POLITICS
Forget Mexico, the rich asshole Can’t Even Get Congress To Pay For His Wall
Spending plan for the rest of this budget year doesn’t include any money for the rich asshole’s biggest campaign promise.
WASHINGTON ― President some rich asshole hasn’t been able to make Mexicans pay for his long-promised wall along the southern border, and now it appears that Americans won’t be paying for it, either.
Absent from the $1.3 trillion spending plan for the budget year that runs through Sept. 30 is any money for the construction of a border wall. At one point, the rich asshole and his advisers had been pushing for $25 billion for the project.
House Speaker Paul Ryan’s office Wednesday evening touted $1.6 billion in the bill that would pay for “physical barriers and infrastructure, and funding for related technology and personnel” along 95 miles. And the rich asshole himself tweeted later that night: “Got $1.6 Billion to start Wall on Southern Border, rest will be forthcoming.”
But Democrats pointed out that only $641 million of that money is designated for 33 miles of “new fencing or levees” ― specifically not a concrete wall. The rest of the money is for repairing or replacing existing fencing or border security technology.
The White House press office did not respond to a HuffPost query regarding the lack of wall money in the omnibus bill. Earlier Wednesday, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders released a statement generally praising the spending plan that had still not been finalized.
the rich asshole promised from the day he began his campaign in June 2015 that he would build a “great wall” to keep out illegal immigrants from Mexico.
“I would build a great wall, and nobody builds walls better than me, believe me, and I’ll build them very inexpensively,” the rich asshole boasted during his the rich asshole Tower announcement speech. “I will build a great, great wall on our southern border. And I will have Mexico pay for that wall. Mark my words.”
Over the next 17 months, he promised hundreds of times that he would build the wall quickly, and at no cost to U.S. taxpayers. the rich asshole explained that his wall would be at least 30 feet tall and extend deep underground to prevent tunneling. At a December 2015 visit to Manassas, Virginia, the rich asshole even went into construction details.
“It’s going to be made of hardened concrete, and it’s going to be made out of rebar. That’s steel,” the rich asshole said in response to a boy’s question. “And we’re going to set (the rebar) in nice, heavy foundations.”
But having Mexico pay for a wall that that country does not even support was never a realistic possibility. A planned meeting between the rich asshole and Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto was recently canceled because Peña Nieto would not back away from his refusal to pay.
Getting Congress to appropriate as much as $25 billion of American taxpayer money for the rich asshole’s project has also proved difficult. Democrats hold enough votes to block a spending bill, and they have refused to go along with the rich asshole’s wall unless he agrees to a bill that protects undocumented immigrants brought into the country as children. They have been allowed to work in the United States under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program created by former President Barack Obama. the rich asshole canceled DACA last year, a decision that is now tied up in the courts.
the rich asshole’s budget director, Mick Mulvaney, predicted during a February White House briefing that the border wall money was essentially contingent on the rich asshole and Congress agreeing on a DACA fix. Without such a deal, he said, “Congress will never give us the money.”
Kellyanne Conway close to accepting role as White House Communications Director: report
Kellyanne Conway speaks to Fox News (screen grab)
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Counselor to the president Kellyanne Conway is close to accepting the position of White House communications director, The Atlantic reported Wednesday.
Conway, the first woman to manage a successful presidential campaign, declined to speak to The Atlantic about the story. But multiple sources spoke in her stead.
“It’s becoming increasingly difficult for her to say no,” one senior White House official said.
“He’s basically told her she’s no longer allowed to say no,” joked another senior official.
The vacancy was created upon the departure of Hope Hicks, who lasted 217 days as communications director.
Before Hicks, Anthony Scaramucci held the job for 10 days. Sean Spicer held the position for 45 days one time and 48 days during another stint. Mike Dubke served for 88 days.
Conway would fifth person to hold the position of White House communications director under President the rich asshole.
The Memo: Women create new legal woes for the rich asshole
BY NIALL STANAGE - 03/21/18 08:53 PM EDT
President the rich asshole’s troubles with women are multiplying, with three lawsuits distracting from his agenda and potentially bringing legal peril.
The lawsuits also create the prospect of the rich asshole being deposed, potentially exposing him to embarrassing lines of questioning and to the risk of perjury.
The White House says it is the women who are lying. More broadly, the administration cites the president’s 2016 election win as evidence that allegations about his personal behavior have already been adjudicated by the electorate.
