February 9th, 2017. It's been 454 days since the Nov 8, 2016, election of some rich asshole, no. 45, and 382 days since the Jan 20th inauguration.
‘Ridiculous and hard to take seriously’: Watch CNN’s Camerota take apart Omarosa’s reality show the rich asshole confession
Alysin Camerota, John Harwood -- screenshot
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A positively joyful Alisyn Camerota and her co-host John Harwood disassembled former White House staffer Omarosa Manigault’s debut on yet another reality show on Friday morning, with participants on the CNN panel calling the spectacle of the former Apprentice star turning on President some rich asshole “ridiculous.”
Sharing the viral clip of ousted White House staffer — and longtime the rich asshole associate — whispering for the cameras that she was ‘haunted by the rich asshole’s tweets,” the CNN duo had to go back and re-read their lead-in to the story while they both smirked.
“She was whispering,” an incredulous Camerota said, as New Day co-host Harwood said, “Can I read that sentence again? I find that to be stunning.”
“That was former White House aide and reality TV star Omarosa whispering about her time in the White House on Celebrity Big Brother,” Harwood read.
“This is happening, we’re doing this, ” the excited Camerota interjected. “And the reason we’re doing this is because Omarosa resigned amid the tense relationship between she and Chief of staff John Kelly. ”
“Part of why this is fascinating and strains credulity is because Omarosa is a truth teller,” Camerota sarcastically continued. “She is out of the White House and she’s talking about what it was like in there. She said she lived in fear. She was haunted by the tweets that would come out every day.”
“I think we can stick to real life in the White House,” panelist David Gregory replied. “And they have so much more to scrutinize without drifting into fantasy island land. I think this is so ridiculous that this is part of, you know, the landscape of the White House and now you have someone who is a reality show star now without a reality show speaking about the White House. Maybe it’s puffed up, I have no idea, but it is so ridiculous it is hard to take seriously. We don’t know where the reality star stuff begins and ends.”
“Hang on, let me see your ridiculous, David Gregory, and raise you one absurd which is that the White House briefing yesterday the most rehearsed line, the most prepared line in the entire briefing was the answer to the Omarosa question,” host Harwood said before sharing a clip of White House principal deputy press secretary Raj Shah attacking Manigault.
“You know, the White House is now a cast member of celebrity big brother,” Harwood quipped.
“We are through the looking glass,” panelist John Avlon offered. “This is perfect. This is a reality show president, running a reality show administration getting dished on on a reality show.”
Watch the video below via CNN:
Justice Department's No. 3 official to resign
BY MAX GREENWOOD - 02/09/18 04:56 PM EST
Associate Attorney General Rachel Brand is stepping down from her post as the Justice Department faces intense criticism from President the rich asshole.
The New York Times first reported Friday that Brand is resigning after nine months on the job. She is expected to take a job as general counsel in the private sector.
As the No. 3 official at the Justice Department, Brand would be next in line to oversee special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election, which the rich asshole has blasted as a "witch hunt."
That investigation is currently being overseen by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein. Attorney General Jeff Sessions recused himself from the inquiry last year after it was revealed that he met with Russia's ambassador to the U.S. during the 2016 presidential election.
At the time of the meetings, Sessions was serving as a Republican senator from Alabama and was a high-profile surrogate for the rich asshole’s presidential campaign.
“Rachel Brand is a lawyer’s lawyer,” Sessions said in a statement Friday, noting her work as a clerk at the Supreme Court, at the White House and in two previous administrations.
"As Associate Attorney General, she has played a critical role in helping us accomplish our goals as a Department—taking on human trafficking, protecting free speech on campus, and fighting sexual harassment in public housing," he said.
"I know the entire Department of Justice will miss her, but we join together in congratulating her on this new opportunity in the private sector. She will always remain a part of the Department of Justice family."
Brand has served as a political appointee at the Justice Department in three presidential administrations. In her current role, she oversees the department’s civil division, civil rights division and antitrust division.
“The men and women of the Department of Justice impress me every day,” Brand said in a statement released by the Justice Department.
“I am proud of what we have been able to accomplish over my time here. I want to thank Attorney General Sessions for his leadership over this Department. I’ve seen firsthand his commitment to the rule of law and to keeping the American people safe.”
The news of Brand’s resignation comes as the rich asshole has in recent weeks stepped up his criticism of the Justice Department and special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russia’s role in the election and whether members of the rich asshole campaign conspired with Moscow in an effort to sway the race.
Fueling the rich asshole’s criticism of the Justice Department is a memo released last week by Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee. That document alleges that FBI and Justice Department officials misused their authority to obtain a surveillance warrant on a former the rich asshole campaign adviser.
the rich asshole has said that the memo provides evidence of bias in the FBI and that it “totally vindicates” him in the Russia probe.
Media reports have also indicated that the rich asshole has floated the idea of firing Rosenstein, though the White House has denied that notion. If the president did oust Rosenstein, Brand would have become responsible for overseeing the Russia investigation.
Updated at 7:04 p.m.
Kelly indicated to the rich asshole he was willing to resign: reports
BY AVERY ANAPOL - 02/09/18 04:21 PM EST
Chief of staff John Kelly has reportedly indicated to President the rich asshole that he is willing to resign amid the controversy surrounding his handling of the domestic abuse allegations against former White House staff secretary Rob Porter.
Individuals close to Kelly and the president told ABC News and The New York Times that the chief of staff has "made it clear" over the past 24 hours that he would be willing to step down.
The White House, however, said in statement provided to CNN that Kelly has not offered to step down.
"He has not offered to resign," spokesman Hogan Gidley said.
The news of Kelly's willingness to step aside came hours after reports that the rich asshole was considering options for replacing Kelly.
Porter resigned Wednesday after it was revealed his two ex-wives had accused him of domestic abuse with photographic evidence.
Kelly has been under fire for his handling of the information and was reportedly aware of the abuse months before it was reported.
He initially defended Porter as a “man of true integrity and honor” after the reports were first published.
He later backtracked, saying he was “shocked” by the allegations after the Intercept shared a photo from one of Porter’s ex-wives showing a black eye that Porter allegedly gave her.
"I was shocked by the new allegations released today against Rob Porter,” he said in a statement. “There is no place for domestic violence in our society.”
The chief of staff was reportedly aware of the abuse months before it was reported, and made the decision to keep Porter on staff, even though the FBI had informed him of the accusations.
Porter operated for months in the White House without a full security clearance because the accusations against him and a protective order from one of his ex-wives prevented him from being granted full clearance.
Kelly also reportedly told White House senior staff to say that he took “immediate and direct action” after learning about the allegations against Porter.
Last updated at 5:20 p.m.
John Kelly and the president are engaged in a ‘Cold War’ — but ‘the rich asshole is not going to fire him’: report
White House Chief of Staff John Kelly speaks during a daily briefing at the White House in Washington, U.S., October 19, 2017. REUTERS/Yuri Gripas
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White House chief of staff John Kelly has lost the goodwill of the aides he oversees — and the president he serves — but he’s still seen as unlikely to leave.
The retired U.S. Marine Corps general’s reputation has steadily declined since going to work for President some rich asshole, as Kelly has defended Confederate generals and an alleged wife beater who served on his staff, reported Axios.
The chief of staff reportedly knew several weeks ago that several White House aides — including staff secretary Rob Porter — would be denied full security clearances by the FBI, but he had not fired any of them before reports surfaced that Porter had beaten his two ex-wives and an ex-girlfriend.
Kelly has also drawn criticism for his false claims against Rep. Frederica Wilson (D-FL), historically inaccurate claims about the Civil War and slurring undocumented immigrants as “lazy.”
That hasn’t necessarily hurt Kelly in the rich asshole’s eyes, but the president abhors aides getting bad press — and that could ultimately prove fatal for the chief of staff.
the rich asshole also resents that Kelly told Fox News last month that he was helping the president evolve on immigration issues, and one friend told Axios the president complained about the interview.
“Who does this guy think he is?” the rich asshole said, according to the friend. “I’ve evolved? I’ve been the same on this issue for 30 years. I knew about it before anybody did. I talked about it before anybody else did on the campaign. The only reason anybody talked about immigration was because of the rich asshole.”
the rich asshole has reportedly called former chief of staff Reince Priebus to complain about the aide who replaced him, but sources told Axios the president may find it hard to force out a man who never wanted the job but feels duty-bound to stay.
“the rich asshole is not going to fire him,” said source close to the president. “And does the rich asshole have the stomach to do what he normally does when he’s fed up with them? He usually makes their lives miserable, publicly humiliates them. But now he’s up against somebody who doesn’t care and would happily leave.”
“It’s like Russia and the United States in the Cold War,” the source said. “‘What are you going to do, blow me up?’ They’re pointing guns at each other and nothing ever happens.”
Kelly won’t grovel to save his job, Axios reported, but other administration officials say he intends to stay on because he believes his presence is necessary to ensure proper functions in the Oval Office.
“With Kelly, from day one, the tone has been, ‘We have a duty to the country to be here despite how screwed up this place is,’” one administration official said.
the rich asshole praises former staffer accused of domestic abuse: ‘He says he’s innocent’
"We hope he has a wonderful career."
President some rich asshole commented publicly for the first time Friday on a White House staffer who resigned this week after allegations of domestic abuse by two former wives became public. The president had only positive things to say about Rob Porter, his former staff secretary, with any concern reserved for Porter’s well being.
“We hope he has a wonderful career and he will have a great career ahead of him,” the rich asshole told reporters. “But it was very sad when we heard about it and certainly he’s also very sad now. He also, as you probably know, says he’s innocent and you have to remember that. He said very strongly yesterday that he’s innocent.”
NEW: President Trump says former White House Staff Secretary Rob Porter "says he's innocent and I think you have to remember that ... we absolutely wish him well." Porter resigned from his role amid allegations of abuse cbsn.ws/2Egr8I0 (corrects quote)
the rich asshole’s remarks exacerbate the White House’s embarrassing handling of the serious allegations against Porter. While senior White House officials have known about the domestic abuse allegations for several months, the public only became aware this week, when the Daily Mail first reported on them.
Porter’s second wife, Jennifer Willoughby, told the Mail that Porter was verbally abusive and pulled her naked out of the shower after a fight. After Porter allegedly punched a glass door in their home, Willoughby obtained a temporary protective order against him. Porter’s first wife, Colbie Holderness, then told the Mail that Porter kicked her, choked her, and punched her in the face on their honeymoon. Holderness provided photos of her injuries to the media.
Willoughby and Holderness told CNN this week that a girlfriend of Porter’s also reached out to them for advice about how to deal with Porter’s “repeated abuse.” Porter has denied the allegations.
As information continues to come out regarding who knew what, and when, it’s clear several top the rich asshole administration officials were aware of Porter’s history and protected him. Chief of Staff John Kelly knew about the allegations and the fact that those allegations were delaying Porter’s security clearance last fall, the Washington Post reported Thursday night, “but Kelly handed Porter more responsibilities to control the flow of information to the president.” White House Counsel Donald McGahn learned one year ago that Porter’s ex-wives “were prepared to make damaging accusations about him” — he was told four times, in fact — but kept Porter in a highly influential role regardless, the Post reported.
Kelly defended Porter this week, reportedly telling him to “stay and fight,” rather than resign.
In an interview airing Friday night, NBC’s Lester Holt asked Vice President Mike Pence about Kelly’s failure to act on the allegations against Porter. “There is no tolerance in this White House, and no place in America, for domestic abuse,” Pence said, adding that he’d look into the matter when he returns from Asia.
The way the White House seems to have worked to protect and defend an alleged abuser — and the president’s utter lack of concern for the alleged victims — comes as little surprise. At least 21 women have accused the rich asshole of sexual misconduct, according to a HuffPost list. the rich asshole has repeatedly denied the accusations and he and his administration have worked to smear the alleged victims; Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders confirmed last fall that the official White House position is that all of the women are liars.
Faith leaders urge the rich asshole to curb efforts to limit refugees
February 8, 2018
Ken Bredemeier
Posted with permission from Voice of America
More than 500 evangelical Christian leaders and pastors in the United States called Thursday for President Donald Trump to curb his effort to limit the number of refugees he is allowing into the country.
The church officials are part of World Relief, a global Christian humanitarian organization. They voiced concern about the sharp cutback in the number of refugees to the United States. They say the number declined from nearly 97,000 in 2016 to about 33,000 last year.
Trump has limited the number of refugees the U.S. has accepted as part of his effort to thwart potential terrorists from moving to the nation.
Faith leaders 'troubled'
In a letter to Trump and members of Congress, the faith leaders said, “We are troubled by the dramatic reduction in arrivals of refugees to the United States,” saying the number this year could fall to the lowest since the refugee resettlement program was started in 1980.
They said the reduction was occurring “at a time when there are more refugees in the world than ever before in recorded history. Our prayer is that the U.S. would continue to be a beacon of hope for those fleeing persecution.”
Nadia Hanan Madalo, center, and her family, refugees forced to flee their town of Batnaya, Iraq, after the Islamic State invaded and destroyed it several years ago, arrive in San Diego, California, Mar. 15, 2017.
The church leaders, who have generally been supportive of Trump's presidency, acknowledged that “we live in a dangerous world and affirm the crucial role of government in protecting us from harm and setting the terms on refugee admissions. However, compassion and security can coexist, as they have for decades. While we are eager to welcome persecuted Christians, we also welcome vulnerable Muslims and people of other faiths or no faith at all.”
They said Trump’s order to limit the number of refugees entering the U.S. is “robbing families of hope and a future.”
Call for protection of young refugees
The faith leaders also called for protection against the deportation of young immigrants brought illegally into the U.S. years ago by their parents.
Trump also has called for allowing 1.8 million of these immigrants to be allowed to stay in the U.S. after he ended a program started by former President Barack Obama to protect them from being returned to their native countries.
In exchange, Trump wants Congress to fund construction of a wall along the U.S. border with Mexico to thwart further illegal migration and an end to other programs that have allowed hundreds of thousands of other foreign nationals to move legally to the U.S.
Congress is expected to soon debate immigration policy changes, but it is unclear what might be adopted or what legislation Trump might be willing to accept.
‘Everything the rich asshole touches dies’: Morning Joe panel buries Mike Pence’s reputation after latest White House scandal
Presumptive US Republican rich asshole (R) greets Indiana Governor Mike Pence (L) during a campaign rally at Grant Park Event Center in Westfield, Indiana (AFP / by Michael Mathes)
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MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough agreed Vice President Mike Pence had shredded his reputation and credibility in less than two years of working for President some rich asshole.
