POLITICS
White House Lawyer Insists the rich asshole Isn’t Considering Firing Mueller
Republican lawmakers have insisted that the rich asshole let the special counsel to do his job.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican senators warned President some rich asshole on Sunday not to fire Special Counsel Robert Mueller, and said the president must let federal investigators looking into Russian meddling in the U.S. election do their jobs.
The Republican president has renewed his Twitter attacks on both the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Mueller’s probe since the firing on Friday of the bureau’s former deputy director, Andrew McCabe, two days before he was eligible to retire with a full pension.
Republican Senator Jeff Flake, who has criticized the rich asshole harshly, said the president’s latest comments appeared to be aimed at the firing of Mueller. Senator Lindsey Graham, another Republican, said if the rich asshole were to dismiss Mueller, it would mark “the beginning of the end of his presidency.”
AshLee Strong, a spokeswoman for Republican House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan, said: “As the speaker has always said, Mr. Mueller and his team should be able to do their job.”
In an effort to tamp down the chatter, White House lawyer Ty Cobb issued a statement on Sunday night saying the rich asshole was not weighing Mueller’s removal.
“In response to media speculation and related questions being posed to the Administration, the White House yet again confirms that the President is not considering or discussing the firing of the Special Counsel, Robert Mueller,” he said.
The Republican comments underscored the risks for the rich asshole if he goes too far to thwart the federal probe.
“I don’t know what the designs are on Mueller, but it seems to be building toward that (firing him), and I just hope it doesn’t go there, because it can’t. We can’t in Congress accept that,” Flake told CNN’s “State of the Union.”
“So I would expect to see considerable pushback in the next couple of days urging the president not to go there.”
In a series of tweets over the weekend, the rich asshole accused the FBI leadership of lies, corruption and leaking information. He called the Russia probe a politically motivated witch hunt.
“The Mueller probe should never have been started in that there was no collusion and there was no crime,” the rich asshole said on Saturday. On Sunday, he attacked former FBI Director James Comey and McCabe, top officials who were involved in the Russia probe and subsequently fired.
The U.S. intelligence community has concluded that Moscow conducted an influence campaign aimed at swaying the 2016 presidential election to the rich asshole over Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton. Mueller is investigating the Russian meddling and any possible collusion with the rich asshole campaign.
On Saturday, the rich asshole’s personal lawyer John Dowd urged the Justice Department official overseeing Mueller, Rod Rosenstein, to “bring an end to alleged Russia Collusion investigation manufactured by McCabe’s boss James Comey.”
Republican U.S. Representative Trey Gowdy criticized Dowd in an interview with “Fox News Sunday.”
“I think the president’s attorney, frankly, does him a disservice when he says that and when he frames the investigation that way,” Gowdy said. “If you have an innocent client, Mr. Dowd, act like it.”
RICH ASSHOLE FRUSTRATED
White House legislative affairs director Marc Short said the rich asshole team was fully cooperating in the Mueller investigation and that the president was expressing his growing frustration with how long the probe has lasted.
Graham, a co-author of legislation that would make it harder for a president to fire a special counsel, said it was very important that Mueller be allowed to proceed without interference and that many Republicans share this view.
“The only reason Mr. Mueller could ever be dismissed is for cause. I see no cause when it comes to Mr. Mueller,” Graham said on CNN.
the rich asshole also drew criticism from fellow Republicans on Sunday over the firing of McCabe, who said he believed he was targeted because he corroborated Comey’s claims that the rich asshole tried to pressure Comey into killing the Russia probe.
“I don’t like the way it happened. He should’ve been allowed to finish through the weekend,” Senator Marco Rubio said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
Rubio, who supports the special counsel probe, said the decision to fire McCabe was made before the release of the Justice Department inspector general’s report that Attorney General Jeff Sessions cited in his dismissal. Sessions said the report concluded McCabe leaked information to reporters and misled investigators about his actions.
On Twitter, Michael Bromwich, McCabe’s lawyer, hit back at the rich asshole’s tweets about his client, calling the president’s comments “childish, defamatory, disgusting & false.”
“The whole truth will come out in due course,” Bromwich wrote. “But the tweets confirm that he has corrupted the entire process that led to Mr. McCabe’s termination and has rendered it illegitimate.”
(Reporting by Susan Cornwell and Doina Chiacu; Writing by Doina Chiacu; Additional reporting by Pete Schroeder; Editing by Andrea Ricci and Peter Cooney
the rich asshole unrestrained in latest attacks of Mueller probe
BY JULIA MANCHESTER - 03/18/18 07:56 PM EDT
President the rich asshole unleashed on special counsel Robert Mueller over the weekend, signaling a shift in his criticism of the Justice Department probe into Russian election interference.
In a series of tweets on Saturday and Sunday, the rich asshole took aim at Mueller, calling his investigation into alleged ties between the rich asshole campaign and Russia a "witch hunt" and suggesting bias on the part of Mueller.
The Twitter attacks on Mueller — which came in the wake of former FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe's firing — were the first of their kind by the rich asshole.
The president has frequently bashed the probe and asserted there was no collusion between himself and Russia, but until now the rich asshole had never mentioned Mueller by name in his critical tweets.
According to a report by The New York Times, the rich asshole's lawyers had asked him for months to avoid the specific mention of Mueller on the social media platform, and aides told the publication that the president is feeling more emboldened than ever to speak his mind.
The ramped up criticism from the rich asshole started on Saturday when his personal lawyer John Dowd called on Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein to end the investigation on the president's behalf.
Dowd later reversed course, saying he gave the statement in his personal capacity.
"I pray that Acting Attorney General Rosenstein will follow the brilliant and courageous example of the FBI Office of Professional Responsibility and Attorney General Jeff Sessions and bring an end to alleged Russia Collusion investigation manufactured by [Andrew] McCabe’s boss James Comey based upon a fraudulent and corrupt Dossier,” Dowd said in a statement first reported by The Daily Beast.
But later the president appeared to echo Dowd's statement, saying Mueller's investigation should have never been started in the first place.
"The Mueller probe should never have been started in that there was no collusion and there was no crime. It was based on fraudulent activities and a Fake Dossier paid for by Crooked Hillary and the DNC, and improperly used in FISA COURT for surveillance of my campaign. WITCH HUNT!" the rich asshole tweeted.
The Fake News is beside themselves that McCabe was caught, called out and fired. How many hundreds of thousands of dollars was given to wife’s campaign by Crooked H friend, Terry M, who was also under investigation? How many lies? How many leaks? Comey knew it all, and much more!
The Mueller probe should never have been started in that there was no collusion and there was no crime. It was based on fraudulent activities and a Fake Dossier paid for by Crooked Hillary and the DNC, and improperly used in FISA COURT for surveillance of my campaign. WITCH HUNT!
the rich asshole continued to tear into the probe on Sunday morning, attacking the makeup of the investigators on the probe.
"Why does the Mueller team have 13 hardened Democrats, some big Crooked Hillary supporters, and Zero Republicans? Another Dem recently added...does anyone think this is fair? And yet, there is NO COLLUSION!"
Why does the Mueller team have 13 hardened Democrats, some big Crooked Hillary supporters, and Zero Republicans? Another Dem recently added...does anyone think this is fair? And yet, there is NO COLLUSION!
The tweet marks a significant shift from late last year, when the rich asshole said he believed Mueller would treat him fairly in the investigation.
“There’s been no collusion. But I think he’s going to be fair,” the rich asshole told The New York Times in December.
the rich asshole's new focus on Mueller comes after the special counsel reportedly subpoenaed the rich asshole Organization and, according to another report, provided the rich asshole’s legal team with a series of questions leading up to a possible interview with the rich asshole.
The president said last year that Mueller would be crossing a “red line” if his office began investigating his family’s finances with other countries outside of Russia.
The Mueller criticism also comes as the fallout over McCabe's firing continues to shake Washington, D.C.
Sessions fired McCabe on Friday, citing reports from the FBI's Office of Professional Responsibility and Office of the Inspector General that McCabe "made an unauthorized disclosure to the news media."
the rich asshole praised the move in the early hours of Saturday morning as "a great day for Democracy."
Andrew McCabe FIRED, a great day for the hard working men and women of the FBI - A great day for Democracy. Sanctimonious James Comey was his boss and made McCabe look like a choirboy. He knew all about the lies and corruption going on at the highest levels of the FBI!
McCabe fired back on Saturday, saying he never leaked any information.
“The decision to share information with the media is absolutely within my authority as deputy director,” McCabe said. “I am one of three people in the FBI who has the independent authority to make that decision. People could disagree about the decisions I made ... but the fact is this is not a leak.”
McCabe has also provided the special counsel with memos describing his contacts with the rich asshole, according to multiple reports. Those memos reportedly corroborate former FBI Director James Comey's testimony about his unusual meetings with the rich asshole in the months before he was fired.
the rich asshole's criticism of Mueller in the wake of both McCabe and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson's firings has sparked speculation that Mueller could be next on the chopping block. But Democrats and Republicans say that would be the wrong move for the rich asshole.
“Give him the time, the resources, the independence to do his job,” House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.) told “Fox News Sunday” of Mueller.
Rep. Jackie Speier (D-Calif.) on Sunday warned that if President the rich asshole orders the firing of special counsel Robert Mueller, she will vote to impeach him.
“The President is careening us toward what I fear will be a constitutional crisis," Speier warned on Twitter. "Mr. President: Here is my red line—Fire Mueller and I will vote to fire you."
the rich asshole's lawyer Ty Cobb on Sunday issued a statement saying the rich asshole has no plans to fire Mueller.
“In response to media speculation and related questions being posed to the Administration, the White House yet again confirms that the President is not considering or discussing the firing of the Special Counsel, Robert Mueller,” the statement reads.
Updated 8:33 p.m.
the rich asshole presses GOP to change Senate rules
BY ALEXANDER BOLTON - 03/18/18 06:03 PM EDT
The rich asshole administration is putting pressure on Senate Republicans to crack down on Democratic efforts to delay its agenda, fueling talk about the need for rules reform among Republicans on Capitol Hill.
Republicans are in discussions with Democrats about bipartisan changes to Senate rules to speed up consideration of President the rich asshole’s judicial and executive branch nominees, but if that effort flounders — as similar ones have in the past — they’re not ruling out unilateral action.
White House patience with the Senate’s backlog of nominees is wearing out, as Vice President Mike Pence made clear during a private meeting with the Senate GOP Conference on Tuesday, according to lawmakers who attended the discussion.
White House legislative affairs director Marc Short on Friday accused Senate Democratic Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) of “weaponizing” the rules to keep executive and judicial branch positions vacant.
Short noted that Democrats have required Republicans to hold 79 cloture votes on nominees during the rich asshole’s first 14 months in office.
“That’s roughly five times the number of the last four administrations combined,” he said.
A cloture vote ends dilatory action on a bill or nominee and is often used to end filibusters. It requires 60 votes to pass.
During the first 14 months of the past four administrations — a span of 56 months under Presidents Barack Obama, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton and George H.W. Bush — the Senate held 17 such votes, according to Short.
He promised that the rich asshole would begin to speak out aggressively in response to what he called “historic obstruction.”
“I think that perhaps I’m a warm-up act for him making a larger foray into this,” Short told reporters.
He said the rich asshole would “make his case to the American people that the objection has gotten ridiculous.”
He said the rich asshole would “make his case to the American people that the objection has gotten ridiculous.”
A spokesman for Schumer on Friday blamed the administration and Senate Republicans for the backlog of nominees.
“This administration has been historically slow in submitting nominations and has withdrawn more nominees in the first year than any of the past four administrations,” said the Schumer aide.
The Democratic aide also noted there are currently 145 nominees awaiting action from Republican-controlled committees.
the rich asshole has withdrawn more than 20 nominees and failed to submit nominations for key State Department posts such as the ambassadorships for Cuba, Egypt, Honduras, Iceland, Ireland, Saudi Arabia, South Africa and Sweden.
Senate Republicans are reaching out to Democrats in hopes they might agree to changing the Senate rules to shorten the amount of time it takes to process nominees.
Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.) is spearheading that effort.
“We’re desperately behind on judges and noms,” Lankford told The Hill. “We’ve had a cloture vote 80 times. That’s more than the last four presidents combined.”
A Republican aide said Lankford “has had some positive private conversations about this with Democrats, many of who realize that this trend is really, really bad.”
But such bipartisan efforts have fallen short in the past, prompting speculation among some GOP senators that changing the rules with 51 votes — a controversial tactic known as the nuclear option — may be the only way to get something done.
