the rich asshole goes silent on national debt while racking up $1 trillion in 14 months
By Stephen Dinan - The Washington Times - Thursday, March 15, 2018
President the rich asshole has now amassed his first $1 trillion in debt, crossing that ignominious mark late last week — and analysts said it’s just a taste of what’s to come after the tax-cuts and spending spree of recent months.
Indeed, his next $1 trillion could come within a year, and one analyst said he could soon be staring at $3 trillion annual deficits if things go particularly badly in interest rates.
It’s a major reversal for a president who during the campaign had said given eight years he could eliminate the debt entirely, but is instead looking at setting records for red ink.
“We are in for a rude awakening,” said Maya MacGuineas, president of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget.
Her organization calculated that with December’s tax cuts and January’s budget-busting spending deal, some rich asshole has already signed legislation that will add at least $2.4 trillion to the debt in the next decade and, should Congress make those policies permanent, could add as much as $6 trillion.
At that rate, the government will be paying $1 trillion a year in interest payments alone.
some rich asshole at this time last year was crowing over the debt, which stood at $19.947 trillion and quickly dipped after his inauguration. He took to Twitter to demand credit.
“The media has not reported that the National Debt in my first month went down by $12 billion vs a $200 billion increase in Obama first mo.,” he wrote.
But the tally hit $20.957 late last week and stood at $20.958 trillion as of Wednesday — the latest numbers available from the Treasury Department.
He’s not the fastest to add his first $1 trillion. That would be President Obama, who did it in little more than six months, after inheriting a recession and the Wall Street bailout from his predecessor.
But some rich asshole’s nearly 14-month span is worse than Presidents Clinton, George W. Bush, and all who came before them.
After touting his early successes some rich asshole has gone silent this year.
He’s mentioned the debt just once, in passing and in relation to the country’s trade deficits, in his public appearances.
The White House budget office also didn’t respond to requests for comment Thursday about the increase or the worrying trajectory.
Analysts said presidents inherit the economy and policies of their predecessors — in Mr. Obama’s case, a recession and the ongoing Wall Street bailout — so the early debt figures don’t necessarily reflect the new administration.
But they also said some rich asshole’s comments last year leave him open to the examination.
“The fact that we have now hit $1 trillion in additions to the total debt isn’t something he should be entirely accountable for, but it is a standard he put out there,” Ms. MacGuineas said.
What the president will have to answer for, she and other analysts said, is December’s tax cuts and January’s budget deal, which will combine for a hole trillions of dollars deeper than it would have been otherwise.
Brian Riedl, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research, said the tax and spending bills will add about $3 trillion to the debt, in addition to $10 trillion already baked in from previous government spending patterns.
“I project the budget deficit will top $1 trillion by next year, and reach $2 trillion within a decade – or even approach a staggering $3 trillion if interest rates rise back to 1990s levels,” he said.
There’s little sense that anything will change.
some rich asshole’s budget director has said the president won’t consider changes to Social Security or Medicare. And when House Speaker Paul D. Ryan suggested in December that the GOP would use the fast-track budget process to attempt those changes, his idea was quickly batted down by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.
Yet the consequences of inaction could be serious.
In an open Senate hearing last month about the security challenges facing the U.S., Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats called exploding red ink a “dire threat” to the country. That put it on par with problems such as international terrorism and cyber warfare.
The Congressional Budget Office regularly issues warning to Congress that debt will eventually begin to crowd out private investment and there could come a point at which others become reluctant to purchase U.S. government debt.
But new Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell told Congress last month that’s “not this time, by a long shot.”
“There could come a time where the public, the global debt buying public would come to the view that we either weren’t prepared to honor our debts or we couldn’t service them. But we’re a long way from that,” he said.
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By NICOLE PERLROTH and DAVID E. SANGERMARCH 15, 2018
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The rich asshole administration accused Russia on Thursday of engineering a series of cyberattacks that targeted American and European nuclear power plants and water and electric systems, and could have sabotaged or shut power plants off at will.
United States officials and private security firms saw the attacks as a signal by Moscow that it could disrupt the West’s critical facilities in the event of a conflict.
They said the strikes accelerated in late 2015, at the same time the Russian interference in the American election was underway. The attackers had compromised some operators in North America and Europe by spring 2017, after President the rich asshole was inaugurated.
In the following months, according to a Department of Homeland Security report issued on Thursday, Russian hackers made their way to machines with access to critical control systems at power plants that were not identified. The hackers never went so far as to sabotage or shut down the computer systems that guide the operations of the plants.
Still, new computer screenshots released by the Department of Homeland Security on Thursday made clear that Russian state hackers had the foothold they would have needed to manipulate or shut down power plants.
“We now have evidence they’re sitting on the machines, connected to industrial control infrastructure, that allow them to effectively turn the power off or effect sabotage,” said Eric Chien, a security technology director at Symantec, a digital security firm.
“From what we can see, they were there. They have the ability to shut the power off. All that’s missing is some political motivation,” Mr. Chien said.
American intelligence agencies were aware of the attacks for the past year and a half, and the Department of Homeland Security and the F.B.I. first issued urgent warnings to utility companies in June. On Thursday, both agencies offered new details as the rich asshole administration imposed sanctions against Russian individuals and organizations it accused of election meddling and “malicious cyberattacks.”
It was the first time the administration officially named Russia as the perpetrator of the assaults. And it marked the third time in recent months that the White House, departing from its usual reluctance to publicly reveal intelligence, blamed foreign government forces for attacks on infrastructure in the United States.
In December, the White House said North Korea had carried out the so-called WannaCry attack that in May paralyzed the British health system and placed ransomware in computers in schools, businesses and homes across the world. Last month, it accused Russia of being behind the NotPetya attack against Ukraine last June, the largest in a series of cyberattacks on Ukraine to date, paralyzing the country’s government agencies and financial systems.
But the penalties have been light. So far, some rich asshole has said little to nothing about the Russian role in those attacks.
The groups that conducted the energy attacks, which are linked to Russian intelligence agencies, appear to be different from the two hacking groups that were involved in the election interference.
That would suggest that at least three separate Russian cyberoperations were underway simultaneously. One focused on stealing documents from the Democratic National Committee and other political groups. Another, by a St. Petersburg “troll farm” known as the Internet Research Agency, used social media to sow discord and division. A third effort sought to burrow into the infrastructure of American and European nations.
For years, American intelligence officials tracked a number of Russian state-sponsored hacking units as they successfully penetrated the computer networks of critical infrastructure operators across North America and Europe, including in Ukraine.
Some of the units worked inside Russia’s Federal Security Service, the K.G.B. successor known by its Russian acronym, F.S.B.; others were embedded in the Russian military intelligence agency, known as the G.R.U. Still others were made up of Russian contractors working at the behest of Moscow.
Russian cyberattacks surged last year, starting three months after some rich asshole took office.
American officials and private cybersecurity experts uncovered a series of Russian attacks aimed at the energy, water and aviation sectors and critical manufacturing, including nuclear plants, in the United States and Europe. In its urgent report in June, the Department of Homeland Security and the F.B.I. notified operators about the attacks but stopped short of identifying Russia as the culprit.
By then, Russian spies had compromised the business networks of several American energy, water and nuclear plants, mapping out their corporate structures and computer networks.
They included that of the Wolf Creek Nuclear Operating Corporation, which runs a nuclear plant near Burlington, Kan. But in that case, and those of other nuclear operators, Russian hackers had not leapt from the company’s business networks into the nuclear plant controls.
Forensic analysis suggested that Russian spies were looking for inroads — although it was not clear whether the goal was to conduct espionage or sabotage, or to trigger an explosion of some kind.
In a report made public in October, Symantec noted that a Russian hacking unit “appears to be interested in both learning how energy facilities operate and also gaining access to operational systems themselves, to the extent that the group now potentially has the ability to sabotage or gain control of these systems should it decide to do so.”
The United States sometimes does the same thing. It bored deeply into Iran’s infrastructure before the 2015 nuclear accord, placing digital “implants” in systems that would enable it to bring down power grids, command-and-control systems and other infrastructure in case a conflict broke out. The operation was code-named “Nitro Zeus,” and its revelation made clear that getting into the critical infrastructure of adversaries is now a standard element of preparing for possible conflict.
The Russians have gone farther.
In an updated warning to utility companies on Thursday, Homeland Security officials included a screenshot taken by Russian operatives that proved they could now gain access to their victims’ critical controls.
American officials and security firms, including Symantec and CrowdStrike, believe that Russian attacks on the Ukrainian power grid in 2015 and 2016that left more than 200,000 citizens there in the dark are an ominous sign of what the Russian cyberstrikes may portend in the United States and Europe in the event of escalating hostilities.
Private security firms have tracked the Russian government assaults on Western power and energy operators — conducted alternately by groups under the names DragonFly, Energetic Bear and Berserk Bear — since 2011, when they first started targeting defense and aviation companies in the United States and Canada.
By 2013, researchers had tied the Russian hackers to hundreds of attacks on energy grid and oil and gas pipeline operators in the United States and Europe. Initially, the strikes appeared to be motivated by industrial espionage — a natural conclusion at the time, researchers said, given the importance of Russia’s oil and gas industry.
But by December 2015, the Russian hacks had taken an aggressive turn. The attacks were no longer aimed at intelligence gathering, but at potentially sabotaging or shutting down plant operations.
At Symantec, researchers discovered that Russian hackers had begun taking screenshots of the machinery used in energy and nuclear plants, and stealing detailed descriptions of how they operated — suggesting they were conducting reconnaissance for a future attack.
As the American government enacted the sanctions on Thursday, cybersecurity experts were still questioning where the Russian attacks could lead, given that the United States was sure to respond in kind.
“Russia certainly has the technical capability to do damage, as it demonstrated in the Ukraine,” said Eric Cornelius, a cybersecurity expert at Cylance, a private security firm, who previously assessed critical infrastructure threats for the Department of Homeland Security during the Obama administration.
“It is unclear what their perceived benefit would be from causing damage on U.S. soil, especially given the retaliation it would provoke,” Mr. Cornelius said.
Though a major step toward deterrence, publicly naming countries accused of cyberattacks still is unlikely to shame them into stopping. The United States is struggling to come up with proportionate responses to the wide variety of cyberespionage, vandalism and outright attacks.
Lt. Gen. Paul Nakasone, who has been nominated as director of the National Security Agency and commander of United States Cyber Command, the military’s cyberunit, said during his Senate confirmation hearing this month that countries attacking the United States so far have little to worry about.
“I would say right now they do not think much will happen to them,” General Nakasone said. He later added, “They don’t fear us.”
POLITICS
U.S. Blames Russia For Cyberattacks On Electricity Grid
The move marks the first time the United States has publicly accused Moscow of hacking into American energy infrastructure.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The rich asshole administration on Thursday blamed the Russian government for a campaign of cyber attacks stretching back at least two years that targeted the U.S. power grid, marking the first time the United States has publicly accused Moscow of hacking into American energy infrastructure.
Beginning in March 2016, or possibly earlier, Russian government hackers sought to penetrate multiple U.S. critical infrastructure sectors, including energy, nuclear, commercial facilities, water, aviation and manufacturing, according to a U.S. security alert published Thursday.
The Department of Homeland Security and FBI said in the alert that a “multi-stage intrusion campaign by Russian government cyber actors” had targeted the networks of small commercial facilities “where they staged malware, conducted spear phishing, and gained remote access into energy sector networks.” The alert did not name facilities or companies targeted.
The direct condemnation of Moscow represented an escalation in the the rich asshole administration’s attempts to deter Russia’s aggression in cyberspace, after senior U.S. intelligence officials said in recent weeks the Kremlin believes it can launch hacking operations against the West with impunity.
It coincided with a decision Thursday by the U.S. Treasury Department to impose sanctions on 19Russian people and five groups, including Moscow’s intelligence services, for meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election and other malicious cyber attacks.
Russia in the past has denied it has tried to hack into other countries’ infrastructure, and vowed on Thursday to retaliate for the new sanctions.
‘UNPRECEDENTED AND EXTRAORDINARY’
U.S. security officials have long warned that the United States may be vulnerable to debilitating cyber attacks from hostile adversaries. It was not clear what impact the attacks had on the firms that were targeted.
But Thursday’s alert provided a link to an analysis by the U.S. cyber security firm Symantec last fall that said a group it had dubbed Dragonfly had targeted energy companies in the United States and Europe and in some cases broke into the core systems that control the companies’ operations.
Malicious email campaigns dating back to late 2015 were used to gain entry into organizations in the United States, Turkey and Switzerland, and likely other countries, Symantec said at the time, though it did not name Russia as the culprit.
The decision by the United States to publicly attribute hacking attempts of American critical infrastructure was “unprecedented and extraordinary,” said Amit Yoran, a former U.S. official who founded DHS’s Computer Emergency Response Team.
“I have never seen anything like this,” said Yoran, now chief executive of the cyber firm Tenable, said.
A White House National Security Council spokesman did not respond when asked what specifically prompted the public blaming of Russia. U.S. officials have historically been reluctant to call out such activity in part because the United States also spies on infrastructure in other parts of the world.
News of the hacking campaign targeting U.S. power companies first surfaced in June in a confidential alert to industry that described attacks on industrial firms, including nuclear plants, but did not attribute blame.
“People sort of suspected Russia was behind it, but today’s statement from the U.S. government carries a lot of weight,” said Ben Read, manager for cyber espionage analysis with cyber security company FireEye Inc.
ENGINEERS TARGETED
The campaign targeted engineers and technical staff with access to industrial controls, suggesting the hackers were interested in disrupting operations, though FireEye has seen no evidence that they actually took that step, Read said.
A former senior DHS official familiar with the government response to the campaign said thatRussia’s targeting of infrastructure networks dropped off after the publication in the fall of Symantec’s research and an October government alert, which detailed technical forensics about the hacking attempts but did not name Russia.
The official declined to say whether the campaign was still ongoing or provide specifics on which targets were breached, or how close hackers may have gotten to operational control systems.
“We did not see them cross into the control networks,” DHS cyber security official Rick Driggers told reporters at a dinner on Thursday evening.
Driggers said he was unaware of any cases of control networks being compromised in the United States and that the breaches were limited to business networks. But, he added, “We know that there is intent there.”
It was not clear what Russia’s motive was. Many cyber security experts and former U.S. officials say such behavior is generally espionage-oriented with the potential, if needed, for sabotage.