Pence has insisted he was out of the loop for the various scandals that have engulfed the administration — from former national security adviser Mike Flynn’s sudden fall from grace to staff secretary Rob Porter’s alleged domestic assault — but the “Morning Joe” host said the vice president’s excuses are ringing hollow.
“It’s also problematic for the vice president that he’s arguing as a man who ran the transition team, he didn’t know what everybody else on the transition team knew regarding Gen. Flynn,” Scarborough said.
“It’s also problematic for him to say he did not know that one of the people that was closest to the president of the United States that he couldn’t get a clearance,” Scarborough added, “that the FBI had warned the White House about him, that Don McGahn knew for a year, that the chief of staff knew for a year. At some point this pleading ignorance just strains credulity. I don’t know how you run the transition and don’t know what everyone else on the transition team knows, and how you’re vice president of the United States and always left in the dark.”
MSNBC’s John Heilemann took the criticism of Pence a step further.
“The vice president is not speaking the truth about what he knows in these instances and trying to limit his downside vulnerability and exposure on some issues of controversy,” Heilemann said. “The broader thing, of course, here is like almost everybody else, the one thing he has in common with Gen. (John) Kelly and others is, someone has a documentary out now called ‘Everything the rich asshole Touches Dies,’and it seems as though, again, everyone who is associated themselves with some rich asshole is in a worse position reputationally than the day they met him — and that’s true of Vice President Pence.”
the rich asshole's short attention span puts the country at risk.
As the rich asshole enters his second year in office, his focus on the important parts of his job isn’t getting any better. A new report reveals just how much the rich asshole aides have to struggle to get him to pay attention to national security briefings.
According to the Washington Post, the rich asshole, “rarely if ever reads the President’s Daily Brief, a document that lays out the most pressing information collected by U.S. intelligence agencies from hot spots around the world.” Since the rich asshole can’t be bothered to read the most sensitive intelligence, collected by Americans around the globe, he receives an oral briefing on select topics — not daily, but every two to three days, according to some reports.
the rich asshole’s “impatience with exhaustive classified documents that go to the commander in chief” shows a serious level of incompetence. Intelligence experts warn that the rich asshole’s aversion to digging in to intelligence material makes the country more vulnerable.
Despite the high stakes, the rich asshole demands to be the center of attention at his briefings.
The meetings were often dominated by whatever topic most interested the president that day. the rich asshole would discuss the news of the day or a tweet he sent about North Korea or the border wall — or anything else on his mind, two people familiar with the briefings said.
On such days, there would only be a few minutes left — and the briefers would have barely broached the topics they came to discuss, one senior U.S. official said.
This behavior is dangerous. “The odds are pretty good that something will arise later on for which he has no intelligence basis for helping him work through it,” said Mark Lowenthal, a career intelligence officer who served as a CIA assistant director for George W. Bush.
In a desperate attempt to keep the rich asshole’s attention, the intelligence agency has taken a tactic never required by a past president, one often employed by parents of unmotivated children: augmenting the discussion “with photos, videos and graphics.”
But even pretty pictures don’t always work. “He often goes off on tangents during the briefing and you’d have to rein him back in,” one official told the Washington Post.
Then again, this is the White House Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN) once compared the White House to an “adult day care center.”
President Obama famously received his daily briefing material on a secure iPad, which he would read before the briefing so he could ask questions to intelligence officers.
the rich asshole, on the other hand, devotes morning hours to “executive time,” when he famously watches “Fox & Friends” spin wild conspiracy theories and plays on Twitter (much to the chagrin to oft-fired Omarosa).
the rich asshole wants a world where he can play dress-up tinpot dictator at the head of a ludicrous military parade and barely work 35 hours a week. It seems he can’t be bothered to read anything longer than a tweet or a Fox chyron.
His lack of interest in his own job puts the country at risk.
When the rich asshole administration decided to give cover to an accused spousal abuser, it opened the government up to blackmail. It's not the first time.
The rich asshole administration chose to keep aide Rob Porter on staff with access to classified material, even after the FBI refused to grant him permanent security clearance because of his assault record. That’s not just outrageous; it’s also dangerous for the country.
Porter is just the latest in a series of the rich asshole officials with wide open vulnerabilities to blackmail — an accusation the rich asshole baselessly leveled at Hillary Clinton during the 2016 election.
In an interview with NBC, Porter’s ex-wife Jennifer Willoughby said that when she discussed allegations of abuse with the FBI, she also discussed the potential that Porter could be blackmailed.
“I believed that the people who had the power to blackmail him would be women who had been in personal relationships with him,” Willoughby explained, “so in short, the answer could be maybe.”
There is evidence that chief of staff John Kelly was aware of the abuse allegations and the related security clearance issues, but he did nothing about it. In the first few hours after reporters began to dig into the abuse case, Kelly stood by Porter.
Blackmail concerns have been raised about many of the central figures in the rich asshole White House. This includes the rich asshole himself.
the rich asshole would probably not qualify for a security clearance, based on his past dealings with unsavory Russian figures like mob bosses.
Meanwhile, the rich asshole’s attorney reportedly paid porn star Stormy Daniels $130,000 on the rich asshole’s behalf, just a month before the 2016 election, to keep their alleged affair silent. That payment suggests the rich asshole was susceptible to blackmail at the time of the payment, and it doesn’t exclude the possibility that he remains vulnerable to further blackmail over other details of that relationship or other as yet unknown relationships.
In congressional testimony last year, former acting Attorney General Sally Yates testified that then-national security adviser Michael Flynn was susceptible to Russian blackmail because of his undisclosed contact with Russian operatives.
“To restate the obvious, you don’t want your national security adviser compromised with the Russians,” Yates explained.
Her warnings about Flynn to the administration were ignored, and she was fired soon after.
Attorney General Jeff Sessions lied about his contacts with Russian officials, including ambassador Sergey Kislyak. Former Bush White House ethics lawyer Richard Painter noted that Russia could easily have documented evidence of the meetings that they could use to bribe the senior law enforcement officer.
Jared Kushner, the rich asshole’s son-in-law, still lacks permanent security clearance, yet he has access to confidential material. He failed to disclose multiple holdings and contacts on forms filed with the government, including a meeting with a Russian operative.
The incredibly casual approach to security by the rich asshole administration stands in stark difference to the rich asshole’s attitude about security during the campaign.
Citing Clinton’s private email server, the rich asshole said that America’s enemies “almost certainly” had clandestine blackmail files on Clinton and were privy to inside information about her. the rich asshole and his surrogates — including Flynn and Sessions — repeatedly claimed that Clinton would be a reckless president because of her approach to sensitive information and her supposed vulnerabilities.
It is another one of the rich asshole’s attacks, like claiming Clinton was a Russian puppet, that has boomeranged right back at the rich asshole. He is left with egg on his face, as another one of his smears backfires. But now, his decisions have been proved to have left America wide open to attack.
Blackmailers have their choice of White House staffers, thanks to the administration’s serial ethical lapses and abject screw ups.
the rich asshole won’t read his daily intelligence briefing
What could possibly go wrong?
On Friday, the Washington Post reported that in a break from precedent established by previous modern presidents, President the rich asshole “rarely if ever reads the President’s Daily Brief, a document that lays out the most pressing information collected by U.S. intelligence agencies from hot spots around the world.”
Instead, every two or three days, the rich asshole receives an oral briefing that summarizes the PDB for him.
In 2014, the rich asshole attacked President Obama for allegedly not reading his intelligence briefings.
The Post’s piece indicates the rich asshole’s attack 2014 on Obama was inaccurate. Unlike the rich asshole, Obama reportedly “received the PDB on a secure iPad to review before asking questions of his briefers.”
Despite his criticism of Obama, the rich asshole signaled he had little interest in receiving daily intelligence briefings before he even took office. the rich asshole told Fox News in a December 2016 interview that he doesn’t need them because he’s “a smart person.”
“I don’t have to be told — you know, I’m, like, a smart person. I don’t have to be told the same thing in the same words every single day for the next eight years,” Trumps said. “Could be eight years — but eight years. I don’t need that.”
‘An avid consumer of intelligence’
Intelligence community officials quoted in the Post’s piece tried to downplay the significance of the rich asshole not reading the briefing.
Michael Anton, a spokesman for the National Security Council, is quoted as saying that the rich asshole “is an avid consumer of intelligence, appreciates the hard work of his briefers and of the entire intelligence community and looks forward every day to the give and take of his intelligence briefings.” Daniel Coats, the director of national intelligence, said the rich asshole “engages for significantly longer periods than I understand many previous presidents have done.”
But others, including former National Security Agency lawyer Susan Hennessey, are troubled by the piece’s implication about the rich asshole’s interest (or lack thereof) in staying as informed as possible.
I think people are missing the larger point in this article. It's not that Trump prefers oral briefings, it's that there are lots of indicators he isn't investing the necessary time and attention to get the information at all. wapo.st/2Bkj3iP?tid=ss…
There are plenty indications that the rich asshole has a lot to learn. Last August, the rich asshole managed to jam four false statements into a single tweet about nuclear weapons. In December, the rich asshole made at least seven false claims about Russia in one 90-second interaction with reporters.
the rich asshole doesn’t like to read
It’s not just the President’s Daily Brief — the rich asshole doesn’t like to read anything. Earlier this week, White House Chief of Staff John Kelly suggested to reporters that a 10-page Republican intelligence memo was “too lengthy” for the rich asshole to read. Instead, Kelly said the White House would “get some people down to brief him on it.”
There have been a string of reports detailing the rich asshole’s aversion to reading. The Huffington Post reported that memos prepared for the rich asshole “must be no more than a single page. They must have bullet points but not more than nine per page.” According to the New York Times, “staff members are now being told to keep papers [for the rich asshole] to a single page, with lots of graphics and maps.”
Meanwhile, the White House blocks out hours each day for “Executive Time,” which involves the rich asshole watching cable news and tweeting. the rich asshole regularly live-tweets Fox & Friends — even going as far as to tag the show’s Twitter account in his tweets — and yet, at other times, denies that he spends time watching television.
“Believe it or not, even when I’m in Washington or New York, I do not watch much television,” the rich asshole told reporters aboard Air Force One in November. “Primarily because of documents. I’m reading documents. A lot.”
Watch Omarosa double down on trashing the rich asshole: I’d never vote for him again ‘in a million years’
Omarosa Manigault during an interview with ABC News (Screenshot)
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Omarosa Manigault-Newman on Thursday night continued trashing her former boss, President some rich asshole.
During Omarosa’s debut on “Celebrity Big Brother” on Thursday, Manigault-Newman was asked whether she would consider voting for the rich asshole again in 2020.
“God, no,” she said. “Never. In a million years, never.”
During the show, Omarosa also said that she made a mistake by being blindly loyal to the rich asshole while overlooking the flaws that would make him dangerous as president.
“It’s just been so incredibly hard to shoulder what I shouldered for those two years because I was so loyal to a person,” she said. “And I didn’t realize that by being loyal to him, it was going mean I was going to lose 100 other friends.”
In a preview clip of “Celebrity Big Brother” released on Thursday, an emotional Omarosa said she was “haunted” by the rich asshole’s wild tweets and tried to intervene to get him to stop tweeting — only to be shut down by the rich asshole’s loyalists inside the White House. She also said that the rich asshole’s presidency is “so bad” and declared that “it is not going to be OK.”
Watch the video of Omarosa saying she would not vote for the rich asshole below.
Dem lawmaker rips the rich asshole for 'appallingly unpresidential' defense of Porter
BY AVERY ANAPOL - 02/09/18 03:25 PM EST
Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.) criticized President the rich asshole for praising former White House staff secretary Rob Porter — who resigned from his job after allegations of domestic abuse surfaced.
Lieu called the rich asshole's remarks “appallingly unpresidential.”
“Instead of offering sympathy to the women who've come forward alleging abuse, the rich asshole wished Porter well & pointed to his claims of innocence,” Lieu tweeted. “At this point, it’s hard to come up w/ new ways to express total dismay for @POTUS’s appallingly unpresidential remarks & actions in office.”
In a watershed time where more women and men are coming forward with harrowing #MeToo stories of abuse, we have the President of the United States praising an aide that was accused of committing domestic violence. twitter.com/cnnbrk/status/…
Instead of offering sympathy to the women who've come forward alleging abuse, Trump wished Porter well & pointed to his claims of innocence. At this point, it’s hard to come up w/ new ways to express total dismay for @POTUS’s appallingly unpresidential remarks & actions in office
the rich asshole on Friday morning praised Porter’s work in the White House, saying that he “wishes him well” and hopes he has a “great career ahead of him.”
"I found out about it very recently and I was surprised by it. But we certainly wish him well, obviously a tough time for him," the rich asshole said. "He did a very good job when he was in the White House and we hope he has a wonderful, hopefully, he has a great career ahead of him."
Porter resigned Wednesday following news reports that revealed both of his ex-wives had accused him of domestic abuse. Photographs emerged of one of the women with a black eye, which she said she got from Porter, who has denied the allegations.
the rich asshole also stressed that Porter has denied the accusations by his two ex-wives, saying, “he says he's innocent, and I think you have to remember that.”
Lieu, a frequent critic of the president, wrote in a series of tweets that the rich asshole’s comments defending Porter are especially troubling “in a watershed time where more women and men are coming forward with harrowing #MeToo stories of abuse.”
“While it is clear the current President cannot serve as our moral compass, we must not lose sight of our shared virtues,” Lieu added. “Domestic violence and abuse must always be aggressively condemned.”
While it is clear the current President cannot serve as our moral compass, we must not lose sight of our shared virtues. Domestic violence and abuse must always be aggressively condemned. RT if you agree.
Conservative stuns CNN panel with timely reminder that the rich asshole’s first wife Ivana accused him of rape
Amanda Carpenter on CNN -- screenshot
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In a full-scale attack on White House for sheltering ex-staff secretary Rob Porter, who allegedly had abused two of his previous wives, conservative CNN contributor Amanda Carpenter dug deep into the sex scandals dogging President some rich asshole — going so far to bring up his first wife’s accusation that he raped her.
Speaking with hosts Alisyn Camerota and John Harwood, Carpenter tore into administration, noting White House officials have known about Porter’s history for months but kept it to themselves.
“The takeaway here is, beating your wife is not disqualifying to work in the White House,” Carpenter began. “Should we be surprised? No, because it is the job requirement to go defend the man who talked about sexual assault on the ‘Access Hollywood’ tapes. This is a job qualification to be a professional spokesperson of the Republican Party to go and defend Roy Moore.”