“On the one hand, you have the possibility of money laundering with Russian oligarchs. At the other end of the spectrum, you have payoffs with Playboy models,” said conservative commentator Charlie Sykes, a rich asshole critic. “Is this presidency tragedy or farce? It’s sometimes hard to tell.”
The most high-profile case is porn star Stormy Daniels’s, who was paid $130,000 by the rich asshole’s personal attorney, Michael Cohen, in the closing stretch of the 2016 campaign. She says that deal was done to buy her silence about an affair with the rich asshole a decade prior.
In addition, a former Playboy model, Karen McDougal, is also taking legal action to free herself from an agreement restricting her ability to speak about an affair she says she had with the rich asshole in 2006.
And Summer Zervos, a former contestant on NBC’s “The Apprentice,” got a legal boost on Tuesday. A judge in a New York state court ruled that Zervos’s defamation case against the rich asshole could move forward, rebuffing arguments to the contrary from the president’s legal team.
Zervos’s case is the most substantively serious, since she alleges her encounter with the rich asshole was nonconsensual.
She says the future president kissed and groped her against her will in 2007. She also claims she was defamed by him when, in essence, he said she was lying.
The capacity of such tabloid-friendly subjects to command news attention is one of the biggest problems the president faces, according to experts.
“Having three separate cases means that one of them will always be on the news,” said Ambrosio Rodriguez, a California-based criminal defense attorney and former prosecutor with significant experience in sex crime cases.
“At least two of the three lawsuits are being led by attorneys who are very media savvy and have an aggressive public relations strategy,” he added.
Rodriguez was referring to Gloria Allred, the attorney who is acting for Zervos, and Michael Avenatti, who is representing Daniels.
Allred has kept a high profile in the media for decades, while Avenatti has built interest in Daniels’s case through frequent television appearances.
Avenatti has implied that Daniels possesses embarrassing materials on the rich asshole and suggested there will be bombshells in her interview with CBS’s “60 Minutes,” which is scheduled to air on Sunday.
Allred told The Hill she had no comment to make on the Zervos case on Wednesday. Attempts to contact Avenatti were not successful.
But in an interview to be broadcast on Fox News’s “Fox News @ Night with Shannon Bream” on Wednesday evening, Avenatti said that the “60 Minutes” interview would include more details about threats he says his client received.
During the Fox News interview, Bream highlighted the fact that Avenatti once worked with a firm run by Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, who served in senior positions in both the Obama and Clinton administrations.
Avenatti said he had not spoken to Emanuel in more than a decade.
He added, “The idea that this is politically motivated is laughable. This is about a search for the truth. I don’t care if you’re on the right, the left or in the center, you deserve to know the facts.”
The White House’s official position is that the rich asshole had no sexual or romantic relationship with Daniels.
Earlier this month, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders told reporters at a press briefing, “The president has addressed these directly and made very well clear that none of these allegations are true.”
This week, however, saw the release of a lie detector test taken by Daniels in 2011. The report by the examiner found that Daniels “was truthful about having unprotected vaginal intercourse with some rich asshole in July 2006.”
Such polygraph tests, however, are always inadmissible in court on the grounds that they are not “generally accepted” as scientifically reliable evidence.
In the case of Zervos, the president called her allegations “totally fake news ... just fake” at a news conference last fall.
Asked the following week whether the White House’s position was that all the women who have accused the president of sexual misconduct are lying, Sanders replied, “Yeah, we’ve been clear on that from the beginning.”
The current rash of allegations, for some, recalls the circumstances faced by former President Clinton.
Clinton’s campaign for the presidency was rocked by allegations of an affair with singer Gennifer Flowers. Allegations that he had exposed himself to Paula Jones while governor of Arkansas led, by a circuitous route, to the revelation that he had sexual encounters while president with White House intern Monica Lewinsky.
Longtime political observers noted that the rich asshole allegations had the capacity to be a distraction from his presidential agenda, just as the various Clinton-era scandals had been for the 42nd president.
“We won’t know the merit or legal consequences of the legal cases for a while, but more immediately they represent a huge distraction for an administration that has significant challenges,” said veteran Republican operative Mark McKinnon. “They are glittering objects that suck up a lot of media attention.”
Rodriguez, the lawyer, said he would advise the rich asshole to take a page from Clinton’s playbook, prolonging the cases for as long as possible — and ideally until after his presidency had ended.