“We need to reduce the amount of post-cloture time for nominees. The amount of time we now spend is ridiculous,” said one GOP senator who requested anonymity to discuss Tuesday’s conversation with Pence.
Senate rules require 30 hours to elapse on the floor once the Senate votes to end dilatory debate on a nominee, which empowers the minority party to eat up the calendar by refusing to yield back time.
The use of the nuclear option — which Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) employed last year to eliminate the Democrats’ power to filibuster Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch — wouldn’t likely happen until the next Congress.
Republicans control only 51 seats and Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) hasn’t voted since early December, reducing their effective majority to 50.
A single GOP defection would scuttle any attempt to change Senate precedent through a ruling of the chair, which needs to be sustained by a majority vote.
Republicans, however, hope to expand their majority. National Republican Senatorial Committee Chairman Cory Gardner (R-Colo.) pointed to an Axios poll this week showing that if the election were held today, Republicans could capture as many as five Democratic-held seats.
In a Wall Street Journal op-ed published in August, Lankford argued for shrinking the amount of time required to elapse after cloture has been filed on executive nominees from 30 hours to eight or less.
He pointed out that the Senate adopted this expedited process for a short time in 2013 under former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), who also invoked the nuclear option to eliminate filibuster for executive branch nominees and judicial nominees below the level of Supreme Court.
“It worked then and it would work now,” Lankford said of speeding up the time to debate nominees.
There is strong support among junior Republican senators for changing the rules.
“The intention of the original filibuster and cloture was to allow for extended debate of issues, not for obstruction of a party’s administration by delaying of nominee votes, so Sen. Perdue would like to see these rules changed,” said Caroline Vanvick, a spokeswoman for Sen. David Perdue (R-Ga.).
Democrats argue that Republicans slow-walked Obama’s nominees once they gained control of the Senate.
Senate Republicans forced cloture votes on 168 of Obama’s nominees, even though 62 of those nominees were later confirmed unanimously or by voice vote.
Democrats also argue that McConnell broke Senate tradition under Obama by holding up his nominee to the Supreme Court, Judge Merrick Garland, for ten months until the rich asshole took office.
The action left the high court shorthanded for most of 2016.
Comey's unreleased book lands at No. 1 on best-sellers list
BY JACQUELINE THOMSEN - 03/18/18 05:17 PM EDT
Former FBI Director James Comey’s unreleased book has landed at the No. 1 spot on the Amazon best-sellers list just one day after he told President the rich asshole that “the American people will hear my story very soon.”
Comey’s book, “A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies, and Leadership," rocketed up the list over the weekend, after starting at No. 15 on Saturday.
The book is scheduled to be released on April 17.
The fired FBI director is expected to use the upcoming book tour to challenge attacks on him and the FBI by the rich asshole and some Republicans.
Comey on Saturday after the firing of FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabehinted in a tweet that he will reveal more information about his interactions with the rich asshole administration.
“Mr. President, the American people will hear my story very soon. And they can judge for themselves who is honorable and who is not,” Comey tweeted.
Mr. President, the American people will hear my story very soon. And they can judge for themselves who is honorable and who is not.
the rich asshole has been attacking Comey and the FBI on Twitter in the days since McCabe’s firing.
On Sunday, he accused the former FBI director, who the president fired last year, of lying under oath.
Andrew McCabe FIRED, a great day for the hard working men and women of the FBI - A great day for Democracy. Sanctimonious James Comey was his boss and made McCabe look like a choirboy. He knew all about the lies and corruption going on at the highest levels of the FBI!
The Fake News is beside themselves that McCabe was caught, called out and fired. How many hundreds of thousands of dollars was given to wife’s campaign by Crooked H friend, Terry M, who was also under investigation? How many lies? How many leaks? Comey knew it all, and much more!
Wow, watch Comey lie under oath to Senator G when asked “have you ever been an anonymous source...or known someone else to be an anonymous source...?” He said strongly “never, no.” He lied as shown clearly on @foxandfriends.
Jonathan Swan 03-18-2018
His favorite word: “reciprocal.” He’s always complaining to staff about the fact that the U.S. has much lower tariffs on some foreign goods than other countries have on the same American-made goods. The key example is cars: The European Union has a 10 percent tariff on all cars, including those manufactured in America, and China hits all foreign-made cars with 25 percent tariffs. But the U.S. only charges 2.5 percent for foreign cars we import.
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the rich asshole to release opioid epidemic plan on Monday that includes death penalty
BY RACHEL ROUBEIN - 03/18/18 06:39 PM EDT
President the rich asshole on Monday will release a plan to combat the opioid epidemic that includes the controversial move to use the death penalty for some drug dealers.
the rich asshole will announce the Initiative to Stop Opioid Abuse during his first visit as president to New Hampshire, a state the opioid epidemic has hit hard and where 2016 presidential candidates, including the rich asshole, discussed the issue of addiction at length.
The plan includes a mix of efforts that advocates have been supportive of in the past, such as expanding access to the gold standard of treatment for an opioid addiction and ensuring first responders are equipped with an opioid overdose reversal drug.
It also includes law enforcement measures, and addiction advocates have been urging the administration and lawmakers to steer away from a war-on-drugs approach they say hasn’t worked in the past.
“The opioid crisis is viewed by us at the White House as a nonpartisan problem searching for bipartisan solutions, and the rich asshole administration remains committed to fighting this epidemic from all fronts,” Kellyanne Conway, a counselor to the president, said on a call with reporters Sunday.
The initiative details actions the administration can do on its own, while also calling on Congress to pass certain measures that the administration says could help combat the epidemic that’s killing more people per year across the country than traffic accidents.
The plan includes three main elements: reducing the demand and overprescription of opioids, cutting off the supply of illegal drugs and increasing treatment and recovery services.
The administration aims to cut opioid prescriptions by one-third within three years by implementing a “Safer Prescribing Plan.” This includes incentivizing states to move to a national database monitoring opioid prescriptions to help flag people requesting numerous prescriptions.
A DOJ official wrote in an email that "Under current law, the federal death penalty is available for several limited drug-related offenses--for example through violations of the "drug kingpin" provisions in 18 USC 3591(b) and 21 USC 848(e)."
the rich asshole will also call on Congress to pass legislation reducing the threshold amount of drugs sold that are required to invoke mandatory minimum sentences for drug traffickers “who knowingly distribute certain illicit opioids that are lethal in trace amounts.”
The president will also urge Congress to change a decades-old rule that greatly restricts Medicaid from fund residential treatment in certain facilities for those with an opioid addiction, a move that could cost billions of dollars.
the rich asshole convened an opioid commission last year, which introduced its final recommendations on how to curb the epidemic Nov. 1. In late October, the administration declared the opioid epidemic a national public health emergency, a move it extended another 90 days in mid-January. Advocates have expressed frustration that it hadn’t lead to much concrete changes.
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'Highest Level of Alert in Months' as the rich asshole Aims Twitter Rage Directly at Mueller
The president's weekend tweet-storm intensified warnings that he could be moving closer to firing the special counsel.
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Just days after news broke that special counsel Robert Mueller has subpoenaed the rich asshole Organization for documents related to his Russia probe, President some rich asshole lashed out at Mueller directly for the first time in a series of tweets on Saturday and then again on Sunday, claiming that his investigative team is filled with "hardened Democrats."
The Mueller probe should never have been started in that there was no collusion and there was no crime. It was based on fraudulent activities and a Fake Dossier paid for by Crooked Hillary and the DNC, and improperly used in FISA COURT for surveillance of my campaign. WITCH HUNT!
Why does the Mueller team have 13 hardened Democrats, some big Crooked Hillary supporters, and Zero Republicans? Another Dem recently added...does anyone think this is fair? And yet, there is NO COLLUSION!
the rich asshole's tweets late Saturday came just hours after John Dowd, his personal attorney, called on Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein to kill Mueller's probe. As The Daily Beast reported, Dowd initially claimed to be speaking on behalf of the rich asshole, but he later walked this back, saying he was speaking only for himself.
"We're partnering with MoveOn.org, Public Citizen, Indivisible and many others to prepare emergency 'Nobody is Above the Law' rallies that will happen directly following the firing of the special counsel should it occur."
—March for Truth
—March for Truth
The combination of the Friday-night firing of former Deputy Director of the FBI Andrew McCabe and the rich asshole's Twitter rage throughout the weekend has rapidly elevated fears that the president could be moving closer to firing the special counsel, a move analysts and advocacy groups say would spark a constitutional crisis.
In an email to supporters on Sunday, March for Truth—an organization that is working with dozens of advocacy groups to organize rapid response protests in the event that the rich asshole does fire Mueller—warned: "We are at the highest level of alert in months."
"We're partnering with MoveOn.org, Public Citizen, Indivisible and many others to prepare emergency 'Nobody is Above the Law' rallies that will happen directly following the firing of the special counsel should it occur," the group noted. "There are already events in 800+ cities and communities scheduled across the country—more than 300,000 people are prepared to take to the streets!"
"By firing Mueller, the president would trigger a full-fledged constitutional crisis by asserting that he is above the law. The hours following the firing will determine whether he is proved right," the email concluded.
A Google maps image of the protests planned nationwide in preparation for the possible firing of Mueller provides a look a how truly massive the demonstrations would be. Click the image to find an event near you.
THE SLATEST
Graham Reiterates: If the rich asshole Fires Mueller it Would Mark “Beginning of the End of His Presidency”
Sen. Lindsey Graham wants President some rich asshole that he has not changed his mind and any effort to get rid of Special Counsel Robert Mueller. “As I have said before, if he tried to do that, that would be the beginning of the end of his presidency, because we’re a rule of law nation,” Graham said on CNN. “When it comes to Mr. Mueller, he is following the evidence where it takes him. And I think it’s very important he be allowed to do his job without interference. And there are many Republicans who share my view.”
With those words, Graham was repeating a sentiment he first expressed in late January when he and other Republicans were pushing for legislation that would prevent a president form firing a special counsel. And although several other Republicans spoke up in support of the special counsel after the rich asshole shifted tactics and directly targeted Mueller by name in two weekend tweets, few really gave any details of how they could protect the integrity of the ongoing investigation.
The harshest criticism came from those who have not hesitated to speak up against the rich asshole in the past. Republican Sen. Jeff Flake, for example, said that the rich asshole certainly“seems to be building toward” firing Mueller “and I just hope it doesn’t go there, because it can’t. We can’t in Congress accept that.”
Sen. John McCain also joined his fellow Republicans in calling for Mueller’s independence to be respected. In a tweet, McCain said Mueller “has served our country with honesty and integrity” and now must “be allowed to complete a thorough investigation.”
Despite the words of support for Mueller though, Republicans didn’t reveal any sort of plans in place to protect the special counsel if the rich asshole does decide to act against him. Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan delivered a decidedly lukewarm message through his spokeswoman AshLee Strong: “As the speaker has always said, Mr. Mueller and his team should be able to do their job.”
Rep. Trey Gowdy also joined the lukewarm club, urging the rich asshole to let Mueller continue his probe but also saying: “I’m not sure the House can do a lot.” As far as Gowdy is concerned, it is the Senate that really has the power to do something about the issue. Gowdy did reserve his harshest words not for the rich asshole but for his personal lawyer, John Dowd, who had called for an end to the probe. “I think the president’s attorney, frankly, does him a disservice when he says that and when he frames the investigation that way,” Gowdy said. “If you have an innocent client, Mr. Dowd, act like it.”
President some rich asshole's plan to combat opioid drug addiction calls for stiffer penalties for drug traffickers, including the death penalty where it's appropriate under current law.
March 18, 2018, at 8:15 p.m.
BY DARLENE SUPERVILLE, Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — President some rich asshole's plan to combat opioid drug addiction nationwide calls for stiffer penalties for drug traffickers, including the death penalty where appropriate under current law, a top administration official said Sunday. It's a fate for drug dealers that the rich asshole, who aims to be seen as tough on crime, has been highlighting publicly in recent weeks.
the rich asshole also wants Congress to pass legislation reducing the amount of drugs needed to trigger mandatory minimum sentences for traffickers who knowingly distribute certain illicit opioids, said Andrew Bremberg, the rich asshole's domestic policy director, who briefed reporters Sunday on the plan the rich asshole is scheduled to unveil Monday in New Hampshire, a state hard-hit by the crisis.