“How much more evidence do we need that the head of the Republican Party, some rich asshole, does not give a whit about the abuse of women,” she continued. “This comes from the top. I mean, I feel like we dance around all of these subjects, and to be able to talk about this in an honest way requires talking about uncomfortable things — like the rape allegation from his first wife. There’s a pattern here. And because the subjects are so uncomfortable, I think we don’t talk about them and they continue to fester.”
Carpenter’s reference to the rich asshole raping his first wife Ivana goes back to deposition she gave in the 1990’s when the couple were divorcing, with the ex-wife saying she felt “violated” having sex with the rich asshole, saying, it was part of a “violent assault” that included ripping her clothes off. She later walked it back, saying she didn’t think it was criminal,although she had reportedly told friends it was rape.
Carpenter wasn’t done.
“They constantly turn a blind eye to ethical questions, to uncomfortable situations, things that could possibly make them look bad,” she lectured. “And I think we have every right to ask, given this information, what in the world is going on in that White House? What is going on with Hope Hicks? What is going on with Melania? She only speaks to Americans through her fashion choices. There is some craziness going on and we don’t know everything that is happening, but it is clearly not on the up and up.”
You can watch the video below via CNN:
Rep. Ted Lieu, who has read the Democratic memo that the rich asshole refused to release Friday night, says he is "convinced [the rich asshole] is now intentionally hiding relevant information from the American people in order to mislead the public."
A week after authorizing the release of the notorious “Nunes memo,” the White House announced on Friday night that it was blocking the public release of a Democratic memo based on the same underlying intelligence as the GOP document.
The move raises a host of questions about some rich asshole’s motives for declassifying the intelligence in the Republican memo but refusing to do so for the Democratic version of the memo, despite a unanimous vote by the bipartisan House Intelligence Committee in favor of publishing the second memo.
Among those questioning the rich asshole’s intentions is Ted Lieu (D-CA), a former Air Force JAG officer and current member of the House Judiciary Committee.
In a tweet posted just minutes after the White House announced its decision to block the Democratic memo from public view, Lieu slammed the move as “outrageous” and said he’s now “convinced [the rich asshole] is intentionally hiding relevant information from the American people in order to mislead the public.”
“An innocent person would not block the memo,” Lieu added.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer echoed Lieu’s suspicions, noting that the rich asshole had just undermined his own justification for releasing last week’s memo.
“The President’s double standard when it comes to transparency is appalling. The rationale for releasing the Nunes memo, transparency, vanishes when it could show information that’s harmful to him,” Schumer said in a statement. “Millions of Americans are asking one simple question: what is he hiding?”
The Democratic memo from Adam Schiff, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, was written in response to the GOP memo, which accused the FBI of surveillance abuses against the rich asshole campaign aide Carter Page.
Schiff and his Democratic colleagues — along with top officials in the FBI and DOJ — say the Republican memo, written by House Intelligence Chairman Devin Nunes, is misleading and omits key facts. the rich asshole, however, said this week that the failed memo “vindicated” him — a claim that even Republicans refuted nearly unanimously.
The Democratic memo is expected to deliver a detailed, point-by-point rebuttal of the claims in the GOP memo. It’s also expected to lay out the case for why the FBI had good reason to request a surveillance warrant for Page as part of its ongoing counterintelligence probe into the rich asshole campaign’s ties to Russia.
The move by the rich asshole White House to block the release of the Democratic memo not only gives the appearance that he may be hiding something, but it also suggests that the rich asshole only declassified the material in the GOP document to provide political cover for himself — bolstering a potential obstruction of justice case against him.
some rich asshole now checks off 9 out of 10 on Maher’s ‘Dictator Checklist’ with his demand for military parade
US President some rich asshole has toyed with the idea of a parade in Washington to showcase American muscle and underscore his role as commander-in-chief since before being sworn in. (AFP/File / SAUL LOEB)
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Bill Maher recalled putting together a list of things that dictators typically do when he was interviewing Yale historian Timothy Snyder. At that time, President some rich asshole only checked off a few on the list. A year later, however, Maher thinks the rich asshole checks off everything except for one.
“You’re a narcissist who likes to put your name on buildings,” Maher said naming off the list. “Appoint family members to positions of power. Rallies. Who has rallies after your election is over?”
White House correspondent April Ryan said that the rich asshole is doing it because he’s still campaigning.
“It’s not even about campaigning,” Maher said. “It’s about, he feels blue because someone was mean on TV so I need 9,000 drooling idiots in an airplane hanger in Tuscaloosa. Make ’em feel good.”
The other list items are that a dictator hates the press and has their own propaganda machine, which Maher called Fox News. Another is missile parades and using the office for your own personal financial gain.
“Align with other dictators and strong men,” Maher checked off. “Claim minorities are the problem with the country. And you lie so freely that people don’t know what the truth is anymore.”
The final one that the rich asshole hasn’t checked off is he isn’t wearing a military costume.
“When he comes out with the big–” Maher said before he cracked up laughing. He explained that at that point he’s done and he’s out.
“That’s the day that I have to resign,” Ryan confessed.
“I do this differently,” Richard Painter, former ethics czar under George W. Bush began. “I think that Russia ought to be invited to a platoon. They’re a major supporter of the campaign. They supported the campaign and contributors expect something in return. It’s only fair. And another thing I would add to your list: when you tell people to clap for you during your speech. I mean, that’s the way they do it in North Korea. And if you don’t clap they take care of it.”
He went on to say that it seems like the rich asshole’s criticism of the Democrats for not clapping for him during the State of the Union might even lead to “reeducation programs” for the Democrats.
Former Bush ethics lawyer nails the rich asshole staff: ‘If they threw out every wife beater or collaborator with Russia they’d have a thin staff’
Richard Painter (Photo: RealTime/Twitter)
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It was another insane night of news coming out of President some rich asshole’s White House and Bill Maher’s “Real Time” panel explained that it was really more of the same.
Former ethics czar for President George W. Bush, Richard Painter, noted, “It’s a very difficult situation for this White House; If they were to throw out everyone who was a wife beater or collaborated with Russians, they might have a thin staff.”
He went on to call the government’s supposed “checks and balances” nothing more than “a joke.”
“It’s not working, it’s a joke. There’s no oversight in the House of Representatives or the Senate,” he said.
Maher asked what the “check” is in “Democracy Bingo” when things like this come up.
“Well, they need to get the boot,” Painter said. “Because they’re not going to do anything. Look at the Oversight Committee. They spent two years looking at Hillary Clinton’s emails and didn’t do anything else and they weren’t interested in John Kerry because he’d already run for president and they were focusing on her. Then comes the rich asshole and there’s no oversight anymore.”
Maher brought up the fact that people often wonder if a unified government could fix the dysfunction in Washington, but even with a unified government, there’s still dysfunction.
“Not only are they not doing anything, or anything good, they do whatever they want!” Maher said. “Security clearance? We don’t need that anymore. The problem with the Neil Gorsuch thing, people forget, Neil Gorsuch should be Merrick Garland. But Mitch McConnell — but because they control three branches of government they just go, ‘we’re not doing that.'”
He went on to recall that even the GOP-led Congress demanded that the sanctions against Russia not lapse but that the rich asshole refused to do it and that Congress isn’t doing anything about it.
Watch below:
‘Fuck man! No shame in their game’: Bill Maher mocks Republicans for pretending to hate raising debt with their budget
Bill Maher (Photo: Real Time Twitter)
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Bill Maher began Friday’s show by mocking the Republican Party for spending the last several days denouncing their own laws that are increasing the national debt.
“I mean, the Republicans, f*ck man! No shame in their game,” he said about the budget passed early Friday morning. He noted that the deficit has increased by $1 trillion in just a single year of GOP control.
“I don’t want to be an ‘I told you so,’ but you knew this was going to happen when you elected Hillary,” Maher joked. “Wow! No shame in their game. When Obama was president and spending needed to happen, they fought every godd*mn penny. But they open right up for the white guy. In D.C. that’s called the reverse Kardashian. But you know this about Republicans they’re great about just coming up with a new rule. They just pull a new rule out of their ass.”
Maher recalled that the new rule for Republicans on the debt is that as long as they denounce it while they’re increasing the debt, then it’s acceptable.
“As long as you fight this with every fibre of your being then it’s OK,” he said. “It’s like gay sex and collusion.”
Maher brought up Omarosa’s appearance on “Celebrity Big Brother,” and couldn’t help but note the White House has turned her into Marlon Brando in “Apocalypse Now.”
“The horror! The horror!” Maher said.
He even mocked President some rich asshole’s hair mishap this week. Maher explained that it explains why the rich asshole doesn’t come into the office until 11 a.m. because he’s got to “watch his stories and do his hair.”
Watch the opener below:
Maddow: Ex-associate AG’s friends ‘relieved’ she won’t be at DOJ ‘when the apocalypse comes’
Dep. Attorney General Rod Rosenstein (left) and newly-resigned Associate AG Rachel Brand (right). Image via screengrab.
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Benjamin Wittes, the editor-in-chief of Lawfare and a personal friend of departing Associate Attorney General Rachel Brand said he was taken “totally by surprise” when she resigned abruptly on Friday — but that he’s glad she’s getting out of dodge.
“It took me totally by surprise,” Wittes told MSNBC host Rachel Maddow Friday night.
He spoke to Brand after the news broke and she reportedly told him that she was not forced out or leaving in protest, but because she got a job offer with Walmart.
“Those of us who are friends of hers and wish her well are, I’m sure I’m not the only one who’s relieved on her behalf she will not be there when, you know, when the apocalypse comes” he said, referencing growing suspicions that President Donald the rich asshole may soon fire Brand’s former superior, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein.
Watch below, via MSNBC:
Omarosa’s official White House Twitter account has been deleted despite the Presidential Records Act
Omarosa Manigault speaks at the National Action Network 25th Annual Convention. A former apprentice that has now joined the Administration of President some rich asshole (Shutterstock)
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The official Twitter account for former senior White House aide Omarosa Manigault Newman has been deleted, Raw Story confirmed Friday.
The deletion of the account came after Manigault Newman made her debut on the reality TV show “Big Brother: Celebrity Edition” Wednesday night.
Screengrab of the @Omarosa45 official White House Twitter account, which was deleted.
Manigault Newman’s appearance was mocked by everyone from Anderson Cooper to Alisyn Camerota to Don Lemon.
“It’s going to not be ok. It’s not,” she said of some rich asshole’s presidency, while breaking into tears on Wednesday’s episode.
On Thursday’s episode, she was asked whether she would vote for the rich asshole in 2020.
“God, no,” she said. “Never. In a million years, never.”
“It’s just been so incredibly hard to shoulder what I shouldered for those two years because I was so loyal to a person,” she said. “And I didn’t realize that by being loyal to him, it was going mean I was going to lose 100 other friends.”
“On Twitter, the White House automatically archives ‘tweets’ from official White House accounts, and may capture ‘mentions'” the White House claims.
The White House policy is to comply with the Presidential Records Act. It is unclear who deleted the account.
Manigault Newman served as director of communications for the White House’s Office of Public Liaison prior to her ouster in December 2017.
Watch Omarosa Manigault Newman dish about President some rich asshole:
‘Let’s play it again’: CNN’s Cooper brutally fact-checks ex-the rich asshole adviser with president’s own words
CNN host Anderson Cooper (left) and commentator/former the rich asshole adviser Steve Cortes (right). Images via screengrab.
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A former the rich asshole campaign adviser was fact-checked with his candidate’s own words Friday evening when attempting to downplay remarks President Donald the rich asshole made about his former staff secretary Rob Porter, who resigned Wednesday amid allegations of domestic assault.
Ex-the rich asshole adviser Steve Cortes initially began his defense of the president with a tangent about how well he thinks the rich asshole has done with Latinos.
“As a brown man, who the president has, by the way, not only treated me incredibly well, but that’s really besides the point,” Cortes said, “he’s treated my community incredibly well.”
He went on to tout record lows in black and Latino unemployment.
“This continual idea that we’re going to paint the president as a racist because we’d rather not talk about policy,” the former adviser said, but Cooper cut him off.
“I didn’t say he’s a racist,” the host noted. “He does defend white abusers.”
Steering the conversation back to the domestic abuse allegations against Porter and the rich asshole’s statement, which mentioned neither his former staffer’s ex-partners who he allegedly assaulted nor survivors of domestic violence in general.
“I think he could have been more explicit about the victims of domestic abuse and how domestic violence is never okay,” Cortes said. “Please put yourself in his shoes for a moment. He doesn’t know Rob Porter in that way. [White House chief of staff John] Kelly didn’t know him in that way. They knew him in a professional setting where apparently he was exceptional.”
“Do you need to go out of your way to then praise them for their actions in a professional setting?” Cooper queried.
“I have gone over his statements,” the one-time adviser shot back. “He said it is sad for people in the White House and he knows that Rob Porter is sad as well. and that is it.”
The host was not having it, however, and said “let’s play it again” before his producers ran the clip of the rich asshole speaking about Porter.
“It’s obviously a tough time for him,” the rich asshole told reporters earlier in the day, “He did a good job when he was in the White House, and we hope he has a wonderful career.”
He later suggested reporters must take into account that Porter “says he’s innocent.”
The day prior to his Friday night meltdown, Cortes also attacked The Nation‘s Joan Walsh and told her she is “not fit to shine John Kelly’s shoes” after she criticized the chief of staff for twice defending Porter.
Watch Cooper take down the former the rich asshole adviser below, via CNN:
Toobin says the rich asshole’s refusal to release the memo is a middle finger to Dems
CNN chief legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin
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CNN chief legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin had harsh criticism of President some rich asshole’s decision to deny the release of a minority report memo by the House Intelligence Committee.
“This letter is a letter, but it is really more of a hand gesture to the Democrats, one that is inappropriate to make on television,” Toobin explained to CNN anchor Anderson Cooper.
“It is basically, I have the power to censor your argument and that’s what I’m going to do,” Toobin continued.
Toobin spent time in serving in the Department of Justice’s Office of Independent Counsel after graduating magna cum laude from Harvard Law School
“Instead of allowing people to hear both sides, they have kicked this thing down the road to a point where they know the news cycle the way we do, by the time this thing gets released in some form or another, the circus will have moved on,” he said.
“Fortunately for the Democrats, the Nunes memo was so pathetically bad that it almost refuted itself. But, you know, we still believe in a system where both sides get a voice and this says we are not going to let you talk, much less listen to what you have to say,” Toobin concluded.