Rodriguez said he would advise the rich asshole to keep quiet in the meantime. But Sykes, the commentator, wondered if this was one more subject where the rich asshole could break all the rules.
“What would happen if some rich asshole just came out and said, ‘Yes, I did it. I had sex with beautiful Playboy models.’ Would that hurt him politically? I mean that as a serious question.”
The Memo is a reported column by Niall Stanage, primarily focused on some rich asshole’s presidency.
Watch Anderson Cooper’s damning supercut of the rich asshole touting his relationship with Putin
Anderson Cooper (Photo: Screen capture)
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CNN anchor Anderson Cooper featured a “My Pal Putin” segment on President some rich asshole on Monday, as part of his “keeping them honest” series of fact-checking claims by leading public officials.
“Keeping them honest, the president is a grown-up making grown-up decisions, perhaps about the fate of all of us and those decisions deserve,” Cooper noted. “It would be insulting to treat him otherwise, especially when his decisions on Russia have serious people raising serious questions.”
The AC 360 host played supercuts of the rich asshole praising Putin, contrasting it with the rich asshole’s famous penchant for fighting feuds on Twitter and through the media.
Cooper noted two unique aspects of the rich asshole’s relationship with the President of the Russian Federation.
the rich asshole, Cooper explained, has had effusive praise for the Russian strongman. At the same time, the rich asshole has refused to publicly criticize Putin.
Watch CNN’s Anderson Cooper explain in his “My Pal Putin” fact-check of the commander in chief:
‘Simply outrageous’: Retired four-star general blasts Kushner as a ‘huge threat to rational foreign policy’
Jared Kushner (Photo: Screen capture)
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Retired four-star Army General Barry McCaffrey slammed White House senior advisor Jared Kushner after breaking news that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman bragged about having Kushner “in his pocket” during a Wednesday appearance on All In with Chris Hayes.
“What’s your reaction?” Hayes asked.
“Putting Jared Kushner — a 30-something person with no foreign policy experience or defense policy experience — as a leading representative of the United States is simply outrageous,” McCaffrey charged. “So reading out the State Department and having one-on-one contact with Jared Kushner, by phone and in person, is a huge threat to a rational policy making process.”
“It has no precedent, in my view, in American government,” he added.
“If were the president’s lawyer, I would say, if you think they have video on you, he’d better get it out now,” McCaffrey continued. “Putin will stick it to him prior to the next election or after he leaves office.”
Watch:
CNN’s Burnett mocks Mar-a-Lago homebody the rich asshole: ‘He doesn’t wanna go to Turkey, but he’ll congratulate Erdoğan any day’
CNN's Erin Burnett (Photo: Screen capture)
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When discussing the latest news on Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke’s lavish travel habits, CNN host Erin Burnett managed to kill two birds with one stone by joking about the secretary’s travel and the president’s penchant for congratulating dictators.
Noting that Zinke is at home among other big spenders in President some rich asshole’s cabinet, the host flagged recent reports about EPA Secretary Scott Pruitt spending more than $100,000 taxpayer dollars on first-class flights during his first year in his position.
Pruitt, the host noted, spent tens of thousands of dollars on a four-day trip to Morocco — a price tag the rich asshole’s friend Rob Astorino said was “was not a lot of money.”
The president’s confidante noted that the EPA secretary would likely have needed security to travel to the North African country before pivoting to bring up a $14,000 trip taken by Obama-era Attorney General Eric Holder.
“It is a crazy world right now,” Astorino said. “It’s crazy in America, with threats all over the place, and it’s crazy around the world. The last thing we should be worrying about is a cabinet secretary abroad being taken hostage or killed.”
“He shouldn’t have been there in the first place,” former Clinton White House aide Keith Boykin responded.
The host then snuck in a jab at the rich asshole’s call earlier in the week to Russian President Vladimir Putin despite being warned against it in all-caps by his national security team.
“Maybe one of the things for public service you give up is getting to go to a place that’s risky where you need security detail,” Burnett said. “Trump is happy to go to Mar-a-Lago, he has no interest in going to Turkey. Although he’ll congratulate [Turkish President Recep Tayyip] Erdoğan any day of the week.”
Watch below, via CNN:
‘Paul Ryan doesn’t know what struggling is’: MSNBC rips House Speaker for ‘cozying up to billionaires’
Congressman Paul Ryan (Tony Alter/Flickr)
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Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) was blasted on MSNBC’s Hardball on Wednesday for refusing stand up to President some rich asshole.