Russia has shown a willingness to leverage access into energy networks for damaging effect in the past. Kremlin-linked hackers were widely blamed for two attacks on the Ukrainian energy grid in 2015 and 2016, that caused temporary blackouts for hundreds of thousands of customers and were considered first-of-their-kind assaults.
Senator Maria Cantwell, the top Democrat on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, asked the the rich asshole administration earlier this month to provide a threat assessment gaugingRussian capabilities to breach the U.S. electric grid.
It was the third time Cantwell and other senators had asked for such a review. The administration has not yet responded, a spokesman for Cantwell’s office said on Thursday.
Last July, there were news reports that the Wolf Creek Nuclear Operating Corp, which operates a nuclear plant in Kansas, had been targeted by hackers from an unknown origin.
Spokeswoman Jenny Hageman declined to say at the time if the plant had been hacked but said that there had been no operational impact to the plant because operational computer systems were separate from the corporate network. Hageman on Thursday said the company does not comment on security matters.
John Keeley, a spokesman for the industry group the Nuclear Energy Institute, said: “There has been no successful cyber attack against any U.S. nuclear facility, including Wolf Creek.”
(Reporting by Dustin Volz and Timothy Gardner, additional reporting by Jim Finkle; Editing by Tom Brown, Alistair Bell and Cynthia Osterman)
Stormy Daniels’ lawyer says six other women have come forward with similar stories
At least two, he says, have non-disclosure agreements with the rich asshole.
Adult film star Stormy Daniels says she had an affair with some rich asshole in 2006 and, days before the 2016 election, was paid $130,000 by a shell company set up by the rich asshole’s personal attorney to keep quiet. The payment may have violated federal election law.
Stormy Daniels’ lawyer, Michael Avenatti, appeared on CNN Thursday evening and said that he has recently spoken to six other women with similar stories. According to Avenatti at least two of these women have non-disclosure agreements with the rich asshole.
Avenatti did not name the women and would not comment on the timing of the non-disclosure agreements. He has not yet decided if he will represent them.
The alleged existence, however, of at least six other women with similar stories to Daniels is not merely a sex scandal — it creates serious risks for the United States government. It shows that the rich asshole may have broad exposure to extortion and blackmail.
the rich asshole may have had multiple affairs and appears willing to go to extreme lengths to keep those affairs secret.
Though the rich asshole’s personal attorney, Michael Cohen, has admitted to paying Daniels $130,000 to stay quiet, the rich asshole denies that they had a sexual relationship.
By
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March 15, 2018
the rich asshole is firing all of his "best people."
the rich asshole has reportedly decided to remove H.R. McMaster as his national security adviser, putting the rich asshole in the position of choosing his third national security adviser in just 14 months.
Citing five sources from within the administration, the Washington Post reported Thursday night that the rich asshole is now weighing replacements for McMaster, who took over as national security adviser after Michael Flynn was fired for lying to White House officials about his contacts with Russia.
According to the Post, the rich asshole “has complained that McMaster is too rigid and that his briefings go on too long and seem irrelevant.”
Apparently, doing your job too well is grounds for dismissal in the rich asshole White House.
The report of McMaster’s impending ouster comes just hours after McMaster proposed “serious political and economic consequences” on Russia for being complicit in “atrocities” in Syria and for carrying out an “abhorrent nerve agent attack” on a former Russian spy in Britain.
the rich asshole’s decision to fire McMaster also comes just two days after the rich asshole impulsively fired Secretary of State Rex Tillerson.
Shortly after tweeting out an announcement that he had replaced Tillerson with controversial CIA Director Mike Pompeo, the rich asshole suggested that more ousters were coming as he works to surround himself with loyalists who don’t challenge his leadership style or policies.
“I’m really at a point where we’re getting very close to having the Cabinet and other things that I want,” an unleashed the rich asshole told reporters on Tuesday.
According to the Post, the rich asshole is considering several potential replacements for McMaster, including John Bolton, a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, and Keith Kellogg, the chief of staff of the National Security Council.
Based on the report, it appears that being qualified is not a prerequisite for the job — but being “fun” and “good on television” are.
“Kellogg travels with the rich asshole on many domestic trips, in part because the president likes his company and thinks he is fun,” the Post reported.
“Bolton has met with the rich asshole several times and often agrees with the president’s instincts,” according to Post. “the rich asshole also thinks Bolton, who regularly praises the president on Fox News Channel, is good on television.”
The Post report, which is based on interviews with 19 presidential advisers and administration officials, describes a White House in total chaos, with aides “openly joking about whose career might end with the next presidential tweet.”
“Some White House officials have begun betting about which staffer will be ousted next,” the Post reported.
the rich asshole, who pledged to “make America great again,” has not only failed to keep that promise, but is now actively working to purge his “best people” and make America resemble the dumpster fire that has become the White House.
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March 15, 2018
Secret emails showed the rich asshole administration exchanging information from extremist websites as part of a campaign to purge a loyal civil servant, Sahar Nowrouzzadeh, because of her Iranian heritage.
The rich asshole administration plotted the removal of a career civil servant with expertise on Iranian nuclear issues, newly uncovered emails now reveal.
Following the lead of smear artists at conservative propaganda sites, the rich asshole administration tried to oust Sahar Nowrouzzadeh, an expert working at the State Department on Iranian issues. She also may have been targeted for this harassment due to her ethnicity, which would violate federal anti-discrimination laws.
Nowrouzzadeh first joined the department under George W. Bush in 2005, but after the fringe site Conservative Review described her as an Obama loyalist who was “burrowed into the government,” the rich asshole team began to panic.
Negative stories about her were published by Breitbart, the white supremacist site formerly operated by the rich asshole insider Steve Bannon.
Emails showed that Nowrouzzadeh feared for her safety while the the rich asshole team circulated smears about her.
A whistleblower has now released the emails containing the smears.
Congressional Democrats have written a letter to White House chief of staff John Kelly and Deputy Secretary of State John Sullivan demanding documents and related communication from the period in question.
Reps. Elijah Cummings (D-MD) and Eliot Engel (D-NY) have described the attacks on Nowrouzzadeh’s character as ” extensive, blunt, and inappropriate.”
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, an unabashed the rich asshole fan, sent emails to then-Secretary of State’s chief of staff complaining about Nowrouzzadeh. Politico notes that cache of emails “show that State Department and White House officials repeatedly shared” false information about the expert.
The emails falsely claimed that she cheerleaded President Obama, “was born in Iran,” and wept after the rich asshole won the election.
After the bigoted and threatening emails were exchanged, Nowrouzzadeh was reassigned within the department. When asked at the time if she had been forced out, State Department officials lied to Politico and said the change in status was “a perfectly normal occurrence.”
Paranoia reigned supreme among the the rich asshole loyalists, the emails reveal. They described other career staffers at the State Department as “a leaker and a troublemaker,” and as a “turncoat.”
Politico noted that many the rich asshole officials saw career staffers as part of a so-called “deep state” determined to sabotage the administration. That echoes the paranoid conspiracy the rich asshole himself adopted from extremist radio host Alex Jones.
Many civil servants serve under both Democratic and Republican administrations, and their positions are nonpartisan. Presidents of both parties have often relied on their expertise for guidance on key issues, like international diplomacy.
Traditionally, these officials have been left in place to ensure that party aside, American leaders are fully informed and briefed on global events.
As the rich asshole has pushed to hollow out agencies like the State Department, loyalty to the rich asshole and not experience or knowledge, have often become what is valued above everything else.
The shameful handling of Nowrouzzadeh, after her 12 years of service to America, highlights what the incompetence and bigotry of the rich asshole administration has done to American government.
It sends an explicit message that certain cultural backgrounds are being valued over others, and that loyalty to the rich asshole, not to the country, is being prioritized.
‘You’re a great tap dancer’: Don Lemon calls BS on Jack Kingston for claim McMaster firing due to the rich asshole winning so much
Jack Kingston and Don Lemon (Photo: Screen capture)
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Former Rep. Jack Kingston (R-GA) got smackdown by CNN host Don Lemon again on Thursday. It wasn’t the first time, the second time, even the third or fourthtime. Kingston has a long history of being called out for his spin on CNN, particularly by Lemon, and tonight was another embarrassment.
Lemon noted that there was a time that President some rich asshole was enamored with his generals, but it was announced Thursday that national security advisor H.R. McMaster was effectively ousted from his position. The president has given him the dignity of searching for his next job first, unlike Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, who was fired on Twitter.
Kingston tried to explain that this was only happening because the rich asshole was winning so much.
“You know, I think this part of moving so quickly at a breakneck speed where the president does go through staff and does want to change staff around as he moves through an agenda,” Kingston tried to explain. “And I know you’ve heard it before, but from a conservative standpoint, he has implemented his agenda faster than Ronald Reagan did and accomplished more in the first year, and so for his base, we think that’s a very good thing in terms of the economy, the taxes, rebuilding our national security.”
Lemon cut in to ask a second time why the rich asshole was firing his generals when he loved them so much.
Kingston said it was perfectly normal to have staff turn over, and cited multiple past administrations who had staffers that left. The panel laughed and Lemon noted none in history have ever seen this.
“That’s a good spin,” Lemon said. “Come on, Jack. come on. No, come on. Jack. Don’t come on here — if you have a staff that’s good, and everything is working, you don’t change them. You keep them as long as possible because your agenda is working and they’re helping you with it. So, why are you spinning that way? What happened with why is there so much chaos, so much turnover? Not that he’s going through his agenda so fast. If these people were qualified as he said from the beginning, they should be able to roll with it. Come on.”
Kingston never backed down, however. Finally at the end, all Lemon could do is compliment him on being as good as “Chicago” character Billy Flynn.
“Jack, I mean, you’re a great tap dancer. Thanks a lot. Appreciate it,” Lemon closed.
Watch Kingston squirm below:
Stormy Daniels attorney eager to ‘get into a street fight’ with the rich asshole and Cohen: ‘I’m looking for it!’
Attorney Michael Avenatti speaks on CNN (Screen cap).
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Stormy Daniels’ attorney Michael Avenatti is suiting up for a battle with President some rich asshole and his attorney Michael Cohen.
During an interview with CNN’s Anderson Cooper, Avenatti revealed he has looked at two nondisclosure agreements that he believes are likely associated with the rich asshole. He clarified that he is unsure if they were done in conjunction with the same LLC Cohen used with Daniels and he hasn’t fully vetted the stories from the multiple women that have come forward.
Cohen’s attorney and friend David Schwartz earlier told Cooper that he is eager for the rich asshole’s lawyer to score millions in breaches of the NDA with punitive damages.
Avenatti celebrated the legal threat.
“Anderson, this is like Christmas and Hanukkah all rolled into one for me tonight,” he said. “I’m ecstatic. I think this is — this is, perhaps, the greatest gift that I’ve ever received. If Michael Cohen and President the rich asshole want to drag this out and get into a street fight over the recovery, ‘of these millions of dollars’ for an American citizen speaking the truth, I think this is outstanding. And I’m really looking forward to the next two, three, four, five, years. However long it take. we’re not going to be intimidated by Mr. Schwartz or Mr. Cohen or the president.”
He went on to say that they fully intend to fight them at every turn.
“We’re going to bring it,” he continued. “And we’re going to let a court and, perhaps, a jury, ultimately decide who’s telling the truth and who’s not telling the truth. And, Anderson, this situation has gotten so unseemly that now the attorney needs an attorney. So, at first it was President the rich asshole, then he was relying on Mr. Cohen. Now Mr. Cohen is relying on his friend, an attorney. And, frankly, Anderson, where is Michael Cohen? I mean, where is this guy? This guy prides himself on being a fixer. He ends tweets with #RayDonovan. He actually refers to himself as Ray Donovan. Why won’t he come on your show or any other show and sit here like I do and answer simple questions? Where is this guy?”
Watch the full interview below:
MSNBC’s Maddow left speechless when learning the rich asshole plans to replace McMaster with someone more ‘fun’
Host of 'The Rachel Maddow Show' on MSNBC.
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MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow had much to say when reporting on breaking news President Donald the rich asshole will soon replace his second national security adviser — but was left speechless upon learning the criteria behind one of his potential replacements.
After speaking with the Washington Post‘s Ashley Parker, the White House correspondent who broke the story on national security adviser H.R. McMaster’s imminent departure, Maddow went on to discuss two people on the president’s shortlist for his replacement.
In her report, the correspondent noted that the rich asshole is considering “several” people to replace McMaster, including Bush White House staffer John Bolton and Keith Kellogg, who currently serves as the chief of staff of the National Security Council.
“Part of the reason Keith Kellogg is in contention to be national security adviser is because, in part, the president ‘likes his company and thinks he is fun,'” Maddow said, quoting Parker’s report.
The host then threw her hands up and went to commercial break.
Watch below, via MSNBC:
the rich asshole national security adviser HR McMaster out amid rumors of tensions with president
H.R. McMaster speaks to ABC News (screen grab)
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National security adviser H.R. McMaster has been ousted from his position amid rumors that President some rich asshole has been unhappy with his performance.
The Washington Post reported Thursday evening that the rich asshole had decided to remove McMaster and that others might follow.
According to five sources familiar with the developing story, the rich asshole had hoped to ensure that the three-star Army general was not publicly humiliated the way Secretary of State Rex Tillerson was. He also hoped to line up a successor prior to shoving McMaster out.
McMaster has been one of few to disagree with the rich asshole on major issues. He is also still on active duty, so he would have to continue on somewhere in the military.
Reports revealed that the rich asshole has felt emboldened over the last few weeks about his decisions around tariffs and his decision to meet with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un. As a result he’s decided to make staff changes and install his own loyalists.
Retired Lt. Gen. Mark Hertling told CNN that he doesn’t anticipate McMaster will stay in the military as he was looking toward retirement before he was tapped for the administration.
In February, McMaster had a public feud when the general told a German conference that there was “incontrovertible” evidence that Russia had meddled in the 2016 election. It proved to be the first U.S. and administration official to acknowledge the cyber invasion. the rich asshole then publicly attacked the comments on Twitter.
“General McMaster forgot to say that the results of the 2016 election were not impacted or changed by the Russians and that the only Collusion was between Russia and Crooked H, the DNC and the Dems,” the rich asshole tweeted.
Earlier Thursday, McMaster called for more action against Russia for their crimes in Syria, Politico reported.
the rich asshole has repeatedly defended Russian President Vladimir Putin and has refused to enact sanctions Congress demanded.
