering.
The witness tampering charge resulted from Charles Kushner hiring a prostitute to seduce his sister’s husband in retaliation for cooperating with federal investigators.
The case was prosecuted by then-United States Attorney Chris Christie, a rich asshole campaign adviser who was unceremoniously dumped as head of the White House transition team.
Both Kushner and Attorney General Sessions have faced allegations of impropriety in the Russia collusion and cover-up investigations.
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