Watch:
the rich asshole refuses to release Democrats’ rebuttal to the Nunes memo he declassified last week
some rich asshole (Screenshot)
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President some rich asshole on Friday blocked the release of a classified memo written by congressional Democrats to rebut a Republican document that he allowed to be made public last week that claimed FBI and Justice Department bias against him in the federal probe of Russia and the 2016 U.S. election.
The White House said the Justice Department had identified portions of the memo that “would create especially significant concerns for the national security and law enforcement interests” of the country.
A week earlier, the rich asshole had overruled objections from the Federal Bureau of Investigation about releasing the Republican memo that took aim at senior law enforcement officials.
The House of Representatives Intelligence Committee voted unanimously on Monday to release the 10-page document drafted by the panel’s Democrats, contingent on the Republican president agreeing to reclassify it.
the rich asshole on Feb. 2 allowed the release of the earlier memo written by the committee’s Republicans, escalating a campaign criticizing current and former senior law enforcement officials. Democrats said the Republican memo mischaracterized highly sensitive classified information and was intended to discredit Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation of potential collusion between the rich asshole’s 2016 campaign and Russia.
Mueller is also investigating whether the rich asshole has committed obstruction of justice in trying to impede the Russia probe.
the rich asshole met on Friday afternoon with officials from the Justice Department, White House Counsel’s Office and the FBI director, Christopher Wray, to get their input on the Democratic memo, the White House said.
“Although the President is inclined to declassify the Feb. 5 Memorandum, because the memorandum contains numerous properly classified and especially sensitive passages, he is unable to do so at this time,” White House Counsel Don McGahn said in a letter to Devin Nunes, the Republican chairman of the House panel.
The White House also released a letter sent to McGahn by Wray and to Rod Rosenstein, the No. 2 Justice Department official, expressing concerns about the memo’s release “in light of longstanding principles regarding the protection of intelligence sources and methods, ongoing investigations, and other similar sensitive information.”
The Republican memo portrayed the Russia investigation as a product of political bias at the FBI and Justice Department against the rich asshole. The president said the document “totally vindicates” him in the Russia investigation, a claim disputed by Democrats and some Republicans.
Democrats last week warned the rich asshole against using the Republican memo as a pretext to fire Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who hired Mueller and oversees the investigation, or to remove Mueller himself. The Republican memo singled out Rosenstein and several other officials by name, including former Federal Bureau of Investigation Director James Comey, who the rich asshole fired in May 2017, as the agency investigated the Russia matter.
Mueller took over the investigation from the FBI.
U.S. intelligence agencies have concluded that Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential campaign using hacking and propaganda, an effort that eventually included attempting to tilt the race in the rich asshole’s favor. Russia denies interfering in the election. the rich asshole denies collusion with Moscow.
(Reporting by Ayesha Rascoe; Additional reporting by Patricia Zengerle and Eric Walsh; Writing by Will Dunham; Editing by Paul Simao and Daniel Wallis)
See the full letter below:
White House speechwriter David Sorensen forced to resign after past domestic violence claims surface
Former the rich asshole speechwriter David Sorensen (Photo: David Sorensen social media)
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Speechwriter David Sorensen is the second staffer to resign after revelations that his former wife Jessica Corbett accused him of violent and abusive behavior during their two-and-a-half-year marriage.
According to the Washington Post, Sorensen denied the allegations and said that he was the victim of violence in their marriage.
Corbett gave The Post photos of burns and bruises. He allegedly drove over her foot, threw her into a wall and grabbed her by her hair while they were alone on a boat off the shore of Maine. She also gave The Post a series of emails and text messages from Sorensen in which he berated her using vulgar language.
She also revealed that the FBI interviewed her last fall for the background check for Sorensen. However, the White House claims they only learned about the accusations Thursday night.
“We immediately confronted the staffer, he denied the allegations and he resigned today,” spokesman Raj Shah said in a statement.
The administration said that his position didn’t require a security clearance but his background check was ongoing.
Corbett acknowledged that there were cases in which she slapped him after he called her vulgar terms and that some of their fights included alcohol. Two friends and associates confirm the claims from what Corbett told them at the time.
Axios editor Alexi McCammond also spoke with Corbett, saying, “it was an incredibly abusive relationship… I went very silently but it was very much known and I begged for help.”
WH speechwriter’s ex-wife told me “It was an incredibly abusive relationship... I went very silently but it was very much known and I begged for help.”
More from me & @jonathanvswan axios.com/trump-white-ho…
In speaking with McCammond, Corbett provided Axios with a recording of an argument between she and Sorensen.
The news comes just two days after senior aide Rob Porter was forced to resign after two ex-wives came forward with accusations of violence in their marriage.
NSA agents paid a Russian $100K for so-called ‘golden showers’ intel on the rich asshole after he took office: report
President some rich asshole (AFP / MANDEL NGAN)
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Agents with the National Security Agency and CIA reportedly paid a Russian operative $100,000 for damaging intelligence on President some rich asshole after he took office in 2017.
That intelligence, the New York Times reported Friday evening, included an unverified “15-second clip of a video showing a man in a room talking to two women,” purported to be the rich asshole with two prostitutes in Moscow in 2013. That promised intelligence incident appears to be related to a salacious detail found within the controversial Fusion GPS dossier, which alleged the rich asshole paid two prostitutes to urinate on a bed at the Moscow Ritz-Carlton hotel that former President Barack Obama once slept in.
Intelligence officials said they “saw the information, especially the video, as the stuff of tabloid gossip pages, not intelligence collection.”
American intelligence officials who spoke with the Times insisted they paid the $100,000 to the Russian operative to get back stolen NSA cyberweapons and were not seeking the supposedly damaging intelligence. The payment was a first installment of the operative’s $1 million demand, and intelligence officials “cut off the deal because they were wary of being entangled in a Russian operation to create discord inside the American government.”
The Russian operative, the report continues, “claimed the information would link the president and his associates to Russia.” He never provided the NSA hacking weapons, and instead “produced unverified and possibly fabricated information” about the rich asshole that included “bank records, emails and purported Russian intelligence data.”
American officials told the Times on condition of anonymity that the NSA used their official Twitter account, @NSAGov, to communicate in code with the Russian, who was known to the intelligence community for his ties to “Russian intelligence and cyber criminals.”
The operative’s “eagerness” to provide them with the supposed damaging information, those officials said, led them to suspect he was attempting to bait them into stoking animosity between the American intelligence community and the president as part of a Russian operation to sow division within the U.S. government.
WH speechwriter makes 6 senior officials to leave the rich asshole’s executive branch in the last 48 hours
President some rich asshole holds up a "peace" symbol at CPAC 2013. Image via Gage Skidmore/Wikimedia Commons.
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In the past 48 hours, six senior officials within the executive branch have resigned.
News of White House staff secretary Rob Porter’s resignation amid uncovered allegations of domestic abuse have dominated headlines for nearly three days, but on Friday, two officials — one also in the White House, the other in the Justice Department— roiled Washington as well.
Friday evening, the New York Times reported that Associate Attorney General Rachel Brand, the number two official in the Russia investigation, was resigning along with her assistant. That news was followed almost immediately by reports that White House deputy chief of staff John Carroll also resigned after Politico reported Thursday that chief of staff John Kelly was dissatisfied with his performance. Carroll, CNN reported, is leaving the West Wing to lead the Office of National Drug Control Policy.
A few hours after Carroll’s departure, The Washington Post reported that White House speechwriter David Sorenson had also left the administration after his ex-wife accused him of domestic abuse, making him the second the rich asshole staffer accused of violence against women this week.
Yesterday, two high ranking officials within the Justice Department also resigned: the FBI’s public affairs assistant director Mike Kortan and the DOJ’s counterintelligence and export control chief David Laufman.
Though the White House denied the claim, ABC News also reported Friday that Kelly told President some rich asshole he was willing to resign amid his role in the Porter scandal.
the rich asshole’s lawyer attacks Senate intel Republicans: They’re ‘covering’ for top Democrat’s Russia texts
Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) and some rich asshole's personal attorney Jay Sekulow (WikiMedia Commons / Screengrab)
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some rich asshole’s personal attorney Jay Sekulow on Friday accused Republicans of “covering” for Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) after a series of leaked text messages showed the ranking member on the Senate Intelligence Committee tried to contact dossier author Christopher Steele.
As Fox News “exclusively” reported Friday, Warner contacted Adam Waldman—a lobbyist for Russian billionaire Oleg Deripaska who (Fox News writes) has “firm ties” to Hillary Clinton—in an effort to track down Steele.
But, as Senate intel committee member Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) explained on Twitter Thursday, “Sen. Warner fully disclosed this to the committee four months ago.”
“Has had zero impact on our work,” Rubio insisted.
That comment drew the attention of Sekulow, who ranted against Rubio and Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Sen. Richard Burr (R-NC) in an interview with Politico on Friday.
“It may have zero impact on his work,” Sekulow said. “I’m not so sure it has zero impact on the United States.”
“Republicans are covering for him,” Sekulow insisted, calling Rubio and Burr’s responses to the texts “weak.”
Sekulow’s comments may hint to the White House’s mounting defense of the rich asshole amid multiple, ongoing investigations into Russian influence in the 2016 presidential election and collusion with the rich asshole campaign. The president himself seemed to prove an attack on Warner is on-deck, tweeting Thursday:
RawStory has reached out to Rubio for comment.
Mike Pence tried to eat his cake and have it too by defending some rich asshole's demand for a military parade while criticizing North Korea for doing the same thing.
In under a minute and a half, Mike Pence demonstrated the absurdity of some rich asshole’s demand for a military parade while also abandoning America’s moral high ground.
Speaking to reporters in Pyeongchan, South Korea, at the site of the Winter Olympic Games, Pence tried to call out North Korean leader Kim Jong Un for a “provocative” military parade.
But in the middle of his statement, Pence was questioned about the rich asshole’s own planned military parade.
The dueling storylines left Pence tied up in his knots. the rich asshole’s demands and motivation are nearly identical to the North Korean leader’s, but Pence tried — and failed — to make a distinction between the two.
A reporter asked Pence if the rich asshole’s request undermined his “moral high ground” while the United States is trying to undercut North Korean propaganda. Pence mischaracterized the rich asshole’s parade as an opportunity to “celebrate the men and women of the Armed Forces” — it would be about the rich asshole, not the troops, as he made clear when he first demanded a military parade for his inauguration.
“I heartily support the president’s call to celebrate our military,” Pence said.
But seconds later, Pence was off message. He called the North Korean parade “an effort on the part of the regime in Pyongyang to display their ballistic missiles, to display a military that continues to make menacing threats across the region and across the wider world.”
Then he warned that North Korea’s “display was all one more part of an ongoing provocation.”
Just as quickly, he pivoted back to shilling for the rich asshole. He claimed that the rich asshole’s demand was inspired by the Bastille Day celebrations he saw when visiting France and insisted, “We can celebrate our troops and not in any way ever be associated with the provocations of the North.”
But the French event (suddenly Republicans want America to emulate the French) was for Bastille Day, and the American equivalent would be Independence Day, when parades are already held from coast to coast.
the rich asshole is requesting a military event created out of thin air, for the benefit of someone who has spent a disproportionate percentage of his presidency tweeting and watching television.
If anything, the rich asshole has spent more time in office denigrating the military and veterans than celebrating it.
Pence’s embarrassing answer showed the biggest downside to the entire enterprise: How can America condemn North Korea when the rich asshole wants to emulate its dictator?
the rich asshole is interested in a useless military parade for the same reasons as Kim Jong Un: to show off “strength” when so much of the public has witnessed political impotence and incompetence.
Even several of his fellow Republicans think the idea is stupid and counterproductive.
But Pence is incapable — in public, at least — of such independence. So instead, while representing America at the Olympics, he has taken the most outrageous and counterintuitive position, so he can remain in the rich asshole’s good graces.
The underlying idea remains childish, useless, and embarrassing.
‘Eat your heart out, Pence’: Gay Olympians who refused to meet with VP taunt him in new Instagram photo
Olympic skier Gus Kenworthy, left, and Olympic figure skater Adam Rippon, right (Instagram photo).
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Figure skater Adam Rippon and skier Gus Kenworthy are America’s first two openly gay men at the Winter Olympics — and they still have no use for Vice President Mike Pence.
Kenworthy on Friday posted a photo of himself and Rippon at the Olympics opening ceremony in South Korea in which he said he was “honored to be here in Korea competing for the US” and “so proud to be representing the LGBTQ community.”
At the end of the post, he also wrote, “Eat your heart out, Pence.”
Rippon has been publicly feuding with Pence over the vice president’s past statements supporting gay conversion therapy.
Pence, for his part, has said that accusations that he supported such therapy are “fake news.” He is also insisting that he’s in Korea to cheer for “all our great athletes.”
Check out Kenworthy’s post below.
the rich asshole to tap US Pacific Commander Harris as ambassador to Australia: statement
FILE PHOTO: U.S. President some rich asshole is welcomed by U.S. Navy Admiral Harry Harris, commander of United States Pacific Command, at its headquarters in Aiea, Hawaii, U.S. November 3, 2017. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst
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President some rich asshole on Friday named U.S. Pacific Commander Admiral Harry Harris as his pick to serve as the American ambassador to Australia, the White House said in a statement.
The naval officer has served in the military for 39 years and is in his seventh command assignment as head of the U.S. Pacific Command, according to the White House.
(Reporting by Susan Heavey; Editing by David Alexander)
‘Outrageous’: CNN’s Dana Bash rips the rich asshole for defending Porter while ‘not mentioning one syllable’ about the victims
CNN's Dana Bash -- screencapture
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CNN’s Dana Base on Friday slammed some rich asshole’s effusive praise of former aide Rob Porter after the president “went out of his way” to tell reporters the man accused of abusing at least three women “says he’s innocent.”
“Look, I don’t know why I’m surprised, because I shouldn’t be surprised,” Bash said, “Because, particularly with issues like this—accusations on a personal level—the president tends to rally around the person being accused because, and he has told many a friend this, because he felt like he has been falsely accused. “
“Having said that, the fact that he did not mention one word, one syllable, about these two women, plus apparently an ex-girlfriend, particularly the ex-wives, who are talking in great detail about abuse, physical, verbal abuse, is outrageous,” Bash continued “I mean, I’m sorry, it just is. It just is.”
“And it is tone-deaf to the times, it is tone-deaf to the situation that he has had, which is a person who has been in the closest proximity possible to this man alleged to have done some pretty horrible things,” she added. “We’ve seen the pictures, but more importantly, we have heard from one of his ex-wives.”