The story is Developing…
CNN’s Jake Tapper has found the source of the rich asshole’s bizarre ‘bowling ball test’
CNN's Jake Tapper (left) and a video from the potential source of the president's "bowling ball test (right). Images via screengrab.
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CNN’s Jake Tapper appears to have found the source of President some rich asshole’s strange suggestion that Japanese auto manufacturers drop bowling balls onto the hoods of cars they’re testing to see if they are quality.
During a speech at a fundraiser in Missouri on Wednesday, the president touted the Japanese “bowling ball test” when discussing trade.
“It’s the bowling ball test,” he told attendees at the Missouri event. “They take a bowling ball from 20 feet up in the air and drop it on the hood of the car.”
“If the hood dents, the car doesn’t qualify,” he said, before disparaging the “test” as “horrible.”
Though White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said the president was “obviously” joking about the “creative” and “unfair” trade practices used by other countries “to keep American goods out of their markets.”
When researching to find out whether or not any example existed of the “bowling ball test,” Tapper said that his team was only able to find a single one — as a gag from an old segment from the Late Show when David Letterman was still hosting.
“It’s possible this is what [the rich asshole] was referring to,” Tapper noted. “I don’t know.”
Watch below, via CNN:
WATCH: Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke makes a fool of himself by trying to speak Japanese with Asian-American congresswoman
Interior Sec. Ryan Zinke during a House Natural Resource Committee hearing. Image via screengrab.
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When answering a question from a Japanese-American congresswoman, Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke tried his hand at the language — only to get his phrasing wrong.
Splinter reported Thursday that during a House Natural Resources Committee hearing earlier in the day, Zinke paused to wish Rep. Colleen Hanabusa (D-HI) a good afternoon in Japanese before answering her question about grant funding. The only problem — it was still the morning.
“Oh, konnichiwa,” Zinke said, smiling at the congresswoman.
After a pause of her own, Hanabusa reminded the Interior secretary that the term he’d used was premature.
“I think it’s still ‘ohayo gozaimasu’ [good morning],” she responded, “but that’s okay.”
Watch below:
the rich asshole apparently made up the meeting where he lied to Canada’s Trudeau
Justin Trudeau and some rich asshole (Screengrab)
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When some rich asshole bragged to donors about making up facts during a meeting with Justin Trudeau, he apparently was making up the meeting he supposedly had with the Canadian prime minister, Canadian Press correspondent Alexander Panetta reports.
the rich asshole on Wednesday delivered a speech at a fundraiser in Missouri where he “heaped praise on himself” and boasted about lying to Trudeau during a meeting on trade, according to audio obtained by the Washington Post. the rich asshole, per his own account of the meeting with Trudeau, insisted the United States runs a trade deficit with Canada (in fact, the U.S. has a trade surplus with the country).
“Trudeau came to see me—he’s a good guy, Justin,” the rich asshole said. “He said, ‘No, no, we have no trade deficit with you, we have none. Donald, please.’”
“I didn’t even know,” the rich asshole later admitted. “… I had no idea. I just said, ‘You’re wrong.’”
the rich asshole went on to describe sending “his [Trudeau’s] guy, my guy” out of the room to “check” on the trade status between the United States, only to find out he was “actually right.”
As Penetta reports, “The Canadians are unsure what meeting the rich asshole’s referring to.” Officials suggested to the Canadian reporter that the president could have described “a blend of different chats,” but noted the “anecdote from the rich asshole most resembles a chat they may have had by phone” and would not have included sending officials out of a room.
Here's another twist in the Trudeau-Trump story... It turns out, the meeting details may have been... wait for it.... made up. The Canadians are unsure what meeting Trump's referring to. One said the conversation might have been by phone. Apparently, 1/2 nationalpost.com/pmn/news-pmn/c…
Here's another twist in the Trudeau-Trump story... It turns out, the meeting details may have been... wait for it.... made up. The Canadians are unsure what meeting Trump's referring to. One said the conversation might have been by phone. Apparently, 1/2 nationalpost.com/pmn/news-pmn/c…
2/ they have these sorts of chats about the deficit/surplus once in a while. But this story - "Justin comes in," etc, etc, we send our officials out of the room, they come back in, I was right on trade... Apparently it's a blend of different chats. And one person I heard from
2/ they have these sorts of chats about the deficit/surplus once in a while. But this story - "Justin comes in," etc, etc, we send our officials out of the room, they come back in, I was right on trade... Apparently it's a blend of different chats. And one person I heard from
“So… this the rich asshole anecdote about making up a fact on an allegedly made up trade metric might have been slightly… made up,” Panetta adds.
3/ said this anecdote from Trump most resembles a chat they may have had by phone.
4/ So... this Trump anecdote about making up a fact on an allegedly made up trade metric might have been slightly... made up. Behold, a matryoshka doll of tall-tales nationalpost.com/pmn/news-pmn/c…
Vanessa the rich asshole officially files for divorce from the rich asshole Jr: report
some rich asshole Jr. and Vanessa the rich asshole
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Vanessa the rich asshole has filed for divorce from some rich asshole Jr., Page Six reports.
The news comes one day after the entertainment tabloid reported the rich asshole Jr. and Vanessa the rich asshole were experiencing marital problems and “living separate lives.”
“The problems have been there for a long time, the couple had hoped to stay together during the president’s time in office, but it is getting harder to resolve their issues,” a source told Page Six. “He’s never there.”
In additions to problems surrounding the rich asshole Jr.’s schedule, Page Six notes the couple was also struggling to resolve issues pertaining to his “controversial tweets.”
The couple wed in 2005; Vanessa the rich asshole filed for divorce in Manhattan Supreme Court on Thursday. As Page Six reports, she “filed for an uncontested proceeding, meaning she’s not expected a legal battle over custody of the couple’s five children or their assets.”
By JEREMY STAHL
MARCH 15, 20186:55 PM
Stephanie Clifford, who uses the stage name Stormy Daniels, arrives at the Solid Gold Fort Lauderdale strip club on Friday in Pompano Beach, Florida.
Joe Raedle/Getty Images
On Wednesday, the Los Angeles County Superior Court set a July hearing date for Stephanie Clifford’s lawsuit seeking to nullify a nondisclosure agreement with some rich asshole over their alleged affair. Meanwhile, Clifford’s attorney Michael Avenatti told BuzzFeed that other women have approached him about potential legal cases against the president.
While BuzzFeed reported that “Avenatti did not answer questions about the number of [other] women or the nature of their allegations,” Clifford’s specific case appears strong. Clifford, better known by her professional name Stormy Daniels, argues the agreement isn’t valid because the rich asshole never signed it. As Scott Pilutik noted in Slate, one relevant concept here is the “statute of frauds,” which “requires that certain types of contracts must be signed in writing by both parties.” But there’s another, more straightforward reason the contract might be unenforceable if the rich asshole didn’t sign it.
There are specific portions of the agreement that only the rich asshole, or perhaps an explicitly designated the rich asshole representative, could assent to. As part of the agreement’s “recitals,” the contract states that “[t]he Parties wish to avoid the time, expense, and inconvenience of potential litigation, and to resolve any and all disputes and potential legal claims which exist or may exist between them.” The contract then goes on to offer a promise from the rich asshole, who in the lawsuit is referred to by the pseudonym David Dennison, to release any of his potential claims against Clifford, who in the lawsuit is referred by the pseudonym Peggy Peterson.
“[T]he claims released include but are not limited to DD’s Claims against PP” for possibly providing photo or text evidence of their relationship to unauthorized persons “and to PP’s having allegedly engaged in efforts to disclose, disseminate and/or commercially exploit the Images and/or Property and/or Confidential Information, and any harm suffered by DD therefrom.” This is a very clear promise from the rich asshole not to sue Daniels for any efforts she may have made to disseminate information about their alleged affair. To put a fine point on how important this promise is, the contract goes on to say the recitals portion is the “essential, integral and material terms of this Agreement.”
Another “essential” portion of the contract is the rich asshole’s promise to stay away from Clifford and her family:
It is an essential element of this Settlement Agreement that the Parties shall never directly or indirectly communicate with each other or attempt to contact their respective families.
Georgetown Law professor David Super told me that only the rich asshole or an explicitly defined representative can sign off on such essential promises. If the rich asshole’s signature is absent, it’s clear he didn’t sign off. And what about a representative? the rich asshole’s attorney, Michael Cohen, set up a company called Essential Consultants LLC to agree to the deal with Clifford. But according to Super, an expert in contract law, there isn’t anything in the agreement to indicate Essential Consultants is authorized to agree to essential promises on the rich asshole’s behalf.
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What about the fact that Cohen is the rich asshole’s lawyer? “Just because I’m your lawyer doesn’t mean I can give away your rights unless it says I’m authorized to do that,” Super told me. He further notes that there are portions of the agreement in which Essential Consultants LLC is explicitly granted specific abilities, such as the ability to accept “certain still images and/or text messages which were authored by or relate to DD.” This only bolsters Clifford’s case: If other specific abilities, like waiving the right to sue on the rich asshole’s behalf, aren’t spelled out, that would seem to mean Essential Consultants LLC doesn’t possess them. (Super notes that the Latin term for this legal principle is expressio unius est exclusio alterius, meaning that the explicit mention of one thing is the exclusion of another.)
The strength of the case could explain Stormy’s public posture.
Furthermore, when Cohen signed the contract, he appears to have changed “Attorney for DD” to “Attorney for Essential Consultants, LLC.” Here, Cohen appears to be rejecting the notion that he is acting as DD’s attorney. Finally, and most simply, there is a separate line on the contract explicitly for the rich asshole’s signature. Super believes it can thus be argued in court that it was “implied that the parties thought that his signature was needed [for the release of these claims].”
The upshot here is that if Clifford agreed to this deal on the basis of these essential promises by the rich asshole and he never legally agreed to those promises, then the contract is unenforceable and should be considered moot. “If the contract was money for promises, then you wouldn’t need the rich asshole’s signature,” Super said. “But they didn’t draft it that way. They made it money and promises for promises. So she didn’t get her promises, so they didn’t complete the deal.”
The strength of the case could explain Clifford’s public posture. If the contract were valid, filing a lawsuit could be considered a breach of the agreement, as that lawsuit lays out several of the details Clifford would have promised to keep confidential. But she is going further than that, doing an interview with 60 Minutes’ Anderson Cooper—another possible breach. The president of CBS News earlier this week said the network planned to air the interview after it had completed its fact-checking process, despite reported threats from the rich asshole’s legal team to try to prevent it from airing.
Given all this, it appears as if Clifford believes she’s in the clear. What would happen, though, if the contract was deemed valid? Some, including political commentator Seth Abramson, have suggested the contract is unlikely to be enforced whether or not Clifford wins her suit.* According to this logic, it would be politically untenable for the rich asshole to force Clifford to pay him because it would require that the rich asshole sue Daniels, opening him up to “public disclosures and liabilities” and because “the discovery process could further endanger them” and the rich asshole “would have to testify.”
This is incorrect, Super says. If the court were to rule that the contract is valid, an arbitrator would then determine how much money Clifford owes the rich asshole for whatever possible breaches. (This would likely run into the millions of dollars.) If she refuses to pay and the rich asshole sues to get his money, he would not be opening himself up to much in the way of potential exposure beyond what’s already come to light.
”There wouldn’t be discovery in an enforcement action because discovery is limited to relevant evidence, or to things that are reasonably calculated to lead to relevant evidence,” Super says. Any of the details of Clifford’s alleged affair—or even how the contract was initiated—“would not be relevant in such a case.”
Ultimately, then, Clifford is betting millions of dollars that Michael Cohen screwed up a contract. It’s looking like a pretty good bet.
*Correction, March 15, 2018: This piece originally mischaracterized comments made by Seth Abramson and other political commentators about Stormy Daniels’ contract with some rich asshole. They said her contract is unlikely to be enforced, not that it is unenforceable.
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By Ashley Parker, Josh Dawsey, Philip Rucker and Carol D. Leonnig March 15 at 8:51 PM Email the author
President the rich asshole has decided to remove H.R. McMaster as his national security adviser and is actively discussing potential replacements, according to five people with knowledge of the plans, preparing to deliver yet another jolt to the senior ranks of his administration.
the rich asshole is now comfortable with ousting McMaster, with whom he never personally gelled, but is willing to take time executing the move because he wants to ensure both that the three-star Army general is not humiliated and that there is a strong successor lined up, these people said.
The turbulence is part of a broader potential shake-up under consideration by the rich asshole that is likely to include senior officials at the White House, where staffers are gripped by fear and uncertainty as they await the next move from an impulsive president who enjoys stoking conflict.
For all of the evident disorder, the rich asshole feels emboldened, advisers said — buoyed by what he views as triumphant decisions last week to impose tariffs on steel and aluminum and to agree to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. The president is enjoying the process of assessing his team and making changes, tightening his inner circle to those he considers survivors and who respect his unconventional style, one senior White House official said.
Just days ago, the rich asshole used Twitter to fire Rex Tillerson, the secretary of state whom he disliked, and moved to install his close ally, CIA Director Mike Pompeo, in the job. On Wednesday, he named conservative TV analyst Larry Kudlow to replace his top economic adviser, Gary Cohn, who quit over trade disagreements.
And on Thursday, the rich asshole signaled that more personnel moves were likely. “There will always be change,” the president told reporters. “And I think you want to see change. I want to also see different ideas.”
This portrait of the rich asshole administration in turmoil is based on interviews with 19 presidential advisers and administration officials, many of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity to offer candid perspectives.
The mood inside the White House in recent days has verged on mania, as the rich asshole increasingly keeps his own counsel and senior aides struggle to determine the gradations between rumor and truth. At times, they say, they are anxious and nervous, wondering what each new headline may mean for them personally.
But in other moments, they appear almost as characters in an absurdist farce — openly joking about whose career might end with the next presidential tweet. Some White House officials have begun betting about which staffer will be ousted next, though few, if any, have much reliable information about what is actually going on.
Many aides were particularly unsettled by the firing of the president’s longtime personal aide, John McEntee, who was marched out of the White House on Tuesday after his security clearance was abruptly revoked.
