the rich asshole ignores his own party’s warnings — and attacks the Mueller probe on Twitter again
some rich asshole and Jeb Bush following the CNN debate (Photo: Screen capture via video)
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President some rich asshole has been warned by members of his own party that he will look guilty if he keeps attacking special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe.
But just as he reportedly ignored aides’ pleas to not congratulate Russian President Vladimir Putin on his election win, the rich asshole has ignored his fellow Republicans and has gone after the Mueller probe again on Twitter.
On Wednesday morning, the rich asshole approvingly relayed a quote from Fox News legal analyst Alan Dershowitz that questioned the need for a special counsel to investigate his campaign’s potential collusion with Russian officials during the 2016 presidential election.
“Special Council (sic) is told to find crimes, wether (sic) crimes exist or not,” the rich asshole wrote, quoting Dershowitz. “I was opposed the selection of Mueller to be Special Council, I still am opposed to it. I think President the rich asshole was right when he said there never should have been a Special Council appointed because there was no probable cause for believing that there was any crime, collusion or otherwise, or obstruction of justice!”
Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-SC) on Sunday said that the rich asshole and his attorneys’ attacks on the Mueller probe are not typically the actions of people who are innocent — and he urged them to stop acting like they were guilty of crimes. And former Republican Sen. Rick Santorum on Tuesday went on CNN and told the rich asshole to stop attacking the Mueller probe because doing so makes it look like he’s “got something to hide.”
‘Most painful press briefing ever’: MSNBC’s Mika laughs out loud at Sarah Sanders tap-dancing around Russia
Mika Brzezinski, Josh Earnest and Katty Kay (MSNBC)
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MSNBC’s Mika Brzezinski mocked White House spokesperson Sarah Sanders’ awkward refusal to weigh in on the fairness of Russia’s recent election, even as she confirmed President some rich asshole had congratulated Vladimir Putin.
Former White House spokesman Josh Earnest described why former President Barack Obama’s congratulatory call to Putin in 2012 differed from the rich asshole’s, which was made over the all-caps recommendation of his national security advisers — and Brzezinski said he was too kind.
“What you don’t see is me and Katty (Kay) smiling mockingly because you are the most polite person to ever grace this set,” Brzezinski said. “You call it ‘rather remarkable.’ That was the most painful press briefing I’ve ever seen in my life.”
The “Morning Joe” co-host and Kay, a BBC anchor, burst into laughter before Brzezinski explained why Sanders’ performance Wednesday was so painful.
“She wouldn’t answer the question as to whether the Russia election was free and fair, and what you saw was edited for television because we don’t have a lot of time,” Brzezinski said. “She actually asked — she asked the reporter to repeat the question so she could spend some time to think about how to BS her way out of it so she could please her boss and not the country. Think about it this way.”
Earnest, who served as White House spokesperson from 2014 to 2017, said Sanders had put herself into a position of defending the fairness of Russia’s presidential election — and he tried to put the rich asshole’s call into historical context.
“You obviously point out it doesn’t come against the backdrop of the election meddling,” Earnest said. “You also don’t have a president of the United States, President Obama was somebody interested in strengthening NATO. President the rich asshole has gone around criticizing our NATO allies and, in some cases, putting distance between us and our allies, including with regard to this specific poisoning of a Russian spy in Britain.”
He said the circumstances of the two presidential calls were also different.
“I remember that phone call from 2012, and this was some internal gnashing of teeth about the fact that President Obama did call to congratulate him, but you had a statement from the State Department raising legitimate concerns about the way that that election was conducted and about the broader human rights situation inside of Russia,” Earnest said.
“So the president of the United States in 2012 in a very different circumstance, we still found a channel,” he added. “We did find a mechanism for raising concerns about that election. The the rich asshole administration has for whatever reason not done that, and still what you’ve had is you’ve got senior officials taking matters into their own hands to raise their own concerns even over apparently the objections of the president.”
After bashing FBI — the rich asshole celebrates their work catching Austin bomber
some rich asshole (Photo: Shutterstock)
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President some rich asshole has spent weeks assailing the FBI and has fired both the director and assistant director since he took office in 2017.
However, Wednesday morning, he celebrated the work the FBI did to catch the suspected Austin bomber that terrorized Texas for weeks. Local police, along with agents from the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, investigated the incident at the scene on Interstate 35 where the suspect was killed.
“AUSTIN BOMBING SUSPECT IS DEAD. Great job by law enforcement and all concerned!” the rich asshole tweeted.
‘Sell that man a bridge’: the rich asshole advisor goes down in flames for insisting the president didn’t know about Stormy Daniels payout
President some rich asshole and adult actress Stephanie Clifford, whose stage name was Stormy Daniels, in a 2006 Myspace photo.
