WATCH: the rich asshole supporters wildly cheer death penalty with standing ovation
the rich asshole supporters in Manchester cheer the death penalty (Fox News/screen grab)
DON'T MISS STORIES. FOLLOW RAW STORY!
At an event in Manchester, New Hampshire on Monday, supporters of President some rich asshole reacted with a standing ovation when he proposed the death penalty for drug dealers.
Watch the clip below.
Don Jr. was so cheap that Vanessa the rich asshole had to ask her mom for money: report
some rich asshole Jr. and Vanessa the rich asshole
DON'T MISS STORIES. FOLLOW RAW STORY!
Despite being the son of a billionaire, some rich asshole Jr. reportedly was stingy with his wife Vanessa the rich asshole — to the point where she had to ask her parents for money.
Page Six reported Monday that according to friends, the rich asshole Jr.’s soon-to-be ex-wife is divorcing him because he “treats her like a second-class citizen,” and kept her on a much “tighter budget” than one would expect.
“He gives her very little help and has been keeping her on a tight budget,” a source close to the divorce told Page Six. “She doesn’t live a lavish life and can very rarely pick up a check at dinner.”
Sources also say that the couples’ problems go as far back as 2005, before their marriage — and that Vanessa was shopping around for divorce lawyers before her husband’s father won the election in 2016.
“She was interviewing divorce lawyers before [the rich asshole’s presidency],” another source said. “No one thought he’d win. He won and she decided to stay until his term is over. But she just couldn’t stand it any more.”
Despite Page Six’s reporting based on their sources, Vanessa’s spokesperson said “the notion that she has had to rely on her family for assistance is absolutely false and utterly ridiculous.”
By
-
March 19, 2018
Republicans seem to think sending out a scandal-ridden, unpopular president will be the key to victory in November.
the rich asshole endorsed and campaigned for two spectacularly failed special election candidates in the last four months. Yet Republicans claim he represents a key election asset for them this November.
“Even as fears grow within the GOP that the rich asshole will cost Republicans the House, Senate Republicans say the president will play a starring role in the closely contested campaigns that will decide control of the chamber,” Politico reports.
“the rich asshole will be front and center in every state that helped elect the president, according to GOP senators and strategists.” And he will be “making the case that Democrats are hindering his agenda.”
Democratic leaders are likely thinking along the lines of “Please let this be true.”
Sending out a historically unpopular sitting president as a campaign surrogate makes little sense. But if the rich asshole insists on showing up, there is not much the GOP can do.
For now, they’ve adopted the talking point that the rich asshole will be great for them in November. And they’re clinging to it even as special counsel Robert Mueller investigates the rich asshole’s possible collusion with Russia in the 2016 election, and subsequent obstruction of justice.
The GOP is planning on deploying the rich asshole in red states, such as West Virginia, North Dakota, Indiana, and Missouri.
And leaders also claim they want him to stump in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Florida, and Nevada. Yet according to recent Gallup polling, he remains deeply unpopular in those six states. His approval rating is under 50 percent, and in some states it’s closer to 40 percent.
Just last week the rich asshole tried to help the GOP capture a special election victory in a deeply red district in western Pennsylvania. That failed miserably. In fact, the Republican candidate Rick Saccone enjoyed a 12-point lead in January that quickly evaporated when the rich asshole endorsed him.
And in December, the rich asshole managed to shepherd Roy Moore to a landmark defeat in an Alabama statewide special election.
“The pattern here is every time he goes in, they lose,” notes Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), head of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.
Yet Republicans are undeterred. “In fact, despite his unpopularity on the national level, Republicans insist there isn’t a state on the Senate map where they are nervous about deploying the rich asshole,” Politico reports.
That, of course, is a comical belief. Because based on the 2018 Senate election map, that means Republicans are comfortable sending the rich asshole to New York, Connecticut, and Rhode Island. But his approval rating in those states is 30 percent, 31 percent, and 32 percent, respectively.
Republican leaders are either trying to sweet talk the rich asshole by talking up how important he’ll be in the fall. Or they’re delusional about how despised he is in states across the nation.
In either case, it’s highly unlikely to work out the way they stubbornly hope it will.
Hannity: 'There’s not going to be any firing of Mueller'
BY JOE CONCHA - 03/19/18 02:37 PM EDT
Fox News host Sean Hannity said early Monday that "there's not going to be any firing of [Robert] Mueller" while recommending that it would be in the president's best interest "not to comment" on the special counsel's investigation into Russian meddling in the presidential election.
“What do you make of Robert Mueller and the suggestion that the president is about to fire him?” "Fox & Friends" host Steve Doocy asked Hannity, an openly staunch supporter of President the rich asshole who rarely appears on the network's morning program. “You don’t think that’s a good idea, do you?”
"The president didn't say he was going to fire him. This is the fake news media doing what they do best," Hannity replied. "The president made a comment, and maybe if I was advising the president I’d say, 'Let this investigation go forward. We’re probably coming to the end of it, if I had to render a guess. And it would be in his best interest probably not to comment.”
"All the president was saying was, 'This [special counsel investigation] should never have been. This never should have happened,' " Hannity continued before concluding, "I would argue we’re getting to the end of the process. There’s not going to be any firing of Mueller.”
The president appeared to have enjoyed Hannity's appearance on the program, which he has praised frequently since taking office.
"@seanhannity on @foxandfriends now! Great! 8:18 A.M," the rich asshole tweeted to his 49.2 million followers.
.@seanhannity on @foxandfriends now! Great! 8:18 A.M.
The White House late Sunday moved to tamp down speculation that the rich asshole was considering firing Mueller after the president spent the weekend lambasting the federal probe into alleged ties between the rich asshole campaign and Russia.
In a tweet early Monday, the rich asshole unloaded on the special counsel’s investigation, calling it a “witch hunt” filled with “massive conflicts of interest.”
Hannity said in January that the "witch hunt" against the rich asshole was over as a memo written by House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes’s (R-Calif.) staffers alleging surveillance abuses circulated among lawmakers
"I have a message tonight for the special counsel, Robert Mueller," Hannity said in his opening monologue of his primetime program, "Your witch hunt is now over. Time to close the doors."
Oops: Jim Carrey’s portrait of Sarah Sanders goes viral after Fox News freaks out about it
Jim Carrey's painting of Sarah Huckabee Sanders appears on Fox News (screen grab)
DON'T MISS STORIES. FOLLOW RAW STORY!
A Fox News obsession with actor Jim Carrey’s portrait of White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders may have propelled the painting into viral stardom.
Over the weekend, Carrey shared an image on Twitter that appeared to be of Sanders.
“This is the portrait of a so-called Christian whose only purpose in life is to lie for the wicked. Monstrous!” Carrey wrote without mentioning Sanders’ name.
Fox News reacted with outrage on Monday in at least four segments on the Fox & Friends morning program.
During one segment, host Ainsley Earhardt asked Candace Owens of the Turning Point USA political action committee to respond to Carrey.
“This is the typical double standard we see on the left,” Owens opined.
“You’re right!” Earhardt agreed. “There is a double standard there. And don’t Democrats, don’t they preach and march and protest and have women’s marches and they say, ‘tolerance, tolerance, tolerance.’ Where’s the tolerance here?”
“There absolutely is no tolerance,” Owens insisted. “They are completely hypocritical in every single regard. We see this time and time again. But fortunately, conservatives just don’t view themselves as victims.”
Fox News may have been trying to stifle Carrey’s message, but the focus on the painting had the opposite effect. By Monday afternoon, Carrey was trending on Twitter. The painting had over 70,000 likes and over 16,000 retweets at the time of publication.
Watch the video below from Fox News.
FAA records reveal the rich asshole plans to flee to Mar-a-Lago when thousands of student rally against guns in DC
some rich asshole at Mar-a-Lago (Twitter)
DON'T MISS STORIES. FOLLOW RAW STORY!
President some rich asshole is expected to abandon the White House when thousands of students come to Washington, D.C. on Saturday to participate in the March for Our Lives anti-gun rally.
According to FAA records obtained by Sun Sentinel, flight restrictions have been issued for the area around the Mar-a-Lago estate from Friday through Sunday.
At the same time, thousands of students and other activists will descend on D.C. to call for Congress to take action against school shootings. The march was organized after the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.
As many as half a million students are expected to participate in the event.
The White House has not yet confirmed the president’s weekend schedule.
By
-
March 19, 2018
After passing a disastrous, error-ridden tax bill with zero Democratic support or input, Sen. Chuck Grassley thinks it's only fair Democrats vote for all the changes Republicans need.
Republicans were so desperate to ram through their tax bill scam for corporations and billionaires that the final law is riddled with disastrous drafting errors that hurt farmers and small businesses.
But senators like Chuck Grassley (R-IA) believe it is now Democrats’ responsibility to provide the votes to fix the bill with no strings attached.
“Surely Democrats have to understand that when you make a mistake like that, it ought to be fixed without bargaining with them on something else,” Grassley said, according to an Axios report.