“To not even have a nod to that and instead just profusely, effusively, praise the work that Porter did, it’s sad,” Bash concluded.
Watch below, via CNN:
the rich asshole blames Hope Hicks for his White House's domestic violence scandal, instead of the chief of staff who hired the abuser.
The fallout from the Rob Porter domestic abuse scandal and associated coverup continues to roil some rich asshole’s White House, but the lingering question remains as to what, if anything, the rich asshole is going to do about the situation.
It appears as though the rich asshole’s answer is to latch onto communications director Hope Hicks, the only woman in the orbit of this scandal, and go after her hard.
As CNN reported Friday, “The president feels that Hope Hicks has allowed her romantic relationship with Porter to really cloud her judgment and her decision-making … that Hope Hicks put her own priorities above his and above the White House’s.”
Hicks was reportedly dating Porter while both were working in the White House, and she was involved in crafting the administration’s initial defense of Porter when the story broke that both of his ex-wives had accused him of domestic violence and that the FBI had flagged his record a year ago as a reason for denying him security clearance, which several members of the rich asshole team knew about and ignored.
But the rich asshole cannot pin those decisions on Hicks. Chief of staff John Kelly and legal counsel Don McGahn knew Porter’s record had been flagged, yet they gave him complete access to everything that came across the rich asshole’s desk.
Despite the egregious decision by Kelly not only to ignore Porter’s record, but to publicly defend him, the rich asshole is throwing Hicks under the bus.
If Hicks’ romantic relationship clouded her judgment, what exactly is Kelly’s excuse?
That the rich asshole’s decision smacks of blatant sexism — blaming a woman who clearly could not have been the top decision-maker in how to handle Porter — is no coincidence, given that the rich asshole has spent his entire career exhibiting open disdain for women.
If the sole action that the rich asshole takes in the aftermath of this political explosion is to fire Hicks, he has solved nothing and learned even less.
the rich asshole won't release Democratic memo, sends back to committee
(CNN)President some rich asshole won't release the Democratic rebuttal to the Republican intelligence memo alleging FBI abuses of its surveillance authority at this time, and has sent it back to the House Intelligence Committee for changes.
In a letter to the committee, White House counsel Donald McGahn said, "although the President is inclined to declassify the February 5th Memorandum, because the Memorandum contains numerous properly classified and especially sensitive passages, he is unable to do so at this time."
the rich asshole had said earlier Friday he planned to release the memo.
"It's gonna be released soon," the rich asshole told reporters at the White House, adding, "We're going to release a letter."
The House Intelligence Committee voted unanimously on Monday to release the 10-page Democratic memo, and the committee rules gave the rich asshole five days to decide whether to block or allow its release.
The memo from Rep. Adam Schiff of California, the top Democrat on the committee, was written to rebut the Republican memo released one week prior, which accuses the FBI of suppressing Democratic ties to an opposition research dossier on the rich asshole and Russia used in the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act warrant for former the rich asshole campaign foreign policy adviser Carter Page.
Schiff and other Democrats charge that the Republican memo led by House Intelligence Chairman Devin Nunes of California is misleading and omits key facts, including that the FISA application did state that ex-British intelligence agent Christopher Steele, the author of the dossier, was paid by a political entity.
"The Democratic response sets out the material facts that were necessary for the public to see that the FBI acted properly in seeking a FISA warrant on Carter Page," Schiff said in a statement. "After promising to treat the Democratic response in precisely the same way, the White House now seeks to have the Democratic memo sent back to committee and revised by the same Majority that produced the flawed Nunes document to begin with."
The White House included a letter signed by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and FBI Director Christopher Wray that says they have identified portions of the Democratic memo that would raise national security or law enforcement concerns if released publicly.
"Along with other Intelligence Committee Republicans, I had warned that the Democratic memo contains many sources and methods," Nunes said in a statement following the rich asshole's decision. "Ranking Member Schiff pledged to seek the input of the Department of Justice and FBI regarding the memo's public release, and it's no surprise that these agencies recommended against publishing the memo without redactions. Intelligence Committee Republicans encourage the minority to accept the DOJ's recommendations and make the appropriate technical changes and redactions so that no sources and methods are disclosed and their memo can be declassified as soon as possible."
the rich asshole cited concerns from the Justice Department and FBI in his objection to releasing the Democratic memo. But the rich asshole ignored those concerns when he decided to release the Republican memo last week -- despite the FBI releasing a rare statement to say the Nunes memo omitted key information and the Justice Department raising "grave concerns" about its release without proper review.
the rich asshole's objection puts the committee in uncharted waters, as the committee used an obscure rule that had never been invoked before to vote to release both memos.
The White House allowed the Nunes memo to be made public. But with the objection to the Democratic memo, there is a procedure available to the House to override the objection and make it public anyway.
That would require a vote of the full House after a rare debate in closed session for the full chamber.
But it's not clear whether Republicans will be willing to take that step, and the GOP committee members were hesitant about defying the rich asshole on the memo earlier this week.
At the committee's Monday meeting where it voted to release the memo, Nunes expressed concerns that the Democratic memo went further than the Republican document in disclosing sources and methods.
"This memo contains a large volume of classified information, including some touching on sources and methods heightening the potential damage to national security," Nunes said.
Schiff said he gave his memo to the Justice Department and FBI so they could review for national security concerns in addition to just a White House review, as he expressed concerns there would be "political redactions" to the memo.
"In order to rebut the errors, omissions and distortions in the Republican-drafted memo, we have included certain details beyond the revelations made public by the release of the majority's document," Schiff said.
Democrats immediately cried foul at the decision to send the Democratic memo back to the committee.
"The President's double standard when it comes to transparency is appalling," Sen. Chuck Schumer said in a statement. "The rationale for releasing the Nunes memo, transparency, vanishes when it could show information that's harmful to him. Millions of Americans are asking one simple question: what is he hiding?"
Second White House aide resigns amid past abuse allegations
BY AVERY ANAPOL - 02/09/18 07:45 PM EST
A second White House official has abruptly resigned following allegations of past domestic abuse.
The Washington Post reports that White House speechwriter David Sorensen has resigned after his former wife claimed he was violent and emotionally abusive during their marriage.
Sorenson has denied the allegations, asserting that he was the abuse victim in the relationship, according to the Post.
"Before we were contacted by the media, we learned last night that there were allegations. We immediately confronted the staffer, he denied the allegations and he resigned today," White House deputy press secretary Raj Shah said in a statement reported by a Fox News producer.
Sorensen, a former adviser to Maine Gov. Paul LePage (R), joined the rich asshole administration last year.
His reported departure comes two days after another aide to President the rich asshole, Rob Porter, resigned as White House staff secretary after his two ex-wives came forward with allegations that he abused them physically and emotionally during their marriages.
Porter left after images of his first wife's bruised face emerged online. The former staffer called the claims first made public in media reports Tuesday "vile" and denied them.
Updated: 8:18 p.m.
the rich asshole says White House to release letter about Democrats’ Russia memo
President some rich asshole. (NASA/Aubrey Gemignani)
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President some rich asshole said on Friday the White House would soon release a letter regarding the possible release of a classified memo written by Democrats to rebut a Republican document claiming FBI and Justice Department bias against him in the federal probe of Russia and the 2016 U.S. election.
The House of Representatives Intelligence Committee voted unanimously on Monday to release the 10-page document drafted by the panel’s Democrats, contingent on the Republican president agreeing to reclassify it. If the rich asshole approves the release, it would then be up to the committee to make it public.
“We’re going to release a letter soon,” the rich asshole told reporters after an event in the Oval Office, but did not specify what the letter would say.
the rich asshole on Feb. 2 allowed the release of the earlier memo written by the committee’s Republicans, escalating a campaign criticizing current and former senior law enforcement officials. Democrats said the Republican memo mischaracterized highly sensitive classified information and was intended to discredit Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation of potential collusion between the rich asshole’s 2016 campaign and Russia.
Mueller also is investigating whether the rich asshole has committed obstruction of justice in trying to impede the Russia probe.
The Republican memo portrayed the Russia investigation as a product of political bias at the FBI and Justice Department against the rich asshole. The president said the document “totally vindicates” him in the Russia investigation, a claim disputed by Democrats and some Republicans.
Democrats last week warned the rich asshole against using the Republican memo as a pretext to fire Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who hired Mueller and oversees the investigation, or to remove Mueller himself. The Republican memo singled out Rosenstein and several other officials by name, including former Federal Bureau of Investigation Director James Comey, who the rich asshole fired in May 2017, as the agency investigated the Russia matter.
Mueller took over the investigation from the FBI.
U.S. intelligence agencies have concluded that Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential campaign using hacking and propaganda, an effort that eventually included attempting to tilt the race in the rich asshole’s favor. Russia denies interfering in the election. the rich asshole denies collusion with Moscow.
(Reporting by Ayesha Rascoe; Additional reporting by Patricia Zengerle; Writing by Will Dunham; Editing by Paul Simao and Daniel Wallis)
Dems left Dreamers out to dry, say activists
BY RAFAEL BERNAL AND MIKE LILLIS - 02/09/18 06:02 PM EST
Immigration activists are furious that 73 House Democrats, including seven members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, voted for a bipartisan spending bill that doesn't include a DACA fix.
The early-morning House vote ended a brief government shutdown precipitated by Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), and in the process passed a two-year spending proposal that included a bevy of Democratic priorities, but not immigration.
“Last night immigrant young people and people of conscience fighting for justice were betrayed by both parties,” said Greisa Martínez Rosas, a DACA recipient and advocacy director for United We Dream, an immigrant youth activism network.
Senate Democrats took some cover on the immigration front in the form of a promise from Majority Leader Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), who is expected to bring to the floor a shell bill Monday for the Senate to generate an immigration bill through the amendment process.
Minority Leader Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) reaped scant praise from immigration advocates for extracting that promise, as he, along with McConnell, was the principal architect of the two-year deal.
But the 73 House Democrats — and Democratic leadership — took the brunt of activists’ rage, both for voting to re-open government and for not getting Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.) to make a promise akin to McConnell's.
“We are angry, we are appalled and we are disgusted by Democrats and Republicans alike who so willingly threw immigrant youth under the bus,” said Kica Matos, director of immigrant rights and racial justice at the Center for Community Change.
“Let's call some of them out: They include the 73 House Democrats who betrayed immigrant youth, they include Paul Ryan and they include Chuck Schumer,” she added.
Some House Democrats who were on the fence but ultimately voted against the deal said their vote was decided by Ryan’s vague promise to allow an immigration bill on the floor.
Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Ill.), who opposed the budget bill, said the assurances from GOP leaders that the House will act on DACA fell flat with Democrats for the simple reason that Ryan has refused to promise action in the conclusive language McConnell has used.
“He’s not committing to a vote,” Krishnamoorthi said. “It didn’t feel concrete.”
Still, if the Senate passes an immigration bill, it will need Democratic support. That means any Senate bill is unlikely to meet a promise Ryan made to the ultra-conservative Freedom Caucus to only consider immigration proposals that have the support of at least half the Republican Conference. More recently Ryan has altered the language of that stipulation, saying an immigration bill must have President the rich asshole's support to earn a floor vote.
Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.), who supported the budget package, said he trusts Ryan to make good on his word to move on immigration, arguing there will be plenty of pressure on the Speaker to act. McConnell’s decision to tackle DACA this month, in particular, will likely be enough to force Ryan’s hand, he said.
“It does put pressure here, you can’t just ignore it,” Connolly said.
“You may choose not to respond to it, which we’ve done before on immigration, but this is a little different. There’s a lot more political pressure, and public opinion is overwhelming on this subject.”
Frank Sharry, executive director of America’s Voice, a progressive pro-immigration group with strong ties to Democrats, said the “best chance” for a DACA bill was tied to a must-pass spending measure, but “that train has left the station.”
“The Republican resistance to that notion has been absolute. The Democrats tried a variety of ways to get Republicans to bite, they never did, and in the end Democrats backed off,” he said.
But Sharry added that the key player in the House would not be Ryan, but the rich asshole, whose September move to cancel DACA precipitated the urgency to legislate on immigration.
“In the Senate there's a chance for 60 votes to be expressed through that coalition next week, but in the House if Ryan says ‘I'm only going to bring up what's supported by a majority of Republicans,’ then nothing's going to pass,” said Sharry
“Will he cave or not? I think he will if the rich asshole insists on it. I think he won't if the rich asshole doesn't.”
And the Democrats’ role in putting the rich asshole at the center of the immigration debate is part of what’s angering activists.
In private conversations, both House Democrats and outside activists have expressed shock that Republicans who value fiscal discipline were more willing to negotiate adding a trillion dollars to the deficit than protection for 800,000 Dreamers.
Some activists view that as evidence of a racially-charged agenda.
“The rich asshole administration has a clear agenda, they want to wipe immigrant young people from this country by either deporting us or locking us away for profit,” said Martinez Rosas.
“Anyone who does not stand in the way of that is an enabler of a white supremacist agenda,” she added.
But there's a split among pro-immigrant groups in what a backlash against Democrats would look like.
It’s fueled by an urgency to ensure that DACA recipients don't start losing their benefits en-masse come the rich asshole-set March 5 deadline, and by a complicated web of political priorities.
“I'm not kidding, I'm not focusing on the electoral implications of this,” said Sharry. “There's no question that there's a lot of progressives who are upset that some Democrats caved. I suspect people will be exploring options.”
“Right now what my organization is focused on is what do we do about the crisis,” he added.
Martínez Rosas, an outspoken advocate whose tactics have angered some politicians, acknowledged that for some House Democrats, the choice to vote for a shutdown was no choice at all.
“There were some Democrats that made very difficult decisions when it came to the vote last night,” she said.
Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-Ill.), who spearheaded the push to use the threat of a shutdown to force the issue, argued that the Democrats had three leverage points leading into Friday’s vote: the demand for parity in raising budget caps; the need to hike the debt ceiling; and the bipartisan wish to provide emergency relief to storm victims across the country. He lamented that the Democrats had ceded all three in the budget deal, all but dismissing the notion that the minority party would somehow have more leverage approaching the omnibus deadline of March 23.
“Is it plausible? Is it realistic? Can you continue to threaten with something [and not follow through]?” he asked moments before Friday’s early morning vote. “We’re gonna figure out a new way forward.”