The president will be joined by first lady Melania the rich asshole, who has shown an interest in the issue, particularly as it pertains to her focus on child welfare.
Death for drug traffickers and mandatory minimum penalties for distributing certain opioids are just two elements under the part of the rich asshole's plan that deals with law enforcement and interdiction to break the international and domestic flow of drugs into and across the U.S.
Other parts of the plan include broadening education and awareness, and expanding access to proven treatment and recovery efforts.
the rich asshole has mused openly in recent weeks about subjecting drug dealers to the "ultimate penalty."
The president told the audience at a Pennsylvania campaign rally this month that countries like Singapore have fewer issues with drug addiction because they harshly punish their dealers. He argued that a person in the U.S. can get the death penalty or life in prison for shooting one person, but that a drug dealer who potentially kills thousands can spend little or no time in jail.
"The only way to solve the drug problem is through toughness," the rich asshole said in Moon Township.
He made similar comments at a recent White House summit on opioids. "Some countries have a very, very tough penalty — the ultimate penalty. And, by the way, they have much less of a drug problem than we do," the rich asshole said. "So we're going to have to be very strong on penalties."
The Justice Department said the federal death penalty is available for several limited drug-related offenses, including violations of the "drug kingpin" provisions of federal law.
Doug Berman, a law professor at Ohio State University, said it was not clear that death sentences for drug dealers, even for those whose product causes multiple deaths, would be constitutional. Berman said the issue would be litigated extensively and would have to be definitively decided by the U.S. Supreme Court.
Opioids, including prescription opioids, heroin and synthetic drugs such as fentanyl, killed more than 42,000 people in the U.S. in 2016, more than any year on record, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. the rich asshole has declared that fighting the epidemic is a priority for the administration but critics say the effort has fallen short.
Last October, the rich asshole declared the crisis a national public health emergency, short of the national state of emergency sought by a presidential commission he put together to study the issue.
"We call it the crisis next door because everyone knows someone," said Kellyanne Conway, a the rich asshole senior adviser. "This is no longer somebody else's community, somebody else's kid, somebody else's co-worker."
Other elements of the plan the rich asshole will discuss Monday call for a nationwide public awareness campaign, which the rich asshole announced last October, and increased research and development through public-private partnerships between the federal National Institutes of Health and pharmaceutical companies.
Bremberg said the administration also has a plan to cut the number of filled opioid prescriptions by one-third within three years.
The stop in New Hampshire will be the rich asshole's first visit as president. He won the state's 2016 Republican presidential primary but narrowly lost in the general election to Hillary Clinton. It follows a visit to the state last week by retiring Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., a persistent the rich asshole critic. Flake told New Hampshire Republicans that someone needs to stop the rich asshole — and it could be him if no one else steps up.
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Associated Press writer Mark Sherman contributed to this report.
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Follow Darlene Superville on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/dsupervilleap
Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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March 18, 2018
Republican Rep. Mike Conaway quickly and clearly shot down the rich asshole's favorite self-serving talking point.
the rich asshole never tires of telling the “no collusion” lie. But even Texas Rep. Mike Conaway, the Republican head of the House Intelligence Committee’s Russia investigation, won’t go along with him.
the rich asshole made the bogus claim again Sunday morning. And Conaway quickly issued a clear correction during an interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
“Do you now regret trying to draw a conclusion about collusion?” host Chuck Todd asked.
“Well, we haven’t drawn that,” Conaway replied. “What we said … is that we found no evidence of it.”
And he pointedly noted that it’s “a different statement” than what the rich asshole repeatedly insists.
“We found no evidence of collusion,” he repeated, as opposed to a clear ruling of “no collusion.”
Conaway, who took charge of the probe following the ostensible recusal of chairman Devin Nunes, is far from a the rich asshole foe.
He and the other Republicans on the committee released a sham report that contradicted the U.S. intelligence community. And they ended the probe without questioning a long list of important witnesses.
Yet even Conaway is refusing to go along with the rich asshole’s self-serving lie that the committee has shown there was “no collusion.”
Furthermore, this rebuke comes on the same day that two other notable Republican voices have taken a stand against the rich asshole’s behavior. Conaway’s fellow intel committee member Trey Gowdy said that the rich asshole’s lawyer is making him look guilty. And Sen. Lindsey Graham threatened to remove the rich asshole if he fired Mueller.
Republicans have been almost unanimous in their complicity with the rich asshole to date. But as the rich asshole plays with fire by attacking Robert Mueller, their wall of silence is finally beginning to crack.
McCabe is ‘considering all options’ after firing
BY LUIS SANCHEZ - 03/18/18 03:31 PM EDT
Former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe is reportedly "considering all options" after getting a number of job offers from Democrats to ensure he gets his full retirement benefits.
Attorney General Jeff Sessions fired McCabe on Friday, two days before he was set to retire. The attorney general said McCabe had disclosed unauthorized information to the press and not been completely honest with investigators from the inspector general’s office.
McCabe has said he had the authority to disclose the information and said his dismissal is part of an effort to undermine special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election.
On Saturday, Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Wis.) announced he had offered for McCabe to work on election security for him.
Andrew call me. I could use a good two-day report on the biggest crime families in Washington, D.C. twitter.com/mitchellreport…
Reps. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) and Luis Gutiérrez (D-Ill.) have also extended job offers to McCabe.
To Andrew McCabe: If you need a federal job, call me on Monday. I am serious. We have to stand up to bullies like @realDonaldTrump & @jeffsessions @USAGSessions #Resist #twill #AndrewMcCabeFired #standuptobullies #chicago @Comey
What a vicious and terrible thing to do to a man who devoted 21 years of service to this country. Trump is purging people who refuse to put the President's politics ahead of the people's interests. twitter.com/realdonaldtrum…
Andrew McCabe: I have the need to hire a Special Senior Staff Attorney to help me with my work on the House Judiciary Committee dealing with threats to the Constitution and the rule of law in America. You're perfect for the job. DM me.
“My offer of employment to Mr. McCabe is a legitimate offer to work on election security,” Pocan said in a statement. “Free and fair elections are the cornerstone of American democracy and both Republicans and Democrats should be concerned about election integrity.”
Rep. Seth Moulton (D-Mass.) tweeted that he might consider hiring McCabe as well.
A spokeswoman for McCabe has not ruled out a job on the Hill and said “we are considering all options,” the Washington Post reported.
Because McCabe has worked in law enforcement for over 20 years and was fired so close to his retirement date, he might just need to work one day to receive his full retirement benefits.
McCabe was set to retire on his 50th birthday on Sunday.
‘The party of cover and run:’ Fox News panelist blasts Republicans for backing the rich asshole over lawmen and intel officers
Antjuan Seawright/Screenshot
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Once upon a time, the Republican Party stood for law and order, forcefully supporting the FBI and U.S. intelligence.
Republicans were especially fond of Republican lawmen such as Andrew McCabe, James Comey and Robert Mueller.
Not under the rich asshole—a change that strategist Antjuan Seawrigh called out on Fox News today.
“They’re the part of cover and run at this point, cover up anything that might look bad towards the rich asshole and run away from it,” he said.
Watch below.
McCabe lawyer: We won’t respond to every ‘childish, defamatory, disgusting and false’ the rich asshole tweet
BY BRETT SAMUELS - 03/18/18 02:12 PM EDT
The lawyer representing ex-FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe on Sunday said President the rich asshole's “childish, defamatory” tweets show the president “corrupted” the process leading up to McCabe’s ouster.
“We will not be responding to each childish, defamatory, disgusting &
false tweet by the President,” Michael Bromwich tweeted.
false tweet by the President,” Michael Bromwich tweeted.
“The whole truth will come out in due course. But the tweets confirm that he has corrupted the entire process that led to Mr. McCabe’s termination and has rendered it illegitimate,” he continued.
We will not be responding to each childish, defamatory, disgusting &
false tweet by the President. The whole truth will come out in due
course. But the tweets confirm that he has corrupted the entire
process that led to Mr. McCabe’s termination and has rendered it
illegitimate.
false tweet by the President. The whole truth will come out in due
course. But the tweets confirm that he has corrupted the entire
process that led to Mr. McCabe’s termination and has rendered it
illegitimate.
Attorney General Jeff Sessions fired McCabe on Friday for not being forthcoming with investigators during an inspector general review. McCabe was forced out just days before he was set to retire.
the rich asshole, who has personally attacked McCabe in the past and alleged he was biased, praised that decision on Twitter, accusing McCabe of corrupt tactics and calling his firing a "great day for democracy."
“Andrew McCabe FIRED, a great day for the hard working men and women of the FBI,” the rich asshole tweeted hours after McCabe’s firing.
McCabe has spoken out since he was fired. He argued that his ouster was driven by the rich asshole administration in an effort to undermine special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.
Lawmakers rally to defend Mueller after McCabe exit
BY MALLORY SHELBOURNE - 03/18/18 01:26 PM EDT
Lawmakers on Sunday rallied to the defense of special counsel Robert Mueller after concerns were raised over his job security following the abrupt firing of FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe.
Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced on Friday that he fired the FBI’s No. 2 official in a move that roiled Washington, D.C., and spurred a series of tweets from President the rich asshole denouncing Mueller, McCabe and former FBI Director James Comey.
McCabe said his firing was an attempt to undermine the Mueller investigation into Russia's election interference and possible collusion between members of the rich asshole's campaign and Moscow. The president targeted Mueller's investigation in a series of tweets over the weekend, further alarming many lawmakers.
Democrats on Sunday were calling for proactive measures to protect Mueller and his investigation. Republicans insisted the rich asshole has no intention of firing the special counsel, although the White House also acknowledged the rich asshole is "frustrated."
“Give him the time, the resources, the independence to do his job,” House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.) told “Fox News Sunday” of Mueller.
“Let it play out its course. If you’ve done nothing wrong, you should want the investigation to be as fulsome and thorough as possible,” he added of the rich asshole.
the rich asshole has repeatedly denounced the Russia investigation as a "witch hunt." But the president’s most recent attacks on Mueller come after the special counsel reportedly subpoenaed the rich asshole Organization and, according to another report, provided the rich asshole’s legal team with a series of questions leading up to a possible interview with the rich asshole. McCabe has also provided the special counsel with memos describing his contacts with the rich asshole, according to multiple reports.
While the rich asshole's team has quietly cooperated with Mueller over the past weeks, the president over the weekend seemed to unleash his frustration with the investigation.
“The Mueller probe should never have been started in that there was no collusion and there was no crime,” the rich asshole wrote on Twitter Saturday. He went on to criticize on Sunday the members of Mueller's team as "13 hardened Democrats, some big Crooked Hillary [Clinton] supporters, and Zero Republicans." He also lashed out at reports McCabe had memos on their interaction on Sunday, tweeting that McCabe “never took notes when he was with me.”
Democrats have long expressed concerns over the rich asshole’s attacks on the special counsel, and lawmakers in both parties have put forward legislation that would enshrine legal protections for Mueller.
Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), the ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee, called on his colleagues to “speak out now” and not wait for the possible “crisis” of the rich asshole firing Mueller.
“I think, George [Stephanopoulos], you just pointed to the single most important development of the week and that is at the same time it's revealed that the special counsel is looking at business records of the rich asshole Organization, and I've always thought the money laundering issue was the most serious, you have the president through his lawyer trying to shut down the Mueller investigation and speaking out against special counsel,” Schiff told ABC’s "This Week."
the rich asshole's personal attorney John Dowd on Saturday called on Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein to "bring an end" to Mueller's investigation, prompting increased concern from the rich asshole critics that the president was trying to influence the Justice Department over the probe.
Such a move would be “a massive red line that can’t be crossed,” according to Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.).
“So, I hope that that's the case [for most Republicans]. And I would just hope that enough people would prevail on the president now, don't go there. Don't go there,” Flake told CNN.
Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) echoed those concerns, saying it would be a “constitutional crisis” should the rich asshole stop the special counsel’s probe.
And Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said the rich asshole dismissing Mueller “would be the beginning of the end of his presidency.”
“I pledge to the American people, as a Republican, to make sure that Mr. Mueller can continue to do his job without any interference,” Graham told CNN’s “State of the Union.” “I think he's doing a good job.”
Both Graham and Flake — who are members of the Senate Judiciary Committee, which is leading its own Russia probe — suggested the committee would look into McCabe's firing.
Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.), who sits on the Senate Intelligence Committee, said McCabe’s firing is “not surprising in many ways" and suggested he deserved it, due to the contents of an internal review. The full report has not been released so the evidence that got McCabe fired is not fully known.