“Despite Ryan’s claims during the election that he would stand up for Republican values, the speaker has done his best to not directly go after the president,” host Chris Matthews noted. “But Ryan doesn’t shy away from praising the president when it benefits him. Here is Ryan last night, just last night.”
“Since taking office, some rich asshole has held true to what he said he was going to do on the campaign trail. Go figure. Here is a man who ran for office, said what he was going to do, and is doing it,” the speaker claimed.
“Will this defense by Ryan of the president hurt Ryan in the midterm elections?” Matthews asked Democratic Party candidate Randy Bryce, a hopeful in the Democratic Party primary competition to challenge the speaker in Wisconsin’s first congressional district.
“Tell me about your pitch against him, how are you going to beat him?” Matthews asked.
“We’ve seen what happens with 20 years of Paul Ryan being in Washington, D.C. the policies that has been passed aren’t doing anything to help the people of our district,” Bryce replied. “He has been cozying up to billionaires, lobbyists, special interests and things like this tax scam, saying we can’t afford Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid after just giving $1.5 trillion to people who don’t need $1.5 trillion.”
“That’s why, for the past 20 years I’ve been struggling, and Paul Ryan doesn’t know what struggle is,” Bryce continued. “That’s why I’m running, to make life easier, for not just the people of the first district but everybody around the country.”
“What is your profession?” Matthews asked.
“I’m a union ironworker,” Bryce answered.
Watch:
Russia leak raises questions about staff undermining the rich asshole
BY JORDAN FABIAN - 03/21/18 05:02 PM EDT
A furor erupted at the White House on Wednesday over a damaging leak that revealed President the rich asshole defied his aides’ advice during a congratulatory phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The White House raised the prospect of a staff purge over the disclosure, saying in a statement that it would be a “fireable offense and likely illegal” to give the rich asshole’s briefing papers to the news media.
Chief of staff John Kelly was “frustrated and deeply disappointed” by the leak, a White House official told The Hill.
The official refused to say whether the White House has launched a formal investigation into the incident.
Only a small circle of staff members would have had access to such sensitive briefing documents, according to former White House officials, indicating that the leak may have some from somebody close to the president.
The incident raised concerns among the rich asshole allies that members of own staff could be trying to undermine him.
“’YOU’RE FIRED’ Any free agent leaker(s) on @realDonaldTrump's National Security Council w/their own agenda/vision for Presidency & America need to be tossed to curb in a NY minute,” Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-N.Y.) tweetedWednesday.
Zeldin suggested that Obama holdovers on the National Security Council may have been behind the breach. the rich asshole and his allies have frequently warned that a “deep state” of government officials in Washington have constantly tried to torpedo his agenda.
“The ‘what would @brhodes want me to do' attitude by some in NSC is a disease easily curable,” the New York lawmaker tweeted, referring to Obama deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes.
The person or people responsible for the leak have not been publicly identified.
The leak added to the wave of negative coverage of the rich asshole’s phone call with Putin, frustrating the president, who has faced Russia-related scrutiny ever since he was elected.
The Washington Post and other outlets reported the rich asshole had been warned in briefing materials not to congratulate the Russian leader on his reelection. Aides even included the message “DO NOT CONGRATULATE” in the president’s talking points.
But the rich asshole went ahead and did it anyway, drawing criticism from Republicans on Capitol Hill.
A leading Putin opposition figure was barred from running in the election and international organizations reported instances of ballot-box stuffing and other irregularities during last Sunday’s contest.
the rich asshole also did not confront Putin over a nerve-agent attack against a former Russian double agent in Britain, despite being instructed in briefing papers to do so. Both the U.S. and U.K. have blamed the attack on Russia. Moscow has denied the accusation.
But Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), a critic of the rich asshole’s Russia stance, said Wednesday he was even more upset with the leaks than what the president did or did not say to the Russian leader.
“No, I don't like that he did it, but you know what I like even less? That there’s someone close to him leaking this stuff out,” Rubio told reporters at the Capitol.
“If you don't like the guy, quit. But to be this duplicitous and continue to leak things out, it's dangerous,” the senator added.
The leak appeared to reveal deep frustration among some members of the administration over the rich asshole’s approach toward Russia.
the rich asshole has long argued that forming a good relationship with Putin will help repair strained ties between the U.S. and Russia, despite warnings from advisers, lawmakers and allies that such an outcome is unlikely.