The chutzpah of Grassley to demand Democrats shoulder the responsibility for fixing a bill they didn’t want is especially galling in light of Republicans’ abject refusal to fix any drafting issue with Obamacare, as Axios points out. They even tried to get the Supreme Court to abolish the law because of a typo.
But more importantly, some Republicans have already admitted that their own rush job got the country into this mess, with Rep. Kevin Brady, chair of the Ways and Means committee and a key architect of the bill, listing out errors his caucus made that need to be fixed.
The fact is, none of this would have happened if Republicans like Grassley had included Democrats in the process, rather than shut them out and let lobbyists craft the details hours before major votes.
But Grassley was nakedly obsessed with passing tax cuts for the rich, and he knew that the longer the bill was debated, the harder it would be to counteract overwhelming public opposition. He made it clear who he was working for when he said relief needed to go to wealthy heirs and heiresses because working people just spend their money on “booze or women or movies.”
And the public knows who carries the blame. The GOP had to pull ads touting the tax bill from the Pennsylvania special election after realizing the voters were not impressed.
Republicans own the failure of their scam. And Democrats have every right to demand the GOP help middle-class families instead of their wealthy donors.
Former FBI agent explains why McCabe’s memos will be trusted over the rich asshole’s ‘recollection’ by courts
Asha Rangappa appears on CNN (screen grab)
DON'T MISS STORIES. FOLLOW RAW STORY!
Former FBI agent Asha Rangappa explained that President some rich asshole’s claim that former deputy FBI director Andrew McCabe’s memos documenting their conversations are “fake.”
During a panel discussion with CNN’s John Berman, Rangappa began by explaining that the timing of the firing is of the greatest concern, because it came at a time that McCabe was a witness in the obstruction of justice case against the rich asshole.
Law enforcement analyst Josh Campbell noted a huge disservice has been done to not only McCabe but to the American people.
“Because essentially what the attorney general is asking is ‘Trust me,'” he continued. The press statement from Attorney General Jeff Sessions lacked in detail and mainly focused on process, Campbell explained. There were no supporting facts to justify his decision.
The inspector general’s report, however, has not been released to the public.
When it comes to the memos the rich asshole calls fake, Rangappa explained that from a legal perspective, McCabe will be trusted over the rich asshole, unless there are recordings to prove the contrary is true.
“There is something called present recollection recorded which means when you write something down at the time that it happens, if it becomes relevant later, that written recording carries great evidentiary weight,” she explained. “Because it is presumed to be a truthful representation of what happened. This is not great for the president, and I also want to point out that his tweets today concerning the conflict of interest actually goes to one of the grounds that the special counsel could be fired. So, I think it is important to know that he is starting to use the language that is actually in the special counsel regulations that would give grounds for firing Mueller.”
Watch the commentary below:
GOP strategist stuns MSNBC host with the rich asshole shocker: ‘He is going to fire Mueller’ and Republicans will do ‘nothing’
Eddit Glaud and Rick Tyler appear on MSNBC (screen grab)
DON'T MISS STORIES. FOLLOW RAW STORY!
Republican strategist Rick Tyler asserted on Monday that President some rich asshole will eventually find a way to fire special counsel Robert Mueller and Republicans in Congress will do “nothing” about it.
During a panel discussion on MSNBC, host Stephanie Ruhle asked Tyler if the rich asshole was running a campaign to “discredit” special counsel Robert Mueller.
“Here’s what’s going to happen, I’m going to go out on a limb,” Tyler began. “The president has calculated now — and I think it’s true — is the reaction from the Republicans. He is going to fire Robert Mueller. And you know what’s going to happen? Nothing. That’s what’s going to happen. There will be no response from Republican leadership, from Congress.”
Tyler continued as the other guests looked on in amazement.
“He is now going about — the reason to fire [former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe], the reason to deny him his retirement is he has to discredit him,” Tyler said. “And he has to systematically discredit everybody who’s involved in this Russia investigation. And he has now seen that he can do these things without any recourse. The Congress is not going to reign him in.”
The GOP strategist predicted Mueller’s firing would come “sooner rather than later, before he can get any further… on money laundering or other tangential issues.”
“Wow,” Ruhle said at the conclusion of the segment. “It is not even 9:30 on a Monday morning and Rick Tyler just knocked my socks off. I wasn’t ready for that.”
Watch the video below from MSNBC.
the rich asshole plans to personally go after Mueller amid stories of the rich asshole Organization subpoenas: report
Special Prosecutor Robert Mueller and President some rich asshole (Photos: Screen capture and AFP)
DON'T MISS STORIES. FOLLOW RAW STORY!
A new report indicates that President some rich asshole is becoming so unnerved by special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe that he intends to start personally attacking him on a regular basis.
Sources tell the Daily Beast that the rich asshole’s angry tweets directed at the Mueller probe are no fluke — rather, they’re part of the rich asshole’s desire to undermine the investigation’s credibility.
“The president, those close to him say, is determined to more directly confront the federal probe into his campaign’s potential role in alleged Russian election interference, even if it means exacerbating his legal standing,” the publication reports. “Two sources who speak regularly with the rich asshole said they had noticed an uptick in recent months in the frequency of the annoyance the president would express regarding Mueller and his team, and the irritation at the deluge of negative news stories regarding the probe.”
The president is reportedly particularly annoyed that Mueller’s team has issued subpoenas to the rich asshole Organization for documents related to deals it has done in Russia.
Former Rep. Jack Kingston (R-GA), who is one of the rich asshole’s most reliable defenders on cable news, tells the Daily Beast that even he feels worried about the president personally going after Mueller in the middle of an investigation.
“It’s an area full of landmines, so tread carefully,” Kingston said.
POLITICS
Kris Kobach Really, Really Did Not Want You To See This Deposition. Read It Here.
The document provides details of a meeting between Kobach and the rich asshole in 2016.
The morning after some rich asshole was elected President, Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach (R) wrote to an adviser on the president-elect’s transition team and told him that he had already started drafting a preliminary amendment to federal voting law. The amendment would alter the 1993 National Voter Registration Act (NVRA) to make it acceptable for states to ask people to prove they were citizens when they went to register to vote at a motor vehicle agency.
A few weeks later, Kobach traveled to Bedminster, New Jersey, to meet personally with the rich asshole and some of his top advisers. As he was going into the meeting, Kobach was photographed holding a memo outlining a proposal for actions during the first year of the rich asshole’s Department of Homeland Security. The 23rd item on the page, at the bottom of the memo, suggests amending NVRA to allow states to impose a proof of citizenship requirement.
As Kobach defends Kansas’ own proof of citizenship requirement, he has fought hard to block the public release of both the memo and his draft to NVRA. He has also fought having to answer questions under oath about both.
Those efforts were largely unsuccessful, as both a federal district court and the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals said he had to answer questions about them. Kobach sat for an hourlong deposition with the ACLU lawyers suing him last summer, a tape of which was played during trial in Kansas City earlier this month. A partially redacted transcript of that deposition provides a unique insight into Kobach’s conversations with the rich asshole and efforts to change federal voting law to allow states to provide proof of citizenship.
In the deposition, Kobach says that his proposal to amend NVRA was merely a “contingency” should he lose the lawsuit against the ACLU. He said he broadly discussed the issue of noncitizens voting with the rich asshole ― who began tweeting that illegal votes cost him the popular vote shortly after his meeting with Kobach ― but did not come up with a specific plan to impose a proof of citizenship requirement. He also said they talked about ways to incentivize states to impose a proof of citizenship requirement and that he had discussed introducing legislation to amend NVRA with Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) should he lose the case against the ACLU.
Read the full deposition here:
‘He’s hearing footsteps’: Morning Joe panel agrees Mueller probe is accelerating — and the rich asshole feels the pressure
Kasie Hunt, Mika Brzezinski and David Ignatius (MSNBC)
DON'T MISS STORIES. FOLLOW RAW STORY!
Panelists on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” agreed that the special counsel probe into the rich asshole-Russia ties seems to have accelerated in recent days — and that has sent the White House into a panic.
President some rich asshole fired FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe just hours before his retirement, and the outgoing law enforcement official claims the dismissal was over his role in the Justice Department probe.
The president and his lawyers attacked special counsel Robert Mueller and called for an end to the Russia investigation, which worried some White House officials, and the rich asshole dove deeper into a legal battle with former adult film actress Stormy Daniels.
“Things really started to speed up over this weekend and you can feel it,” said host Mika Brzezinski. “You feel the pressure here in Washington, and I think on the heels of it coming out Friday morning that the president or the president’s people threatened the porn star to stay silent, which several sources over the weekend told me is true and they told me who did it, you see this sort of unhinging of his president, his cavalier tweets, the corruption that appears to be happening inside the White House just to cover up so many different things.”
“You get a sense that things are coming, I think, to a tipping point for the president,” she added.