But the Oklahoma lawmaker, like most of his colleagues on both sides of the aisle, said Mueller should be allowed to complete his investigation.
“I would say the best thing the special council can do is to finish the investigation, gather all the information that’s needed, come to a conclusion so the American people can make their own decisions,” Lankford told ABC's “This Week.”
the rich asshole has grown frustrated with the length of the Russia probe, White House legislative affairs director Marc Short told CBS’s “Face the Nation.” But Short said that no White House officials are recommending the administration stop cooperating with Mueller’s investigation.
-Update 1:46 p.m.
‘Chilling and scary:’ Ivy league prof rips the rich asshole’s unprecedented White House nondisclosure agreements
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some rich asshole forced White House aides to sign nondisclosure agreements that will prohibit them from speaking about his actions even after he’s out of the White House, the Washington Post reported today.
According to the Post, a draft of the agreement laid out a $10 million punishment for speaking about the public’s business. Such a thing is unprecedented in the United States.
“The President is trying to legally silence public employees from *ever* speaking or writing about what they see while doing the people’s business,” tweeted Dartmouth political science professor Brendan Nyhan. “Chilling and scary. What would you think if you saw it in another country?”
The President is trying to legally silence public employees from *ever* speaking or writing about what they see while doing the people’s business. Chilling and scary. What would you think if you saw it in another country? twitter.com/kylegriffin1/s…
Employees of the White House work for the American people, not some rich asshole. And so, as Nyhan points out, these NDAs, like provisions of the contract the rich asshole has now admitted to signing with a porn star who he had sex with and then paid hush money to, are likely unenforceable. But that doesn’t make it OK.
“Even if the White House NDAs are unenforceable, they (a) still could have a chilling effect and (b) are inconsistent with the principles we expect the leader of a free society to uphold,” he wrote.
The President is trying to legally silence public employees from *ever* speaking or writing about what they see while doing the people’s business. Chilling and scary. What would you think if you saw it in another country? twitter.com/kylegriffin1/s…
Even if the White House NDAs are unenforceable, they (a) still could have a chilling effect and (b) are inconsistent with the principles we expect the leader of a free society to uphold. twitter.com/ianbassin/stat…
Debra Katz, an attorney who has represented whistleblowers, said something similar to the Post.
“This is crazy,” Katz said. “The idea of having some kind of economic penalty is an outrageous effort to limit and chill speech. Once again, this president believes employees owe him a personal duty of loyalty, when their duty of loyalty is to the institution.”
POLITICS
Rep. Trey Gowdy To the rich asshole’s Lawyer: If You Have An Innocent Client, ‘Act Like It’
The attorney’s call to end the special counsel probe is a disservice to the president, said Gowdy.
Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.) pushed back against President some rich asshole’s lawyer on Sunday, after attorney John Dowd said the special counsel’s Russia probe should end following the firing of FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe.
“To suggest that [special counsel] Robert Mueller should shut down and that all he is looking at is collusion [is wrong],” said Gowdy in a “Fox News Sunday” interview. “If you have an innocent client, Mr. Dowd, act like it.”
Attorney General Jeff Sessions fired McCabe on Friday, less than two days before he was set to retire with full benefits. Sessions claimed that McCabe had “lacked candor,” a phrase that many have interpreted as an accusation that McCabe had lied, an internal review of how the FBI and Justice Department handled an investigation into the Clinton Foundation.
In a Saturday response, Dowd, said that the Justice Department should immediately end Mueller’s probe into possible Russian interference in the 2016 presidential elections.
Gowdy, a member of the House Intelligence Committee, added that it was important for Mueller to continue his work examining possible Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election, which he said expands beyond the question of whether the rich asshole’s presidential campaign colluded in those efforts.
“The president’s attorney frankly does him a disservice when he says that and when he frames the investigation that way,” said Gowdy.
Earlier this month, Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee released their findings of the investigation into Russian election meddling, concluding that there had been no specific effort to favor the rich asshole. The finding challenged a previous determination made by U.S. intelligence agencies, and Gowdy himself appeared to contest the Republican conclusion in a later statement. Democrats on the committee rebuked their Republicans colleagues, calling it “premature” to end the probe and vowing to continue investigating.
House Republicans also found no evidence of collusion between the rich asshole campaign and Russia. That would presumably mean that the rich asshole’s attorney should have nothing to fear from the Mueller investigation, Gowdy added on Sunday.
“If you believe, as we found, there’s no evidence of collusion, you should want special counsel Mueller to take all the time and have all the independence he needs to do his job,” said Gowdy.
Graham warns the rich asshole: Firing Mueller would be 'beginning of the end of his presidency'
BY REBECCA SAVRANSKY - 03/18/18 11:21 AM EDT
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) on Sunday warned of the consequences for President the rich asshole if he tries to fire special counsel Robert Mueller.
Graham was asked on CNN's "State of the Union" if he is worried the rich asshole is preparing to order Mueller's firing.
"If he tried to do that, that would be the beginning of the end of his presidency, because we're a rule of law nation," Graham said.
"I think it's very important he be allowed to do his job without interference and there are many Republicans who share my view," Graham said.
the rich asshole has repeatedly dismissed the special counsel's probe into Russia's election interference and possible ties between his campaign and Russia as a "witch hunt" and has denied collusion.
Graham's comments come after Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Friday fired former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe.
In recent days, the rich asshole has taken to Twitter to attack the Mueller probe.
On Saturday, he tweeted the probe "should never have been started in that there was no collusion and there was no crime."
"It was based on fraudulent activities and a Fake Dossier paid for by Crooked Hillary and the [Democratic National Committee], and improperly used in [Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act] COURT for surveillance of my campaign. WITCH HUNT!" the rich asshole tweeted.
He also called McCabe's firing a "great day for the hard working men and women of the FBI."
By
-
March 18, 2018
Only three Republican senators thus far have shown the courage and the patriotism to call out the rich asshole's reckless attacks on special counsel Robert Mueller.
the rich asshole unleashed his most unhinged and troubling attack yet on special counsel Robert Mueller this weekend. Yet the vast majority of Republican senators have nothing to say on the matter.
After the abrupt firing of FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe late Friday, the rich asshole began digging himself in even deeper as far a potential obstruction case. His lawyer John Dowd explicitly connected McCabe’s firing to the Russia investigation — a statement Dowd tried to walk back.
On Saturday, the rich asshole tweeted that “The Mueller probe should never have been started” — the first time he has mentioned Mueller by name on Twitter.
Then Sunday morning, he rattled off more tweets, lashing out at Mueller, McCabe, and former FBI Director James Comey.
“Why does the Mueller team have 13 hardened Democrats, some big Crooked Hillary supporters, and Zero Republicans?” the rich asshole ranted. “Does anyone think this is fair?”
The increasingly rabid shots at Mueller’s credibility seem to indicate that the rich asshole is getting closer to firing the special counsel. And that would be nothing short of a constitutional crisis.
But very few Republican senators have thus far shown the courage or the patriotism to stand up to the rich asshole’s demagoguery.
In fact, as of Sunday afternoon, only Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Marco Rubio of Florida, and Jeff Flake of Arizona have done so.
CNN’s Jake Tapper asked Graham if he was “worried that the president is preparing to order the firing of Mueller.”
“If he tried to do that, that would be the beginning of the end of his presidency,” Graham replied.
Also on CNN, Flake noted that “all along, it was … once he goes after Mueller, then we will take action.”
“I think that people see that as a massive red line that can’t be crossed,” he continued. “And I would just hope that enough people would prevail on the president now: ‘Don’t go there.'”
And on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Rubio flatly dissented from the rich asshole’s undermining of the investigation. “I remain confident that the special counsel is going to conduct a probe that is fair and thorough and is going to arrive at the truth,” he declared.
Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul came close to taking a stand. But he only offered the weak response that he wouldn’t “advocate” for Mueller’s firing.
And thus out of 51 Republican senators, only 3 seem to evince any real concern that their president is ready to throw the Constitution out the window in order to save his own skin.
Their colleague in the House, Trey Gowdy, had this advice for the rich asshole’s lawyer: “If you have an innocent client, act like it.”
And if the client acts as guilty as the rich asshole has this weekend, that demands loud condemnation from everyone in government.
Yet 48 Republican senators have suddenly lost their voices.
Graham calls for Senate Judiciary hearing on McCabe firing
BY BRETT SAMUELS - 03/18/18 10:11 AM EDT
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) on Sunday said he believes the Senate Judiciary Committee should hold a hearing on the firing of former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe.
“I think we owe it to the average American to have a hearing in the Judiciary Committee where Attorney General [Jeff] Sessions comes forward with whatever documentation he has about the firing, and give Mr. McCabe the chance to defend himself,” Graham, a member of the panel, said on CNN’s “State of the Union."
“I believe when it comes to this issue we need as much transparency as possible to make sure it wasn’t politically motivated,” he added.
President the rich asshole, who has personally attacked McCabe in the past, quickly praised that decision on Twitter, accusing McCabe of corrupt tactics and calling his firing a "great day for Democracy."
McCabe issued a statement after he was fired in which he argued that his ouster was driven by the rich asshole administration in an effort to undermine special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation.
Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), also a senior member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said Saturday the panel should hold an oversight hearing on the rich asshole administration's attacks on the FBI and Justice Department.
the rich asshole's attacks on the FBI and Justice Department, and his celebration of McCabe's firing, have prompted concern from some lawmakers that he may be readying to order Mueller's firing.
Graham reiterated on Sunday that he believes such action would be "the beginning of the end" of the rich asshole's presidency.
Watch: Zerlina Maxwell pummels sweaty Trumper over the definition of collusion
Richard St. Paul and Zerlina Maxwell/Screenshot
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some rich asshole launched a furious attack on the Mueller investigation this morning, which means analysts are once again discussing what happens if the president tries to unilaterally shut down the special prosecutor.
MSNBC invited Republican strategist Richard St. Paul on to give the president’s side of the story. Viewers could literally see sweat bead up on the back of St Paul’s head as he prepared to offer his defense of the rich asshole.
St. Paul claimed the president was within his rights to demand a halt to an investigation he suggested is going no where—despite having already ensnared the rich asshole’s former campaign chair, Paul Manafort, and 21 other people involved in the conspiracy.
“There has been up to this point no evidence of collusion so the president has every right to say ‘Let’s wrap this investigation up.’ He’s even offered to be interviewed,” he said.
MSNBC political analyst Zerlina Maxwell was not having it.
“Collusion is not a legal term. So, essentially, when someone throws that word out you can’t prove it or disprove it in a court of law,” she said. “But conspiracy is a crime and there is evidence that there was coordination of some kind between the rich asshole campaign officials and Russia. George Papadopoulos pled guilty to lying to the FBI about the context of his communications with Russia. In addition, some rich asshole Jr. met with Russians in the rich asshole Tower after a Russian said, essentially, ‘Would you like to collude.’ And he said ‘Yes, I love it, later in the summer.”
Watch the fiery exchange below.
Report: Kushner Companies routinely filed false paperwork with New York officials
BY REBECCA SAVRANSKY - 03/18/18 10:20 AM EDT
The Kushner Cos. reportedly filed false paperwork with New York City officials regarding the apartment buildings it owned.
The Associated Press reported that the company in 2015 bought three apartment buildings in Queens.
The company, which was run at the time by White House adviser and presidential son-in-law Jared Kushner, then pushed people out and raised rents in the buildings even though many of the tenants were protected by rules that said developers couldn't raise rents or push them out to create a profit, according to the news service.
The AP reported that the company often filed paperwork with New York City saying it didn't have any rent-regulated tenants in the buildings it owned.
But, according to the AP, it had hundreds of rent-regulated tenants across the city.
"It's bare-faced greed," said Aaron Carr, founder of Housing Rights Initiative, a tenants' rights watchdog that compiled the work permit documents and gave them to The Associated Press.
"The fact that the company was falsifying all these applications with the government shows a sordid attempt to avert accountability and get a rapid return on its investment."
Kushner Cos. said in a statement that if there are "mistakes or violations" in its documents, "corrective action is taken immediately." The company said that third parties are responsible for putting together such documents, which are then looked at by an independent counsel.
"Kushner would never deny any tenant their due-process rights," Kushner Cos. told the AP.
It also said it "has renovated thousands of apartments and developments with minimal complaints over the past 30 years."
The Housing Rights Initiative said there were at least 80 false applications filed by the Kushner Cos. for construction permits from 2013 to 2016. The applications were most often signed by an employee of Kushner, according to the AP.