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CNN political commentator and some rich asshole Hispanic Advisory Council member Steve Cortes on Tuesday insisted he doesn’t believe the president knew about a payout made by his personal attorney, Michael Cohen, to adult film star Stormy Daniels—prompting laughter from his fellow panelists.
Discussing the ongoing Stormy Daniels saga (which, by Tuesday, had advanced to include photo of Daniels in 2011 taking a lie detector test about her alleged affair with the rich asshole), Cortes relied on a familiar talking point that voters knew the rich asshole had a sordid history when they elected him president of the United States.
“What [voters] knew was the Access Hollywood tape,” Cortes said. “That was about as damning as you could produce. If I were to try to to concoct something to destroy a presidential campaign it would be that Access Hollywood tape. The fact is that people consumed that tape, they considered it, and decided it wasn’t relevant to the job he would do as president. And, by the way, he is doing a magnificent job.”
“Come on,” political commentator Joan Walsh replied.
Civil rights attorney Areva Martin pushed back on Cortes’ point that the American people knew the extent of the rich asshole’s past before they elected him.
“We did not know about this the hush agreement, this NDA,” Martin said. “And in this ‘Me Too’ movement, in this time of ‘Time’s Up,’ I think women—the 54 percent of white women that voted for some rich asshole—perhaps would have had a different analysis of him as the president, had they known in this moment that not only did he have the affairs, which apparently he is going to great lengths to deny, but that he went to such great lengths to keep the women quiet.”
Cortes protested, asking if any of the women who voted for the rich asshole thought he was a saint.
“It isn’t about those women thinking he is a saint,” Martin explained. “It is, though, about empowered women recognizing something is really wrong with a man that has an affair with two different women after his wife has a child and then he uses the legal process to prevent the women from talking about the affairs, then he calls the women liars, denies knowing them, denies having any relationship with them. I think that’s substantial and I think women would have made a different choice had the information got out.”
“And apparently, [the rich asshole’s lawyer] Michael Cohen and the rich asshole team thought that or else there wouldn’t be $130,000 settlement, and there wouldn’t be all of the legal cases to prevent this woman from saying what some rich asshole says it didn’t happen in the first place,” Martin added.
“I agree Michael Cohen thought that,” Cortes said. “That doesn’t mean that the president thought that.”
“Oh, c’mon,” former federal prosecutor John Flannery interjected.
“And there is still not a shred of evidence that the president himself knew about any of this,” Cortes claimed.
“Steve, do you really think—be honest—do you really think some rich asshole didn’t know that Michael Cohen was paying this money to him?” CNN host Don Lemon asked.
“I do not,” Cortes replied as his fellow panelists burst into laughter. “You can laugh at me.”
“Sell that man a bridge!” Flannery suggested.
Watch the segment below:
POLITICS
the rich asshole Ignored Explicit, All-Caps Instructions to ‘NOT CONGRATULATE’ Putin: Report
He also refrained from criticizing Russia for meddling in U.S. elections and attacking a former spy with nerve gas.
Shortly after the absolutely unsurprising re-election of Russian President Vladimir Putin, U.S. President some rich asshole was given explicit instructions in his daily briefing materials to avoid congratulating his counterpart.
But despite the all-caps notation reading “DO NOT CONGRATULATE,” the rich asshole did so anyway, according to a report Tuesday by The Washington Post.
According to a White House statement, “President the rich asshole congratulated President Putin on his March 18 re-election, and emphasized the importance of denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula. The two leaders confirmed the need for the United States and Russia to continue our shared efforts on strategic stability.”
“We had a very good call,” the rich asshole told reporters at the White House after the exchange, noting that the pair “will probably be meeting in the not-too distant future to discuss the arms race, which is getting out of control.”
The Post noted that the same briefing document supplied to the president about the call also urged the rich asshole to discuss allegations of Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election and to condemn a nerve agent attack on a former Russian spy in England earlier this month.
The president did neither, and the Post said it was unclear if the rich asshole had even read the material.
Rather, the White House said the leaders discussed “the state of bilateral relations and resolved to continue dialogue about mutual national security priorities and challenges.” The Kremlin has denied tampering with U.S. elections and any involvement in the poisoning.
The departure from his aides’ suggestions is relatively normal for the president, who often goes off script and ignores the advice of his advisers and lawyers. the rich asshole has often refrained from outright condemnation of Russia and has mostly refused to comment on claims that the country tried to influence the last presidential election.
Last week, however, the the rich asshole administration imposed new sanctions on several Russian citizens and organizations over the country’s role in such meddling. the rich asshole also said at the time it “looks like” Russia was behind the nerve gas attack, although he refrained from harsher punishments akin to Britain’s expulsion of 23 Russian diplomats.
the rich asshole’s congratulatory call sparked immediate condemnation from some lawmakers, including Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), who said the president “insulted every Russian citizen who was denied the right to vote in a free and fair election.”