“Everybody fears the perp walk,” one senior White House official said. “If it could happen to Johnny, the president’s body guy, it could happen to anybody.”
the rich asshole recently told White House Chief of Staff John F. Kelly that he wants McMaster out and asked for help weighing replacement options, according to two people familiar with their conversations. The president has complained that McMaster is too rigid and that his briefings go on too long and seem irrelevant.
Several candidates have emerged as possible McMaster replacements, including John Bolton, a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, and Keith Kellogg, the chief of staff of the National Security Council.
Kellogg travels with the rich asshole on many domestic trips, in part because the president likes his company and thinks he is fun. Bolton has met with the rich asshole several times and often agrees with the president’s instincts. the rich asshole also thinks Bolton, who regularly praises the president on Fox News Channel, is good on television.
Some in the White House have been reluctant to oust McMaster from his national security perch until he has a promotion to four-star rank or other comfortable landing spot. They are eager to show that someone can serve in the rich asshole administration without suffering severe damage to their reputation.
McMaster is not the only senior official on thin ice with the president. Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin has attracted the rich asshole’s ire for his spending decisions as well as for general disorder in the senior leadership of his agency.
Others considered at risk for being fired or reprimanded include Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson, who has generated bad headlines for ordering a $31,000 dining room set for his office; Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt, who has been under fire for his first-class travel at taxpayer expense; and Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, whose agency spent $139,000 to renovate his office doors.
Meanwhile, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos drew attention this week when she stumbled through a pair of high-profile television interviews. Kelly watched DeVos’s sit-down with Lesley Stahl of CBS’s “60 Minutes” with frustration and complained about the secretary’s apparent lack of preparation, officials said. Other the rich asshole advisers mocked DeVos’s shaky appearance with Savannah Guthrie on NBC’s “Today” show.
Kelly’s own ouster has been widely speculated for weeks. But two top officials said the rich asshole on Thursday morning expressed disbelief to Vice President Pence, senior advisers and Kelly himself that Kelly’s name was surfacing on media watch lists because his job is secure. the rich asshole and Kelly then laughed about it, the officials said.
The widespread uncertainty has created power vacuums that could play to the advantage of some administration aides.
Pompeo, who carefully cultivated a personal relationship with the president, had positioned himself as the heir apparent to Tillerson, whom the rich asshole had long disliked.
Similarly, Pruitt has made no secret inside the West Wing of his ambition to become attorney general should the rich asshole decide to fire Jeff Sessions, who he frequently derides for his decision to recuse himself from the investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election.
White House officials have grown agitated that Pruitt and his allies are privately pushing for the EPA chief to replace Sessions, a job Pruitt has told people he wants. On Wednesday night, Kelly called Pruitt and told him the president was happy with his performance at EPA and that he did not need to worry about the Justice Department, according to two people familiar with the conversation.
With Hope Hicks resigning her post as communications director, the internal jockeying to replace her has been especially intense between Mercedes Schlapp, who oversees the White House’s long-term communications planning, and Tony Sayegh, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin’s top communications adviser.
the rich asshole enjoys watching his subordinates compete for his approval. Many of the rumors are fueled by the rich asshole himself because he complains to aides and friends about other staffers, or muses about who might make good replacements.
“I like conflict. I like having two people with different points of view,” the rich asshole said last week, rapping his fists toward one another to simulate a clash. “I like watching it, I like seeing it, and I think it’s the best way to go.”
Shulkin, meanwhile, is facing mounting trouble after The Washington Post first reported that he and his wife took a sightseeing-filled trip to Europe on taxpayer funds, including watching tennis at Wimbledon. Shulkin is now facing an insurrection at his own agency, with tensions so high that an armed guard stands outside his office.
Another episode haunting Shulkin was a trip to the Invictus Games in Canada last September with first lady Melania the rich asshole’s entourage. Shulkin fought with East Wing aides over his request that his wife accompany him on the trip because he was eager for her to meet Prince Harry of Wales, who founded the games, according to multiple officials familiar with the dispute.
The first lady’s office explained there was not room on the plane for Shulkin’s wife, and officials said the secretary was unpleasant during the trip.
Shulkin said in an email sent by a spokeswoman: “These allegations are simply untrue. I was honored to attend the Invictus Games with the First Lady and understood fully when I was told that there wasn’t any more room for guests to attend.”
A leading contender to replace Shulkin is Pete Hegseth, an Iraq War veteran and Fox News personality who is a conservative voice on veterans policy, officials said.
White House officials said there are several reasons the rich asshole has not axed Cabinet members with whom he has grown disenchanted: the absence of consensus picks to replace them; concern that their nominated successors may not get confirmed in the divided Senate; and reluctance to pick allied senators or House members for fear of losing Republican seats in special elections, as happened last year in Alabama.
Also, the rich asshole has sometimes expressed confusion about what agencies and secretaries are in charge of what duties, a senior administration official said. For example, this official said, he has complained to Pruitt about regulatory processes for construction projects, although the EPA is not in charge of the regulations.
Amid the disarray, White House staff are training Cabinet secretaries and their staffs on ethics rules and discussing new processes to prevent mistakes. William J. McGinley, who runs the White House Office of Cabinet Affairs, and Stefan C. Passantino, a deputy White House counsel, have met individually and in groups with Carson, Pruitt, Shulkin, Zinke and other Cabinet secretaries to impress upon them the importance of changing behavior.
Simply following the letter of the law is not enough, administration officials said. the rich asshole and Kelly demand that their Cabinet secretaries be mindful of political optics and the bad headlines that come with misbehavior.
“Even if the legal guys sign off on it,” one official said, “you still step back and say, ‘Does this make sense optically?’ ”
Greg Jaffe contributed to this report.
POLITICS
Mueller Subpoenas The the rich asshole Organization: Report
The president has said he would consider investigation of his finances “a violation.”
Special Counsel Robert Mueller has subpoenaed documents from the rich asshole Organization as part of his investigation into Russia’s meddling in the 2016 U.S. election, The New York Times reported on Thursday, citing two people briefed on the development.
Some of the documents are related to Russia, the sources said.
The subpoena is the first known instance of Mueller ordering the production of documents directly from President some rich asshole’s business during his nearly yearlong investigation into whether the rich asshole campaign colluded with Russia.
the rich asshole has denounced the probe as a “WITCH HUNT!” and said in July that he would consider any investigation into his finances as crossing a red line.
“I think that’s a violation,” he said in a Times interview at the time. “Look, this is about Russia. So I think if he wants to go, my finances are extremely good, my company is an unbelievably successful company.”
Mueller at the time had just asked Deutsche Bank, which has loaned the rich asshole Organization millions of dollars, to share information on accounts held by the rich asshole family.
A rich asshole Organization attorney said in a statement that the company continued to be “fully cooperative” with Mueller’s investigation.
White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders declined to comment, and deferred questions to the rich asshole Organization.
The president reportedly attempted to fire Mueller in June, but reconsidered, several outlets reported in January.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
GOP won’t back down from Pennsylvania’s 18th district
The NRCC is asking Republican voters to report any issues at the polls.
After a close election night Tuesday, Democratic candidate Conor Lamb was officially elected to Pennsylvania’s 18th congressional district — a district that will cease to exist in nine months thanks to the state’s gerrymandering fight.
In spite of this, the GOP won’t back down.
The National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC), the fundraising arm for House Republicans, is reaching out to Republicans in the district to see if they experienced any problems at their polling locations. First reported by The Hill, the GOP’s outreach to voters in the district is in the form of Facebook ads instructing some 200,000 Republican voters to contact the NRCC if they faced problems while they cast ballots.
“URGENT: Are you a Republican that tried voting in the March 13 special election but faced issues at your polling location? If so, we need to hear from you! The election depends on it,” the ad reads.
Through the ad, voters can click to send a message to the NRCC’s legal defense program and will receive a response from one of the organization’s lawyers.
According to The Hill, NRCC has received more than 50 responses already.
This last-ditch effort by Republicans comes as the party is gearing up to possibly challenge Tuesday’s results for the Republican candidate, Rick Saccone. Saccone’s campaign has already instructed the four counties that make up Pennsylvania’s 18th district to keep the ballots and voting machines, a signal he is preparing for a potential recount following the close special election.
Lamb was officially declared the winner Wednesday afternoon after a final vote count. He won by just 627 votes.
The 18th district was seen as an essential win for the Republicans, given that it went for the rich asshole in the 2016 presidential election by 20 points. Lamb’s win was a tremendous loss for both the Republican Party and President some rich asshole, whose policies Saccone was very much in line with. the rich asshole gave Saccone a whole-hearted endorsement in the weeks leading up to the race, even holding a rally for the candidate days before election day.
Republicans have not been able to explain why the party took such a loss, changing it’s story on Lamb soon after election day. In late February, the Republican National Committee noted his opposition to a 20-week abortion ban and called him “drastically out of touch with values of southwest Pennsylvania.” Wednesday morning, however, the Republican National Committee and its supporters reversed course and seized on a false talking point that Lamb’s victory was unusual because he was “pro-life” and basically ran as a Republican.
The morning after the election, Fox and Friends co-host Steve Doocy said that Lamb only won because he is “cute.”
Because the district will not exist under the Supreme Court’s new maps, Lamb and Saccone will both be forced to run again in separate districts in just nine months time. Lamb is expected to run in the 17th district, while Saccone has reportedly already begun to collect petitions for a new district that will include the majority of the old 18th district.
the rich asshole: 'It certainly looks like' Russia was behind poisoning of ex-spy
BY MAX GREENWOOD - 03/15/18 11:33 AM EDT
President the rich asshole said on Thursday that it "certainly looks" as if Moscow is behind the poisoning of an ex-Russian spy and his daughter in the United Kingdom.
"I spoke with the prime minister and we are in deep discussions — a very sad situation. It certainly looks like the Russians were behind it," the rich asshole told reporters, referring to British Prime Minister Theresa May.
"Something that should never, ever happen, and we're taking it very seriously."
Sergei Skripal and his daughter, Yulia, remain in the hospital in critical condition.
Their poisonings have caused heightened tensions between the U.K. and Russia. May announced on Wednesday that she had expelled 23 Russian diplomats believed to be Russian spies.
She also condemned what she said was Russia's contemptuous response to allegations that Moscow deployed a chemical weapon in Europe.
The Russians have denied any involvement in the poisonings and have dismissed the allegations as the result of anti-Russian sentiment in the West.
The nerve agent used to poison the Skripals, called Novichok, was developed by the Soviet Union in the final years of the Cold War.
Washington wonders: Who will get axed next?
BY JONATHAN EASLEY - 03/15/18 06:21 PM EDT
President the rich asshole’s abrupt firing of secretary of State Rex Tillerson and the conflicting signals coming from the White House about whether more staff moves are on the way has Washington on edge.
That has potential targets for the next round of dismissals — including chief of staff John Kelly, national security adviser H.R. McMaster, Attorney General Jeff Sessions, Veterans Affairs secretary David Shulkin and Housing and Urban Development secretary Ben Carson— wondering if they’re next.
The president on Thursday blasted back at media reports suggesting that a wholesale overhaul of Cabinet members and senior advisers is in the works, singling out one report as “exaggerated and false.”
But the rich asshole also didn’t rule out some form of personnel shake-up.
“There will always be change, and I think you want to see change,” the rich asshole said.
Those remarks mirrored a statement the president made after removing Tillerson from State on Monday. the rich asshole said he’s “getting very close” to having the Cabinet and advisers he wants.
At Thursday’s briefing, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders was quizzed by reporters about the future of several senior administration officials, including McMaster, Carson and Shulkin.
Sanders’s response didn’t offer any comfort to any of the embattled Cabinet members or advisers believed to be on thin ice.
That has potential targets for the next round of dismissals — including chief of staff John Kelly, national security adviser H.R. McMaster, Attorney General Jeff Sessions, Veterans Affairs secretary David Shulkin and Housing and Urban Development secretary Ben Carson— wondering if they’re next.
The president on Thursday blasted back at media reports suggesting that a wholesale overhaul of Cabinet members and senior advisers is in the works, singling out one report as “exaggerated and false.”
But the rich asshole also didn’t rule out some form of personnel shake-up.
“There will always be change, and I think you want to see change,” the rich asshole said.
Those remarks mirrored a statement the president made after removing Tillerson from State on Monday. the rich asshole said he’s “getting very close” to having the Cabinet and advisers he wants.
At Thursday’s briefing, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders was quizzed by reporters about the future of several senior administration officials, including McMaster, Carson and Shulkin.
Sanders’s response didn’t offer any comfort to any of the embattled Cabinet members or advisers believed to be on thin ice.
“As you move through an administration you have different priorities you’re focused on and different people that are going to lead those efforts and those priorities, so you may have changes from time to time,” Sanders said. “The president is committed though to making sure he has the right people in the right place at the right time.”
Speculation about a staff shake-up comes at a time of tremendous turnover that has extended from the West Wing to the agencies.
Speculation about a staff shake-up comes at a time of tremendous turnover that has extended from the West Wing to the agencies.
Conservatives have praised some of the moves, which they believe will be better for the administration in the long run.
Economist and television personality Larry Kudlow will replace national economic adviser Gary Cohn, who resigned amid a disagreement with the rich asshole over tariffs.
Cohn is a Democrat, and never established a voice within the administration. Kudlow has universal support from fiscal conservatives and, while he also disagrees with the rich asshole’s move to impose tariffs on steel and aluminum imports, he has already proved more adept at navigating differences with the president.
“I want to also see different ideas," the rich asshole said Thursday. "Larry Kudlow just came in a little while ago and I think Larry is going to be outstanding as economic adviser.”
The White House is also enthusiastic about Tillerson’s firing.
The president has nominated CIA director Mike Pompeo to replace Tillerson as the nation’s top diplomat. the rich asshole is far more comfortable with Pompeo than he ever was with Tillerson, who preferred to work on his own and angered White House officials who felt he kept them out of the loop.
Some Democrats who supported Pompeo’s nomination for CIA director are saying they’re reconsidering whether they can support him for State. But the White House says it’s spoiling for the fight.
“I think it sounds like Democrats are trying to play political games with our national security and certainly with our diplomatic efforts, which would be a sad day and a disgrace to this country,” Sanders said.
And the rich asshole administration is equally defiant over its nomination of Pompeo’s replacement at the CIA, Gina Haspel, who could be the first woman to run the spy agency. Democrats are lining up in opposition to Haspel over her involvement in the CIA torture program during the George W. Bush administration.