“The Fake News Media is crazed because they wanted me to excoriate him. They are wrong!” the rich asshole tweeted Wednesday afternoon, referring to Putin.
“Getting along with Russia (and others) is a good thing, not a bad thing,” he continued. “They can help solve problems with North Korea, Syria, Ukraine, [Islamic State in Iraq and Syria] ISIS, Iran and even the coming Arms Race.”
the rich asshole did not address the leak of his briefing materials on Twitter. He also did not appear in public Wednesday after his daily schedule was scrapped due to a snowstorm in Washington.
It’s not clear whether the president had read or absorbed the warning from his staff about his call with Putin. The Washington Post reported that national security adviser H.R. McMaster briefed the president orally before the call, but did not raise the caution against a congratulations message.
McMaster, who is reportedly on the verge of being replaced, and others will likely be the subject of scrutiny in any probe of the leaks.
Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced the administration was cracking down on unauthorized disclosures last summer after the Post published full transcripts of the rich asshole’s private calls with the leaders of Mexico and Australia.
The Department of Justice (DOJ) on Wednesday did not comment on the effort. A spokesman said the agency “takes unauthorized leaks extremely seriously” and referred The Hill to Sessions’s remarks from last summer.
At the time, Sessions said the DOJ had tripled the number of active leaks investigations and had created a counterintelligence unit to manage the heavy case load.
There have been few bombshell indictments since then, although one former National Security Agency contractor has been charged with the illegal “transmission of national defense information.”
Jonathan Easley contributed.
GOP representative: Liberalstricked Carson into $31,000 dining set
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Rep. Claudia Tenney apparently thinks there's an evil conspiracy of liberal intelligence officials to blame for Ben Carson's expensive office furniture.
Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson landed in hot water for purchasing a $31,000 dining room set for his government office with taxpayer money. But according to Rep. Claudia Tenney (R-NY), it was not his fault.
It was all a plot by the “Deep State.”
“Somebody in the Deep State, it was not one of his people apparently, ordered a table, like a conference room table or whatever it was for a room,” Tenney said on a local radio show in upstate New York. “Ben Carson tried to — he said, you know how hard it is to turn it back because of the way that the procurement happens?”
The “Deep State” is a catch-all phrase used by the rich asshole and some of his supporters referring to a shadowy network of unelected government officials — usually liberals or members of the intelligence community — sabotaging the rich asshole from within.
This is already absurd enough. But the idea that there is a conspiracy to make Ben Carson buy overpriced furniture is patently ridiculous.
Furthermore, while Carson initially said he had no knowledge of the purchase, leaked emails prove this was a lie. He and his wife had personally picked it out. And a staffer who criticized the purchase even faced retaliation.
Caught in the lie, Carson furiously sought to make excuses, including that his old table was “dangerous.” White House officials also leapt to his aide, with chief of staff John Kelly insisting that $31,000 only “sounds” like a lot of money.
Tenney clearly did not do her homework on the matter, which is not unusual for her. She recently came under fire for promoting an internet hoax that most mass shooters are registered Democrats. When called out for that lie, she furiously attacked the media. She even screamed “Fake news!” at reporters during her own re-election campaign kickoff.
Ben Carson got caught with his hand in the cookie jar. And Tenney’s attempt to frame it as anything else is an insult to her voters’ intelligence.
the rich asshole ‘blindsided’ White House and State Department officials when he told Putin they’d meet soon: report
some rich asshole during CNN debate (Photo: Screen capture via video)
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some rich asshole blindsided White House and State Department officials when he told Russian President Vladimir Putin he expected they would meet soon, the Washington Post reports.
Multiple officials told the Post there are no plans for a meeting between the two world leaders, despite the rich asshole’s assertion Tuesday he’ll “be seeing President Putin in the not-too-distant future.”
the rich asshole’s briefing materials—which included an all-caps reminder for the president not to congratulate Putin—“did not include any reference to a meeting,” according to the Post, citing unnamed sources. As the Post notes, senior White House officials oppose a meeting between the rich asshole and Putin.
White House officials also wrestled with whether or not to include information about the rich asshole’s congratulatory message for Putin in a readout of their call. The administration’s hand was forced when the Kremlin put out its own statement indicate the rich asshole applauded the Russian president.