An American president does not lead the Free World by congratulating dictators on winning sham elections. And by doing so with Vladimir Putin, President Trump insulted every Russian citizen who was denied the right to vote in a free and fair election. mccain.senate.gov/public/index.c…
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March 20, 2018
the rich asshole's long list of nominees for federal judgeships is very white and very male.
the rich asshole got a record number of nominations for federal judgeships confirmed to appeals courts in his first year. And as of March 20, he had nominated 87 people for the federal bench.
But that list is very male and very white.
Indeed, the most immediately obvious thing about his picks is how strikingly little diversity there is among them. the rich asshole hasn’t found a single woman of color he deems qualified to sit on the federal bench.
According to Pew Research, only 21 percent of the rich asshole’s judges are women, and only 10 percent of the rich asshole’s judges are nonwhite. Not one of his picks is a black or Hispanic woman.
This is less than a third of the diversity among President Barack Obama’s nominees, and barely more than during the Reagan administration — when there were only a third as many minorities going to law school.
This matters, because diversity of thought and diversity of background follow from diversity of race, sex, and ethnicity. If none of the judges hearing a case have ever experienced racial segregation or gender discrimination, for instance, the court’s discussion of these issues is likely to be more limited.
the rich asshole is, in other words, stunting the ability of the courts to empathize with all defendants, and to come at constitutional questions from all angles — and even more so because his nominees are all far right.
Moreover, many of his white male nominees are not even qualified for the job.
One of the rich asshole’s district court nominees, Brett Talley, withdrew from consideration following widespread reports on his conflicts of interest, racist online writings, and obsession with hunting ghosts. Another, Matthew S. Petersen, dropped out after Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) proved he did not understand basic elements of how criminal trials work.
Other unqualified nominees, however, have been confirmed. Senate Republicans forced through appeals court nominee Leonard Grasz, despite the fact that he has extensive ties to defenders of discredited “gay conversion therapy” and was criticized by the American Bar Association for his rudeness in court.
the rich asshole’s standards for judges are shockingly low as long as they are white, male, and conservative. Yet women of color are still wholly locked out of the rich asshole’s nominating process thus far.
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March 20, 2018
the rich asshole won't stop bowing to Putin and Russia.
Continuing his unblemished record of refusing to criticize Vladimir Putin in public, the rich asshole called the Russia president Tuesday to congratulate him on winning a sham, deeply undemocratic election.
the rich asshole’s latest bout of Moscow groveling came the same day that bipartisan members of the Senate Intelligence Committee warned that Russia may try to attack America’s midterm elections in November.
It was yet another instance when the rich asshole, accused of colluding with Russians in 2016, bent to Putin while refusing to stand up to him on behalf of America.
“We had a very good call,” the rich asshole told reporters in the Oval Office, describing the collegial phone conversation with the Russian leader.
The the rich asshole-Putin call occurred at almost the same moment intelligence committee members addressed reporters on Capitol Hill. They stressed the need for election reform, in part to keep Russia from once again undermining American ballots.
The committee recommended steps states take immediately to better “defend against a hostile nation-state who may seek to undermine our democracy.”
It also concluded that “Russian agents targeted election systems in 21 states ahead of the 2016 general election, the Homeland Security Department has said, and separately launched a social media blitz aimed at inflaming social tensions and sowing confusion,” CNBC noted.
Today, the threat still lingers.
Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats recently announced, “There should be no doubt that Russia perceived that its past efforts (in the 2016 election) as successful and views the 2018 midterm elections as a potential target for Russian influence operations.”
Around the same time, the rich asshole’s then-Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, echoed the dire warning about 2018 elections, telling Fox News, “I think it’s important we just continue to say to Russia, look, you think we don’t see what you’re doing. We do see it, and you need to stop.”
But chatting up Putin on Tuesday, the rich asshole wouldn’t even raise the topic with the Russian authoritarian.
Not only did the rich asshole praise Putin for winning a rubber-stamp re-election, but he did so in the wake of Putin and Russia being accused of approving a military-grade nerve gas attack on private citizens in England.
The targeted victims were 66-year-old Sergei Skripal and his 33-year-old daughter, Yulia, who remain comatose. Skripal once served as a Russian spy. In total, more than 30 people were exposed during the brazen nerve gas attack.
“There is no alternative conclusion other than that the Russian State was culpable for the attempted murder of Mr. Skripal and his daughter — and for threatening the lives of other British citizens,” British Prime Minister Theresa May announced.
the rich asshole, too busy getting chummy with Putin on the phone, didn’t have time to complain.
Federal judge doesn’t hold back on Kris Kobach’s deceit of Kansas voters
"You are under ethical obligation to tell me the truth," the judge said. "That’s why lawyers are licensed."