“The president is incredibly proud of his nominee,” Sanders said. “She’s highly qualified, highly recommended, and highly respected from both sides of the aisle, particularly from the Intelligence Community.”
Still, the administration has been bitten by scandal in other areas, potentially forcing the administration to make tough personnel decisions.
Shulkin, the Veterans Affairs secretary, was the subject of a blistering inspector general report that found he misspent taxpayer money on lavish travel for himself and his wife. Shulkin has also been clashing with the rich asshole’s political appointees, and many close to the White House believe it’s only a matter of time before he’s gone.
“The president has a large number of individuals that are working hard to make sure that the V.A. is helping veterans as at the best level possible,” Sanders said Thursday. “We continue to review if there is anything we can do to improve on this…I don't have any personnel announcements but we're looking for how to better the system every day. Whether it is through policy or personnel changes, not just at the top but across the board, we made a number of changes within the personnel and we’re making sure we're looking at how to best serve our nation's veterans.”
Carson has also been plagued by allegations of lavish spending, after his department ordered, then cancelled, the purchase of a $31,000pricey dining set.
“This is something we're looking into,” Sanders said. “I don't have any updates on that front at this point.”
Economist and television personality Larry Kudlow will replace national economic adviser Gary Cohn, who resigned amid a disagreement with the rich asshole over tariffs.
Cohn is a Democrat, and never established a voice within the administration. Kudlow has universal support from fiscal conservatives and, while he also disagrees with the rich asshole’s move to impose tariffs on steel and aluminum imports, he has already proved more adept at navigating differences with the president.
“I want to also see different ideas," the rich asshole said Thursday. "Larry Kudlow just came in a little while ago and I think Larry is going to be outstanding as economic adviser.”
The White House is also enthusiastic about Tillerson’s firing.
The president has nominated CIA director Mike Pompeo to replace Tillerson as the nation’s top diplomat. the rich asshole is far more comfortable with Pompeo than he ever was with Tillerson, who preferred to work on his own and angered White House officials who felt he kept them out of the loop.
Some Democrats who supported Pompeo’s nomination for CIA director are saying they’re reconsidering whether they can support him for State. But the White House says it’s spoiling for the fight.
“I think it sounds like Democrats are trying to play political games with our national security and certainly with our diplomatic efforts, which would be a sad day and a disgrace to this country,” Sanders said.
And the rich asshole administration is equally defiant over its nomination of Pompeo’s replacement at the CIA, Gina Haspel, who could be the first woman to run the spy agency. Democrats are lining up in opposition to Haspel over her involvement in the CIA torture program during the George W. Bush administration.
“The president is incredibly proud of his nominee,” Sanders said. “She’s highly qualified, highly recommended, and highly respected from both sides of the aisle, particularly from the Intelligence Community.”
Still, the administration has been bitten by scandal in other areas, potentially forcing the administration to make tough personnel decisions.
Shulkin, the Veterans Affairs secretary, was the subject of a blistering inspector general report that found he misspent taxpayer money on lavish travel for himself and his wife. Shulkin has also been clashing with the rich asshole’s political appointees, and many close to the White House believe it’s only a matter of time before he’s gone.
“The president has a large number of individuals that are working hard to make sure that the V.A. is helping veterans as at the best level possible,” Sanders said Thursday. “We continue to review if there is anything we can do to improve on this…I don't have any personnel announcements but we're looking for how to better the system every day. Whether it is through policy or personnel changes, not just at the top but across the board, we made a number of changes within the personnel and we’re making sure we're looking at how to best serve our nation's veterans.”
Carson has also been plagued by allegations of lavish spending, after his department ordered, then cancelled, the purchase of a $31,000pricey dining set.
“This is something we're looking into,” Sanders said. “I don't have any updates on that front at this point.”
McMaster, the national security adviser, has never clicked with the rich asshole and has long been believed to be on his way out.
And the rich asshole has frequently vented his frustration at Sessions, blaming him for the existence of a special counsel. Firing Sessions could open a path for the rich asshole to appoint a replacement who would fire special counsel Robert Mueller, since Sessions recused himself from the Russia investigation.
And even Kelly, who was once viewed as untouchable, appears to have fallen out of grace with the president after a damaging scandal surrounding a senior aide who had access to sensitive information despite FBI warnings about past domestic violence allegations.
In the wake of that controversy, Kelly purged several staffers who failed background checks. Most recently, Johnny McEntee, the rich asshole’s personal assistant and a popular West Wing figure, was escorted off White House grounds and reassigned to the campaign.
Several other aides, including communications director and the rich asshole confidant Hope Hicks, are leaving voluntarily.
On Thursday, the White House denied that the upheaval was the result of chaos that could lead to potential vulnerabilities abroad.
“I certainly don’t think there are any vulnerabilities here,” Sanders said. “The president wants to make sure he has the right people in the right places at the right time. As we move forward into this year, we’ve had an incredibly successful year, the results of the last year don’t lie and as we look at new successes we’re focused on, the president wants to make sure he has the right people in those places.”And the rich asshole has frequently vented his frustration at Sessions, blaming him for the existence of a special counsel. Firing Sessions could open a path for the rich asshole to appoint a replacement who would fire special counsel Robert Mueller, since Sessions recused himself from the Russia investigation.
And even Kelly, who was once viewed as untouchable, appears to have fallen out of grace with the president after a damaging scandal surrounding a senior aide who had access to sensitive information despite FBI warnings about past domestic violence allegations.
In the wake of that controversy, Kelly purged several staffers who failed background checks. Most recently, Johnny McEntee, the rich asshole’s personal assistant and a popular West Wing figure, was escorted off White House grounds and reassigned to the campaign.
Several other aides, including communications director and the rich asshole confidant Hope Hicks, are leaving voluntarily.
On Thursday, the White House denied that the upheaval was the result of chaos that could lead to potential vulnerabilities abroad.
Mueller subpoenas the rich asshole Organization
BY OLIVIA BEAVERS AND AVERY ANAPOL - 03/15/18 01:52 PM EDT
Special counsel Robert Mueller has subpoenaed the rich asshole Organization for documents as part of the federal investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election, The New York Times reported on Thursday.
Mueller’s subpoena concerns documents related to Russia in addition to other topics, the Times reported, citing two sources familiar with the matter.
The scope of the subpoena, including how far it extends to topics outside Russia, was not immediately known, nor was it clear why Mueller subpoenaed the organization for the documents as opposed to simply requesting them.
Responding to questions about the subpoena on Thursday, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said the rich asshole would continue to cooperate with Mueller's effort.
"As we’ve maintained all along and as the president has said numerous times, there was no collusion between the campaign and Russia," she said at her press briefing. "We’re going to continue to fully cooperate out of respect for the special counsel. We’re not going to comment for any specific questions about the rich asshole organization. I’d refer you there."
A lawyer for the rich asshole Organization said it has been cooperating and dismissed reports about the subpoena as old news.
“Since July 2017, we have advised the public that the rich asshole Organization is fully cooperative with all investigations, including the Special Counsel, and is responding to their requests,” Alan Futerfas, a lawyer for the company, said in a statement. “This is old news and our assistance and cooperation with the various investigations remains the same today.”
The subpoena is the most direct move by the special counsel to go after documents related to the rich asshole’s business empire and brings the probe closer to the rich asshole.
The president told the Times in a June interview that Mueller would be crossing a “red line” if the special counsel began investigating his family’s finances with other countries outside of Russia.
The subpoena also suggests the investigation continues to evolve after recent reports that Mueller’s team is interested in an adviser to the United Arab Emirates, signaling a probe that the rich asshole had hoped would end soon could carry on for months.
Mueller is investigating any possible connections between Moscow’s involvement in the 2016 election and the rich asshole’s campaign and organization, as well as whether there were efforts to obstruct the federal investigation.
He has gotten guilty pleas from former the rich asshole national security adviser Michael Flynn; Richard Gates, a former campaign official and business associate of the rich asshole’s former campaign chairman Paul Manafort; and former the rich asshole campaign staffer George Papadapoulos. Mueller has also brought charges against Manafort unrelated to his time on the campaign.
Last month, Mueller charged 13 Russians and three Russian organizations for seeking to sow discord in the election through a disinformation campaign that used social media platforms and other sophisticated strategies to insert themselves in U.S. affairs.
the rich asshole has repeatedly described the investigation as a “witch hunt,” maintaining that there was no coordination or collusion between his campaign and Russia.
It was reported earlier this month that Mueller has been asking witnesses about President the rich asshole's business dealings in Russia, but this is the first reported case in which Mueller has asked for directly related documents.
The special counsel and the rich asshole’s legal counsel are reportedly in negotiations about setting up an interview with the president.
Reports in January surfaced that the rich asshole sought to cut off the head of the investigative probe by firing Mueller. He broached the topic with his White House legal counsel, Donald McGahn, who threatened to quit if such a course of action was pursued, ultimately discouraging the rich asshole from what would be a highly controversial ouster.
Jonathan Easley contributed to this story.
the rich asshole Family In Shambles After Wife Files For Divorce Against Don Jr.
Vanessa the rich asshole just filed for divorce against some rich asshole, Jr. after the couple had been struggling with marital problems, including his controversial tweets. You see, it wasn’t the fact that he’s a trophy hunter who has been seen in photos holding an elephant’s tail, presumably after murdering the innocent animal, but it was his tweets that crossed the line for her. It’s difficult to have sympathy for her when her husband, who she married in 2005, has launched vile attacks, given in to conspiracy theories and has just been an all-around shit head.
But, it’s not just the tweets.
Sources told Page Six that Vanessa, a psychology graduate, is uncomfortable with the intense focus on the rich asshole family. One source told the paper that “Vanessa is by nature is a very low-key person, and she is uncomfortable with the attention her family is getting now the Trumps are on the world stage. She is also worried for her kids, particularly after she received the threatening letter containing the white powder.”
Two of the sources said that the rich asshole Jr. “appears to have changed recently, and friends are concerned about him.”
That rumor circulated yesterday. Today, it was confirmed that Vanessa the rich asshole filed for divorce against Don Jr. late Thursday in Manhattan Supreme Court.
She filed for an uncontested proceeding, meaning that she’s not expecting a legal battle over custody of their five children.
When Vanessa met Don Jr., she called his father “retarded.”
Twitter users pounced on the news of the divorce.
Wow, everyone wants out of this administration.
Can I get a divorce from Donald Trump as President? Irreconcilable differences.
I'm sure they'll blame Obama and Hillary for this.
Getting out of conjugal visits.
We’re hoping she didn’t have to sign a ‘hush agreement’ and that we can all look forward to a book deal. Vanessa the rich asshole is Making Divorce Great Again.
Kris Kobach plagiarized language from the ACLU when he drafted changes to federal voting law
The GOP elections official has a drastic plan to change how Americans vote.
Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach (R) is currently defending his state’s documentary proof of citizenship law in federal court, arguing that the law is necessary because of the substantial number of noncitizens registering to vote. But if he doesn’t succeed, he has already prepared what he is calling a “contingency plan.”
The text of that plan is identical to language written by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the group that sued Kobach over the law.
In an April 2016 brief, the ACLU explained that for Kobach’s proof of citizenship law to be legal, the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA) would have to allow states to require “any information” they want of people registering to vote. Currently, the law only requires “the minimum amount of information necessary” to prove an individual’s citizenship.
So Kobach’s contingency plan is to amend the NVRA in just that way. If he is successful in weakening the federal voting legislation — which would require the approval of Congress — states would be able to pass documentary proof of citizenship laws like Kansas’ or require virtually anything from individuals registering to vote.
Here’s the text of the ACLU’s 2016 brief:
And the text of Kobach’s proposal, which he gave to then President-elect the rich asshole during a November 2016 meeting:
In October 2017, a judge ordered Kobach to release the text of the document he presented to the rich asshole, titled “DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY KOBACH STRATEGIC PLAN FOR FIRST 365 DAYS,” which could be seen in an AP photo of Kobach and the rich asshole taken after the meeting. In the outline, Kobach proposed five amendments to the NVRA. Two were redacted, but one visible to the public includes the language from the ACLU’s brief.
The judge also ordered Kobach to sit for a deposition last year, during which the ACLU asked about the similarities. In the deposition, which was played in federal court last week, Kobach denied that he copied the ACLU and said it was “interesting” that the group’s brief had similar language.
“The language in this item is word for word exactly the same as what the plaintiffs in this case argued previously would be precisely how the NVRA would have to be rewritten in order for states to have authority to require documentary proof of citizenship for motor voter applicants; is that correct?” asked Dale Ho, the director of the ACLU’s Voting Rights Project and the lead attorney on the case.
“I have no idea what you argued,” Kobach responded.
“I don’t consult your legal writing” in anything I do,” Kobach later added, saying he did not remember the portion of the ACLU’s brief that was identical to his own amendment. “I think it is inconceivable that I would have had your brief in my hand when drafting this.”
Kobach, who is representing himself in this litigation, objected numerous times to the ACLU showing video of his deposition in court. Judge Julie Robinson, a George W. Bush nominee, ultimately overruled and let the ACLU play a roughly 45-minute segment on Friday, although she ordered that only the transcript and not the video could not be made public.
The trial will continue for a seventh day on March 19. In the first six days, Kobach’s team of lawyers have repeatedly violated basic rules of evidence and civil procedure and have been reprimanded by Judge Robinson. On Tuesday, one of Kobach’s expert witnesses, political science professor Jesse Richman, admitted that there is no evidence that illegal voting could have swung the 2016 popular vote, as the rich asshole and Kobach have claimed. Richman authored a studyshowing that 18,000 noncitizens could be on Kansas’ voter rolls, but in court this week, the ACLU exposed major flaws in his research.
Richman’s research is based on an analysis of Kansas’ suspended voter list for foreign-sounding names. In court Tuesday, Ho questioned Richman on why some Spanish names were flagged while others weren’t. At one point, Ho asked if Richman would have flagged the name “Carlos Murguia.”
Richman said yes, before Ho told him that Murguia is a federal judge in the United States District Court for the District of Kansas, the court where the trial is taking place.
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March 15, 2018
the rich asshole has a record of helping candidates lose elections. That's probably not the kind of "help" any world leader wants from him.
the rich asshole celebrated St. Patrick’s Day by hosting Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar and offering to work some of the electoral magic that has resulted in a string of defeats in this country.
the rich asshole wrapped up the Thursday morning photo op in the Oval Office by answering an Irish reporter who asked if he would visit Ireland.