Saudi Crown prince said he has Kushner ‘in his pocket’ after allegedly receiving sensitive information from the President’s Daily Briefing
White House photo of Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman and Jared Kushner, photo by Lori Berkowitz Photography [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons. Composite image.
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Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman reportedly bragged about having White House senior counsel Jared Kushner “in his pocket” and may have used highly sensitive intelligence from the President’s Daily Briefing in his violent crackdown on dissent in Saudi Arabia, The Intercept reported Wednesday.
Three sources told The Intercept that Kushner had revealed names of Saudis disloyal to the crown prince.
“The Saudi figures named in the President’s Daily Brief were among those rounded up; at least one was reportedly tortured,” The Intercept explained.
Mohammed bin Salman also was said to have told UAE Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed that Kushner was “in his pocket.”
Kushner communicates with both the Saudi and Emirati crown princes via Whats-App. A source claims that Kushner’s lawyers have since told him not to use the app for government business.
Kushner’s defense team denies leaking names of Saudi critics who were subsequently arrested and tortured.
“Some questions by the media are so obviously false and ridiculous that they merit no response,” claimed Peter Mirijanian, a spokesperson for Kushner’s lawyer Abbe Lowell. “This is one. The Intercept should know better.”
Jeremy Scahill, a founder of The Intercept whose name was not on the story’s byline, explained his take on the bombshell report.
“This is a huge story on how Kushner allegedly shared information from the President’s Daily Brief with Mohammed bin Salman about his internal opponents,” Scahill noted. “Looks like MBS used it to lethal consequences in his purge.”
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March 21, 2018
the rich asshole and his businesses are rife with conflicts of interest. And the Republican Party is in on it.
the rich asshole has been using the Oval Office to enrich himself since day one, and the Republican National Committee is helping him.
According to a new report in the Washington Post, the RNC’s Federal Election Commission filing shows it shelled out $271,000 in expenses at the rich asshole properties just in the month of February. Because the rich asshole never divested from his business, when the rich asshole properties make money, so does he.
Most of the RNC’s cash — $205,000 — was spent at the rich asshole National Doral Miami, and the rest was at the rich asshole International Hotel in Washington, D.C. The combined total “comprised 86 percent of the RNC’s February expenses that were categorized specifically as ‘venue rental and catering.'”
The RNC declined to comment on what exactly those expenses were for.
Republican politicians and interest groups have rented out the rich asshole proprieties on a regular basis over the past year, netting $160,000 for the rich asshole Organization. The RNC already has more events planned at the rich asshole properties in May.
Meanwhile, those properties are also making money from the federal government. The Secret Service has paid tens of thousands of dollars in golf cart rentals to the rich asshole Organization.
And foreign governments are also spending at these properties in a transparent attempt to curry favor with the rich asshole. One former Mexican ambassador claimed the State Department itself encourages foreign diplomats to do so.
Amid allegations that these kinds of payments violate the Constitution, the rich asshole Organization said it would donate foreign profits, but has offered few details.
the rich asshole promised at the start of his presidency to divest from his business ventures. But he never did. While his two adults sons are ostensibly in charge of running the family business now, they have done nothing to ameliorate financial conflicts.
the rich asshole’s flagrant disregard of ethics to mix the government’s business with his personal profits has been increasingly disturbing. That the Republican Party is cheerfully complicit in enriching the rich asshole while he holds the highest office in the land is immeasurably worse.
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March 21, 2018
Kellyanne Conway doesn't want to be the rich asshole's new communications director — but she may have little choice in the matter.
Once again down a communications director, White House officials are getting desperate. Now they’re turning to one of the only people who has been with the rich asshole for his entire administration: Kellyanne Conway.
According to a report in the Atlantic, Conway “is moving closer to accepting President some rich asshole’s offer for her to succeed Hope Hicks as White House communications director, if only on an interim basis, according to multiple sources who have spoken with her.”
She doesn’t want to do it, but Melania the rich asshole and Mike Pence’s chief of staff have been prodding her to take the job.
But it’s hard to imagine a less qualified person than Conway to serve as communications director. Her disastrous performances in on-air interviews certainly don’t evince readiness for the job.
She claimed lying about the rich asshole’s inauguration crowd is just presenting “alternative facts.” She threatened reporters’ press access with the cameras rolling. She said journalists should be forced to report positive things about the rich asshole. And she called a woman a “jackass” for questioning her at a women’s summit.