MSNBC political correspondent Kasie Hunt agreed that the pace seemed to pick up since the end of last week.
“As crazy fast this year has been, it feels like somebody is pushing the accelerator,” Hunt said.
David Ignatius, an MSNBC analyst and Washington Post associate editor, said the president’s actions revealed how much the Mueller probe worries him.
“He is hearing footsteps, he is anxious — every tweet conveys anxiety,” Ignatious said.
Published on March 19, 2018 in Daily New Bite/News/Politics/Republican Stupidity by Rita Parker
HARES
Former Republican Congressman, Charles Djou, from Hawaii has jumped ship. He has recently said that he can no longer remain in a party led by some rich asshole. The GOP ship is burning as it spectacularly sinks into an abyss made up entirely of deplorables.
The GOP is currently led by an insecure, angry man who is xenophobic, racist, sexist, imbalanced and frightened. He is frightened that his “legacy”, such as it is, will be destroyed by Robert Mueller. If Mueller doesn’t take him down, the man will likely rage tweet something incriminating and take himself down. Often, he is his own worst enemy.
The former Congressman feels much the same. In Honolulu’s Civil Beat, Djou wrote,
Civility is an inner trait of true character. the rich asshole’s belittling of Sen. Jeff Flake and immature name-calling of Sen. Bob Corker reflect a weakness of character. the rich asshole’s penchant for conspiracy theories, such as his assertion that Sen. Ted Cruz’s father was involved in the assassination of JFK, is disturbing. His poorly constructed stream-of-consciousness tweets are not only immature, but provide real harm to the stability of our democracy.
In addition to the rich asshole’s character, Djou cites immigration as another reason he cannot continue in the Republican party in its current state. He stated,
I have long believed that America’s strength lies in our nation’s diversity — not its exclusion or isolation. We are a nation of immigrants and benefit from a national fabric woven with the threads of many people, of many backgrounds and cultures, all united in the common belief and love of American liberty. That’s why I championed immigration reform as a congressman.
It disturbs me that the Republican Party under President some rich asshole is now defined as a party hostile to immigration. We are the leader of the free world, not because we are great (or need to be great again), but because we are good.
He continues that the rich asshole’s demeanor is the biggest reason he wants to leave the GOP – or the acceptance of his behavior by Republicans. He said, “I am most disappointed by the failure of the GOP to clearly and consistently condemn the rich asshole’s childish behavior. Sadly today, too many Republicans either applaud the rich asshole’s tirades or greet them with silent acceptance.”
If you can remain silent over the rich asshole’s behavior, your character has to be questioned. Either you are a reasonable and compassionate human, or you support the rich asshole. You cannot be both at this point. Before long, the Republican party will become so distorted that middle-of-the-road Republicans (the few that still exist) will have to create their own party.
the rich asshole apologist flops when CNN’s Cuomo crushes his excuses for why the rich asshole may lie to Mueller
CNN's Chris Cuomo grills former the rich asshole campaign adviser Michael Caputo (Screen cap).
DON'T MISS STORIES. FOLLOW RAW STORY!
Michael Caputo, a former adviser to some rich asshole’s presidential campaign, went on CNN Monday to urge the president to not meet with special counsel Robert Mueller — and then started to panic when asked by host Chris Cuomo for reasons.
During the interview, Cuomo asked Caputo why he would advise against doing an interview with Mueller’s team if he really had nothing to hide. Caputo responded that the rich asshole might lie, albeit not on purpose.
“Well, I think anybody sitting down in front of a special prosecutor stands a chance of a process crime, like unintentionally lying,” he said.
“Unintentionally lying?” an incredulous Cuomo asked. “You must intend to lie, by definition!”
Caputo then said that even completely innocent people often lawyer up before talking with investigators because such interrogations are “fraught with peril.”
“It’s only fraught with peril if you can’t go in and tell the truth,” Cuomo pointed out.
The CNN host then noted that the rich asshole initially said he wanted to talk with Mueller — but then his own allies all jumped out to say that he shouldn’t sit down with Mueller under any circumstances.
“It doesn’t give a lot of weight to the suggestion that the president can tell the truth, I got to be honest” Cuomo pointed out.
Caputo tried to insist that the president would try to be truthful, but he said that the rich asshole could still slip up during tough questioning.
“I know that’s what you think, I don’t believe that,” Caputo said. “It would be a mistake for any president.”
Watch the video below.
the rich asshole doctors quote in desperate effort to smear Comey, undermine Mueller investigation
Why the rich asshole is working overtime to discredit Comey.
Over the weekend, President the rich asshole launched a sustained attack on Robert Mueller and his investigation into Russia’s potential collaboration with the rich asshole campaign. Now, the rich asshole is also working overtime to discredit former FBI Director James Comey.
The recent attack on Mueller represented a notable shift for the rich asshole — who, until this weekend, had not tweeted the word “Mueller.” The shift coincided with Mueller’s team sending the rich asshole a list of topics in a potential interview. The topics reportedly focused on whether the rich asshole obstructed justice when he pressured Comey to end the Russia investigation and then fired him.
Comey, who says he memorialized his conversations with the rich asshole in contemporaneous memos, would be a key witness against the rich asshole in any obstruction charge.
In a tweet Sunday morning, the rich asshole doctored a quote from Comey to make it seem like Comey perjured himself in front of Congress.
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.
The claim here relates back to Andrew McCabe, who was Comey’s deputy and who briefly served as acting FBI Director after the rich asshole fired Comey.
McCabe was fired by Jeff Sessions on Friday, two days before he would have been eligible for his full pension, after a lot of pressure from the rich asshole. Sessions justified the firing by saying that McCabe was not candid with investigators who were looking into media leaks related to the Hillary Clinton email investigation. In his defense, McCabe said that he had the authority to speak to a reporter and “others, including the Director, were aware of the interaction with the reporter.”
Republicans have seized on that line, claiming it contradicts testimony that Comey gave before Congress under oath. The exchange at issue occurred on May 3, 2017 between Comey and Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA):
GRASSLEY: Director Comey, have you ever been an anonymous source in news reports about matters relating to the rich asshole investigation or the Clinton investigation?COMEY: Never.GRASSLEY: Question two, relatively related, have you ever authorized someone else at the FBI to be an anonymous source in news reports about the rich asshole investigation or the Clinton investigation?COMEY: No.
That exact exchange was played on Fox News on Sunday, right before the rich asshole posted his tweet.
Comey’s answer to the actual question was not necessarily false. Comey could have known that McCabe was interacting with the reporter, without authorizing him to be an anonymous source. the rich asshole, however, shifts the question to make it seem like Comey is definitely lying. He pretends Grassley asked Comey whether he knew of anyone at the FBI to be an anonymous source, not whether Comey authorized it.
The purpose of this is to make Comey seem like a less credible witness against the rich asshole. Firing McCabe, who also compiled contemporaneous memos about his conversations with the rich asshole, for lack of “candor” fulfills the same purpose.
the rich asshole has a history of falsifying quotes on Twitter to serve his purposes. In February, he altered quotes by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA).
Gretchen Carlson’s attorney breaks down why the rich asshole is completely screwed against Stormy Daniels
CNN's Chris Cuomo and attorney Nancy Erika Smith (Photo: Screen capture)
DON'T MISS STORIES. FOLLOW RAW STORY!
President some rich asshole likely won’t fare well when it comes to his lawsuit against adult film star Stormy Daniels, according to attorney Nancy Erika Smith.
A new attorney has joined the rich asshole’s team in the legal attack against Daniels, which CNN host Chris Cuomo called a “dicey proposition.” the rich asshole’s attorney Michael Cohen has argued that Daniels has violated their nondisclosure agreement 20 times and as such, she owes the rich asshole $20 million.
Smith, who has represented Gretchen Carlson in the past, noted that the president’s line has been that he had nothing to do with it and didn’t know Daniels.
“That complicates matters because the president’s representatives said that he had nothing to do with it. He didn’t know her,” Smith explained. “And he said that publicly, not in an arbitration proceeding. After he said it publicly, then he wanted to go to arbitration in late February. I would say he waived his claim that he gets to go to a secret court system.”
She explained that Cohen was obviously acting on his behalf of the rich asshole, unless Cohen has some kind of relationship with Daniels that he paid her for. She went on to say she doesn’t believe for “one second” that Cohen was acting of his own accord to help protect his friend.
“And now we know some rich asshole has gone to court, trying to move the whole case to federal court and then to a secret court [arbitration],” she continued. “Secret courts are for Iran, Russia. In our country, our democracy is based on a public open court system. So, we all see how the law is applied.”
the rich asshole’s team is arguing that the nondisclosure agreement demanded arbitration in the event that a deal went badly. Smith argued that when it’s the president of the United States, particularly one who hauled President Bill Clinton’s accusers to a debate, secret arbitration is off the table.
Daniels’ attorney Michael Avenatti is arguing that the NDA was never valid because the rich asshole didn’t sign it. There also seems to be a question regarding the notary on the agreement.