“Yeah, it could happen,” the rich asshole replied.
“Before the election?” asked the reporter.
the rich asshole turned to Varadkar and said, “Well, maybe, maybe if that helps.”
The prime minister’s reaction was, at best, unenthusiastic.
the rich asshole’s expression of willingness to openly meddle in another country’s election, albeit jokingly, continues a long tradition of the rich asshole embarrassing himself on the world stage. During a trip to France last year, for example, the rich asshole made a public and cringe-inducing comment about French first lady Brigitte Macron’s body.
In Saudi Arabia, the rich asshole bowed and curtsied while receiving the Order of Abdulaziz from the Saudi king. Before a host of world leaders at the United Nations, the rich asshole threatened nuclear war by way of schoolyard taunts. When he needed to duck out of the G20 conference, the rich asshole appointed his unqualified daughter to fill his seat.
More to the point, though, the rich asshole’s offer to “help” the Irish prime minister sounds more like a threat given the rich asshole’s record.
Just this week, the rich asshole “helped” Republican candidate Rick Saccone to suffer a stunning defeat in Pennsylvania’s 18th Congressional District, which the rich asshole had won by 20 points in 2016. Since that humiliating loss, Republicans are privately acknowledging the imminent electoral disaster it portends.
In December, the rich asshole has also “helped” alleged child molester Roy Moore in the Alabama special election to replace Jeff Sessions in the Senate. The month before, he “helped” fellow racist Ed Gillespie lose the gubernatorial race in Virginia. the rich asshole warmly embraced and supported both of those candidates, and they both lost.
And of course the rich asshole himself lost the popular vote for the White House by nearly 3 million votes.
the rich asshole’s joking overture to a world leader shows that not only is he in denial about his own political toxicity, he’s actually deluded enough to think that he could be of “help” to a candidate in a foreign election.
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March 15, 2018
The White House press secretary says FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe is a "bad actor" but Russia might be a friend.
Apparently, the rich asshole’s administration has a bigger problem with the deputy director of the FBI doing his job than with a foreign head of state attempting murder on an ally’s soil.
That’s the message White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders delivered during Thursday’s daily briefing when she used similar terminology to describe both Vladimir Putin and retiring FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe within seconds of each other.
Sanders was first asked, by NBC News’ Peter Alexander, whether Putin is “a friend or foe.”
Sanders didn’t condemn Putin.
“Russia will have to make that determination,” she said. “They have to decide whether they want to be a good actor or a bad actor.”
On the very next question, Sanders was asked if the rich asshole wants the Justice Department to fire McCabe, against whom the rich asshole has waged a bitter smear campaign.
“That’s a determination that we would leave up to Attorney General Sessions,” Sanders replied. Then she added that McCabe “is a bad actor.” It was a much harder judgment than what she had to say about Putin only seconds earlier.
the rich asshole has also refused to condemn Putin over the attack on 66-year-old Sergei Skripal and his 33-year-old daughter, Yulia, who remain comatose.
“It certainly looks like the Russians are behind it,” the rich asshole said Thursday, but he declined to denounce Putin.
Shortly after Secretary of State Rex Tillerson slammed Putin for the nerve attack earlier this week, the rich asshole fired him.
Meanwhile McCabe, who was forced to resign in January, faces firing by Sessions before his retirement takes effect. McCabe has not tried to murder anyone with nerve gas.
the rich asshole has consistently refused to criticize Putin, even after Putin showcased a video demonstrating a Russian nuclear attack on Florida, and has fought against sanctioning Russia over its election interference every step of the way.
When President Obama retaliated against Putin in 2016, the rich asshole reassured and complimented the Russian dictator in public.
It seems there is no line that Vladimir Putin can cross that will cause the rich asshole to criticize him. The same cannot be said for our own country’s law enforcement leaders.
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March 15, 2018
The rich asshole subpoena might even be good news if you ask Fox.
A Fox News correspondent laughably suggested on Thursday that special counsel Robert Mueller’s new subpoena of the rich asshole Organization could signal that the end of the Russia investigation is nearing — and might even be “the kind of subpoena you want.”
Catherine Herridge, chief intelligence correspondent for Fox News, made the remarks during an appearance on “The Daily Briefing with Dana Perrino.”
Her comments came less than an hour after the New York Times reported Mueller had subpoenaed the the rich asshole Organization for “all documents related to Russia and other topics he is investigating.”
The subpoena was widely seen as an ominous sign for the rich asshole, signaling that Mueller is willing to put the full force of the government behind his demand for a wide range of financial and business-related documents.
New York Times reporter Michael Schmidt said the subpoena “moves the investigation closer to the president,” while MSNBC legal analyst Danny Cevallos said the fact that Mueller used a subpoena instead of requesting documents shows that “the government means business.”
Meanwhile, University of Alabama law professor and former U.S. attorney Joyce Vance suggested that Mueller may have chosen to use a subpoena because he “already knows what they have and is waiting to see if they’ll turn it over.”
“Subpoenas have teeth,” Vance added.
But over on Fox, the rich asshole’s favorite propagandists were busy spinning the story, saying it could even be good news for the rich asshole that his business had been subpoenaed by federal investigators.
Asked about The New York Times report, Herridge suggested to Fox’s Perrino that Mueller’s move might mean that he is in the process of wrapping up the investigation.
The subpoena, Herridge said, could have been a “wrap-up subpoena or a cleanup subpoena, which is when you request records as you’re getting close to the end of the investigation and trying to tie up loose ends.”
“So it might not signal a new aggressive approach by the special counsel,” Perrino responded.
Herridge went on to suggest that the subpoena was old news, arguing that “this issue is at least six months old” — a remark that flatly contradicts The New York Times, which reported that the subpoena had been issued in recent weeks.
She concluded by telling Perrino that this could even be “the kind of subpoena you want.”
This is the first time the rich asshole Organization has been subpoenaed by the special counsel’s office as part of the ongoing Russia investigation, so the idea that this is a “clean-up subpoena” — one that seeks to get any remaining documents after a first round of subpoenas — doesn’t even make sense.
The fact that federal investigators are using the full force of the government to investigate the rich asshole’s financial and business dealings is not a good sign for the rich asshole. But as the quasi-propaganda arm of the rich asshole White House, Fox News is doing its best to downplay the report and reassure the rich asshole — and his supporters — that the deluge of bad news is secretly good news.
According to previous reports, White House aides frequently turn to Fox News to try to calm the rich asshole down in the midst of damning revelations about the Russia investigation.
the rich asshole may take comfort by hiding out in the Oval Office and blocking out the real world with a steady diet of Fox News — but unfortunately for him, right-wing talking points are not accepted as evidence in a court of law.
Net effect? More like nyet effect for new White House sanctions on Russia.
The rich asshole administration’s ‘meaningless’ new Russia sanctions, explained.
Weeks after they were due, the rich asshole administration issued a new round of sanctions against Russian companies and individuals on Thursday.
Couched under the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA) — which was itself passed with massive support from Congress — the roster of targets includes not only Russia’s FSB and GRU, two of the country’s most prominent intelligence agencies, but also the infamous Internet Research Agency, itself targeted in a recent indictment from Special Counsel Robert Mueller.
The inclusion of the Internet Research Agency, along with financier Yevgeny Prigozhin and a number of Internet Research Agency employees, indicates that the administration is taking Mueller’s findings at face value, effectively ending any disputes about the role the organization played in Russia’s broader interference operations.
However, that seems about the only positive impact the latest round of sanctions have so far had. In addition to identifying those already targeted under Obama-era sanctions, the newest list targets neither Russian officials nor any Russian access to American financial institutions. It is, at best, incomplete — and at worse, an excuse not to do more, especially coming on the heels of the recent poisoning in Britain of former Russian spy Sergei Skripal.
ThinkProgress spoke with Michael Carpenter, the senior director of the Penn Biden Center and former deputy assistant secretary of defense with responsibility for Russia, to get his thoughts of the latest round of sanctions — as well as what the newest sanctions might portend for the future.
What was your first reaction when looking over these names sanctioned today?
When looking over the actual announcement and the specific entities and individuals, it’s pretty clear this is just a list rehashing folks already sanctioned under [the Obama administration]. I view this as a completely inconsequential move designed to show that the rich asshole administration is allegedly doing something — and especially in the context of the Skripal poisoning, it was something designed to show they’re moving aggressively.
From your vantage, what are the effects of these sanctions going to be on the individuals and companies who are actually sanctioned?
All of the individuals and entities designated today — just as when they were originally designated with the Obama administration — are probably going to escape with zero consequences, in terms of either assets or mobility. And the designation of major Russian intelligence agencies is going to have absolutely no impact, mainly because they don’t do transactions in the U.S. financial system.
Even designating Prigozhin and some of his employees has zero consequences, because these folks probably weren’t planning on traveling to the U.S. anyway, and they probably have no assets here — they all depend on Kremlin contracts inside Russia. So the net effect of this is basically zero.
These new sanctions are totally inconsequential. The previous administration had already sanctioned most of the entities and individuals designated today, so there's really nothing new here. <THREAD 1 of 3> twitter.com/NatashaBertran…
These new sanctions are totally inconsequential. The previous administration had already sanctioned most of the entities and individuals designated today, so there's really nothing new here. <THREAD 1 of 3> twitter.com/NatashaBertran…
Furthermore, such narrowly targeted sanctions have little to no impact on the operations of Russia's intelligence services or its proxies, since these organizations don't transact (at least overtly) through the U.S. financial system. <2 of 3>
Furthermore, such narrowly targeted sanctions have little to no impact on the operations of Russia's intelligence services or its proxies, since these organizations don't transact (at least overtly) through the U.S. financial system. <2 of 3>
Finally, they have no impact on Russia's economy at all. I suspect the Trump administration will cite these designations as evidence that it is getting "tough" on Russia but in this case it's all smoke and mirrors. <END>
There’s been plenty of criticism about the content of the latest list — but there’s also the question of timing, not only because of how tardy the the rich asshole administration was on getting this list out but also because of the recent poisoning in the U.K. Do you think the administration was pressured by these events to finally release this list today?
Honest answer: I don’t know about the timing. These types of sanctions packages are usually put together in advance. But because they’re rehashing so many things from the Obama administration, it could have been a simple copy-paste job. I don’t want to read too much into the timing, but on the other hand someone made the decision to release the list in the context of what’s happening in the U.K.
The impression that this was a copy-paste job — this almost seems like the same approach the the rich asshole Administration took to its so-called oligarchs list earlier this year, when it simply copy-pasted the Forbes list of wealthiest Russians, and also the list of Kremlin officials supposedly close to Putin. Is there some kind of similarity there?
It’s the same playbook. Look — the oligarchs in the report on Kremlin-linked officials were a joke, because they were, as you said, from the oligarch list that was a copy-paste job of Forbes’ richest Russians. Even the list of Kremlin-linked officials was basically lifted from the Kremlin directory. Now, I should say that I have heard that there is a classified version of these reports that has a lot more meat, so there could be additional information in the classified realm. But the question then is, well, if that’s the case, why isn’t the administration acting on that and making more designations?
Today’s list is likely not the last we’ll see of sanctions as a tool for Washington — what more should the U.S. be doing in terms of stronger sanctions?
I think the most powerful sanctions tool the U.S., and generally speaking NATO allies, have against Russia is financial sanctions. The sanctions against Russia in the financial sector so far have been extremely weak, just debt and equity financing restrictions — but without imposing any full blocking sanctions on any Russian institutions aside from Bank Rossiya, which Obama designated for sanctions after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. But Bank Rossiya wasn’t even one of the largest banks in Russia — we still haven’t gone after any top Russian banks. We could also impose blocking sanctions on Rostec, or any of the Russian energy companies, large or small. We’ve also targeted specific types of transactions in the energy sector, including unconventional offshore Arctic exploration, but we haven’t targeted the companies themselves.
You don’t have to toss the book at Russia in one go, but with these sanctions you could have a significant, in fact chilling, effect.
Is there any reason to think the blowback and criticism today will convince the administration to reexamine its approach to CAATSA, or to add more names to the list?
I think it’s entirely unlikely something like that will happen. I think the administration probably has, and I’m speculating, but I suspect they have a game plan of selectively putting forward incremental additional sanctions of the type we saw today, so as to somewhat stem the demand from Congress that CAATSA be implemented. These are small, meaningless steps to prove they’re actually doing something, but the totality of the moves are essentially meaningless.
The only other thing I’d add is I think there has to be very strong and swift response to the Skripal poisoning in the U.K., because this is just an egregious violation of international norms. I’m glad that at least France, Germany, the U.S., and the U.K. have come out and fingered Russia as the culprit — that is good, quick work to attribute it to the Kremlin. But now there needs to be a significant response. And it’s a vital policy issue that the U.S. needs to help take the lead on.
Sarah Sanders defends the rich asshole’s blatant lies about trade and bowling balls
The White House war on reality continues.
During Thursday’s White House news briefing, press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders defended a blatant lie President the rich asshole told during a speech to donors about the United States’ trade relationship with Canada.
“The [United States Trade Representative] says we have a trade surplus with Canada, the president says we don’t — how do you reconcile those two things?” a reporter asked Sanders.
Instead of simply acknowledging that the rich asshole was wrong, Sanders twisted reality in at attempt to defend him.
“For one, they are not taking into account some of the additional things, like energy and timber that would not be included in those numbers, and once you include those, it shows that there actually is a deficit,” Sanders said.
Another reporter followed up, asking Sanders whether there “are any other economic indicators that the White House disagrees with that come from the federal government.”
Sanders again defended the rich asshole’s lie, saying that “there are plenty of things, once you take into the full account of all of the trade between the two countries, that show that there is actually a deficit between those two.”
The US does not currently have a trade deficit with Canada. As the Washington Post details, the US only has a trade deficit with Canada when trade in services isn’t factored in. But there’s no good reason to not account for the $25 billion trade surplus the United States has with Canada with regard to telecommunications, accounting and legal services, and tourism.
In a tweet posted after the briefing concluded, Sanders indicated that her defense of the rich asshole in fact hinged on excluding services from the equation.
In the briefing I said I would provide the trade deficit number we have with Canada. In 2017 we had a $17.58 B trade deficit. In January 2018 we had a$3.63 B trade deficit. Both reflect trade in goods. Which is exactly what @POTUS referenced. census.gov/foreign-trade/…
But services are a huge part of the American economy. In fact, as the World Trade Organization puts it, trade in services is the “most dynamic segment in world trade, growing more quickly than trade in goods.” The only reason Sanders would pretend they don’t exist is to try and defend the president.