A Kansas federal judge had sharp words for Republican Secretary of State Kris Kobach during a contempt hearing Tuesday, accusing him of misleading the court and failing to inform voters whose registrations were previously suspended that they are eligible to vote.
In May 2016, Judge Julie Robinson issued a preliminary injunction ordering Kobach “to register for federal elections all otherwise eligible motor voter registration applicants,” whether or not they have shown a documentary proof of citizenship. The American Civil Liberties Union, which filed the lawsuit challenging Kobach’s proof of citizenship law, argued that Kobach was failing to add voters to the rolls, making eligible voters cast provisional ballots, and failing to send voters affected by the preliminary injunction a postcard that would notify them of their registration status.
After seven days of trial, the court held a hearing on contempt Tuesday in which Judge Robinson repeatedly chastised Kobach when he argued that he did not violate the order.
“You have a duty to tell them that and to assure me that they complied,” the judge told Kobach about his obligation to tell counties to register all eligible voters. “It’s your duty to make sure they do what they are supposed to do and abide by the law.”
Judge tells Kobach he had no problem making sure counties adhered to his proof of citizenship policy, but not her order. #ksleg #ACLUvKobach
In a telephone conference in October 2016, roughly five months after the injunction, Kobach made a verbal promise that counties would send postcards to voters who had previously been on the suspense list for not showing proof of citizenship, but became registered because of the court’s order, informing them of their registration status.
In court Tuesday, Kobach and his attorneys claimed the judge never ordered them to send those postcards to voters, but the judge didn’t buy that argument.
“Why would I order something you told me you’d take care of?” the judge said, according to ProPublica’s Jessica Huseman, who was in the courtroom. “You are under ethical obligation to tell me the truth… that’s why lawyers are licensed.”
At another point, Kobach grew exasperated, telling Judge Robinson: “I certainly would have no interest in failing to comply with any court’s order.” Last June, the court upheld a $1,000 fine against Kobach for intentionally misleading the court about a document he was photographed carrying into a November 2016 meeting with the rich asshole.
In its motion for contempt, the ACLU had previously argued that Kobach’s violation of the preliminary injunction was already affecting elections.
“These are not merely technical violations of the order; they have real consequences for all affected Kansans,” the ACLU wrote. “The refusal to register the plaintiffs deprives them of the most basic protections afforded to registered voters… Because of the Secretary’s defiance of the Order, covered voters have received no assurance that they may participate in the upcoming election or that their votes will be counted.”
The ACLU claimed that Kobach’s actions could have a “chilling effect,” suppressing turnout in upcoming elections.
“It’s an election year this year, and there’s no more time for games,” Dale Ho, lead attorney for the ACLU, told the judge Tuesday.
Kobach helped draft and enact the documentary proof of citizenship law, which took effect in January 2013, requiring all Kansas residents to show a document like a birth certificate or passport when they registered to vote. The law was in place for more than three years until the court issued the preliminary injunction order before the 2016 presidential election.
The contempt hearing came on the eighth day of a trial that was originally supposed to last just four days, but ended up stretching for far longer because Kobach’s legal team struggled to cross-examine witnesses and follow basic rules of evidence. At the start of Tuesday’s hearing, Ho apologized to the judge for having to address the motion for contempt.
ACLU (Dale Ho): Apologizes to judge to spend time on this. Says Kobach could have very easily complied with judge's preliminary injunction, but he failed to update the online elections manual & to send postcards to voters with info including their polling place. #ACLUvKobach
Ho told the judge that Kobach is refusing to update the online elections manual until the U.S. Supreme Court issues a final judgement on this case, which could take years. “Incorrect information is continually distributed to the general public,” he said.
Sue Becker, an attorney for Kobach, claimed that the secretary of state’s office put the required information on its website and emailed counties with the notice to begin registering voters without documentary proof of citizenship. If individual counties misunderstood the directive, Becker argued, it was not Kobach’s fault.
Judge Robinson said she was not going to take Becker’s word that her office sent notices to the counties. “You’re going to present evidence to that effect or am I supposed to accept your statement?” she said. “I want evidence… In light of everything that’s happened.”
“You all have engaged in gamesmanship with this court,” she said.
Later in the hearing, Kansas Director of Elections Bryan Caskey testified that the state was equipped to register all eligible voters before the 2018 election. But during cross-examination, Caskey admitted to failures by the state in the past.
Judge gets Caskey to definitively say that he does not remember Kobach telling him to tell the counties to send out postcards to these voters. #ksleg #ACLUvKobach
At the end of the hearing Tuesday, Judge Robinson said she will issue a written opinion in the case and on the motion for contempt — the second time the ACLU has sought to hold Kobach in contempt in this trial. Kobach has already indicated his intentions to appeal an unfavorable ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court.
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