“He is claiming she is talking to the public about what happened. And I also don’t think it is right to characterize it as Stormy Daniels said, ‘Give me money and I won’t talk,'” Smith continued, referencing Cohen’s account of what happened. “I think she was talking to media outlets and they said ‘What do we have to pay you to shut you up.’ And it was a month before the election. As a public democracy, shouldn’t we say that’s wrong no matter what is? The president of the United States should not go around paying money to people to shut up about him. He’s not claiming it’s false. He’s claiming ‘I wanted you to shut up.'”
Watch the full video below:
POLITICS
Report: the rich asshole Demanded Nondisclosure Pacts So Staffers Can Never Spill
The agreements forbid senior White House staff members from talking, even after the rich asshole’s presidency ends.
President some rich asshole has pressured senior White House staff members to sign nondisclosure agreements that are more sweeping than ever demanded by a president, The Washington Post reported.
The agreements are applicable to staffers while they’re working in the White House and “at all times thereafter,” meaning they continue to apply even after the rich asshole’s presidency, according to a draft agreement examined by Post deputy editorial page editor Ruth Marcus.
The draft agreement says staffers could be fined as much as $10 million for unauthorized release of confidential information. Marcus wrote in an op-ed on Sunday that she suspects the penalty is lower in signed agreements.
All of the rich asshole’s senior staffers appear to have signed the agreements, with some believing it unenforceable, Marcus reported. the rich asshole, enraged by leaks, pressed for compliance early last year.
Marcus called such agreements that gag White House staff members even after the president’s term “not only oppressive but constitutionally repugnant.”
The draft agreement defines “confidential” information as “all nonpublic information I learn of or gain access to in the course of my official duties,” including “communications [with] the press” and with “employees of federal, state, and local governments.” The information cannot be revealed, even in a “work of fiction.”
the rich asshole’s zeal against leakers was reflected in threats his attorney made Friday against porn star Stormy Daniels, who said she had a nearly yearlong affair with the rich asshole in 2006. the rich asshole’s personal lawyer Michael Cohen warned that Daniels could be sued for as much as $20 million if she violates a non-disclosure agreement.
“60 Minutes” is set to broadcast an interview with Daniels on Sunday.
The fact that a sitting president is pursuing over $20M in bogus 'damages' against a private citizen, who is only trying to tell the public what really happened, is remarkable. Likely unprecedented in our history. We are NOT going away and we will NOT be intimidated. #basta
the rich asshole attorney frantically tries to undo weekend of obstructing justice
By
-
March 19, 2018
the rich asshole keeps advertising his guilt, and his lawyers can't walk that back.
Arriving on the scene of a White House accident 24 hours late, the rich asshole attorney Ty Cobb tried hopelessly to undo the damage his client had wrought with a weekend of guilty tweeting.
“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,” Cobb announced.
Of course, the so-called “media speculation” that Cobb was trying to knock down had come directly from another one of the rich asshole’s own attorneys and then amplified by the rich asshole himself.
It’s just the latest chapter from a dysfunctional White House that careens out of control on an hourly basis.
After the abrupt firing of FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe late Friday, John Dowd, who serves as the rich asshole’s personal defense lawyer, told The Daily Beast on Saturday that he thinks Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein should shut down the special counsel’s investigation. When he made the remarks, Dowd said he was speaking in his capacity as the rich asshole’s lawyer.
Hours later, Dowd appeared to realize his slip-up and tried to walk back his remarks, saying that he was acting in his personal capacity and not as the rich asshole’s lawyer.
Meanwhile, the rich asshole completely unraveled on Twitter, insisting, “The Mueller probe should never have been started.” And he repeated the thoroughly debunked lie that “there was no collusion.”
It was the first time the rich asshole had attacked Mueller by name. And it came soon after reports surfaced that Mueller’s investigation had demanded documents from the rich asshole Organization, signaling that the rich asshole’s business past practices were now under legal scrutiny.
In fact, the rich asshole basically spent the entire weekend advertising his guilty conscious via Twitter, until his aides finally whisked him off to a golf course, apparently in hopes of calming him down. Or at least to get him to stop tweeting out his panic attacks.
Then on Sunday night, Cobb arrived on the scene one day late in an attempt to clean up the disarray.
But it was way too late. Dowd’s demand that Mueller be fired only confirmed everybody’s suspicions — that the rich asshole views the firing of McCabe as a way to bring the Russia investigation to an end.
In a way, the rich asshole’s attorneys are tasked with a hopeless assignment, which is trying to clean up the very public spills the rich asshole creates.
He now seems determined to act as his own legal counsel, chief of staff, and press secretary. He reportedly no longer has any hesitation blurting out whatever harebrained thought pops into his head, even if those thoughts are about an unfolding special counsel investigation, of which he is clearly the target.
“Special counsel Robert Mueller has focused on events since the election — not during the campaign — in his conversations with President the rich asshole’s lawyers,” Axios reported Monday. “The top two topics that Mueller has expressed interest in so far: the firings of FBI director James Comey and national security adviser Michael Flynn.”
Stuck with an erratic, guilty client, the rich asshole’s attorneys are reduced to doing their best Keystone Kops impression in public.
‘A fundamentally deceptive statement’: CNN panel tears apart the rich asshole’s Mueller tweets line by line
A CNN panel discusses President some rich asshole's tweets on special counsel Robert Mueller (Screen cap).
DON'T MISS STORIES. FOLLOW RAW STORY!
President some rich asshole’s angry weekend tweet storm about special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe got a thorough debunking on CNN Monday morning.
In particular, the panel zeroed in on the rich asshole’s declaration that “the Mueller probe should never have been started as there was no collusion or crime,” while also alleging that the whole investigation was based “a fake dossier paid for by Crooked Hillary and the DNC and improperly used in FISA court for surveillance of my campaign.”
Co-host Erica Hill said that the rich asshole’s claim about there being “no collusion” was deceptive because the special counsel’s office hasn’t yet reached any determination about whether the rich asshole campaign willingly worked with Russian agents during the 2016 presidential election.
Co-host Chris Cuomo then nailed the rich asshole for getting the facts of the investigation entirely wrong.
“It’s a fundamentally deceptive statement of how things work,” he said. “His own guy picked a special counsel! Rod Rosenstein — this is the guy hand-picked by Sessions and the rich asshole to lead it.”
Hill also pointed out that ex-spy Christopher Steele’s dossier wasn’t the reason that the FBI started investigating the campaign — rather, it was the drunken conversation former the rich asshole campaign aide George Papadopoulos had with an Australian diplomat about Russia having hacked Hillary Clinton emails, which resulted in the diplomat reporting his concerns about the conversation to American law enforcement officials.
Watch the video below.
the rich asshole, with help from Hannity, ramps up attack on Mueller investigation
the rich asshole is determined to discredit McCabe and Comey. Here's why.
President the rich asshole started his Monday by promoting Sean Hannity’s interview on his favorite show, Fox & Friends — and then used it to attack special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into his campaign.
Hannity’s interview came on the heels of a weekend in which one of the key witnesses in special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation, former FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe, was abruptly fired on Friday night. Though Attorney General Jeff Sessions justified the firing by accusing McCabe of “lacking candor” during sworn testimony, the rich asshole’s personal attorney, John Dowd, released a statement on Saturday morning in which he said he “prayed” McCabe’s termination would inspire deputy AG Rod Rosenstein to “bring an end to alleged Russia Collusion investigation manufactured by McCabe’s boss James Comey.”
Dowd later said he was speaking in his personal capacity, and on Sunday night, White House lawyer Ty Cobb released a statement claiming that the rich asshole “is not considering or discussing the firing of the Special Counsel, Robert Mueller.” But the rich asshole’s promotion of the Hannity interview suggests that, whether or not he is imminently planning on firing Mueller, he is doing everything possible to undermine the investigation.
On Monday morning, the rich asshole asked his nearly 50 million Twitter followers to tune in to Fox & Friends for Hannity’s interview.
.@seanhannity on @foxandfriends now! Great! 8:18 A.M.
During the interview, Hannity called for Hillary Clinton, James Comey, and McCabe to face criminal prosecution.
“If I had to expect, you’re going to see criminal charges against Andrew McCabe, and I would also argue that it’s going to go a lot deeper,” Hannity said. “The only way I can characterize this — it is the biggest abuse of power in the history of this country. For James Comey, when you have so many crimes that Hillary committed… if you did any of it, you would be arrested.”
Comey and McCabe are key witnesses in Mueller’s investigation, particularly on the issue of obstruction. One of the key questions being explored by Mueller is whether or not the rich asshole’s firing of Comey constituted obstruction of justice. This hinges, to a substantial degree, on Comey’s accounts of his conversations with the rich asshole. McCabe reportedly also kept memos about what Comey told him about those conversations. By smearing them as dishonest leakers, the rich asshole is trying to protect himself.
the rich asshole spent the weekend attacking Comey, McCabe, and Mueller on Twitter.