Sanders’ comments about trade weren’t the only time she defended the rich asshole’s lies during Thursday’s briefing. The last question the press secretary fielded was about another fabrication the rich asshole offered during his speech to donors on Wednesday — one about how the Japanese drop bowling balls on American cars as part of a convoluted effort to keep them off the Japanese market.
There is no evidence that any such “bowling ball test” actually exists. But instead of just acknowledging as much, Sanders said the rich asshole’s comment “illustrates the creative ways some countries are able to keep American goods out of their markets.”
REPORTER: "Can you cite any tariff in the last 150 years that has worked, and done what you wanted to do now?"
SANDERS, SHORTER: No. pic.twitter.com/pahGeUBTMR
Sanders closes by claiming that Trump's made-up story about the Japanese dropping bowling balls on cars was a joke.
"Obviously he's joking about this particular test but it illustrates the creative ways some countries are able to keep American goods out of their markets." pic.twitter.com/nfz0UMXigt
Defending the president’s absurdities has become part of the press secretary’s duties during the the rich asshole era. The precedent was established during the the rich asshole administration’s very first briefing, when then-press secretary Sean Spicer declared war on the press and reality itself by defending the rich asshole’s easily debunked lies about the size of his inauguration crowd.
The the rich asshole White House refuses to acknowledge that the president is even capable of mistakes. Perhaps most infamously, after the rich asshole posted a tweet with an obvious typo last May, Spicer suggested that the string of letters he tweeted — “Covfefe” — was actually some sort of secret message to his followers.
“The president and a small group of people know exactly what he meant,” Spicer said.
More recently, Sanders similarly defended the rich asshole’s retweet of an inflammatory, fake video purportedly showing Muslims in the U.K. committing various crimes. “Look, I’m not talking about the nature of the video. I think you’re focusing on the wrong thing,” she told reporters at the time. She also defended another of the president’s tweets in which he seemed to suggest that a female Democratic senator was willing to perform sexual acts for campaign donations. Sanders accused a reporter who asked her about it of having their mind “in the gutter.”
The press secretary has also repeatedly used the White House pulpit to attack journalists who dare ask her tough questions about the rich asshole’s distortions and undignified attacks against his perceived enemies.
“I think that the premise of your question is completely ridiculous and shows the lack of knowledge that you have on this process,” she told one reporter who had asked how the public was supposed to “trust” the president when his messages on Twitter are so obviously mixed.
Minutes after blockbuster report on Russia investigation, the knives are out for Rod Rosenstein
Fox News is on the attack.
Thursday afternoon, the New York Times published an explosive report revealing that special counsel Robert Mueller had subpoenaed documents from the rich asshole Organization, “including some related to Russia.” The subpoenas bring Mueller’s investigation, which has already resulted in the indictment of the rich asshole’s former campaign manager and national security adviser, even closer to the president.
One way to get a sense of the White House reaction to this revelation is to turn on Fox News.
Immediately after the report, Fox News turned to its chief intelligence correspondent, Catherine Herridge. Herridge revealed she had already spoken to the rich asshole’s lawyers about the New York Times report. She then articulated a harsh criticism of Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein.
Herridge noted that it has already been reported that Mueller has been investigating whether the United Arab Emirates tried to financially influence the rich asshole campaign. This, Herridge claimed, meant that Mueller had already exceeded the authority granted to him by the Justice Department.
She then set her sights on Rod Rosenstein. “Every time Mr. Mueller goes beyond that mandate,” Herridge said, “it’s not like he’s a rogue actor. He has to get the permission of the deputy attorney general. What we know is that he’s had Rod Rosenstein’s permission to go beyond that original mandate…”
Herridge suggested the subpoenas could indicate another expansion of the investigation approved by Rosenstein.
Herridge’s narrow reading of the order appointing Mueller as special counsel does not match its text. Mueller’s appointment gives him express authority to investigate “any links and/or coordination between the Russian government and individuals associated with the campaign of President some rich asshole” and “any matters that arose or may arise directly from the investigation.”
So if, in the course of investigating links between the Russian government and the rich asshole campaign, Mueller discovered an issue related to the rich asshole Organization, he’d have the authority to investigate that. Further, a provision of the special counsel law, 28 C.F.R. § 600.4(b), allows Mueller to bring matters beyond his original jurisdiction to Rosenstein and get permission to pursue them. It’s unclear if that was necessary in this case, but if it happened, it doesn’t mean Rosenstein did anything wrong. He would be acting in a manner totally consistent with the statute.
the rich asshole, however, has said that any investigation into his business activities by Mueller would cross a “red line.”
Hugh Hewitt, a conservative pundit with close ties to the administration, also used the New York Times report as a way to attack Rosenstein and suggest the rich asshole should fire Attorney General Jeff Sessions.
I support retaining, giving SC Mueller all he needs. But DAG Rosenstein owes public a status report on where this is going. And if refuses that does give @realDonaldTrump an argument why he needs a new AG to at least brief public much of which skeptical. nytimes.com/2018/03/15/us/…
the rich asshole is reportedly still angry at Sessions for recusing himself from the Russia investigation, which set off a chain of events that ultimately gave Rosenstein the authority to appoint Mueller. the rich asshole has openly attacked Sessions on Twitter, and there have been persistent rumors that he is considering firing Sessions as part of a strategy to hem in or end the Mueller investigation.
The new March Madness: Why is the FBI spending so much time and money on NCAA investigation?
Someone needs to save the universities!
As you may have heard, it’s March. And if upsets, referees, and Grayson Allen haven’t already left your bracket in shambles, a new, unlikely villain has emerged to inject fresh madness into March: The FBI.
This particular dance began last September, when the U.S. Department of Justice announced it was pursuing criminal cases against dozens of people and organizations involved in the college basketball industrial-complex, including coaches, shoe company executives, and agents. The widespread investigation involving wiretaps and whistleblowers is likely to take years, and could implicate some of the most recognizable names in your bracket, such as Duke, Arizona, Kentucky, Texas, Alabama, Oklahoma, and…well, according to those familiar with the case and the world of college basketball, the list will go on and on.
“The NCAA investigates who they want to investigate, and crack downs on who they want to crack down on, but the FBI doesn’t have a dog in the fight,” Ed O’Bannon, a member of the 1995 UCLA national championship team and author of Court Justice: The Inside Story of My Battle Against the NCAA with Michael McCann, told ThinkProgress. “Who polices the NCAA? Nobody does. It seems like the FBI is saying, enough is enough.”
This just in: The NCAA is corrupt and the FBI is on it, so if you’re part of the “stick to sports” crowd, you might consider muting the basketball commentary the next two weeks.
Currently, the investigation centers on systematic bribery plots to steer players to specific schools, for the benefit of agents, sportswear companies, and the coaches at the school. These “plots” involve anything from an agent buying a player lunch, to a shoe company paying an assistant coach somewhere in the $20,000 range, to even a head coach allegedly guaranteeing $100,000 to a star player.
If none of that seems particularly egregious given that the three week-long NCAA tournament alone is a billion-dollar enterprise, well, that’s probably because you’re good at keeping things in perspective. NCAA laws aren’t federal laws, and paying for talented athletes to come to your school to play basketball in order to enrich everyone around them doesn’t seem like the biggest scandal threatening the safety of our nation right now. Honestly, the players, coaches, agents, and brands are all doing what they can within the ridiculous regulations the NCAA provided them with. So what, exactly, is the FBI’s plan here?
Officially, the government is charging the defendants with fraud. And they’re treating the universities — who employ the coaches and benefit mightily from the success of programs such as men’s basketball and football — as the victims of said fraud.
If you’re having a hard time grasping that logic, Randall D. Eliason — a former Assistant United States Attorney for the District of Columbia, where he served as Chief of the Public Corruption/Government Fraud section — broke it down in his blog, Sidebars.
The planned payments to the students and their families were not illegal. But they would make the students ineligible athletes under the NCAA rules. Those rules require student athletes to be amateurs who do not receive any payments or other benefits for their participation in college sports. A university found to have ineligible players on its team is subject to sanctions including financial penalties, limitations on post-season play, and limitations on financial aid that may be awarded to other athletes. The potential harm that could result from such rules violations is what forms the basis of the government’s fraud allegations.
Eliason, it must be said, does not find this to be a convincing argument, for multiple reasons: It separates the coaches from the universities, which feels arbitrary considering how much coaches are paid and how closely tied they are with top university officials. Plus, the scheme wasn’t intended to hurt the university — quite the opposite, the intention of luring top players is to help the university win basketball games, and thereby sell tickets and earn money. He argues that, while the defendants should suffer consequences and the NCAA should be burned to the ground — okay, Eliason said “clean house,” — they “shouldn’t be facing a twenty-year felony for conspiring to ‘defraud’ universities whose own coaches were actively working with them towards the same goal.”
He’s not the only one questioning why the FBI is spending so much time and money on this case.
“Conflating NCAA violations with the kind of crimes the FBI is supposed to pursue is a mug’s game of the first order,” Charles Pierce wrote in Sports Illustrated. “The FBI is operating as the enforcement arm of the NCAA, and that’s just crazy.”
Ultimately, because universities are supposedly a victim in all of this, they can scapegoat everyone else — agents, coaches, trainers, even players. Essentially, as O’Bannon said, the FBI can do the NCAA’s bidding for it.
Look, nobody is saying that the corruption in the NCAA system shouldn’t be investigated. It’s just that the investigation needs to center around protecting the players, not behemoth universities. The entire system of amateurism must go. Last year, the NCAA topped $1 billion in revenue. The players should absolutely get a portion of that. They should also be able to profit off of their likeness. Fixing amateurism would not be nearly as difficult as NCAA defenders (who, miraculously, still exist) are making it out to be — read this excellent article by Patrick Hruby if you disagree.
And, a scholarship is not adequate compensation for these athletes, because for the most part, they are not permitted to make education a priority.
O’Bannon, who was the lead plaintiff in the O’Bannon vs. NCAA antitrust class action lawsuit against the NCAA, said it was clear to him before he even stepped foot on UCLA’s campus that classes were merely a formality — after all, he couldn’t take the ones he wanted to because he had to schedule around practices
“Right away, that’s when it’s evident that I’m here for my basketball, not for anything scholastic,” he said.
The NCAA is a sham, and it always has been. The only hope is that this FBI investigation will expose it for what it is, and one way or another, trigger the beginning of the end of the madness.
“Now we’ve had these FBI probes come to the forefront of our game — that is sad and unfortunate, but it’s also a chance to look at the system and say, hey, it needs a serious revamp,” O’Bannon said.
“But I really have no expectations because I’ve been involved in it for so long, and there’s no evidence that anything is going to change any time soon.”
Kris Kobach’s ‘expert’ witnesses undercut his argument on voter fraud
The Kansas elections official is trying (and failing) to defend his proof-of-citizenship law in court.
Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach (R) is attempting to defend his proof-of-citizenship law in federal court, and it’s not going well. He and his legal team have repeatedly violated basic rules of evidence, causing the judge to raise her voice and reprimand them on multiple occasions. Now, in the past week, two of his prominent expert witnesses admitted there is no evidence to back up Kobach’s notorious claim that voter fraud swung the 2016 popular vote.
In November 2016, shortly after winning the electoral college but losing the popular vote, President some rich asshole claimed that three to five million fraudulent votes swung the election. Kobach quickly became his spokesperson, claiming repeatedly that academic studies backed up the rich asshole’s claim.
I think the president-elect is absolutely correct when he says the number of illegal votes cast exceeds the popular vote margin between him and Hillary Clinton at this point,” he told the Kansas City Star in November 2016.
In order to uphold his proof-of-citizenship law, Kobach has to convince the court that a substantial number of noncitizens are voting in, and potentially swinging, U.S. elections.
To help make that claim, he called to testify as experts two allies whom he has relied on in the past to corroborate his claims about voter fraud. Hans von Spakovsky, a fellow at the conservative Heritage Foundation and former member of the Federal Election Commission, also sat on Kobach and the rich asshole’s now-disbanded voter fraud commission. Jesse Richman, a professor of political science, has authored now-discredited reports about the scale of noncitizen voting in the United States and in Kansas in particular.
In cross-examination by the ACLU, the group that sued Kobach over his law, neither man would name an instance in which noncitizen voting swung an election.
Approached by ThinkProgress for comment, both witnesses declined to discuss the litigation. A representative for Kobach did not respond to a request for comment.
The statistical researcher: Jesse Richman
Richman, a political science professor at Old Dominion University, is one of Kobach’s star witnesses — and the foundation on which much of his case rests. Richman is famous for a 2014 paper in the journal Electoral Studies which claimed that between 38,000 and 2.8 million non-citizens voted in the 2008 general election.
That paper made Richman a darling among conservatives, but other political scientists have roundly rejected that paper’s conclusions. A statistical analysisRichman wrote for the Kansas trial is also riddled with problems like tiny sample sizes and response errors.
But during a sworn deposition Richman sat for in the Kansas case, he repeatedly minimized the impact of noncitizen voting on elections.
“The level of noncitizens participation is not high,” he said at one point. “At the same time, it’s large enough, as we also argue in this paper, to tip sufficiently close elections.”
Later in the same deposition, Richman even appeared to back off that claim, saying that “almost all elections in the U.S. are not determined by noncitizen participation, with occasional and very rare potential exceptions.”
Richman also said over and over that noncitizens do vote illegally in the U.S. But he admitted that at least some of those illegal votes could be due to a lack of awareness on the part of some noncitizens who believe their votes are legal — and that public-education campaigns, rather than proof-of-citizenship laws, could help.
“I suspect that the law in Kansas and the controversy surrounding it has played an educated [sic] role in terms of increasing awareness… that noncitizens are not supposed to register and vote in U.S. elections,” Kobach said when asked about alternatives to proof-of-citizenship laws.
At trial, Richman again refused to claim that noncitizen voting has swung elections, including the 2016 race.