POLITICS
Republicans Don’t Appear Too Concerned About Mueller’s Potential Firing
One GOP senator insists the White House wants Mueller “to be able to finish the investigation.”
GOP lawmakers offered a muted response on Sunday to the prospect of President some rich asshole pushing for the removal of special counsel Robert Mueller as head of the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.
The questions came on the heels of Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ firing of FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe on Friday, less than two days before McCabe was set to retire with full benefits. Most Republicans have opted not to weigh in on McCabe’s firing.
the rich asshole’s attorney, John Dowd, on Saturday followed up on the move by urging the Justice Department to immediately end the special counsel probe, leading many to speculate that Mueller’s job could be the next one in peril.
Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) didn’t appear to share those concerns during a Sunday interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” Rubio offered cursory support for Mueller, while advising him against expanding the probe too widely.
Rubio expressed hope that the investigation “is going to arrive at the truth and is not going to go down rabbit holes that are not places that we need to be going.”
Some Republicans have cried foul at news that Mueller’s investigation has begun to look into the rich asshole’s personal business ties to Russia, a move that has included a subpoena of the rich asshole Organization.
Mueller has also requested documents pertaining to the rich asshole campaign’s correspondence with data firm Cambridge Analytica, which ran the data operations for his White House bid and reportedly violated policies protecting the privacy of Facebook users.
Sen. @MarcoRubio on the Mueller investigation: “I remain confident that the Special Counsel is going to conduct a probe that is fair and thorough and is going to arrive at the truth and is not going to go down rabbit holes that are not places that we need to be going.” #MTP
Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.) similarly downplayed the alarm over Mueller’s potential sacking, calling Dowd’s statement “not different than what an attorney does typically.”
In an interview on ABC’s “This Week,” the senator maintained that the rich asshole would not have Mueller fired because the White House wants him “to be able to finish the investigation.”
But he also echoed the rich asshole’s criticism of the composition of Mueller’s team, calling it “odd” that the former FBI chief had selected a number of Democrats.
Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), appearing on CNN’s “State of the Union” program, seemed even less perturbed by the prospect of Mueller’s firing.
When @jaketapper asks if he would be bothered if Trump fired Robert Mueller, Rand Paul says he “wouldn’t advocate for it.”
On the same show, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) offered a markedly different response, suggesting that if the rich asshole pushed to remove Mueller, it would spur impeachment proceedings.
Lindsey Graham reiterates this to Trump when asked by @jaketapper about the potential firing of Mueller. “If he tried to do that, that would be the beginning of the end of his presidency. We are a rule-of-laws nation. “
Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.), a persistent the rich asshole critic, shared Graham’s view. He said on “State of the Union” that some his Republican colleagues had told him they’d treat Mueller’s firing as a “massive red line that can’t be crossed.”
Democrats warned that any move to undercut the special counsel probe would serve as a threat to democracy.
“This would undoubtedly result in a constitutional crisis, and I think Democrats and Republicans need to speak out about this right now,” Rep. Adam Schiff of California, the ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said on “This Week.” “Members need to speak out now, don’t wait for the crisis.”
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) issued a similar statement, accusing the rich asshole of “floating trial balloons about derailing the Mueller investigation,”
“Our Republican colleagues, particularly the leadership, have an obligation to our country to stand up now and make it clear that firing Mueller is a red line for our democracy that cannot be crossed,” Schumer said.
the rich asshole: McCabe wrote memos 'to help his own agenda'
BY MALLORY SHELBOURNE - 03/18/18 08:44 AM EDT
President the rich asshole on Sunday said former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe wrote memos about their interactions to further his own agenda.
“Spent very little time with Andrew McCabe, but he never took notes when he was with me,” the rich asshole wrote on Twitter.
“I don’t believe he made memos except to help his own agenda, probably at a later date. Same with lying James Comey. Can we call them Fake Memos?”
Spent very little time with Andrew McCabe, but he never took notes when he was with me. I don’t believe he made memos except to help his own agenda, probably at a later date. Same with lying James Comey. Can we call them Fake Memos?
McCabe, who was the No. 2 official at the FBI, reportedly provided special counsel Robert Mueller’s team with memos describing his contacts with the president.
Former FBI Director James Comey, who the rich asshole fired last May, told a Senate panel last year that shortly after he was dismissed, he authorized "a close friend" to leak the contents of a memo to the media in order to prompt a special counsel investigation.
"I asked a friend of mine to share the content of the memo with a reporter," said Comey.
"I asked a friend of mine to share the content of the memo with a reporter," said Comey.
McCabe firing isn’t likely to end the rich asshole’s war with the Justice Department and FBI
some rich asshole (Photo: Gage Skidmore/Wikipedia)
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Assess: McCabe firing isn’t likely to end the rich asshole’s war with the Justice Department and FBI
March 17, 2018
Joseph Tanfani and Chris Megerian
Tribune Washington Bureau
Posted with permission from Tribune Content Agency
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump on Saturday celebrated the abrupt firing of Andrew McCabe from the FBI as a "great day for Democracy" and a victory in his battle with the special counsel leading the Russia investigation that has overshadowed the White House.
But Trump's problems with McCabe may be just beginning.
Unleashed by his Friday night dismissal, the former FBI deputy director issued a furious rebuttal — and made clear he kept contemporaneous memos that support former FBI Director James B. Comey's claims that Trump pressed him to call off at least part of the Russia probe — accounts Trump has denied.
Brusque firings and sudden resignations have become a blood sport in the Trump era, with the president stoking the chaos with scornful tweets. Trump unceremoniously fired Secretary of State Rex Tillerson with a Twitter post Tuesday, and White House officials last week warned that national security adviser H.R. McMaster is on his way out.
But the seeming cruelty of McCabe's last-minute firing — barely 26 hours before he turned 50 and planned to take his pension for more than 21 years of service at the FBI — sparked special outrage among otherwise sober-minded national security and law enforcement veterans.
"When the full extent of your venality, moral turpitude, and political corruption becomes known, you will take your rightful place as a disgraced demagogue in the dustbin of history," John Brennan, who headed the CIA from 2013 to 2017, wrote in a tweet directed to Trump. "You may scapegoat Andy McCabe, but you will not destroy America ... America will triumph over you."
The race to kick McCabe out before he could retire "violates any sense of decency and basic principles of fairness," said Michael R. Bromwich, McCabe's lawyer and a former Justice Department inspector general.
He said pressure from Trump and his allies had pushed Attorney General Jeff Sessions to fire McCabe, and the disciplinary process was rushed in little more than a week — far more quickly than normal.
McCabe clearly is not going out quietly. Like Comey, he kept detailed notes of his three meetings with Trump, according to a person familiar with McCabe's actions, as well as his conversations with Comey before Trump fired him last May.
The McCabe memos could become crucial evidence in the Russia investigation led by special counsel Robert S. Mueller III. His team is seeking to determine whether Trump obstructed justice, a potential crime, by trying to pressure Comey and others to influence or block an ongoing FBI investigation.
The notes also could bolster McCabe's credibility about his interactions with Trump since Sessions sacked him for allegedly making false statements during an internal inquiry into whether he had authorized two FBI officials to brief a reporter about an unrelated investigation.
The existence of the McCabe memos was first reported by the Associated Press.
In his scathing rebuttal, McCabe portrayed himself as a victim of a partisan smear campaign led by Trump's tweets — and suggested that he has eyewitness evidence about whether Comey or Trump is telling the truth.
"Here is the reality: I am being singled out and treated this way because of the role I played, the actions I took, and the events I witnessed in the aftermath of the firing of James Comey," McCabe wrote.
He said Trump had sought to discredit him as part of "this administration's ongoing war on the FBI and the efforts of the special counsel investigation."
McCabe said an inquiry into his actions was fast-tracked at the Justice Department after he gave closed-door testimony to the House Intelligence Committee in December that backed Comey's account of his meetings with Trump.
But Trump launched a sweeping new attack Saturday, suggesting that his enemies were burrowed across the federal government. "There was tremendous leaking, lying and corruption at the highest levels of the FBI, Justice & State," he wrote on Twitter.
A Trump lawyer, John Dowd, called on Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who oversees Mueller's investigation, to "follow the brilliant and courageous example" of Sessions in firing McCabe and "bring an end to alleged Russia collusion investigation."
Dowd initially told The Daily Beast he was speaking for the president but later said he made the statement on his own.
Either way, it suggested a far more combative approach by Trump's legal team days after it was reported that Mueller had issued a subpoena in recent weeks seeking records from the Trump Organization, the umbrella group that holds the president's businesses.
Trump's lawyers previously insisted they were offering full cooperation with Mueller's team, highlighting their willingness to turn over documents and make White House officials available for interviews without subpoenas.
While Trump and his lawyers have consistently denied collusion with Moscow, they have occasionally struggled to speak with one voice on the Russia case. Dowd was previously sparked controversy when he suggested Trump could not obstruct justice because the president is too powerful and controls the Justice Department.
Dowd also belatedly claimed to have written a Trump tweet that suggested the president knew his former national security adviser, Michael Flynn, had lied to FBI investigators when he fired Flynn in early 2017. The tweet had raised awkward questions for the White House of what Trump knew about the Russia case at the time.
McCabe first came into the public eye last year after the Justice Department inspector general began a wide-ranging inquiry into whether the FBI mishandled a 2016 investigation into Hillary Clinton's use of a private server for government emails while she was secretary of State, and a separate probe into the Clinton Foundation, a charity.
As FBI deputy director, McCabe supervised those investigations, which concluded without criminal charges. But he had authorized two FBI officials to talk to a Wall Street Journal reporter about the Clinton Foundation investigation, a potential violation of department rules because the investigation was still underway.
McCabe made false statements to the inspector general "under oath," Sessions said in a Justice Department statement late Friday announcing McCabe's dismissal.
In his statement, McCabe said he "answered questions truthfully and as accurately as I could amidst the chaos that surrounded me." He also said that as deputy director, he was "fully authorized" to share information with reporters.
McCabe's testimony to the House Intelligence Committee made him a lightning rod in the partisan squabble over the so-called Steele dossier, opposition research on Trump's dealings with Russia that was collected by a former British spy then working for a Washington company hired by the Democrats.
In a declassified memo last month, Republicans on the committee wrote that McCabe had testified that the dossier was key to obtaining a surveillance warrant on a former member of Trump's campaign.
But McCabe said the Republican memo misrepresents his testimony.
Rep. Adam B. Schiff of California, the committee's top Democrat, said in an interview Saturday that McCabe answered a "very awkward, convoluted question" about the dossier. He urged the Republican majority, which has concluded its inquiry, to release transcripts of McCabe's interviews.
Schiff said McCabe had confirmed Comey's claims about Trump to the committee, and said the president's tweets had left a "foul taint" on the firing.
Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., said Sessions should appear before the Senate Judiciary Committee to explain "whether this is an attempt to target, punish or silence those investigating Russia and the Trump campaign."
But McCabe's ouster drew praise from some Republicans. Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, said more investigations are needed to "root out the problems in the FBI."
———
(Tanfani writes for the Tribune Washington Bureau and Megerian for the Los Angeles Times)
Jeff Sessions may have just been caught committing perjury for the second time
The man is bad at candor.
Late Friday, Attorney General Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III announced former Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe was fired due to a lack of candor regarding his conduct during an FBI probe into former presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. “The F.B.I. expects every employee to adhere to the highest standards of honesty, integrity and accountability,” Sessions said, regarding the firing, adding “I have terminated the employment of Andrew McCabe effective immediately.”
Yet, if Sessions were to apply this same standard to himself, he may not have a job very much longer. Reuters reported that Sessions may have lied under oath regarding his role in determining whether the rich asshole campaign should have colluded with the Russian government. This is the second time Sessions faced allegations that he lied under oath regarding both his conduct as a member of the rich asshole campaign and his approach to the Russian government.
The new allegations concern Sessions’ November 2017 testimony before the House Judiciary Committee, where he was asked about a proposal by campaign adviser George Papadopoulos that the campaign reach out to Russia. Sessions claimed in his testimony that he “pushed back” against Papadopoulos’ proposal at a meeting Sessions chaired as head of the rich asshole campaign’s foreign policy team.
Yet, according to Reuters, three people who attended this meeting “said Sessions had expressed no objections to Papadopoulos’ idea.” A fourth attendee, for what it is worth, corroborates Sessions’ testimony.