Toward the end of Monday’s interview, Hannity — citing Cobb’s statement — said “there is not going to be any firing of Mueller.” But minutes after it ended, the rich asshole followed up with another tweet in which he characterized the Mueller investigation as “A total WITCH HUNT with massive conflicts of interest!”
One reason Cobb and others are trying to tamp down fears that the rich asshole will fire Mueller is to prevent Congress from taking any action to protect the special counsel. So far, it’s working.
Jim Carrey brilliantly skewers the rich asshole and his ‘soulless’ right-wing allies in political artwork
DON'T MISS STORIES. FOLLOW RAW STORY!
Comedic genius Jim Carrey has been spending the last six years immersed in color and painting passionate commentary on life, the world and everything in between. But since November 2016, it’s the actor’s political artistry that has captured the attention of political commentators as well as art lovers.
According to the Daily Beast, the first began Nov. 12, depicting President some rich asshole kissing the backside of Russian President Vladimir Putin. He tweeted a photo of the painting with the caption, “They bailed him out, set him up and made him their stooge. With the rich asshole in the WH, Putin may win the 3rd World War without firing a shot. #PuckerUpPOTUS”:
They bailed him out, set him up and made him their stooge. With Trump in the WH, Putin may win the 3rd World War without firing a shot. #PuckerUpPOTUS
“I think what makes someone an artist is they make models of their inner life,” Carrey says in a short film about his painting addiction. “They make something come into physical being that is inspired by their emotions or their needs or what they feel the audience needs.”
Following the rich asshole painting, he painted a cartoon version of former Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore with the disturbing caption, “
Oh Susanna, don’t you vote for me, I’m a creep from Alabama with your daughter on my knee!
”
Oh Susanna, don’t you vote for me, I’m a creep from Alabama with your daughter on my knee!”
Oh Susanna, don’t you vote for me, I’m a creep from Alabama with your daughter on my knee!
Just weeks later, Carrey tweeted another painting of Senate Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) with SHAME spread over his face. He tweeted it as a response to the GOP’s tax bill.
The GOP and WH have become sinister conclaves of souless traitors, liars and thieves - a gangrene we must remove so democracy can live. #killthebill
the rich asshole’s State of the Union address inspired an angry orange, open-mouthed face with the caption, “‘…and the blind shall see and the lame shall walk and the cheats shall inherit the earth!’ #StateOfTheUnion”
“...and the blind shall see and the lame shall walk and the cheats shall inherit the earth!” #StateOfTheUnion
As news of the GOP Intelligence Committee memo, Carrey mocked Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA) as a chef of “nothing burgers.” The cartoon captions Nunes saying, “One pointless memo coming up! Will that be all Mr. P?” Carrey tweeted it out with his own comment, “’White House delivery boy; can I take your order?!’ ;^P”
He continued with a cartoon of Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI), who once bragged the GOP’s tax bill would raise a secretary’s pay $1.50 a week.
“Tone deaf Paul Ryan brags that his tax bill is going to make low income voters an extra $1.50 a week! That’s almost enough for a box of Band-Aids. Who needs healthcare? WAKE UP REPUBLICAN BASE! You are parked on the tracks, cheering for the train that’s about to run you down. ;^P” Carry captioned it.
Following the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, that killed 17, Carrey blasted the president for playing golf at his West Palm Beach club, while avoiding funerals for the children a mere hour away.
“It’s President’s Day and Chief Little Hands has been busy tweeting from his golf resort, a chip shot away from the latest bloody school shooting. He was hoping to play a few holes while grieving families are busy digging them. I support @cameron_kasky” Carery tweeted.
It’s President's Day and Chief Little Hands has been busy tweeting from his golf resort, a chip shot away from the latest bloody school shooting. He was hoping to play a few holes while grieving families are busy digging them. I support @cameron_kasky #neveragain
He continued with a painting of two children walking to school by a picket fence with bloody bullet holes strewn across.
“11 school shootings in 24 days. The new Norm!” he tweeted.
A mixed-media kind of sculpture depicts an American flag wrapped around the shape of a gun.
Another shows students fully armed with guns and grenades while singing in the school’s glee club.
One painting depicts a fallen student in a school uniform with her backpack beside her and textbooks and papers strewn about laying on an American flag while blood is splatted.
Finally, the comedian hit back against Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), with a small head and large hands covered in blood.
“Rubio‘s agenda is clear,” Carrey tweeted. “Keep taking millions from the NRA and wash the blood of innocent children off his hands. Apparently $3.3 million is the price of this politician’s soul.”
Sunday, Carrey painted an open-mouthed Sarah Huckabee Sanders, with Carrey calling her out as “monstrous” and attacking her “so-called Christian” values.
Carrey even illustrate former President Abraham Lincoln with a tear running down his face. “It’s my party and I’ll cry if I want to!” he captioned.
Carrey’s artwork is available at the Signature Galleries
‘They melted down’: MSNBC’s Mika says the rich asshole and his lawyers ‘freaked out’ after seeing Mueller’s questions
Mika Brzezinski (MSNBC)
DON'T MISS STORIES. FOLLOW RAW STORY!
MSNBC’s Mika Brzezinski said President some rich asshole and his legal team panicked over the weekend after special counsel Robert Mueller previewed some of the questions he’ll ask in a face-to-face interview.
The special counsel reportedly sent the questions to the rich asshole and his lawyers as they negotiate terms and conditions for Mueller’s interview, and the president called him out by name for the first time on Twitter — and his attorney John Dowd called for the Russia probe’s end.
“Just watching this story from the outside, not even knowing the rich asshole, I have a little bit of insight to his patterns, but it appears that the questions freak them out,” Brzezinski said. “They melted down.”
Former White House press secretary Josh Earnest agreed, and he said the rich asshole’s attacks on the investigation and his attempts to influence where it goes suggest he’s guilty.
“The fact of the matter is, if you’re innocent, you should act like it,” Earnest said. “Say what you want about the rich asshole White House, they are not acting like they’re innocent right now.”
The “Morning Joe” opening segment focused on this weekend’s developments in the Mueller probe, from the president’s social media attacks to the firing of FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe.
“(It’s) 17 past the hour and I am already exhausted from what we’ve been talking about,” said MSNBC analyst Mike Barnicle. “Unpacking everything that occurred just within 24 to 48 hours is utterly exhausting, as well as depressing.”
“some rich asshole is the president of the United States,” Barnicle added. “As such, he is the commander in chief, and his behavior over the recent past, his tweets, things he has said on the stump, things he has said in the Oval Office have proven that he is uniquely ill-equipped for this job as president. Morally, ethically, psychologically, you name it — he’s proving it every day.”
POLITICS
the rich asshole Loved Hacks. But Now They’re Hitting His People — And Anyone Could Be Next.
The hackers are improving their strategies for stealing private emails to sway public actions.
WASHINGTON — Few moments in the 2016 presidential election delighted some rich asshole more than the hacking of Democratic operatives. In July, after the Democratic National Committee’s emails were posted online, he — perhaps jokingly — called for more hacks: “Russia: If you’re listening, I hope you’re able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing. I think you will probably be rewarded mightily by our press.” When WikiLeaks released the emails of Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta in October, the rich asshole was ecstatic. “I love WikiLeaks!” he declared. He said “WikiLeaks” at least 141 times the month before the election.
the rich asshole probably didn’t mean to invite hackers to target him and his allies and post their findings on WikiLeaks.
But politically motivated hacks and leaks have continued unabated since the rich asshole won the election. White House chief of staff John Kelly’s personal cell phone may have been compromised while he was working on the transition team at the end of 2016. Outgoing White House communications director Hope Hicks told the Senate Intelligence Committee last month that one of her email accounts had been hacked. And the rich asshole associates and others outside the administration have seen their emails hacked and released for political purposes. Yousef Al Otaiba, the United Arab Emirates ambassador to the United States, had his emails leaked to U.S. media outlets.
So did the rich asshole confidant and top Republican fundraiser Elliott Broidy.
Broidy acknowledges the similarities between the hackers who targeted him last month and those who targeted Democratic operatives during the election. “For whatever reasons, they don’t agree with what someone’s doing, so they try to wreak havoc and destroy their reputation,” he told HuffPost.
The 2016 election hack wasn’t the first of its kind. But it was the most spectacular. And given the gambit’s success, it may be hard for any government, organization or powerful individual that wants to influence U.S. public opinion to resist trying to copy it.
“Everyone involved in politics — whether you’re on a more state-focused campaign or national — you’re going to be heavily targeted, especially seeing the success of what happened,” said Ben Johnson, a former cybersecurity specialist at the National Security Agency. “Everyone is a target, from the intern to the candidate.”
Hillary Clinton’s aides and allies warned that they weren’t the first, and wouldn’t be the last, to be hurt by politically motivated hacking and that the U.S. government should take the threat seriously. Even Broidy now seems to agree.