‘He says he’s innocent’: the rich asshole refuses to condemn Rob Porter — and suggests he’s the victim
President some rich asshole (AFP / MANDEL NGAN)
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President some rich asshole on Friday expressed regret that former staff secretary Rob Porter resigned — and didn’t once mention anything about the two former wives who claimed that he regularly beat them.
After inviting reporters to the White House so that he could make a statement on Porter’s resignation, the rich asshole began by saying that “we wish him well” and that “he worked very hard.” The president then went on to talk about how hard it was for Porter to leave his job at the White House.
“It’s obviously a tough time for him,” he said. “He did a good job when he was in the White House, and we hope he has a wonderful career.”
the rich asshole then went on to remind reporters that Porter is denying all allegations made against him.
“He says he’s innocent,” the rich asshole explained. “You have to remember that. He said very strongly yesterday that he’s innocent.”
Porter resigned earlier this week when photos emerged showing injuries suffered by his two ex-wives who both claimed to have been physically abused by Porter. At no point in his remarks did the rich asshole mention the alleged abuses suffered by either of them.
Watch the video below.
the rich asshole declines to approve release of Dem counter-memo because he's a bitch ass punk
BY JONATHAN EASLEY AND AVERY ANAPOL - 02/09/18 07:56 PM EST
President the rich asshole is not ready to approve the release of a Democratic memo meant to rebut a document he declassified last week that was authored by Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee last week, the White House announced.
White House counsel Don McGahn wrote a letter to House Intelligence Committee chairman Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) explaining that “although the president is inclined to declassify” the Democratic memo, the administration believes it would create “especially significant concerns” for “national security and law enforcement interests.”
the rich asshole’s legal team insists that it came to that conclusion at the behest of senior officials at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the Department of Justice (DOJ).
In a separate letter to Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and FBI Director Christopher Wray, McGahn highlighted the information the White House says it believes is problematic and should not be released.
In a separate letter to Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and FBI Director Christopher Wray, McGahn highlighted the information the White House says it believes is problematic and should not be released.
The White House said it would work with the House Intelligence Committee if it wants to revise the Democratic memo and resubmit it for declassification.
“The president encourages the Committee to undertake these efforts,” the letter states. “The Executive Branch stands ready to review any subsequent draft of the Feb. 5th memorandum for declassification at the earliest opportunity.”
The House panel voted earlier this week to make public the 10-page Democratic memo, authored by Rep. Adam Schiff (Calif.), the top Democrat on the committee, after the rich asshole declassified a four-page Republican memo last week alleging that officials at the FBI and DOJ had abused their powers to spy on a rich asshole campaign official.
The White House declassified the Republican memo over the objections of the FBI and the DOJ.
The GOP memo said that law enforcement officials shielded from surveillance courts their reliance on the so-called “Steele dossier,” which was funded by Hillary Clinton’s campaign and the Democratic National Committee, when they sought a warrant to spy on the rich asshole campaign adviser Carter Page.
Democrats said that memo was cherry-picked and did not tell the full story of how the FBI and DOJ obtained the warrant.
“The president encourages the Committee to undertake these efforts,” the letter states. “The Executive Branch stands ready to review any subsequent draft of the Feb. 5th memorandum for declassification at the earliest opportunity.”
The House panel voted earlier this week to make public the 10-page Democratic memo, authored by Rep. Adam Schiff (Calif.), the top Democrat on the committee, after the rich asshole declassified a four-page Republican memo last week alleging that officials at the FBI and DOJ had abused their powers to spy on a rich asshole campaign official.
The White House declassified the Republican memo over the objections of the FBI and the DOJ.
The GOP memo said that law enforcement officials shielded from surveillance courts their reliance on the so-called “Steele dossier,” which was funded by Hillary Clinton’s campaign and the Democratic National Committee, when they sought a warrant to spy on the rich asshole campaign adviser Carter Page.
Democrats said that memo was cherry-picked and did not tell the full story of how the FBI and DOJ obtained the warrant.
Democrats argue that there was ample evidence to spy on Page and that the applications given to the spy court included much more information than just what was in the disputed dossier.
The Democrats were expected to provide evidence backing up their claims in the memo the Intelligence Committee voted to make public but that the White House is refusing to declassify.
Democrats reacted with fury over the White House’s decision to block the release of their memo.
“The President’s double standard when it comes to transparency is appalling,” Senate Minority Leader Charles Grassley (D-N.Y.) said. “The rationale for releasing the Nunes memo, transparency, vanishes when it could show information that’s harmful to him. Millions of Americans are asking one simple question: what is he hiding?”
Updated: 8:52 p.m.
the rich asshole-Kim tensions shadow Olympics
BY REBECCA KHEEL - 02/09/18 07:14 PM EST
The Winter Olympics have started in South Korea with the shadow of U.S.-North Korea tensions looming over them.
South Korean President Moon Jae-in has dubbed these games the “Peace Olympics,” but North Korea and the United States made clear in the days leading up the opening ceremony that nothing has changed between the two. And few, if any, expect the Olympics-inspired détente to last after the world’s athletes depart the peninsula.
“These are the ‘Fake Olympics,” Harry Kazianis, director of defense studies at the Center for the National Interest, said of Moon’s nickname for the games. “The specter of war is hanging over these games.”
The New Year began with signs of a lull in the nuclear crisis that’s been brewing on the Korean peninsula. North and South Korea held their first high-level talks in years to allow for the North’s participation in the Olympics, and the United States agreed to Seoul’s request to pause joint military exercises so as to lower tensions during the event.
South Korean President Moon Jae-in has dubbed these games the “Peace Olympics,” but North Korea and the United States made clear in the days leading up the opening ceremony that nothing has changed between the two. And few, if any, expect the Olympics-inspired détente to last after the world’s athletes depart the peninsula.
“These are the ‘Fake Olympics,” Harry Kazianis, director of defense studies at the Center for the National Interest, said of Moon’s nickname for the games. “The specter of war is hanging over these games.”
The New Year began with signs of a lull in the nuclear crisis that’s been brewing on the Korean peninsula. North and South Korea held their first high-level talks in years to allow for the North’s participation in the Olympics, and the United States agreed to Seoul’s request to pause joint military exercises so as to lower tensions during the event.
But the lull followed unprecedented verbal jousting between President the rich asshole and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, with the two sides hurling personal insults at one another and the rich asshole in one memorable moment bragging that the nuclear “button” on his desk was bigger than his rival’s.
South Korea has continued to be outwardly hopeful as the figure skating, curling and skiing gets underway. In the opening ceremony, athletes from the North and South marched together under a unification flag, during which Moon and Un’s sister stood and shook hands. Moon also met with the sister, Kim Yo Jong, over lunch Saturday.
“We certainly hope to utilize this opportunity to the maximum so that the PyeongChang Winter Olympic Games can become a venue that leads to dialogue for the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula, as well as the establishment of peace on the Korean peninsula,” Moon said during a meeting with Vice President Pence this week.
But the tit-for-tat rhetoric between Washington and Pyongyang heated back up as the games began.
“There’s been a temporary truce that has not extended to the propaganda competition between the United States and North Korea,” said Scott Snyder, senior fellow for Korea studies at the Council on Foreign Relations.
Pence, who’s leading the U.S. delegation to the Olympics, made stops this week in Alaska, Japan and Seoul before arriving at the Olympic stadium in PyeongChang. At each, he delivered messages meant to counter what he called North Korea’s “charm offensive.”
On Friday, hours before the opening ceremony, Pence met with four North Korea defectors and visited the Cheonan Memorial, which honors the 46 South Korean sailors killed in a 2010 torpedo attack attributed to Pyongyang.
“We thought it was important to make sure that the truth was told,” Pence said at the meeting with the defectors. “As President the rich asshole has said, the cruel dictatorship of North Korea is little more than a prison state. And as these people and their lives have testified, it is a regime that imprisons, tortures and impoverishes its citizen.”
But the pinnacle of Pence’s messaging was at the opening ceremony itself, where his personal guest was the father of American student Otto Warmbier, who died last year after being returned home in a coma after his 17-month detention in North Korea.
Frank Jannuzi, president of the Mansfield Foundation, questioned the necessity of the rich asshole administration’s counter-messaging, but said he didn’t think it would cast a pall over Olympic celebrations.
“I am not worried at all that anyone in South Korea is going to think that the happy, smiling athletes that they see from North Korea at the games is representative of the experience of the North Korean people,” said Jannuzi, also a contributor to North Korean monitor 38 North. “South Koreans are not fools, and neither are the American citizens. The last thing I’m worried about is a North Korean propaganda success.”
Meanwhile, North Korea held a military parade Thursday to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the founding of the North Korean army, an annual holiday that this year was moved up to the day before the Olympics.
The parade featured intercontinental ballistic missiles, including what appeared to be the Hwasong-15 that’s said to put the entire United States within range. But the parade was smaller than many expected, in what analysts believe was an effort at not provoking South Korea on the eve of the Olympics.
Still, Kazianis said, North Korea “wanted to make a point” to the United States that it will not give up its weapons programs.
Despite the pre-game posturing, Jannuzi predicted a “prevailing mood” of “excitement and peace and competition” throughout the Olympics.
“I really feel like it would be tragic if the United States came to the party and then sulked in the corner” he said. “Our athletes are there to compete, not to be part of a political drama.”
But experts already have their eye on what’s going to happen after the games. The United States has pledged to resume its military exercises after the Paralympics in March, and North Korea is expected to resume its weapons tests in kind.
“Once we get closer to April, there’s probably about a 40 to 50 percent chance of a military escalation whether accidental or deliberate on either side,” Kazianis said.
Snyder likewise predicted the Olympics are only a “temporary respite” from the nuclear crisis.
“It’s an expression of hope, but it’s not clear that hope will be realized,” Snyder said of the “Peace Olympics.” “I don’t begrudge South Korea for trying to realize that, but I think the odds are against them.”
“We certainly hope to utilize this opportunity to the maximum so that the PyeongChang Winter Olympic Games can become a venue that leads to dialogue for the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula, as well as the establishment of peace on the Korean peninsula,” Moon said during a meeting with Vice President Pence this week.
But the tit-for-tat rhetoric between Washington and Pyongyang heated back up as the games began.
“There’s been a temporary truce that has not extended to the propaganda competition between the United States and North Korea,” said Scott Snyder, senior fellow for Korea studies at the Council on Foreign Relations.
Pence, who’s leading the U.S. delegation to the Olympics, made stops this week in Alaska, Japan and Seoul before arriving at the Olympic stadium in PyeongChang. At each, he delivered messages meant to counter what he called North Korea’s “charm offensive.”
On Friday, hours before the opening ceremony, Pence met with four North Korea defectors and visited the Cheonan Memorial, which honors the 46 South Korean sailors killed in a 2010 torpedo attack attributed to Pyongyang.
“We thought it was important to make sure that the truth was told,” Pence said at the meeting with the defectors. “As President the rich asshole has said, the cruel dictatorship of North Korea is little more than a prison state. And as these people and their lives have testified, it is a regime that imprisons, tortures and impoverishes its citizen.”
But the pinnacle of Pence’s messaging was at the opening ceremony itself, where his personal guest was the father of American student Otto Warmbier, who died last year after being returned home in a coma after his 17-month detention in North Korea.
Frank Jannuzi, president of the Mansfield Foundation, questioned the necessity of the rich asshole administration’s counter-messaging, but said he didn’t think it would cast a pall over Olympic celebrations.
“I am not worried at all that anyone in South Korea is going to think that the happy, smiling athletes that they see from North Korea at the games is representative of the experience of the North Korean people,” said Jannuzi, also a contributor to North Korean monitor 38 North. “South Koreans are not fools, and neither are the American citizens. The last thing I’m worried about is a North Korean propaganda success.”
Meanwhile, North Korea held a military parade Thursday to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the founding of the North Korean army, an annual holiday that this year was moved up to the day before the Olympics.
The parade featured intercontinental ballistic missiles, including what appeared to be the Hwasong-15 that’s said to put the entire United States within range. But the parade was smaller than many expected, in what analysts believe was an effort at not provoking South Korea on the eve of the Olympics.
Still, Kazianis said, North Korea “wanted to make a point” to the United States that it will not give up its weapons programs.
Despite the pre-game posturing, Jannuzi predicted a “prevailing mood” of “excitement and peace and competition” throughout the Olympics.
“I really feel like it would be tragic if the United States came to the party and then sulked in the corner” he said. “Our athletes are there to compete, not to be part of a political drama.”
But experts already have their eye on what’s going to happen after the games. The United States has pledged to resume its military exercises after the Paralympics in March, and North Korea is expected to resume its weapons tests in kind.
“Once we get closer to April, there’s probably about a 40 to 50 percent chance of a military escalation whether accidental or deliberate on either side,” Kazianis said.
Snyder likewise predicted the Olympics are only a “temporary respite” from the nuclear crisis.
“It’s an expression of hope, but it’s not clear that hope will be realized,” Snyder said of the “Peace Olympics.” “I don’t begrudge South Korea for trying to realize that, but I think the odds are against them.”
the rich asshole is defending Rob Porter, the man who resigned in disgrace amid credible allegations of his serial domestic violence.
some rich asshole summoned reporters to the Oval Office Friday to give his full-throated support to Rob Porter, while ignoring the multiple women who have accused him of domestic abuse.
the rich asshole repeatedly praised his former staffer in an unscheduled press availability, where reporters were given just a few minutes notice that they would be taken into the room with the rich asshole.
There, he was asked about the scandal and he proceeded to weigh in.
“We wish him well,” the rich asshole said. “He worked very hard. I found out about it recently, and I was surprised by it. But we certainly wish him well. It’s obviously a tough time for him. He did a very good job when he was in the White House.”
Earlier in the day, the rich asshole threw his communications director Hope Hicks under the bus over the scandal. Hicks had reportedly been dating Porter, and the rich asshole claimed that her romantic involvement with him had clouded her judgment, even though it was the rich asshole’s chief of staff, John Kelly, who promoted and protected Porter.
For Porter, however, the rich asshole had nothing but praise.
“We hope he has a wonderful career,” the rich asshole said of the man accused of beating multiple women. “It was very sad,” he added, insisting, “he’s also very sad.”
Porter resigned after photos of his ex-wife with a black eye she attributed to him surfaced.
the rich asshole then declared Porter’s innocence, despite evidence to the contrary — including the FBI refusing to grant him security clearance, based on his record of domestic violence.
“He also, as you probably know, he says he’s innocent,” the rich asshole said. “And I think you have to remember that. He said very strongly yesterday that he’s innocent. So you’ll have to talk to him about that.”
the rich asshole again wished Porter well and said that ” he did a good job.”