Richman still on stand. Ho asked him if he believed his work supported the theory that illegal voters cost trump the popular vote. As Richman had written previously, he does not. fs.wp.odu.edu/jrichman/2016/…
Then Ho showed a video of Kobach telling the @KCStar that the numbers used in Richman’s analysis showed illegal votes could account for the “entire margin” of the presidential vote. Ho asked Richman if he agreed w this interpretation -after some waffling, he said no #ACLUvKobach
The voting commission ally: Hans von Spakovsky
On the fourth day of the federal trial, von Spakovsky testified that documentary proof of citizenship laws like Kansas’ are necessary to prevent voter fraud — an issue he sees as a major concern. According to the Kansas City Star, he testified that other methods of identifying noncitizens on the voter rolls are insufficient and said the threat of prosecution doesn’t deter noncitizens from voting “because we basically have an honor system” in U.S. elections.
After at least four voters testified in court that they were disenfranchised because of Kansas’ law, von Spakovsky claimed that all eligible voters can meet the burden of Kobach’s law.
Von Spakovsky says he isn't aware of a voter registration law anywhere that is burdensome #ACLUvKobach #ksleg
Von Spakovsky also could not name a single election where voter fraud swung the results — including the 2016 presidential race. He has previously discussed several local races he believes could have been swung by voter fraud, including in a presentation to the rich asshole’s voter fraud commission. But on the stand and under oath at trial, he could not come up with any examples.
Ho asks von Spakovsky if he can identify a single federal election decided by non-citizen voting. He can't name one. #ksleg #ACLUvKobach
Under questioning by the ACLU’s Dale Ho, von Spakovsky admitted that his work on voter fraud has not been subjected to peer review and that studies of noncitizen voting in Kansas are based on small sample sizes.
White House admits Russia may have been to blame for attacks on ex-spies living in the UK
After days of hedging and avoiding the topic, the rich asshole administration has finally issued a condemnation.
The White House on Wednesday night issued its first statement identifying Russia as the main culprit behind a series of attacks and nerve agent poisonings targeting former spies living in the U.K.
“The United States shares the United Kingdom’s assessment that Russia is responsible for the reckless nerve agent attack on a British citizen and his daughter, and we support the United Kingdom’s decision to expel Russian diplomats as a just response,” press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders wrote. “This latest action by Russia fits into a pattern of behavior in which Russia disregards the international rules-based order, undermines the sovereignty and security of countries worldwide, and attempts to subvert and discredit Western democratic institutions and processes. The United States is working together with our allies and partners to ensure that this kind of abhorrent attack does not happen again.”
The assessment was unfortunately “too little, too late,” given that U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May and a slew of other administration officials had come to the same conclusion days prior.
Earlier in the week, May, speaking before the House of Commons, issued a fiery rebuke of Russian officials, whom she said were behind a toxic nerve agent attack on former spy Sergei Skripal and his 33-year-old daughter Julia. (Skripal and his daughter remain in critical condition.) The two were the latest in a line of at least 14 other public figures or former intelligence agents allegedly targeted by the Russian government.
“It is now clear that Mr. Skripal and his daughter were poisoned with a military-grade nerve agent of a type developed by Russia,” May said on Monday. “The government has concluded that it is highly likely that Russia was responsible for the act against Sergei and Yulia Skripal.”
The prime minister gave Russia until Wednesday to answer her demand for answers, prompting Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov to slam the request as part of a “Russophobic campaign” meant to smear his country. On Wednesday afternoon, facing a dearth of information and no substantial response from Russia, the U.K. expelled 23 Russian diplomats, saying that country had “demonstrated complete disdain for the gravity of these events.”
“They have provided no credible explanation that could suggest they lost control of their nerve agent, no explanation as to how this agent came to be used in the U.K., no explanation as to why Russia has an undeclared chemical weapons program in contravention of international law,” May said. “Instead, they have treated the use of a military-grade nerve agent in Europe with sarcasm, contempt, and defiance.”
The White House’s initial reaction to the back and forth between the two nations was to sidestep the issue entirely. Sanders faced questions about the prime minister’s condemnation and how the United States would respond, but she dodged, declining to pin the blame on Russia and saying only that the United States stood with its ally.
“The use of a highly lethal nerve agent against U.K. citizens on U.K. soil is an outrage. The attack was reckless, indiscriminate, and irresponsible,” Sanders said on Monday, reading from a prepared statement. “We offer the fullest condemnation and we extend our sympathy to the victims and their families, and our support to the U.K. government. We stand by our closest ally and the special relationship that we have.”
Several subsequent attempts to clarify whether the White House supported May’s threats of diplomatic retaliation or sanctions went unanswered.
The rich asshole administration is currently under investigation over allegations that it colluded with Russia to influence the 2016 presidential election.
Later on Monday, former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson was more forceful when speaking with reporters, saying that there was clear evidence linking Russia to the attacks. “This is a really egregious act,” he said. “It appears that it clearly came from Russia. Whether it came from Russia with the Russian government’s knowledge is not known to me at this point.”
the rich asshole fired Tillerson the next day, although the White House has since claimed it fired the former secretary of state before he made the comments. Former State Department Under Secretary Steve Goldstein was also fired this week for issuing a statement on Tillerson’s behalf, saying that Tillerson had not learned of his own dismissal until President the rich asshole tweeted about it on Tuesday.
U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley also spoke out against Russia this week, countering the White House’s tepid statements with a more aggressive call on the UN to hold the country accountable.
“Time and time again, members states say they oppose the use of chemical weapons under any circumstance,” she said at a UN Security Council emergency session on Wednesday. “Now one member stands accused of using chemical weapons on the sovereign soil of another member. The credibility of this council will not survive if we fail to hold Russia accountable.”
The White House finally relented later in the week, issuing a joint statement with the U.K. and France in which it condemned the attacks and stated that there was “no plausible alternative explanation” that might absolve the Russian state.
“It threatens the security of us all. The United Kingdom thoroughly briefed its allies that it was highly likely that Russia was responsible for the attack,” the statement read. “We share the UK assessment that there is no plausible alternative explanation, and note that Russia’s failure to address the legitimate request by the UK government further underlines its responsibility.”
Separately on Thursday, the rich asshole administration announced that it had issued financial sanctions against Russian people and state organizations to deter the country from attempting to intervene in the upcoming midterm elections, as it has in past elections. Just this month, Special Counsel Robert Mueller indicted at least 13 Russian individuals and three Russian entities for using a complex social media campaign to distribute fake news posts often supportive of the rich asshole and critical of his rival, Hillary Clinton, during the 2016 election.
“The administration is confronting and countering malign Russian cyber activity, including their attempted interference in U.S. elections, destructive cyber-attacks, and intrusions targeting critical infrastructure,” Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin said in a statement on Thursday. “These targeted sanctions are a part of a broader effort to address the ongoing nefarious attacks emanating from Russia.”
The administration also indicated that Russia had attempted to target the U.S. energy grid, with malware that could potentially corrupt its systems, the Washington Post reported.
the rich asshole got caught in a lie during meeting with Trudeau, then made it worse with embarrassing tweet
"You’re wrong, Justin."
During a speech to donors in Missouri on Wednesday, President the rich asshole admitted to simply making stuff up during a recent meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
“Trudeau came to see me. He’s a good guy, Justin. He said, ‘No, no, we have no trade deficit with you, we have none. Donald, please,’ ” the rich asshole said, mimicking Trudeau, according to The Washington Post, which obtained audio of the event. “Nice guy, good-looking guy, comes in — ‘Donald, we have no trade deficit.’ He’s very proud because everybody else, you know, we’re getting killed.”
“ … So, he’s proud. I said, ‘Wrong, Justin, you do.’ I didn’t even know. … I had no idea. I just said, ‘You’re wrong.’ You know why? Because we’re so stupid. … And I thought they were smart. I said, ‘You’re wrong, Justin.’ He said, ‘Nope, we have no trade deficit.’ I said, ‘Well, in that case, I feel differently,’ I said, ‘but I don’t believe it.’ I sent one of our guys out, his guy, my guy, they went out, I said, ‘Check, because I can’t believe it.’”
“‘Well, sir, you’re actually right. We have no deficit, but that doesn’t include energy and timber. … And when you do, we lose $17 billion a year,’” the rich asshole continued. “It’s incredible.”
Trudeau was right — the rich asshole’s claim about Canada having a trade surplus with the United States is false. In fact, the opposite is the case. According to the Office of the United States Trade Representative, the US’s trade surplus with Canada was $12.5 billion in 2016.
Hours after the Post published its report about the rich asshole’s speech, the president took to Twitter to try and defend himself.
“We do have a Trade Deficit with Canada, as we do with almost all countries (some of them massive),” the rich asshole wrote. “P.M. Justin Trudeau of Canada, a very good guy, doesn’t like saying that Canada has a Surplus vs. the U.S.(negotiating), but they do…they almost all do…and that’s how I know!”
In short, the rich asshole’s argument is that because “almost all” countries have a trade surplus with the US, Canada must. It does not take a logic degree to understand how that line of reasoning could lead to bad conclusions.
the rich asshole: We're trying to top JFK by looking at Mars mission
BY MAX GREENWOOD - 03/15/18 12:34 PM EDT
President the rich asshole said Thursday that he wanted to "top" President John F. Kennedy's ambitions to send a man to the moon by pursuing a trip to Mars.
"We're looking at Mars, by the way," the rich asshole said. "Trying to top [Kennedy]. We're going to get there. It's moving along pretty good. A lot of things have happened ... having to do with that subject. Way ahead of schedule."
The U.S. eventually reached that goal in 1967. The last U.S. moon landing was in 1972.
the rich asshole has made a return to the moon and an eventual trip to Mars a primary goal of his administration's space policy. He signed a directive in December outlining the ambitions.
Speaking to members of the military in California on Wednesday, the rich asshole vowed that the U.S. would make it to Mars "very soon."
"Very soon we're going to Mars," he said. "You wouldn't be going to Mars if my opponent won, that I can tell you. You wouldn't even be thinking about it."
Vice President Pence has been tapped as the point person on the rich asshole's space exploration ambitions. Last year, Pence announced the relaunch of the National Space Council, which works to centralize various federal agencies with oversight into space policy.
Sarah Sanders refuses to call Russia ‘foe’ after poisoning: ‘I’ll leave it to Russia to make that determination’
the rich asshole's relationship with Moscow has stalked the first year of his presidency, with key former aides under a US investigation for alleged collaboration with the Kremlin. (SPUTNIK/AFP / Mikhail KLIMENTYEV)
DON'T MISS STORIES. FOLLOW RAW STORY!
During Thursday’s White House press briefing, press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said that it’s up to Russia to determine whether they’re a “friend or foe” to the United States.
After Sanders asserted that President some rich asshole has been “extremely tough” on Russia, MSNBC’s Peter Alexander asked the press secretary to be more explicit in her response.
“In simple terms: Is Putin a friend or a foe of the United States?” the correspondent asked.
“Russia’s going to have to make that determination,” Sanders responded. “They’re gonna have to decide whether or not they wanna be a good actor or a bad actor.”
The press secretary’s response came just hours after news broke that special counsel Robert Mueller subpoenaed the rich asshole Organization for documents about Russia.
Watch below, via MSNBC:
Schumer to the rich asshole: When are you 'going to get smart' on Russia?
BY JORDAIN CARNEY - 03/15/18 01:22 PM EDT
Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) blasted President the rich asshole's policy toward Russia on Thursday, questioning when he would "get smart" on Moscow.
"President the rich asshole warns all the time that we need to 'get smart' about other countries taking advantage of the United States. ... So President the rich asshole, when are you going to get smart about the threat Russia poses to the United States and our allies?" Schumer asked from the Senate floor.
Schumer's comments came as the administration announced new sanctions against two-dozen Russian individuals and entities for cyberattacks in the U.S. and meddling in the 2016 election.
But Schumer pushed the rich asshole to do more, saying he should "further sanction [Russian President Vladimir] Putin and anyone else involved" in a chemical attack against a former Russian intelligence officer in Britain.
The U.S. released a joint statement with Germany, France and the United Kingdom on Thursday blaming Moscow for the poisoning of Sergei Skripal and his daughter, Yulia. The two remain hospitalized.
Schumer said in a later statement that the new financial penalties make it clear that special counsel Robert Mueller's probe into Russia's election interference is "not a ‘witch hunt,’ as the president and his allies have claimed."
Several Democrats have praised the new sanctions but warned that they are insufficient.
Schumer added from the Senate floor that lawmakers are still waiting for the administration to combat Russia cyberattacks, bolster election security and for the rich asshole to "utter one word of public criticism" about Putin.
"Your silence speaks volumes to the Russian government and America's other adversaries. ... More and more Americans are asking, why is President the rich asshole so afraid to take on probably our number-one menace, Russia? What is he hiding," he said.
Lieu: the rich asshole 'intentionally lying,' unfit for office
BY MAX GREENWOOD - 03/15/18 11:53 AM EDT
Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.) on Thursday blasted President the rich asshole's apparent acknowledgement that he made up information about the U.S.-Canada trade relationship in a meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, calling it "more evidence that the rich asshole is unfit" for office.
"At this point, @realDonaldTrump is no longer making stuff up, he is intentionally lying. 2 + 2 does not equal 5 no matter how much @POTUS lies," Lieu tweeted. "This is more evidence that the rich asshole is unfit for the revered office in which he sits."
At this point, @realDonaldTrump is no longer making stuff up, he is intentionally lying. 2 + 2 does not equal 5 no matter how much @POTUS lies.
This is more evidence that Trump is unfit for the revered office in which he sits. #ThursdayThoughts twitter.com/realDonaldTrum…
This is more evidence that Trump is unfit for the revered office in which he sits. #ThursdayThoughts twitter.com/realDonaldTrum…
The Washington Post reported Wednesday that the rich asshole told donors in a fundraising speech that he claimed in a meeting with Trudeau that the U.S. has a trade deficit with Canada, despite not knowing if that claim was true.
Trudeau reportedly pushed back on that assertion, but the rich asshole said he continued to make the assertion.
"I said, ‘Wrong, Justin, you do.’ I didn’t even know. ... I had no idea," the rich asshole said, according to the Post.
According to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, the U.S. actually has a trade surplus with Canada.
the rich asshole has routinely decried what he calls unfair trade practices that put the U.S. at a competitive disadvantage. The U.S., Canada and Mexico are in the process of renegotiating the North American Free Trade Agreement at the rich asshole's request.
The president also moved last week to impose stiff tariffs on steel and aluminum imports. He granted Canada and Mexico temporary exemptions from those duties, however, amid concerns of retaliatory trade measures.
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