These new allegations against Sessions follow a similar scandal that broke in March of last year. During Sessions’ confirmation hearing for his current job, he told the Senate Judiciary Committee that he “did not have communications with the Russians.” In reality, the Washington Post reported, Sessions spoke twice with the Russian ambassador to the United States.
One day after The Post reported on this discrepancy, Sessions recused himself from the Justice Department’s investigation into the rich asshole campaign’s contacts with Russia. With Sessions no longer involved, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein appointed Special Counsel Robert Mueller to oversee the investigation two months later.
If Mueller, or another federal prosecutor, pursues perjury charges against Sessions, he could face a difficult legal battle. To obtain a perjury conviction, a federal prosecutor must show that Sessions made a false statement under oath on “any material matter which he does not believe to be true.” Thus, Sessions could potentially argue that he had forgotten about his meetings with the Russian ambassador, as well as whether he spoke up in the Papadopoulos meeting — and thus did not make a false statement that he believe, at the time, “to be true.”
Nevertheless, the fact that there are now two plausible allegations of perjury looming over Sessions could cut against him in court. It is one thing to misspeak once. It’s another thing altogether to have a pattern of false statements.
POLITICS
the rich asshole Attacks McCabe, Comey And Mueller Probe In Sunday Tweet Barrage
the rich asshole says he doesn’t believe fired FBI official Andrew McCabe “made memos except to help his own agenda, probably at a later date.”
President some rich asshole once again attempted to dismantle the credibility of former FBI deputy director Andrew G. McCabe and former FBI director James B. Comey in several tweets on Sunday that also questioned the work of special counsel Robert Mueller.
In a post taking aim at McCabe, who was abruptly fired on Friday for allegedly making an unauthorized disclosure to the news media, the president questioned the legitimacy of memos that the former FBI official reportedly wrote right after he would have conversations with the rich asshole and Comey.
the rich asshole reasoned that he personally never saw McCabe write anything down when they met, so he expressed skepticism about the memos.
“Spent very little time with Andrew McCabe, but he never took notes when he was with me. I don’t believe he made memos except to help his own agenda, probably at a later date,” the rich asshole tweeted.
Mentioning Comey, who has also said that he kept memos before being fired by the rich asshole in May, the president said, “Can we call them Fake Memos?”
Michael Bromwich, an attorney representing McCabe following his dismissal, hit back at the rich asshole’s tweets on Sunday, calling them “defamatory, disgusting and false.”
“The whole truth will come out in due course. But the tweets confirm that [the rich asshole] has corrupted the entire process that led to Mr. McCabe’s termination and has rendered it illegitimate,” tweeted Bromwich, a former Justice Department inspector general.
the rich asshole also accused Comey of having lied under oath when questioned by a Senate committee in June about his knowledge of anonymous sources allegedly disclosing information to the media.
“Wow, watch Comey lie under oath to [a senator] when asked ‘have you ever been an anonymous source...or known someone else to be an anonymous source...?’” the rich asshole tweeted.
Comey responded to a similar attack by the rich asshole of his credibility on Saturday, telling the president on Twitter: “The American people will hear my story very soon ... They can judge for themselves who is honorable and who is not.”
the rich asshole on Sunday also renewed his attack on Mueller’s investigation into Russian election meddling and possible ties between the rich asshole campaign and Moscow. He accused members of Mueller’s team of being politically biased and favoring his 2016 presidential opponent, Hillary Clinton.
“Why does the Mueller team have 13 hardened Democrats, some big Crooked Hillary supporters, and Zero Republicans?” he wrote. “Another Dem recently added ... does anyone think this is fair? And yet, there is NO COLLUSION!”
Some members of Mueller’s team in the past donated to Democrats, including former President Barack Obama.
the rich asshole has repeatedly claimed that Mueller’s investigation is tainted because, in the president’s view, it has been driven by a dossier containing unverified accusations against him that was partially funded by Clinton’s campaign and the Democratic National Committee. And the rich asshole has made it no secret that he wants the Mueller probe ended.
“The Mueller probe should never have been started in that there was no collusion and there was no crime,” he tweeted on Saturday night. “It was based on fraudulent activities and a Fake Dossier paid for by Crooked Hillary and the DNC, and improperly used in FISA COURT for surveillance of my campaign. WITCH HUNT!”
This story has been updated with comment from McCabe’s attorney, Michael Bromwich.
Benkoe
the rich asshole blasts makeup of special counsel’s team
BY KYLE BALLUCK - 03/18/18 08:42 AM EDT
President the rich asshole early Sunday criticized the makeup of special counsel Robert Mueller’s team, repeating his claim that there was no collusion between his campaign and Russia.
“Why does the Mueller team have 13 hardened Democrats, some big Crooked Hillary [Clinton] supporters, and Zero Republicans?” he asked in a tweet.
“Another Dem recently added...does anyone think this is fair? And yet, there is NO COLLUSION!” he added.
Why does the Mueller team have 13 hardened Democrats, some big Crooked Hillary supporters, and Zero Republicans? Another Dem recently added...does anyone think this is fair? And yet, there is NO COLLUSION!
the rich asshole has long been critical of the special counsel's investigation into Russian election interference and possible collusion between his campaign and Moscow, calling it a "witch hunt."
On Saturday, the rich asshole tweeted that the Mueller probe should "never have been started in that there was no collusion and there was no crime." He said the probe was based on "fraudulent activities."
the rich asshole's personal attorney on Saturday also called on Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein to shut down Mueller's investigation.
the rich asshole's comments come just days after Attorney General Jeff Sessions fired FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, saying he had misled congressional investigators and leaked information to the press.
The firing of McCabe ignited a political firestorm in Washington.
— Rebecca Savransky contributed to this report, which was updated at 8:56 a.m.
Citing her history of torture, Rand Paul threatens to filibuster the rich asshole’s pick to lead the CIA
Rand Paul races to the front of the opposition to the rich asshole's new CIA nominee
some rich asshole likely expected significant opposition to his new nominee for CIA chief, Gina Haspel. But he probably didn’t expect that some of the most vocal opposition would come from fellow Republicans.
Over the past few days, Sen. Rand Paul (R.-KY) has become perhaps the most vocal opponent of Haspel’s nomination, where she would replace Mike Pompeo — himself nominated as secretary of state. Paul’s criticisms, perhaps unsurprisingly, have centered most especially on Haspel’s role in implementing the U.S.’s torture regime,
Haspel’s distinct, detailed history of involvement in the torture regime appears to be a bridge too far for Paul. On Wednesday, Paul condemned the pick. “I mean, how could you trust somebody who did that to be in charge of the CIA?,” he said.
Paul reiterated his opposition to Haspel’s nomination on Sunday — and even threatened to take his opposition beyond simply voicing criticism to reporters. In POLITICO, Paul wrote that it “remains true that Haspel ran a secret center in Thailand where prisoners were tortured. … I simply do not believe she should hold the post to which she has been nominated.” On Twitter, Paul added that he would “do whatever it takes” — including leading a potential filibuster — to prevent her ascension to CIA chief.
I’ll do whatever it takes, including filibuster, to stop the nomination of Gina Haspel. I urge @SenFeinstein to stand against her nomination too!
When CNN’s Jake Tapper asked Paul to confirm that he’d be willing to filibuster Haspel’s nomination, the Kentucky senator was unequivocal — and is worth quoting in full:
I think that what America stands for is not torture. Torture is the hallmark of totalitarianism. We should be that hope for the rest of the world, that people who want to resist totalitarianism — they want to be free from torture, they don’t want to be free to torture. … I’ll do whatever it takes — and that includes filibuster. … It’s just inconsistent with who we are as a people to have someone run our spy agency that has all this enormous power who was intimately involved with torture, and from everything we’re reading was supportive of the policy. And so, no, I can’t support that — and I will do everything I can, including filibuster.
Sen. Rand Paul says he’ll “do whatever it takes” to block the appointments of Gina Haspel and Mike Pompeo, including filibustering. #CNNSOTU cnn.it/2FKpL50
Given that Sen. John McCain (R.-AZ) has already made noise about blocking Haspel’s nomination — which could, alongside the 49 Democrats in the Senate, prevent Haspel’s ascension — Paul’s willingness to filibuster her nomination could effectively torpedo her chances at becoming CIA chief. It wouldn’t prevent a rich asshole nominee from eventually filling the slot, but it could prevent someone who played an integral role in the U.S.’s torture regime from returning to a seat close to power.
Republicans to the rich asshole: Let Mueller do his job
Special counsel Robert Mueller on CNN (screen capture)
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Republican senators warned President some rich asshole on Sunday not to fire Special Counsel Robert Mueller, and said the president must let federal investigators looking into Russian meddling in the U.S. election do their jobs.
The Republican president has renewed his Twitter attacks on both the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Mueller’s probe since the firing on Friday of the bureau’s former deputy director, Andrew McCabe, two days before he was eligible to retire with a full pension.
Republican Senator Jeff Flake, who has criticized the rich asshole harshly, said the president’s latest comments appeared to be aimed at the firing of Mueller. Senator Lindsey Graham, another Republican, said if the rich asshole were to dismiss Mueller it would mark “the beginning of the end of his presidency.”
AshLee Strong, a spokeswoman for Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan, said: “As the speaker has always said, Mr. Mueller and his team should be able to do their job.”
The comments underscored the risks for the rich asshole if he goes too far to thwart the federal probe.
“I don’t know what the designs are on Mueller, but it seems to be building toward that (firing him), and I just hope it doesn’t go there, because it can’t. We can’t in Congress accept that,” Flake told CNN’s “State of the Union.”
“So I would expect to see considerable pushback in the next couple of days urging the president not to go there.”
In a series of tweets over the weekend, the rich asshole accused the FBI leadership of lies, corruption and leaking information. He called the Russia probe a politically motivated witch hunt.
“The Mueller probe should never have been started in that there was no collusion and there was no crime,” the rich asshole said on Saturday. On Sunday, he attacked former FBI Director James Comey and McCabe, top officials who were involved in the Russia probe and subsequently fired.
The U.S. intelligence community has concluded that Moscow conducted an influence campaign aimed at swaying the 2016 presidential election to the rich asshole over Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton. Mueller is investigating the Russian meddling and any possible collusion with the rich asshole campaign.
On Saturday, the rich asshole’s personal lawyer John Dowd urged the Justice Department official overseeing Mueller, Rod Rosenstein, to “bring an end to alleged Russia Collusion investigation manufactured by McCabe’s boss James Comey.”
Republican U.S. Representative Trey Gowdy criticized Dowd in an interview with “Fox News Sunday.”
“I think the president’s attorney, frankly, does him a disservice when he says that and when he frames the investigation that way,” Gowdy said. “If you have an innocent client, Mr. Dowd, act like it.”
RICH ASSHOLE FRUSTRATED
White House legislative affairs director Marc Short said the rich asshole team was fully cooperating in the Mueller investigation and that the president was expressing his growing frustration with how long the probe has lasted.
Graham, a co-author of legislation that would make it harder for a president to fire a special counsel, said it was very important that Mueller be allowed to proceed without interference and that many Republicans share this view.
“The only reason Mr. Mueller could ever be dismissed is for cause. I see no cause when it comes to Mr. Mueller,” Graham said on CNN.
Another Republican, Senator James Lankford, said he does not believe the rich asshole would fire Mueller.
the rich asshole also drew criticism from fellow Republicans on Sunday over the firing of McCabe, who said he believed he was targeted because he corroborated Comey’s claims that the rich asshole tried to pressure Comey into killing the Russia probe.
“I don’t like the way it happened. He should’ve been allowed to finish through the weekend,” Senator Marco Rubio said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
Rubio, who supports the special counsel probe, said the decision to fire McCabe was made before the release of the Justice Department inspector general’s report that Attorney General Jeff Sessions cited in his dismissal. Sessions said the report concluded McCabe leaked information to reporters and misled investigators about his actions.
On Twitter, Michael Bromwich, McCabe’s lawyer, hit back at the rich asshole’s tweets about his client, calling the president’s comments “childish, defamatory, disgusting & false.”
“The whole truth will come out in due course,” Bromwich wrote. “But the tweets confirm that he has corrupted the entire process that led to Mr. McCabe’s termination and has rendered it illegitimate.”
Republicans open to targeted China tariffs despite steel flap
BY NIV ELIS AND VICKI NEEDHAM - 03/18/18 07:31 AM EDT
Republican lawmakers who broadly shunned President the rich asshole's wide-ranging steel and aluminum tariffs are expressing more optimism about a potential new round of trade actions that specifically target China.