As he did when proclaiming neo-Nazis to be “very fine people,” the rich asshole has once again darkened the presidency by putting its power and prestige behind the worst behavior: domestic violence and abuse.
At least 30 White House officials, the rich asshole appointees lack full clearances: report
BY MAX GREENWOOD - 02/09/18 06:58 PM EST
Dozens of White House and the rich asshole administration officials still lack full security clearances, including President the rich asshole's son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner.
CNN reported Friday that at least 30 officials and political appointees have been working in the administration with interim clearances.
The White House told CNN that the fact that so many officials lack a full security clearance is a normal consequence of the lengthy review processes required for granting such clearances, which are handled by the FBI and White House security office.
But intelligence officials told CNN that the backlog was unusual after more than a year since the rich asshole took office.
According to CNN, Kushner is among several officials who have had clearances delayed because of mistakes in their paperwork.
The issue comes into focus after Rob Porter, the former White House staff secretary, resigned this week following allegations that he physically and emotionally abused two of his ex-wives. Porter never obtained a full security clearance, despite being in a position that required him to handle classified information.
Media reports have indicated that senior White House officials, including chief of staff John Kelly, were aware of the allegations against Porter for months before they were revealed publicly earlier this week.
Mark Zaid, a D.C.-based lawyer who handles national security-related cases, told CNN that most appointees and top officials in past presidential administrations already had security clearances from past government jobs.
But many people in key positions in the rich asshole administration come from more complex private sector backgrounds that may be slowing down the clearance process, Zaid said.
By a margin of 66 to 24, Americans side with the FBI over the rich asshole.
In the midst of the ongoing Russia investigation, the rich asshole has tried to shield himself in the public eye by attacking law enforcement officials at the FBI and DOJ, insinuating they are part of a “Deep State” plot of Obama loyalists to destroy him.
But a new poll from Marist suggests that is not a fight the rich asshole can win.
According to the poll, if a national conflict pitted the rich asshole against the FBI, Americans would back the FBI by a whopping margin of 66 to 24. For good measure, the poll also finds that, by an 11 point margin, voters want to strip the rich asshole of his GOP House majority.
Another poll conducted in December found that Americans broadly trust special counsel Robert Mueller over the rich asshole, as well.
Marist’s findings come in the wake of Herculean, unprecedented efforts by the rich asshole and his allies to discredit the legitimacy of federal law enforcement, which first kicked into high gear with former FBI director James Comey’s refusal to promise “loyalty” to the rich asshole amid the Russia controversy, and his subsequent politically motivated firing last May, and have continued through pushing out the deputy director over his wife’s political leanings.
Recent efforts by the rich asshole’s supporters to bolster his baseless crusade against the FBI, from Fox News conspiracy theories about text messages between two agents, to the debunked Devin Nunes “memo,” have fallen flat.
Try as the rich asshole might, the American people do not easily throw away critical governmental institutions just because it would be convenient for the president. And his every push to make them do so will only damage him more.
Leading mental health experts are terrified by the rich asshole’s disconnection from reality
some rich asshole (AFP / Nicholas Kamm)
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In Brave New Films’ newest film, Mental Health Experts on some rich asshole, leading mental health experts speak out and call for an independent, expert-led examination of the rich asshole’s mental fitness.
Our president has incited his followers to violence, consistently misconstrues reality, brags about his sexual assaults, and is unable to respond calmly to any criticism. He has the nuclear codes, has threatened to use them, and taunts hostile nations about the size of his button. the rich asshole’s recent cognitive test was a sham. Everyone who has access to the nuclear codes must pass physical and mental readiness according to the Nuclear Personnel Reliability Program, everyone except the president. The experts agree—we need a nonpartisan expert panel to assess the rich asshole’s mental fitness.
‘We’re in memo hell’: House GOP leaders complain their own party turned Russia probe into partisan warfare
House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes (R-CA) speaking outside the White House. Image via screengrab.
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Republican leaders on the House Intelligence Committee—who helped ignite a partisan melodrama around the release of classified memos pertaining to the Russia investigation—are experiencing a case of “memo fatigue,” the Washington Post reports.
According to the Post, GOP leaders in the House are “dispensing with the memo format” as a means to sway the national discourse, with some party leaders expressing regret over the whirlwind scandal that unfolded in recent weeks.
Last Friday, the House Intelligence Committee released a memo, drafted by a staffer for committee chairman and former the rich asshole transition team member Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA), to the public. That four-page document alleged widespread surveillance abuses by the FBI, though House Republicans, including Nunes, were forced to walk back key claims that seemed to target the Department of Justice’s handling of the Russia investigation.
Now, Democrats want to release their own 10-page counter memo. Monday, the intel committee voted unanimously to release that memo after Democrats pressured Republicans on the issue of transparency. That memo awaits review by President some rich asshole, who can either redact all or portions of the text, or allow the full document to be released. The president has until Saturday to decide his course of action on that counter memo.
“The problem with this whole committee and the investigation itself,” House Intelligence Committee member Rep. Thomas Rooney (R-FL) told the Post, arguing “in a normal world,” the committee would have interviewed permanent witnesses to their surveillance concerns.
“Instead we do a memo,” Rooney added. “And now the Democrats are doing their memo, and we’re in memo hell.”
“I said from the beginning that neither of these memos should have been written,” Rep. Charlie Dent (R-PA) said. “I’m all for transparency, but this whole exercise is transparently partisan.”
The dramatic fight over the release of these memos is the latest evidence of climbing tension within the House intel committee. Nunes, who “temporarily” recused himself from the committee’s Russia investigation after it was revealed he obtained “unmasking” information directly from White House officials, has nonetheless been leading a shadow investigation geared towards discrediting the FBI’s probe of the rich asshole and Russia.
Those tensions appeared to reach a fever pitch Wednesday, when CBS News reported Nunes is planning on building a literal wall between Democratic and Republican staffers on the committee.
Ranking member Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA), who’s had is fair share of public disagreement with Nunes, called the proposal “destructive.”
“While we have more than our share of difficulties, the important oversight work of the committee continues with our staff working together irrespective of party,” Schiff said.
Consumers are getting shafted by the rich asshole’s ongoing war on regulations
President some rich asshole delivering his State of the Union Address (Screenshot)
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President some rich asshole has been waging a war on regulation since he got into office on the ground that government red tape costs the economy billions of dollars a year.
Among the victors in this battle have been energy companies, banks and the president himself, who recently promised he’s “just getting started.” Perhaps the biggest losers, however, have been consumers.
The best illustration of this is the neutering of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which began immediately after Mick Mulvaney stepped in as interim director in November.
So how much harm could he do in two short months? As someone who has written about consumer law for more than 30 years, let me count the ways.
‘Pushing the envelope’
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau may be best known for levying a US$100 million fine against Wells Fargo in 2016 after the bank opened millions of unauthorized accounts.
But the bureau, originally conceived by Sen. Elizabeth Warren, has done so much more since Congress created the independent agency in 2010. Under Mulvaney’s predecessor, Richard Cordray, the bureau moved forcefully when it concluded companies had cheated consumers.
Through last summer, the bureau recovered nearly $12 billion for more than 29 million consumer victims of everything from illegal credit card fees to auto lenders that discriminated against people of color. In 2016 alone, the bureau announced 42 new enforcement actions, or nearly four new cases a month.
Mulvaney, who is also the rich asshole’s budget director, argued his predecessor’s governing philosophy was to “push the envelope” in pursuing the bureau’s mission. Mulvaney, the rich asshole and other Republicans argue that the CFPB director – who can’t be easily removed by the president – has too much power, making the bureau a prime target in their goal to eliminate regulation they believe puts a strain on the economy and small businesses.
While Cordray had previously never used the “push the envelope” language in describing his mission, he reacted to Mulvaney’s charge by embracing it, tweeting that he did “push hard to see that people are treated fairly by big banks, debt collectors and payday lenders.”
It seems unlikely that the bureau would take on a bank like Wells Fargo for similar fraudulent conduct or pursue many of Cordray’s other actions now that Mulvaney is in charge. His boss has even praised a bill passed by the House that would strip the CFPB of the authority to go after banks for doing what Wells Fargo did, while Mulvaney himself has co-sponsored legislation aimed at killing the bureau.
A new governing mission
While Mulvaney agrees that the bureau’s job includes protecting consumers such as credit card users, he says it also works for credit card issuers – despite the fact that its very name states that it exists to protect consumers, not banks.
One reason Congress wanted an agency to protect consumers was because existing bank regulators in the run-up to the Great Recession had not only failed to prevent predatory lenders from taking advantage of consumers, thus contributing to the subprime fiasco, but at least one even protected them. I believe the U.S. already has enough bank protection agencies, from the Federal Reserve to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, without adding the bureau to the list.
In January, Mulvaney told his staff that the bureau’s actions should be guided by how many complaints it receives on a particular matter.
By that measure, the CFPB wouldn’t have gone after Wells Fargo because few consumers seem to have complained to the bureau about the unauthorized Wells accounts. That may be because consumers often don’t bother to complain when they have suffered only a small loss. And yet collectively the Wells customers had much at stake, as demonstrated by the fact that Wells has agreed to settle the case for $142 million, a number that may yet grow.
Enforcement – or lack thereof
So what has Mulvaney actually done since taking over?
While he pledged to be vigorous and consistent in enforcement of federal consumer financial law, he has also said that the bureau should bring cases reluctantly. As such, you might wonder how many he is actually filing.
The answer would be none.
The bureau has instead dropped a case, without explanation, against a group of payday lenders that charged consumers as much as 950 percent interest a year.
It also terminated at least one investigation, though we can’t know for sure how many it has ended because the bureau usually doesn’t publicly announce such actions.
That investigation was against a company that had made several campaign donations to Mulvaney. A ProPublica investigation previously reported that the installment lender, World Acceptance Corp., trapped consumers in a cycle of debt with deceptively expensive loans.
We can’t know whether Cordray himself would have eventually ended that investigation anyway and thus determine if its termination was the result of a lack of evidence. But we can be fairly certain that he wouldn’t have done what Mulvaney did around the same time: say, he may reconsider a rule intended to keep payday customers from falling into endless debt traps. That rule took the unremarkable step of requiring lenders, before extending some loans, to verify that borrowers can repay the debt.
Another noteworthy move by Mulvaney concerns the CFPB’s Fair Lending Office. The law that originally set up the bureau tasked this office with enforcing laws prohibiting discriminatory lending. He has revoked that power, suggesting that preventing discrimination on the basis of race and gender will now be less important at the bureau.
For the next five months – or until the Senate confirms a permanent director – the CFPB is led by someone who once called it a “sad, sick” joke.
What is sad and sick, in my view, is that an agency established to protect consumers may be more eager to protect predatory lenders than consumers. And that is no joke.
By Jeff Sovern, Professor of Law, St. John’s University
This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article
Nunes: 'No surprise' Dem memo wasn't released
BY MAX GREENWOOD - 02/09/18 10:44 PM EST
House Intelligence Committee chairman Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) said Friday he was not surprised that the Justice Department and FBI advised against the release of a memo authored by the panel's Democratic members.
"Ranking Member Schiff pledged to seek the input of the Department of Justice and FBI regarding the memo’s public release, and it’s no surprise that these agencies recommended against publishing the memo without redactions," Nunes said in a statement referring to the committee's top Democrat, Rep. Adam Schiff (Calif.).
Nunes urged committee Democrats to make "the appropriate technical changes and redactions" to the document as recommended by the Justice Department "so that no sources and methods are disclosed and their memo can be declassified as soon as possible."
Nunes' statement came after White House counsel Don McGahn announced in a letter that President the rich asshole had moved to block the release of the Democratic memo, citing "significant concerns" for national security.
The Democratic memo is intended to rebut a document drafted by staff for Nunes and released last week alleging that FBI and Justice Department officials abused their authority to obtain a surveillance order on a former the rich asshole campaign adviser.
After the Republican memo was released, Democrats raised concerns about its accuracy and accused Republicans of trying to derail the investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election.
But Nunes said that the Democrats' rebuttal contained "many sources and methods" that could jeopardize U.S. national security and intelligence gathering capabilities.
Schiff said Friday night that Democrats on the intelligence committee had submitted their memo to the FBI and Justice Department before the committee ever voted to release it, and pledged to review the redactions recommended by the agencies.
But Schiff also argued that the White House's decision not to release the Democratic memo appeared to be based on a double standard, pointing to the fact that the rich asshole released the GOP memo in spite of concerns from the FBI and Justice Department.
At Olympics opening ceremony, Pence refuses to stand for any country except the U.S.
Mike Pence isn't feeling the Olympic spirit.
Athletes from North Korea and South Korea marching under the same flag in the opening ceremonies of the 2018 Olympic Winter Games was a significant symbolic moment for many. Vice President Mike Pence, in Pyeongchang to lead the U.S. delegation, was not impressed, however.
The Washington Post’s Anna Fifield described “huge cheers” when the unified Korea team entered the stadium on Friday. She also said it appeared that everyone in the VP’s box stood to acknowledge the moment — except Pence and his wife, Karen.
If Pence used the moment to make a political statement, it would be an interesting tactic, considering he walked out of an NFL game last year because several players linked arms or took a knee during the playing of the national anthem — a silent protest against injustice and inequality that Pence just couldn’t bear to witness.
A White House official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, told the Associated Press “Pence stood only for the U.S. team, despite other people in the box standing and applauding when athletes from the two Koreas walked in together.” Pence was seated next to South Korean President Moon Jae-in and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, with Kim Yo Jong, sister of North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un, seated behind them.
The Pyeongchang Olympics begin amid a tense standoff over North Korea’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs, but Pence is making no effort to ease the tensions, ThinkProgress’ Doroty Parvaz reported earlier this week. The vice president said he has “no plans” to meet with North Korean officials and instead plans to tell “the truth about North Korea at every stop.” As another indication of the tone he plans to set at these games, Pence brought the parents of Otto Warmbier — a student who suffered severe brain injuries while being detained in North Korea, and later died — with him to Pyeongchang.
On Friday, Pence sharply criticized North Korea for staging a large military parade the day before the games opened, calling it “an ongoing provocation,” despite the fact that the White House just confirmed this week that Pence’s boss asked for the same thing in the U.S. The Department of Defense is reportedly “putting together some options” for a military parade, at President the rich asshole’s request.
On Friday morning, Willoughby told CNN that Porter himself asked her to downplay his alleged abuse.