“I’m not happy to see anyone hacked. That includes whether it’s Hillary Clinton or John Podesta, or anyone else,” Broidy said. “What happened in the 2016 election, or what’s happened to me, or what will happen to somebody else today or tomorrow — it’s just not right and I think we should work hard to make sure it doesn’t happen.”
Not all state-sponsored hacks have been aimed at the political process. China and North Korea, which are allegedly behind some of the highest-profile hacks, have stolen information with the apparent goals of obtaining intelligence, accessing trade secrets or securing a ransom. When the U.S. and Israel allegedly deployed an advanced team of hackers in Iran, their aim was to destroy a critical part of Iran’s nuclear program.
About a decade ago, hackers demonstrated how to use stolen information to advance a political narrative. Thousands of private emails sent by scientists affiliated with the Climatic Research Unit at England’s University of East Anglia were hacked in 2009. WikiLeaks published those materials and climate change deniers seized on parts of the emails to accuse the authors of scientific misconduct and fabricating a pattern of global warming.
Climategate, as it was termed, broke just weeks before a United Nations climate conference in Copenhagen, Denmark. Negotiations over ways to curb greenhouse gas emissions collapsed.
The release of the emails appeared to be timed to disrupt the conference, although it’s unclear how much damage they did. The stolen zip file was stored on a server in Russia, but investigators never conclusively attributed the hack to Moscow. Regardless of who orchestrated it, Climategate was an early example of hackers plotting to “take the fruits of illegal behavior, weaponize them, then use them in a political context,” Podesta told Mother Jones.
In 2013, the hacker Guccifer, later revealed to be a Romanian individual named Marcel Lazăr Lehel, began releasing emails he’d stolen from U.S. political figures. He leaked emails from former Secretary of State Colin Powell, former Bill Clinton adviser Sidney Blumenthal, and Dorothy Bush Koch, the sister of George W. Bush. There is no public proof that Lehel’s efforts were state-sanctioned.
The hackers who later targeted the DNC and Podesta adopted Guccifer’s persona, referring to themselves as Guccifer 2.0. WikiLeaks dumped the first cache of stolen emails about Hillary Clinton and the party’s internal deliberations only days before the Democratic convention. Podesta’s emails were posted about an hour after The Washington Post’s story about the rich asshole bragging that he could grab women by the genitals in a 2005 “Access Hollywood” recording.
The Clinton campaign pleaded with reporters to be cautious about covering the hacked emails. “You’re basically doing Russia’s bidding right now,” Jesse Lehrich, a former campaign spokesman, recalled telling the media.
But Lehrich’s reminders had limited effect. WikiLeaks had already posted the emails online for anyone to read and some of them contained newsworthy information about a major presidential candidate.
“Unless there’s a giant pact among reporters that nobody will cover this stuff — which, let’s face it, is never gonna happen — reporters are trapped in this fucked-up situation,” Lehrich said. “You’re either missing out on stuff people are writing up, fighting a noble battle that’s not actually accomplishing anything. Or you’re furthering the agenda of foreign actors,” he said.
Another challenge for reporters — and anyone hoping to capitalize on hacked material — is that it’s often extremely difficult to determine who is responsible for a hack and what their motivations might be. Authentication can be a hurdle: Hackers might slip forged or altered documents into a giant release, which would be hard to catch. The Clinton team refused to confirm on the record the authenticity of any of the emails stolen during the campaign.
You’re basically doing Russia’s bidding right now.Jesse Lehrich, a Clinton campaign spokesman
So far, the rich asshole administration has done very little to protect the country from cyberattacks. In January 2017, he vowed to appoint a team of experts to deliver a plan to counter hackers within the first 90 days of his presidency.
But months passed and the rich asshole’s administration blew through self-imposed deadlines without taking action. When the president signed an executive order on cybersecurity last May, Robert Ackerman, the founder of a cybersecurity venture firm called Allegis Capital, described it as “the skeleton of a policy” that mostly built off existing initiatives. the rich asshole later floated the idea of creating an “impenetrable Cyber Security unit″ — in coordination with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Lawmakers slammed the notion and the rich asshole backed down.
Even members of the rich asshole’s own party have blasted him for failing to address the nation’s cyber vulnerabilities. “Unfortunately, leadership from the executive branch on cybersecurity has been weak,” said Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) last August.
State-sponsored hacking is very tough to identify, track and prevent — especially as hackers develop more sophisticated ways to obscure their identities and hackers-for-hire allow states to direct an operation without leaving their fingerprints. But there are things the U.S. government can and should do.
Experts have long urged the government to take a more active role in protecting critical infrastructure ― like power grids, water systems and emergency services ― and in regulating security standards for internet-accessible consumer products ― like cameras, thermostats and baby monitors. They also have pressed the federal government to give states the money to replace easily hackable touch-screen voting machines.
And now that the rich asshole is in power, he, his allies and coworkers, and his correspondents are targets as well — not just for Russia, but for anyone in the world who wants to sway American public opinion.
“This is not going away anytime soon,” said Hank Thomas, the CEO and founder of Strategic Cyber Ventures. “Hacking is far too lucrative and inexpensive for governments to not keep it as a primary tool in their arsenal of defense and espionage tools.”
The purpose of the DNC and Podesta hacks was to dump a massive amount of information online all at once and to allow everyone to comb through it, craft their own conspiracies or disinformation, and spread it quickly on social media. More recent hacks have been carefully curated and delivered to the reporters who knew best how to tell the story the hackers wanted the public to hear.
Last summer, a group that called itself GlobalLeaks selectively released to several media outlets, including HuffPost, emails belonging to Yousef Al Otaiba, the UAE’s influential ambassador who is close to presidential son-in-law Jared Kushner. The name GlobalLeaks appeared to be a nod to DCLeaks, the group that had distributed the Democratic emails during the 2016 election.
But unlike DCLeaks, GlobalLeaks targeted just one politically prominent individual: Otaiba. And instead of just being dumped online, the documents were leaked to specific reporters who wrote about foreign policy and the Middle East.
The emails, which showed Otaiba repeatedly criticizing the rich asshole, were released amid a diplomatic crisis between the UAE (and others) and Qatar. Otaiba had been carefully cultivating ties to the new administration, working to gain Washington’s support in cutting off Qatar and its broader foreign policy agenda. The leaker denied having connections to Qatar. The source used a .ru email address, suggesting they were Russian or trying to appear Russian.
It’s not clear what, if any, effect the stolen emails had on the rich asshole’s view of the Gulf dispute. Over the next several months, he flip-flopped between accusing Qatar of funding terrorism and offering to help Qatar resolve the rift with its neighbors. But the emails undoubtedly sullied Otaiba’s reputation in Washington. Last August, the Intercept published an account of Otaiba hiring escorts. The story relied, in part, on those emails.
Then last month, the hacking hit someone with personal ties to the president: Broidy. On Feb. 28, a group identifying itself as LA Confidential emailed reporters, again including at HuffPost, copies of the GOP fundraiser’s emails. The documents appeared to show Broidy trying to use his connections to the rich asshole administration to influence the outcome of a Justice Department investigation into a potential client of his wife’s law firm. (Broidy denies any wrongdoing.) They also show Broidy privately pitching the rich asshole on the idea of a Gulf-funded Muslim army to fight America’s wars.
Broidy, who is outspokenly critical of Qatar, has accused the small gas-rich nation of orchestrating the hack. He told HuffPost that he would share proof to back up his allegation at a later date. Qatar denies it was involved in the hack.
He has not discussed the threat of state-sponsored hacking operations with the rich asshole, Broidy said. Nor does he share the frustration of the rich asshole’s critics, who say the president hasn’t done enough to respond to Russia’s election interference. “I’m more interested in law enforcement doing its job because the laws and the policies are there,” he said.
Asked how he reacted when the DNC and Podesta emails were released during the presidential race, Broidy said he couldn’t recall. “I mean I don’t think stealing stuff from people is right,” he said. “It’s just not my thing. I’m very interested in national security and law and order.”
Lehrich, the Clinton campaign spokesman, said he does have sympathy for Republican hacking victims like Broidy.
“This guy Broidy seems like a really bad dude, and the things that he’s done, obviously there is merit to them being exposed,” Lehrich said. “But at the same time, I think it’s a dangerous, slippery slope when they’re coming to light thanks to hostile foreign actors who have their own agenda.”
Maxwell Strachan and Akbar Shahid Ahmed contributed reporting.
In the rich asshole promoted segment, hack "journalist" and noted rich asshole cock sucker Hannity says not jailing Hillary ‘is biggest abuse of power in history of this country’
Fox News host Sean Hannity. Image via screengrab.
DON'T MISS STORIES. FOLLOW RAW STORY!
Fox News host Sean Hannity, who is said to talk to President some rich asshole on a daily basis, on Monday asserted that not prosecuting Hillary Clinton over her email server was “biggest abuse of power in the history of this country.”
A tweet from the president on Monday advised viewers to tune in to Fox & Friends for a special appearance by Hannity.