While some are urging caution out of fears of sparking a trade war with Beijing, others are signaling confidence in such an approach, characterizing China as the justified target of any punitive trade measures.
“Obviously there’s a huge difference,” said Rep. Tom Rice (R-S.C.), a member of the House Ways and Means Committee, which oversees trade.
“I think that the retaliatory tariffs are there for a reason, to deal with bad actors. I don’t think anybody argues that China hasn’t taken advantage of us, and that it hasn’t hurt the American middle class,” he added.
the rich asshole is said to be considering imposing tariffs on up to $60 billion worth of Chinese imports following an investigation under “Section 301” of the trade act, which covers intellectual property.
China has frequently been accused of stealing intellectual property from U.S. companies, as well as subsidizing certain goods and dumping materials into the world market at the expense of other producers.
White House trade adviser Peter Navarro told CNBC this week that the rich asshole would receive recommendations from U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer in the coming weeks on how to respond to “China’s theft and forced transfer of our intellectual property."
Lighthizer had originally suggested a $30 billion package of tariffs on imports from China, according to multiple reports, but the president wanted to double that figure, covering a range of more than 100 products.
Republicans are more optimistic about the administration taking targeted action against China after numerous GOP lawmakers, including Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), opposed the rich asshole's recent move to impose sweeping tariffs of 25 percent on steel and 10 percent on aluminum.
the rich asshole excluded Canada and Mexico from those tariffs after heavy lobbying, and many members of his party continue to quietly push him to exempt additional U.S. allies from the import taxes.
House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady (R-Texas) told Fox News on Friday that lawmakers would continue working with the White House and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross on developing an exclusion process for products that would get trapped in the tariffs.
"It’s really important that the Commerce Department narrow those tariffs to make sure these fairly traded products aren’t swept in," Brady said.
Ross is scheduled to testify before the Ways and Means panel on Thursday, the day after Lighthizer appears before the committee. Lawmakers are expected to pepper the two officials with questions about their concerns surrounding the tariffs and the rich asshole administration's broader trade agenda.
“I think everybody approaches the tariff discussion sobered and concerned. That said, the issue of Chinese activity is where the scrutiny should lie,” said Rep. Peter Roskam (R-Ill.), another Ways and Means member.
“The blanket tariffs on steel directly hurt my district. I represent small manufacturers that use a lot of steel, it’s imported, and this hurts them,” he said.
“Let me put it this way, nobody’s doing a candlelight vigil for the Chinese.”
Like many Republicans, Rep. David Schweikert (Ariz.), a staunch free-trader, said he approved of the overall policy thinking on targeted actions against China but said that details of the proposal would be critical.
“I’m a fan of, if you’ve documented someone cheating, deal with the bad act. If other countries are playing by the rules, respect that and understand that,” he said. Tariffs, he added, are only one tool in the box.
“Are we exhausting the levers that are available to us? Turns out, most of the time we go to the [World Trade Organization], we win,” he said.
Some Republicans remain concerned that that new tariffs would lead to a trade war with China.
“On the retaliatory side, obviously sorghum, soybean, those guys are generally concerned about the impact that that would have,” said Rep. Mike Conaway (R-Texas), who heads the House Agriculture Committee.
But he remained open to giving the administration the benefit of the doubt.
“some rich asshole has shown himself to be an adept negotiator, and so we’ll see where he goes,” he said.
Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang told reporters this week that the U.S. should expect its own response to new tariffs.
“If the United States takes actions that harm China’s interests, China will have to take measures to firmly protect our legitimate rights,” he said, according to Reuters.
The business community, which has often seen the GOP as a steward of its interests, is also voicing concerns about the rich asshole taking broad action against Beijing.
“The administration is right to focus on the negative economic impact of China’s industrial policies and unfair trade practices, but the U.S. Chamber would strongly disagree with a decision to impose sweeping tariffs,” said Thomas J. Donohue, CEO of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
Tariffs, he said, would “wipe out” a significant chunk of the benefits of the GOP tax law.
Democrats are more skeptical that the rich asshole would be able to thread the needle with retaliatory measures.
“The president will propose tariffs, but what is not taken into consideration is how the cost of those tariffs are passed onto American consumers. So in the end, what is achieved other than the president getting his licks in?” asked Rep. Brian Higgins (D-N.Y.), another Ways and Means member.
Rep. Richard Neal (Mass.), the top Democrat on the committee, raised a similar concern.
“They seem to be making it up as they go along,” he said of the administration's trade policy.
GOP pushes for 'phase two' of tax cuts
BY NAOMI JAGODA - 03/18/18 06:00 AM EDT
Republicans are increasingly talking about “phase two” of tax cuts — including a permanent extension of the new law’s individual tax cuts — in an effort to highlight their signature legislative accomplishment and force Democrats to take tough votes.
While Republicans could struggle to pass another tax bill this year, conservatives said that an effort to cement the new individual rates would be both smart policy and smart politics.
President the rich asshole and some key lawmakers have made comments in recent weeks about pursuing additional tax cuts following the enactment of the GOP’s tax-overhaul bill last year.
“We’re actually going for a phase two, which will help in addition to the middle class, will help companies, and it’s going to be something I think very special,” the rich asshole said at an event in Missouri on Wednesday.
The same day, House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady(R-Texas) said he plans to release new proposals “this year.”
“We are exploring what good new ideas can be brought forward in tax reform,” he said on Fox Business Network’s “Varney & Co.”
It’s unclear what the exact contents or timing of another tax package would be, but lawmakers and administration officials have signaled that it would likely include a permanent extension of the new tax law’s cuts for individuals.
“It will lead with permanence,” Brady told Fox Business Friday. “The tax cuts for families and small businesses were long term, but they weren't permanent. We think that's important for growth and certainty."
He also said he wants to make tax changes that encourage people to save for retirement.
The tax law the rich asshole signed in December permanently lowered the corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 21 percent. But most of the changes the law made to the individual tax code, including rate cuts, expire after 2025.
The tax cuts for individuals were made temporary in order for the bill to comply with the budget reconciliation rules Republicans were using to pass the measure with only a simple majority in the Senate. Under those rules, the law could not add to the deficit outside of the 10-year budget window.
Republicans are unlikely to adopt a budget resolution with reconciliation instructions this year, so they would need 60 votes in the Senate to pass a second tax bill. The GOP only holds 51 seats, and it could be difficult to get nine Senate Democrats on board with another tax bill.
No Democrat voted for the tax bill last year, citing its large benefits for the wealthy and its impact on the national debt. Top Senate Democrats unveiled a proposal earlier this month to roll back some of the tax cuts, including the lower top individual rate, in order to pay for infrastructure investments.
Some Democratic lawmakers have already raised concerns about plans for additional tax cuts. Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-Texas), a senior member of the Ways and Means Committee, said at a recent hearing that additional tax cuts that aren’t paid for “will make this [debt] situation even worse.”
Still, some Republicans said they think they could get enough Democrats to pass legislation cementing the individual tax cuts. They noted that many Democratic lawmakers complained that last year’s law included temporary cuts for individuals while making a permanent cut to the corporate rate.
“Democrats said all the time that these tax cuts should have been permanent, so I would expect them to support that legislation,” Walker told The Hill.
Conservatives see a vote on the individual tax cuts as a win-win: Either the legislation passes and Republicans get a victory on policy, or Democrats are forced to go on the record on the tax cuts in order to defeat the bill. Ten Senate Democrats are up for reelection this year in states that the rich asshole carried in 2016.
“Getting Democrats on the record is always a good idea when Republicans are pushing their agenda,” said Andy Roth, vice president of government affairs at the Club for Growth.
Jason Pye, vice president of legislative affairs at FreedomWorks, said that if Senate Democrats don’t vote for permanent individual tax cuts, “it puts them in the corner of [House Minority Leader] Nancy Pelosi [D-Calif.], who said dumb things about the tax cuts."
Conservatives also view it as beneficial for Republicans to keep pushing forward on taxes, noting that the tax measure has become more popular since it was enacted.
“I think this is a good opportunity to build on that success and build on that popularity,” said Americans for Prosperity federal affairs director Mary Kate Hopkins.
Doug Heye, a former Republican National Committee spokesman, said that a push for more tax cuts would keep Republicans on the offense instead of forcing them to play defense on the White House crisis of the day.
“I think everything about this move would be positive,” he said.
Bills focused on cementing the individual tax cuts have already been introduced in the House and Senate.
A bill Rep. Rodney Davis (R-Ill.) introduced in January to make tax cuts for individuals and pass-through businesses permanent has 58 co-sponsors, including House Freedom Caucus Chairman Mark Meadows (R-N.C.). Meadows said he expects a vote on the measure around the time of the April tax-filing deadline.
On the Senate side, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) has offered legislation that would specifically cement the new tax law’s individual rates.
Besides making the individual tax cuts permanent, conservatives also said they would hope a second tax bill would lower capital gains taxes, which people pay when they sell investments. Republicans have long wanted to lower capital gains taxes, but they were largely left untouched in the new tax law.
White House principal deputy press secretary Raj Shah told Fox Business’s Maria Bartiromo Thursday that the rich asshole and Brady have talked about potentially lowering the capital gains rate.
Conservatives have also argued that the Treasury Department could take executive action to index capital gains taxes to inflation, a move that has been supported by incoming National Economic Council director Larry Kudlow. They argue that Kudlow’s new job will boost those efforts.
“Kudlow getting this job is a big step forward both for all marginal rate efforts but also for the reform of taxation of capital gains so that we don’t tax inflation, we only tax real gains,” said Americans for Tax Reform President Grover Norquist.
the rich asshole’s unhinged attacks on Comey pushes fired FBI director’s upcoming tell-all book to #1 best seller spot
FBI Director James Comey testifies before a House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing on July 7, 2016 (AFP Photo/Yuri Gripas)
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The president’s attacks on the FBI, former FBI Director James Comey and the recently fired former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe have apparently helped the sales of Comey’s upcoming potential tell-all.
Comey’s book, “A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies, and Leadership,” won’t be released until April 17. As CNN reported on Sunday, however, the president’s most recent attacks have helped it surge on best sellers’ lists.
The book promises Comey will share “his never-before-told experiences from some of the highest-stakes situations of his career in the past two decades of American government, exploring what good, ethical leadership looks like, and how it drives sound decisions.”
“On Sunday morning it was No. 2 on Amazon’s constantly updated list of best sellers,” CNN noted. “The ranking reflects a sudden spike in pre-orders. On Saturday morning, it was No. 15.” As of Sunday afternoon, it has since moved to #1.
The president began his Sunday by personally attacking both Comey and McCabe once again, contradicting himself prior to his latest golf outing at his Virginia golf course. The attacks followed Comey’s warning to the president on Saturday that the American people would soon hear his story, allowing them to judge for themselves who is honorable and who isn’t.
As CNN further reported:
Last month the publisher, Flatiron, moved the release date from May 1 to April 17, citing the public’s demand to hear from Comey.Amazon isn’t the only site that showed a surge of pre-order sales over the weekend.“A Higher Loyalty” was also No. 4 on the Barnes & Noble website’s best selling books list on Sunday morning. Of course, getting on a best seller list a month before your book comes out is a dream come true for an author.The spike in sales is somewhat reminiscent of the interest in “Fire and Fury,” Michael Wolff’s controversial book about the first months of the rich asshole administration.The book jumped to No. 1 on Amazon when excerpts leaked out in January and stayed there when the president’s lawyers tried to stop it from being published.The book has been at the top of The New York Times best selling books list ever since.The preorders for Comey’s book indicate that it probably will also debut high up on The Times list.
The outlet further reported that Comey will launch a publicity tour ahead of the book’s release, including a prime-time interview on ABC and appearances on Stephen Colbert and other talk shows.
‘You can smell the fear’: Ex-DOJ official warns the rich asshole’s Twitter freakout over McCabe reveals he’s at his most dangerous
Matthew Miller on Am Joy -- screenshot
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Appearing on an MSNBC panel discussion on the abrupt firing of Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe and whether Special Counsel Robert Mueller is next in line, a former Justice Department official warned that a cornered President some rich asshole is now at his most dangerous.
Speaking with AM Joy host Joy Reid, former Justice Department spokesperson Matt Miller said the rich asshole has become untethered from advice from his aides and is attacking his perceived enemies out of fear.