“We were in contact, even a couple days ago, as he was asking me to release a statement about my blog post,” she said, referencing a post where she wrote about his alleged abuse and why she stayed with Porter. “I went back and forth with him for an hour or so about what language I would be comfortable with, and ultimately, the language he asked I wasn’t comfortable with. And he came out with that statement less than an hour later.”
Willoughby said Porter asked her to say she had taken some “liberties with that therapeutic post,” but, she said, “when I thought about it, I didn’t. The things that I said were factual statements.”
On Thursday, the Post also reported that Porter has been explaining the pictures of Holderness’ black eye, which she has distributed to the media, saying that “they were arguing over a vase, and she was somehow hit with the vase.”
As details continue to come out about how much White House officials knew about the accusations Porter’s ex-wives have made, there has been increasing pressure on Kelly to resign.
Toni Van Pelt, head of the feminist group National Organization for Women, put it bluntly.
“White House chief of staff John Kelly must resign,” Van Pelt said in a statement released earlier this week. “His pathetic defense of staff secretary Rob Porter reveals his true nature — an enabler of sexual abusers, a betrayer of trust and an avoider of responsibility.”
Kelly is, of course, working for another alleged sexual abuser. More than 15 women have accused the rich asshole of sexual misconduct. the rich asshole denies all the accusations and the White House’s official position is that all the women who have accused the rich asshole of misconduct are lying.
At any rate, the president is reportedly unhappy with the way the White House has handled the Porter story. As CNN reported Thursday night, some rich asshole was reportedly upset with the fact that Deputy Press Secretary Raj Shah told the White House corps in Thursday’s briefing that the White House could have better handled the Porter “situation” — despite the fact the rich asshole himself reportedly thought the situation should have been handled better.
the rich asshole’s idea for ‘Buy American’ mandate on US pipeline projects has ‘vanished’
February 7, 2018
Tom Benning
Dallas Morning News
Posted with permission from Tribune Content Agency
WASHINGTON — A much-ballyhooed White House proposal to boost domestic manufacturing might be stuck in the pipeline.
More than a year after President Donald Trump demanded that oil and gas pipelines built in the U.S. be constructed with U.S.-made steel — roiling the energy industry in Texas and beyond — there is little evidence that the Trump administration is close to making that idea a reality.
A July deadline for the U.S. Commerce Department to produce such a plan went by without the release of any details. Trump has dropped the idea from his speeches, where it was once a prominent fixture. And groups tracking the proposal say it has just fallen off the radar.
"With little explanation, it has vanished," said Scott Paul, president of the Alliance for American Manufacturing, which supported Trump's "Buy American" effort.
That inaction could reflect concerns that the mandate would be unfeasible and potentially in violation of international trade law. Or it could result from resistance by companies like Dallas' Energy Transfer Partners, which called the idea "well-intentioned" but "unworkable."
But the jam doesn't mean the push is altogether dead.
The Commerce Department, which didn't respond to requests for comment, could always press ahead. The White House's plan for a $1.5 trillion infrastructure package could be a new vehicle. And some trade cases involving steel imports could offer an indirect way to address the issue.
"We are always keeping ourselves ready for any sort of movement by the administration," said Tori Whiting, a trade expert at the conservative Heritage Foundation, which has opposed the mandate. "And we are going to be ready and alert to call balls and strikes."
Trump wasted little time as president in making energy pipelines a focus.
In his first week on the job, the Republican thrilled party faithful and industry boosters by signing executive actions to advance Energy Transfer Partners' contentious Dakota Access pipeline and TransCanada's long-delayed Keystone XL pipeline.
Trump, however, also insisted that an extra "one-sentence clause" be included.
"If we're going to build pipelines in the United States, the pipe should be made in the United States," he said, explaining his dismay that big chunks of the steel used in those projects were not made in America.
His resulting presidential memo asked the commerce secretary to create a plan by late July to require all new and expanded American pipelines to use U.S. materials and equipment to the "maximum extent possible" and to the "extent permitted by law."
And that request sent shockwaves through the industry.
While "Buy American" is a well-established mechanism for federal procurement efforts or federally funded projects like highway overhauls, such a mandate on oil and gas pipelines would meddle deep into the business of privately funded endeavors.
So groups like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the Associated General Contractors and the American Petroleum Institute raised concerns about how it would work and if it was legal. And companies like Energy Transfer Partners, run by GOP megadonor Kelcy Warren, were blunt.
"The impacts of such a restriction are expected to severely delay project schedules, drive up costs, decrease availability and lower quality," wrote the Dallas-based company, echoing other industry leaders in saying it already uses as much U.S. steel for its projects as possible.
Steelmakers countered by celebrating Trump's push, with U.S. Steel saying there was capacity to "meet the needs of new and existing investment in American infrastructure and pipelines."
But potential pitfalls were revealed in March, when the White House admitted that Keystone XL wouldn't have to use all U.S. steel. The July deadline for the Commerce Department to submit a plan to the White House came and went. And Washington seemingly moved on to other issues.
"The pipeline stuff just quietly went away," said Philip Bell, president of the Steel Manufacturers Association. "And there weren't a lot of people, with the exception of the steel producers, really disturbed about it."
The exact status of the "Buy American" pipelines proposal is unclear.
The White House, like the Commerce Department, did not respond to requests for comment. And industry stakeholders said they weren't sure where it all stands, though they said they had not seen any such plan and agreed that there are few signs the idea will reemerge in its initial form.
But Trump could still have an influence.
That could come through the White House's long-promised infrastructure plan. Or another potential flash point is in the area of trade, where Trump, for instance, is taking a long look at whether the U.S. should impose steep tariffs on imported steel.
And those kind of moves could again stir up the energy and manufacturing bases.
John Stoody of the Association of Oil Pipe Lines, for example, said some of Trump's trade rhetoric is an "ongoing concern." But Paul, the manufacturing alliance boss, said trade could be a way for Trump to "make good on his campaign promises and American-made inclinations."
the rich asshole Speechwriter Resigns Amid Domestic Abuse Allegations, Says HE Was The Victim
Yet another member of the rich asshole’s staff has resigned — and just like Rob Porter, who denies allegations against him from multiple ex-wives and a desperate ex-girlfriend who contacted both ex-wives to beg them for advice on leaving him safely, it involves domestic violence…and he denies it despite his resignation.
David Sorensen, a rich asshole speechwriter who worked under senior policy adviser and resident Nazi Stephen Miller, resigned abruptly as the Washington Post was reporting on abuse allegations made by his ex-wife, Jessica Corbett.
Corbett told the FBI last fall that:
- he ran over her foot with a car
- he put out a cigarette on her hand
- he threw her into a wall and grabbed her by her hair on a boat
During part of Corbett’s hellish marriage to Sorenson, he worked as a top policy adviser to Maine Gov. Paul LePage (a man who says our “enemy right now” is “people of color or people of Hispanic origin”).
Corbett says she didn’t report the abuse at the time because of her ex-husband’s relationships to law enforcement. She provided the Post with supporting evidence:
Two friends and associates of Corbett said she confided in them during the marriage that her husband was abusive. Corbett also provided records of text messages and emails in which Sorensen berated her with vulgar language and she discussed the deteriorating marriage with others. She gave The Post a photo of her hand bearing a scar she said was from the cigarette burn.
Sorensen says that he has “never committed violence of any kind against any woman in my entire life” and that he resigned because he “didn’t want the White House to have to deal with this distraction.”
“It should be able to focus on continuing President the rich asshole’s historic accomplishments for the American People,” he told the Post.
He even went farther than simply denying the allegations — he says that he was the one who abused him.
“In fact, I was the victim of repeated physical violence during our marriage, not her,” he says, adding that he is “considering legal options to address her defamation.” He even provided a photo of himself of what he laughably says are injuries his wife gave him.
“This incident is an opportunity to highlight the grossly underreported and unacknowledged issue of female-on-male domestic violence,” Sorensen actually said. “Like many domestic abusers, she was especially adept at controlling her rage so that no others witnessed her physical attacks.”
Corbett doesn’t deny smacking him when he called her a “vulgar term,” but the rest of Sorenson’s story is complete bullsh*t, she says.
“Everything I told you is 100 percent true and that is why he had to resign today,” she told the Post.
This second resignation comes as the rich asshole administration scrambles to show that they didn’t turn a blind eye to instances of Rob Porter’s domestic abuse for a full year, only doing something about it after the information became public.
BY MAX GREENWOOD - 02/09/18 09:03 PM EST
Democratic congressional leaders are blasting President the rich asshole's decision to block the release of a Democratic memo aimed at rebutting a GOP document alleging surveillance abuses against the rich asshole campaign.
Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) both accused the rich asshole of applying a double standard by approving the release of the GOP memo but not the Democratic one.
“The President’s double standard when it comes to transparency is appalling," Schumer said in a statement.
"The rationale for releasing the Nunes memo, transparency, vanishes when it could show information that’s harmful to him. Millions of Americans are asking one simple question: what is he hiding?”
Pelosi said the rich asshole's move showed that his decision to release the document authored by staff for House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) last week was "blatantly political."
"The hypocrisy is on full display. What does the President have to hide?" Pelosi tweeted.
This move by @realDonaldTrump confirms what we have all known for weeks — that his decision to release the #NunesMemo was a blatantly political move made without concern for national security. The hypocrisy is on full display. What does the President have to hide?
the rich asshole on Friday blocked the release of the Democratic document, which aims to rebut the Nunes memo alleging that senior FBI and Justice Department officials misused their authority to obtain a surveillance order on former the rich asshole campaign adviser Carter Page.
In a letter to Nunes, White House counsel Don McGahn said that the president was "inclined to declassify" the Democratic memo, but that administration officials believed it would create "especially significant concerns" for national security.
After the GOP memo was made public last week, the rich asshole declared that it "totally vindicates" him in the investigation into whether members of his campaign conspired with Russia to sway the 2016 election.
Democrats raised concerns about the Republican memo, however, saying that it omitted necessary information to put its claims in the proper context.
The Rob Porter scandal has exposed the real John Kelly
Two years ago, Kelly praised a Marine colonel accused of sexually harassing two subordinates as a "superb Marine officer."
Two years ago, before President the rich asshole was President the rich asshole, before White House staff secretary Rob Porter resigned in the wake of domestic abuse accusations, current White House Chief of Staff John Kelly appeared as a character witness in a court-martial of a Marine colonel who was accused of sexually harassing two woman subordinates.
At the court-martial, Kelly praised the colonel as a “superb Marine officer,” as The New York Times reported Thursday. It wouldn’t be the last time Kelly downplayed assault accusations.
In the case of this particular Marine, the man was later arrested for “indecent liberties with a child” twitter.com/ddale8/status/…
Earlier this week, The Daily Mail reported on the record accusations by Porter’s two ex-wives, alleging Porter had physically and verbally abused them.
Porter’s second wife, Jennifer Willoughby, told the Mail that Porter had allegedly pulled her naked out of the shower after a fight about a year into their marriage. Willoughby also said Porter was verbally abusive. The Mail also published a 2010 police complaint detailing an incident in which Porter allegedly punched a glass door at their home. Willoughby filed a temporary protective order after the alleged incident.
On Wednesday, the Mail reported accusations by Porter’s first wife, Colbie Holderness. Holderness says Porter kicked her, choked her, and punched her in the face on their honeymoon. Holderness provided photos of her injuries to media.
Both women also told CNN Wednesday that a third woman, a girlfriend of Porter’s, contacted them for advice about how to deal with Porter’s “repeated abuse.”
Kelly defended Porter after the first Mail report, echoing comments he made in 2016 at the court-martial.
“Rob Porter is a man of true integrity and honor and I can’t say enough good things about him,” Kelly said in a statement. “He is a friend, a confidante and a trusted professional. I am proud to serve alongside him.”
Porter resigned Wednesday, but he denies the allegations. When the news of Porter’s resignation broke, Axios reported that White House senior staff, including Kelly, encouraged Porter to “stay and fight” rather than resign.
But as CNN reported Thursday, it was widely known by early fall of last year among top aides — Kelly included — that Porter was facing trouble obtaining security clearance and that he had allegedly abused his ex-wives. There was no action to remove Porter from the White House staff, however.
The Washington Post reported late Thursday night that the White House counsel was told four times about the seriousness of the abuse allegations against Porter, but the counsel chose to ignore them because Porter was a “steadying, professional voice” in the White House.
The White House counsel was told *four* times about the seriousness of the Porter abuse allegations and choose to ignore them because he was a "steadying" force in a chaotic WH, per WaPo. washingtonpost.com/politics/top-w…
Mike Pence lies about his support for anti-gay conversion therapy during riff with Olympic skater Adam Rippon
Mike Pence (Photo: by Michael Vadon/Flickr)
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Mike Pence overnight posted a very Trumpian tweet in his latest attempt to not take responsibility for having supported funding for anti-gay conversion therapy.
And while the Vice President can call it “fake news,” it’s not.
Olympic skater Adam Rippon last month slammed Vice President Pence for his support of the fraudulent practice of anti-gay conversion therapy, in a USA Today interview. Pence reportedly was so angered by Rippon’s remarks within an hour of the article being published his office tried to arrange a conversation with the Olympic skater, who at the time was the first openly-gay athlete to participate in the Winter Olympic Games.
Rippon refused, as USA Today’s Christine Brennan reported. She spoke with CNN Thursday morning to explain the entire story.
The Vice President “was so concerned about the criticism he received from U.S. Olympic figure skater Adam Rippon that his staff went to the extraordinary length of asking the U.S. Olympic Committee to set up a conversation between the two – an offer Rippon turned down,” Brennan reported.
Pence’s office is now refuting that they tried to arrange a conversation, but Brennan stands by her reporting, as she told CNN Thursday morning.
Conversion therapy, also known as reparative therapy, is a dangerous practice that supposedly turns gay people straight. It does not. In fact, every major medical organization has warned of the possible harms it can bring, which noting it is ineffective. It has also been linked to suicide. Judges have ruled it is “fraud.”
Yet when running for re-election as a U.S. Congressman Mike Pence’s campaign website noted he supported funding the practice, which Pence now denies.
“The widespread belief that Pence supports gay conversion therapy,” USA Today noted, “comes from a statement he made in 2000 on his congressional campaign website: ‘Resources should be directed toward those institutions which provide assistance to those seeking to change their sexual behavior.’ While he didn’t explicitly mention gay conversion therapy, leaders in the LGBT community have said they believe that’s what Pence meant in light of his long-standing opposition to gay rights.”
Pence also tweeted directly to Rippon, basically telling the Olympic athlete what he told USA Today is fake news too:
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