.@seanhannity on @foxandfriends now! Great! 8:18 A.M.
The Fox News host and presidential confidante revealed that he “expects” criminal charges against fired FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe.
Hannity espoused a complicated conspiracy theory that he said proved Clinton was the only person who colluded with Russia in the 2016 campaign. And he railed against former FBI Director James Comey for refusing to prosecute Clinton over her unauthorized email server.
“The only way that I can characterize this — it is the biggest abuse of power in the history of this country,” he opined. “For James Comey, when you have so many crimes that Hillary committed… If you were trying to prevent congressional oversight and you broke the law and you put a server that we now know was hacked by at least five or six outside foreign entities.”
Hannity continued: “If you put it outside of where it’s supposed to be, mishandle it with classified, top secret and special access program information, those emails get subpoenaed. You don’t have the right to delete 33,000 of them at that point. And if you did, you’d be arrested.”
Watch the video below.
By
-
March 19, 2018
In an appearance promoted by the rich asshole on Monday morning, Hannity pushed further against McCabe, suggesting "criminal charges" are likely.
With the firing of FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe accomplished, Fox News host and the rich asshole confidant Sean Hannity is now suggesting McCabe will be imprisoned.
the rich asshole spent his weekend waging a campaign of lies against McCabe and special counsel Robert Mueller, then first thing Monday morning told his Twitter followers to watch Sean Hannity. the rich asshole tweeted, with great specificity: “.@seanhannity on @foxandfriends now! Great! 8:18 A.M.”
When the rich asshole’s followers tuned in to “Fox & Friends,” they saw Hannity lead off his interview by saying, “If I had to expect, you’re going to see criminal charges against Andrew McCabe.”
“I would also argue it’s gonna go a lot deeper,” Hannity said, and accused the leadership of the current FBI and Justice Department of “serious issues, crimes.”
The balance of the segment consisted of a rehash of lies and conspiracies about Hillary Clinton, but Hannity’s opening suggests a new front in the war against McCabe, and anyone else who figures to damage the rich asshole in the Russia investigation.
About half an hour after Hannity’s appearance on “Fox & Friends,” the rich asshole tweeted the angry sentence fragment “A total WITCH HUNT with massive conflicts of interest!”
Hannity, it should be noted, is not just another cable TV host to the rich asshole. The Fox News host frequently speaks privately with the rich asshole, and has advised him in the past on how to handle the Russia investigation.
the rich asshole’s attacks over the weekend demonstrate a transparent desperation to attack the credibility of the Russia investigation, and of McCabe in particular. In trying to paint McCabe and the FBI as criminals, Hannity is taking the next step in the rich asshole’s ongoing strategy.
But the rich asshole’s war on the Russia investigation is beginning to erode the ranks of Republicans who are willing to go along with him quietly, if only slightly. Eventually, Hannity may become the last the rich asshole cheerleader standing.
the rich asshole fumes at Mueller probe while some Republicans warn him not to move against special counsel
Former FBI Director Robert Mueller said cyber security will be the number one future threat in the country, but for the time being, "counterterrorism and stopping terrorist attacks" is more important. (Photo: Kit Fox/Medill Flickr)
DON'T MISS STORIES. FOLLOW RAW STORY!
March 18, 2018
Laura King
Tribune Washington Bureau
Posted with permission from Tribune Content Agency
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump stepped up his attacks against Robert S. Mueller III on Sunday even as some Republican allies cautioned the president against any move to fire the special counsel, who is carrying out a broad investigation arising from Russian interference in the U.S. presidential election.
Tensions over the Mueller probe gained intensity from the firing late Friday night of Andrew McCabe, the former deputy director of the FBI. Attorney General Jeff Sessions fired McCabe just hours before he would have qualified for the full government pension given to law enforcement officers.
Trump, who had targeted McCabe, publicly cheered his removal.
McCabe is expected to be a significant witness in the Mueller investigation. News reports said that he kept notes about his encounters with Trump as well as memos about his conversations with fired FBI Director James Comey. Mueller's investigators have asked questions of witnesses that suggest they are looking at whether Trump's firing of Comey was part of an effort to obstruct justice.
According to Justice Department officials, internal FBI overseers recommended that McCabe be fired over a matter unrelated to the Mueller probe — his handling of information about the FBI's investigation of allegations against Hillary Clinton.
But Sessions' decision to dismiss him, and the speed with which that happened, quickly became a talking point for both critics and defenders of the president in the context of the Russia investigation, which for months has cast a cloud over Trump's presidency.
The president, who spent a sunny Sunday at his golf property in Virginia, began the day with a series of caustic early-morning tweets aimed at McCabe, Comey and Mueller.
One expressed doubts concerning whether McCabe had indeed documented details about their conversations. Trump tweeted that McCabe "never took notes when he was with me" and added that the memos were probably written at a later date "to help his own agenda."
"Can we call them Fake Memos?" the president asked rhetorically.
When dealing with a sensitive legal matter, law enforcement personnel often document encounters in as much detail as they can recall, immediately after the fact, in what are known as contemporaneous memos.
Another presidential tweet accused Comey of lying to congressional investigators months ago, and yet another suggested that the investigative team of Mueller, a lifelong Republican, was tainted by political partisanship.
That tweet marked the second day in a row in which Trump had publicly mentioned the special counsel by name, despite urgings from his legal team to refrain from doing so.
Speculation that the president might be preparing to move against Mueller took on new energy Saturday, when one of his lawyers, John Dowd, suggested that the McCabe affair should serve as a prelude to a forced end to the special counsel's investigation.
That drew a blunt warning Sunday from Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., who has said consistently that any attempt by the White House to halt Mueller's work would be disastrous for Trump.
"If he tried to do that, it would be the beginning of the end of his presidency," said Graham, who sits on the Senate Judiciary Committee. "We are a rule-of-law nation."
Interviewed on CNN's "State of the Union," Graham said that Mueller could only be dismissed for cause.
"I see no cause," the senator said. "I think he's doing a good job."
"There are many Republicans who share my view," he pointedly added.
Another South Carolina Republican, Rep. Trey Gowdy, took aim at Dowd, who had expressed hope Saturday that the "brilliant and courageous example" set by the firing of McCabe would "bring an end to the alleged Russia Collusion investigation."
Dowd's comments made it appear that Trump had something to hide, Gowdy said on "Fox News Sunday."
"The president's attorney frankly does him a disservice when he says that, and when he frames the investigation that way," said Gowdy, who chairs the House Oversight Committee and is not running for re-election.
"If you have an innocent client, Mr. Dowd, act like it."
But Gowdy said if Trump did move against Mueller, "I'm not sure the House can do a lot."
One of the few Republicans who has spoken out strongly against Trump's behavior on a wider range of issues predicted that the president would see a groundswell of opposition to any attempt to end the special counsel's investigation.
"I don't know what the designs are on Mueller, but it seems to be building toward that," Sen. Jeff Flake of Arizona said on "State of the Union."
He said he would expect "considerable pushback in the next couple of days, urging the president not to go there."
Flake has announced plans to retire from the Senate and is exploring the possibility of challenging Trump for the Republican nomination in 2020.
Democrats have long been harshly critical of Trump's stance toward the Mueller investigation. They also insist that large numbers of Republican officials are privately horrified by the president's behavior.
"I hear so many Republican senators grumble about his ethics, about his name-calling," Ohio Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown said on NBC's "Meet the Press."
"I think at some point Republican enablers in the House and Senate are going to say publicly what they've been saying privately," he added. "And that's when things change and we see a president back off this kind of name-calling, not telling the truth, sending out these tweets, all that."
Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., also on "Meet the Press," expressed misgivings about the circumstances of McCabe's firing, hours before his birthday would have made him eligible for the full pension.
"I don't like the way it happened," Rubio said. "He (McCabe) should have been allowed to finish through the weekend."
Although officials say the FBI's Office of Professional Responsibility laid out a case for firing McCabe in a not-yet-released internal report, Rubio said the president "obviously ... doesn't like McCabe, and he's made that pretty clear now for over a year."
Oklahoma Republican James Lankford, who sits on the Senate Intelligence Committee, said on ABC's "This Week" that the investigation ought to run its course.
"I don't see the president firing him," he said of Mueller.
The issue of whether McCabe will be stripped of his retirement benefits was still unclear Sunday.
Trump appeared to demand months ago that the former deputy director be fired in time to prevent him from collecting a pension earned over two decades of FBI service. Some experts on federal employment suggested, however, that any loss of retirement income could be prevented if a member of Congress hired McCabe, thus keeping him on the federal payroll for at least a few more days.
Several lawmakers quickly offered to do so, sometimes accompanying their overtures with sardonic commentary on Twitter.
One of them, Rep. Mark Pocan, D-Wis., tweeted, "Andrew call me. I could use a good two-day report on the biggest crime families in Washington, D.C."