“We already know from the testimony that we’ve already heard from Andrew McCabe that, in his interactions with some rich asshole, he was asked who he voted for which seems completely inappropriate,” Reid began. “He was chided about his wife and subjected to putdowns about her having lost the race she ran in Virginia. We now have, in addition to that, some rich asshole in his morning tweet storm, tweeting ‘Why does Mueller team have 13 hardened Democrats, big crooked Hillary supporters and zero Republicans.’ Another added, ‘there is no collusion.'”
“some rich asshole apparently thinks only Republicans are allowed to work in government unless they’re Andrew McCabe and they’re married to a Democrat,” she added.
“You can smell the fear coming through in the president’s tweets this morning,” Miller agreed. “He seems to be very nervous all of a sudden about this probe.”
“If you look at the developments over the last few weeks, I think they’d give you some clue why,” Miller continued. “We found out that Bob Mueller has subpoenaed his personal business for records. We found out from the New York Times they submitted questions that will give them some idea what they’re looking at. He found out yesterday that Andrew McCabe kept memos of their interactions and, if they’re like Comey’s, they’ll have inappropriate requests of law enforcement by the president going back to the first days of this administration.”
“I think we’re at one of the most dangerous times for the Mueller probe,” he warned. “You have not just the president’s anger, nervousness, fear, but you also have these reports in the last few weeks that the president is increasingly comfortable that he knows how to do this job and he doesn’t want people telling him no — that he shouldn’t take rash actions. When you combine those two trends, it puts us on a perilous path and potentially a dangerous set of actions from the president in the next few weeks.”
You can watch the video below via MSNBC:
Multiple witnesses tell Mueller: Jeff Sessions lied under oath about opposing Russia outreach during campaign
Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL) swears to tell the truth before the Senate Judiciary Committee during his confirmation hearing to be the attorney general on Jan. 10, 2017. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
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U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ testimony that he opposed a proposal for President some rich asshole’s 2016 campaign team to meet with Russians has been contradicted by three people who told Reuters they have spoken about the matter to investigators with Special Counsel Robert Mueller or congressional committees.
Sessions testified before Congress in November 2017 that he “pushed back” against the proposal made by former campaign adviser George Papadopoulos at a March 31, 2016 campaign meeting. Then a senator from Alabama, Sessions chaired the meeting as head of the rich asshole campaign’s foreign policy team.
“Yes, I pushed back,” Sessions told the House Judiciary Committee on Nov. 14, when asked whether he shut down Papadopoulos’ proposed outreach to Russia. Sessions has since also been interviewed by Mueller.
Three people who attended the March campaign meeting told Reuters they gave their version of events to FBI agents or congressional investigators probing Russian interference in the 2016 election. Although the accounts they provided to Reuters differed in certain respects, all threes, who declined to be identified, said Sessions had expressed no objections to Papadopoulos’ idea.
However, another meeting attendee, J.D. Gordon, who was the rich asshole campaign’s director of national security, told media outlets including Reuters in November that Sessions strongly opposed Papadopoulos’ proposal and said no one should speak of it again. In response to a request for comment, Gordon said on Saturday that he stood by his statement.
Sessions, through Justice Department spokeswoman Sarah Isgur Flores, declined to comment beyond his prior testimony. The special counsel’s office also declined to comment. Spokeswomen for the Democrats and Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee did not immediately comment.
Reuters was unable to determine whether Mueller is probing discrepancies in accounts of the March 2016 meeting.
The three accounts, which have not been reported, raise new questions about Sessions’ testimony regarding contacts with Russia during the campaign.
Sessions previously failed to disclose to Congress meetings he had with former Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak, and testified in October that he was not aware of any campaign representatives communicating with Russians.
Some Democrats have seized on discrepancies in Sessions’ testimony to suggest the attorney general may have committed perjury. A criminal charge would require showing Sessions intended to deceive. Sessions told the House Judiciary Committee that he had always told the truth and testified to the best of his recollection.
Legal experts expressed mixed views about the significance of the contradictions cited by the three sources.
Sessions could argue he misremembered events or perceived his response in a different way, making any contradictions unintentional, some experts said.
Jonathan Turley, a law professor at George Washington University, said Sessions’ words might be too vague to form the basis of a perjury case because there could be different interpretations of what the term pushing back means.
“If you’re talking about false statements, prosecutors look for something that is concrete and clear,” he said.
Other legal experts said, however, that repeated misstatements by Sessions could enable prosecutors to build a perjury case against him.
“Proving there was intent to lie is a heavy burden for the prosecution. But now you have multiple places where Sessions has arguably made false statements,” said Bennett Gershman, a Pace University law professor.
The March 2016 campaign meeting in Washington was memorialized in a photo the rich asshole posted on Instagram of roughly a dozen men sitting around a table, including the rich asshole, Sessions and Papadopoulos.
Papadopoulos, who pleaded guilty in October to lying to the Federal Bureau of Investigation about his Russia contacts, is now cooperating with Mueller.
According to court documents released after his guilty plea, Papadopoulos said at the campaign meeting that he had connections who could help arrange a meeting between the rich asshole and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Papadopoulos continued to pursue Russian contacts after the March 2016 meeting and communicated with some campaign officials about his efforts, according to the court documents.
the rich asshole has said that he does not remember much of what happened at the “very unimportant” campaign meeting. the rich asshole has said he did not meet Putin before becoming president.
Moscow has denied meddling in the election and the rich asshole has denied his campaign colluded with Russia.
Reporting by Karen Freifeld, Sarah N. Lynch and Mark Hosenball; Additional reporting by Jonathan Landay in Washington and Jan Wolfe in New York; Editing by Anthony Lin, Noeleen Walder and Jeffrey
Lawrence O’Donnell fires back at the rich asshole twitter rant: ‘Are these the questions that a crazed guilty suspect asks?’
MSNBC host Lawrence O'Donnell on Nov. 26, 2014 [MSNBC]
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MSNBC host Lawrence O’Donnell responded to President the rich asshole’s Sunday morning Twitter meltdown by wondering if it pointed to at a guilty conscience on the part of the president.
In a series of tweets on Sunday morning, the president attacked former FBI Directors James Comey and Andrew McCabe. the rich asshole seemed especially concerned about McCabe’s notes, which have likely been turned over to Special Counsel Robert Mueller. The president also accused Mueller of running a partisan investigation into Russia’s interference in the 2016 elections.
Wow, watch Comey lie under oath to Senator G when asked “have you ever been an anonymous source...or known someone else to be an anonymous source...?” He said strongly “never, no.” He lied as shown clearly on @foxandfriends.
O’Donnell fired back by suggesting that the rich asshole’s remarks show he is suffering from a guilty conscience.
“Are these the questions that a crazed guilty suspect asks?” O’Donnell asked. “Or are these the questions of an innocent man who knows he has never broken the law and is confident he can prove his innocence?”
Are these the questions that a crazed guilty suspect asks?
Or are these the questions of an innocent man who knows he has never broken the law and is confident he can prove his innocence? twitter.com/realDonaldTrum…
Panicked White House rushes the rich asshole off Twitter and onto the golf course
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Between digging himself in further with more unhinged tweets, or hitting the golf course once again, the rich asshole's team apparently decided the latter was the safer option.
the rich asshole kicked off his Sunday morning with a trio of incriminating tweets. And his White House aides hurriedly found something better for him to do: play golf.
This weekend’s Twitter barrage marked the first time the rich asshole has attacked special counsel Robert Mueller by name. And it was enough to make even reliable Republican allies turn on him.
Rep. Trey Gowdy admitted that the rich asshole is beginning to look guilty. And Sen. Lindsey Graham declared that if the rich asshole tries to fire Mueller, it “would be the beginning of the end of his presidency.”
And this guilty behavior apparently hasn’t escaped the notice of some of the rich asshole’s staff. Because according to New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman, “Aides have decided to whisk the rich asshole to a golf course today.”
Pool reports note that the rich asshole’s motorcade left the White House about an hour after his last tweet. “Your pooler has asked if the president is golfing or with whom he might be meeting and will report back if we get details,” pool reporter Thomas Burr wrote.
Another member of the pool, the BBC’s Tara McElvey, confirmed that the rich asshole’s golf outing was hastily arranged.
Aides have decided to whisk Trump to a golf course today.
"Whisked" is right – members of the pool were told to rush - (i.e. run) - to the vans in the motorcade at the White House. We're here at the golf club now, waiting for developments pic.twitter.com/18e2LBz1uf
“Feels a bit cold for golf. But fewer TVs there,” Haberman noted.
CNBC White House correspondent Christina Wilkie concurred. “It’s only 44 degrees outside, but it was pretty imperative that the rich asshole not spend the entire day inside watching television.”
Of course, the rich asshole hardly needs an excuse to retreat to his golf properties. But unfortunately for his advisers, he has already done significant damage to himself this weekend.
And when the rich asshole is done playing golf, Robert Mueller will still be there. And so will the rich asshole’s Twitter account.
Soledad O’Brien owns Chuck Woolery over Stormy Daniels after he claims the rich asshole is ‘fighting for the Republic’
Soledad O'Brien appears on CNN (screen grab)
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Television journalist Soledad O’Brien on Sunday jabbed conservative presenter Chuck Woolery after he claimed that President some rich asshole is “fighting for the Republic.”
In a tweet on Saturday, Woolery blasted Democrats and praised Republicans, a common theme on his timeline.
O’Brien responded the next morning with a single sentence, pointing out the rich asshole’s troubles with adult film star Stormy Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford.
“President the rich asshole is fighting a porn star, babe,” O’Brien wrote before presumably dropping the mic.
President Trump is fighting a porn star, babe. twitter.com/chuckwoolery/s…
Kushner family filed false documents on New York City properties to reap millions in profits: report
Jared Kushner, Senior Advisor to President some rich asshole. (DoD Photo by Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class Dominique A. Pineiro)
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According to an exclusive Associated Press report, the family of White House Adviser Jared Kushner filed multiple false documents with the New York City housing authorities that allowed them to reap millions in profits on properties they flipped.
The report states that the Kushner’s real estate companies bought “three apartment buildings in a gentrifying neighborhood of Queens in 2015,” and that “most of the tenants were protected by special rules that prevent developers from pushing them out, raising rents.”
Two years later, Associated Press reports, all three buildings were sold for $60 million — nearly 50 percent more than the purchase price.
“The Kushner Cos. routinely filed false paperwork with the city declaring it had zero rent-regulated tenants in dozens of buildings it owned across the city when, in fact, it had hundreds,” the report states, taking pains to note that Kushner, President some rich asshole’s son-in-law, did not sign the documents.
“It’s bare-faced greed,” explained Aaron Carr, Housing Rights Initiative founder, who compiled the documents and handed them over to AP. “The fact that the company was falsifying all these applications with the government shows a sordid attempt to avert accountability and get a rapid return on its investment.”
In their defense, the Kushner family said that the documents were prepared by a third party and were reviewed by attorneys.
“If mistakes or violations are identified, corrective action is taken immediately,” the company said in a statement.
You can read the whole report here
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March 18, 2018
Attorney General Jeff Sessions has a lot to answer for, and almost no one on his side.
the rich asshole spent his weekend assailing special counsel Robert Mueller. But the investigation just ramped up again as three witnesses claim Attorney General Jeff Sessions lied to Congress.
In November, Sessions testified that he “pushed back” against former the rich asshole campaign adviser George Papadopoulos’ proposal for the campaign to work with the Russians. But in the same breath, he also denied even remembering that the meeting with Papadopoulos took place.
And in a new report from Reuters, three witnesses who have spoken to either Mueller’s team or congressional investigators challenged Sessions’ claims.
“Three people who attended the March campaign meeting told Reuters they gave their version of events to FBI agents or congressional investigators probing Russian interference in the 2016 election,” Reuters reports.
“Although the accounts they provided to Reuters differed in certain respects, all threes, who declined to be identified, said Sessions had expressed no objections to Papadopoulos’ idea.”
That leaves only Sessions himself and one other former the rich asshole campaign adviser, J.D. Gordon, to back up the claim. Notably, both men failed to disclose meetings with the Russians until they were pressured to do so.
In fact, Sessions has already lied to Congress on at least three other occasions. And even former the rich asshole campaign crony Carter Page shot down his dishonesty in the past.
Now, it appears that he could be in Mueller’s sights for at least one of those four lies.
For an already-desperate the rich asshole, it means that yet another of his top officials has more on his mind than protecting the rich asshole from Mueller. And Mueller just keeps going — despite the rich asshole’s increasingly unhinged demands.
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