Another Twitter message came from Rep. Luis Gutierrez, a bitter opponent of Trump's immigration policies, saying it was important to "stand up to bullies."
"If you need a federal job, call me on Monday," the Illinois Democrat said in a tweet directed at McCabe. "I am serious."
John Oliver rips homophobe Mike Pence — and does something amazing with his pet rabbit Marlon Bundo
Mike Pence on John Oliver/Screenshot
DON'T MISS STORIES. FOLLOW RAW STORY!
As the noose continues to tighten on some rich asshole, John Oliver looked forward a bit with a deep profile of Mike Pence.
Not only is Mike Pence is the only person the rich asshole can’t fire, he’s an extremist who opposes women in the military, supports gay conversion therapy and supported a law that would legalize discrimination against gay people.
Despite being a Christian, Pence is just as dishonest as the rich asshole—when Pence was confronted about the rich asshole’s bald-faced lying about winning the popular vote, Pence called it “refreshing.”
Omarosa Manigault, who spent time with both in the White House, says people would miss trump if Pence ended up in office.
“We’d be begging for the rich asshole back if Mike Pence became president,” she said. “He’s extreme. I’m Christian, I love Jesus but he thinks Jesus tells him to say things that are… I’m like, ‘Jesus ain’t say that.'”
Monday is a big day for Pence, as his wife and daughter become published authors with the release of a children’s book about his pet bunny.
Marlon Bundo’s Day in the Life of the Vice President tells the story of the life the vice president as he battles to take away people’s constitutional rights.
By coincidence, a second Marlon Bundo book will be coming out tomorrow, courtesy of John Oliver. It’s called a A Day in the Life of Marlon Bundo, and stars a gay bunny who battles an evil stinkbug to secure his right to marry. You can but that here, with proceeds supporting two charities.
McCabe ‘should have gone out in cuffs!’ — Watch Fox News’ Judge Jeanine yell about the ‘triumvirate’ bringing down the rich asshole
Jeanine Pirro on Fox News/Screenshot
DON'T MISS STORIES. FOLLOW RAW STORY!
Fox News is an increasingly insular place, as a small group of loyal Trumpistas goes on each other’s shows to prop up the president and call-out his growing list of detractors.
The latest installment of The Next Revolution with Steve Hilton dragged up the Baghdad Bobs of Trumpdom, Ann Coulter and Judge Jeanine Pirro who railed about the deep state and former CIA director John Brennan.
Hilton opened with a dire warning to viewers about the danger to the “duly” elected leader of “our country” (Hilton is a British national).
Hilton asked his first guest, Pirro, whether the “deep state” is out to get the rich asshole. Pirro yelled that he definitely has.
“How could he not believe that the establishment is out to get him?” Pirro yelled.
McCabe was part of a “triumvirate inside” the FBI that was out to get the rich asshole in the primaries and general election, she alleged.
“Are you kidding? Andy McCabe is someone who needed to be fired and who should have been gone out in cuffs, as far as I’m concerned,” she yelled. “McCabe lied. McCabe was part of that triumvirate in the FBI that made up this evidence.”
“Why aren’t we hearing from FIA judges? Who are these judges!” she yelled.
Pirro then went after Trey Gowdy, who recently warned the president’s lawyers to back off and allow Mueller to investigate, saying “If you’ve got an innocent client, act like it.”
“That is a very unusual statement—and I’m a big, big supporter of Trey,” Pirro yelled. “But you don’t say that. Trey says Russia attacked out country. Why didn’t Obama go after Russia?”
Watch the video below—turn your volume down first, though, as there is a lot of yelling.
the rich asshole never mentioned Mueller on Twitter once until this weekend
He's acting like a man backed into a corner.
some rich asshole is not known for self-restraint, especially when he’s logged onto Twitter. Yet, despite his lack of discipline — and despite being investigated in a federal probe into Russia’s election meddling — the president did not tweet about Special Prosecutor Robert Mueller for the first 10 months of the investigation.
That streak ended Saturday, when the rich asshole sent the first of two tweets attacking Mueller by name.
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!
Both tweets are riddled with factual errors. For one thing, Robert Mueller is himself a Republican who was initially appointed to lead the FBI by President George W. Bush. For another, the consensus view within America’s intelligence community is that Russia interfered with the 2016 election because it hoped to make some rich asshole president.
In any event, however, the rich asshole’s decision to attack Mueller by name on Twitter suggests one of two things — either the president is no longer following his legal team’s advice, or that team is now advising him to take a much more aggressive posture against Mueller.
As the New York Times notes, the rich asshole’s anti-Mueller tweets were “notable because for the most part, some rich asshole has heeded the advice of his lawyers not to target Mr. Mueller’s team directly.”
On Saturday, however, the rich asshole attorney John Dowd told The Daily Beast that he prays “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 McCabe’s boss James Comey based upon a fraudulent and corrupt Dossier.”
Together, these statements suggest that the rich asshole and his lawyers may have agreed to make statements seeking to de-legitimize the Mueller investigation. They also raise the possibility that the rich asshole may use the powers of the presidency — including the power to start firing Justice Department officials until the top remaining official agrees to fire Mueller — in order to cut short the Russia investigation.
Should that happen, the rich asshole could trigger a legal battle over whether the special counsel was properly fired. Under DOJ’s existing regulations, Mueller can only be fired “for misconduct, dereliction of duty, incapacity, conflict of interest, or for other good cause, including violation of Departmental policies.”
POLITICS Lindsey Graham Warns the rich asshole: Firing Mueller Would Be ‘Beginning Of The End’
The senator’s Republican colleagues, however, were not nearly as forceful in their responses to questions on the same topic.
"As I said before, if he tried to do that, that would be the beginning of the end of his presidency." Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham gives a stern warning to President Trump against firing special counsel Robert Mueller. cnn.it/2HHIKK5
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) issued another warning to President some rich asshole on Sunday, arguing that the firing of Special Counsel Robert Mueller would be “the beginning of the end of his presidency.”
Speaking to CNN’s Jake Tapper on “State of the Union,” Graham was firm in his opposition to the rich asshole firing Mueller while the investigation into Russia’s meddling in 2016 continued. The response came after the rich asshole’s weekend tweetstorm, in which the president once again attacked Mueller’s investigation as a “witch hunt.”
Graham did not waver when it came to the prospect of the president firing the special counsel.
“As I said before, if he tried to do that, that would be the beginning of the end of his presidency because we are a rule-of-law nation,” Graham said. “He is following the evidence where it takes him, and I think it’s very important that he be allowed to do his job without interference, and there are many Republicans who share my view.”
The senator’s Republican colleagues who also appeared on Sunday talk shows were not nearly as forceful in their responses to questions on the same topic.
But Graham has made his stance on this issue clear in the past, co-sponsoring a bipartisan bill in August that would prevent a president from firing a special counsel appointed to investigate the president or his team without cause and judicial review. The bill has not yet been passed.
“The only reason Mr. Mueller could ever be dismissed is for cause. I see no cause when it comes to Mr. Mueller,” Graham said. “I pledged to the American people as a Republican to make sure Mr. Mueller can continue to do his job without any interference. I think he’s doing a good job.”
Take a look at the senator’s full response in the video above.
White House assures the rich asshole 'is not considering or discussing' firing Mueller
BY JULIA MANCHESTER - 03/18/18 08:36 PM EDT
The White House on Sunday moved to quell speculation that President the rich asshole was considering firing special counsel Robert Mueller after the rich asshole spent the weekend lambasting the federal probe into alleged ties between the rich asshole campaign and Russian election meddling.
the rich asshole mentioned Mueller's name for the first time in his tweets over the weekend, going against the advice of his attorneys.
The president's criticism began on Saturday after his personal lawyer John Dowd called on Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein to end Mueller's investigation.
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!
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!
Mueller reportedly subpoenaed the rich asshole Organization last week in addition to presenting the president's legal team with a series of questions for a potential interview with the rich asshole, according to another report.
the rich asshole told The New York Times 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 rich asshole’s data firm, Cambridge Analytica, is trying to stop broadcast of an undercover expose: report
Alexander Nix of Cambridge Analytica/Screenshot
DON'T MISS STORIES. FOLLOW RAW STORY!
Cambridge Analytica has had a rough week.
The British data firm which helped propel some rich asshole to the presidency has been banned from Facebook after misusing user data and been the subject of a New York Times report that says it lied about having business relations with Russia, having actually worked with Russians to target American voters as far back as 2014.
The company had previously been very outspoken about the transition “from Mad Men to Math Men.” Steve Bannon used the company for what’s been called “mind hacking.”
But a reelingCambridge Analytica is now trying to stop a new documentary from Britain’s Channel 4 which features undercover interviews with people including CEO Alexander Nix, reports the Financial Times.
According to FT, reporters posed as potential clients and secretly filmed the company’s pitches.
The documentary is slated to air this week.
Cambridge Analytica’s spokesman declined to comment to FT about the Channel 4 report.
No comments:
Post a Comment