But the simple fact is that the rich asshole is running out of people who can or want to do the job.
In February, Hope Hicks resigned as communications director amid fallout from the domestic abuse and security clearance scandal surrounding former aide Rob Porter.
Hicks had replaced Anthony Scaramucci, who was fired after just ten days over crude remarks he made regarding former chief of staff Reince Priebus and Steve Bannon.
Before that, Sean Spicer served as interim director for a month and a half following the resignation of Michael Dubke.
the rich asshole’s press operation is such a disaster — often thanks to the rich asshole himself — that staff shake-ups have become routine. Conway has good reason to want to steer clear of it. But now she may have little choice in the matter.
the rich asshole-loving congresswoman blames Ben Carson’s $31K dining set scandal on the ‘deep state’
HUD Secretary Ben Carson (left) and Rep. Claudia Tenney (R-NY, right). Images via screengrab.
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Rep. Claudia Tenney (R-NY) thinks the scandal surrounding HUD Secretary Ben Carson’s $31,000 office dining set is “misunderstood” — and appeared to implicate the “deep state” in promoting the story.
The Daily Beast reported Wednesday that Tenney referenced a nameless staffer when discussing the Carson debacle on upstate New York radio show “Talk! Of The Town.”
“[Carson’s] staffer, one of his key people, was in my office the other day to talk about some of the housing issues that we have in our region and we were talking about that and he said ‘you know, that’s the most…,'” the congresswoman began before trailing off.
“Somebody in the Deep State, it was not one of his people apparently, ordered a table, like a conference room table or whatever it was for a room,” she said, picking up steam again. “And that’s what the cost was. Ben Carson tried to—he said ‘you know how hard it is to turn it back because of the way that the procurement happens?'”
Carson, the Beast noted, told the House Appropriations subcommittee on Tuesday that his wife was responsible for picking out the expensive set and paying for it with government funds.
Later in the interview, Tenney insisted that she knows Carson “did not order that table.”
“It has nothing to do with him,” she said. “He comes from, you know, poverty.”
This is far from the first time the New York Republican has drawn attention for outlandish comments. Earlier in March, she was filmed yelling “fake news” before running away from a reporter who asked her to clarify her remark suggesting mass shooters are typically Democrats in the wake of the Parkland massacre. In February, she criticized special counsel Robert Mueller’s symbolic indictment of 13 Russian individuals before admitting she hadn’t actually read the documents in question.
Listen to Tenney’s interview below:
Never mind the indictments and poisonings, the rich asshole just wants to ‘get along’ with Putin
His latest tweets put him at odds with his own advisers.
On Wednesday afternoon, President the rich asshole defended his decision to congratulate Russian President Vladimir Putin on “winning” Russia’s recent presidential election — a decision he made against the wishes of his national security advisers, who reportedly provided him with briefing materials in all-capital letters stating “DO NOT CONGRATULATE” ahead of his call with Putin on Tuesday.
“I called President Putin of Russia to congratulate him on his election victory (in past, Obama called him also). The Fake News Media is crazed because they wanted me to excoriate him. They are wrong! Getting along with Russia (and others) is a good thing, not a bad thing,” the rich asshole, who criticized President Obama for calling Hugo Chavez following his reelection in 2012, tweeted. “They can help solve problems with North Korea, Syria, Ukraine, ISIS, Iran and even the coming Arms Race. Bush tried to get along, but didn’t have the “smarts.” Obama and Clinton tried, but didn’t have the energy or chemistry (remember RESET). PEACE THROUGH STRENGTH!”
While the rich asshole remains eager to “get along” with Russia, two recent developments illustrate why other countries are wary of working with Putin.
Last month, special counsel Robert Mueller indicted 13 Russian individuals and three companies for well-funded “interference operations targeting the United States.” According to the charges, those people and entities — bankrolled by the Putin regime — were involved in a disinformation campaign featuring the use of stolen emails to denigrate Hillary Clinton and destabilize American democracy.
the rich asshole’s response to the indictments has been to attack Mueller. Meanwhile, his top intelligence officials say not enough is being done to prevent Russian meddling.
Then, on March 4, a former Russian spy and his daughter were poisoned by a military-grade nerve agent in Salisbury, England. Prime Minister Theresa May quickly blamed Russia for the attack — which contaminated a park, injured a first responder, and left the ex-spy and his daughter in critical condition — and a number of Russian diplomats were expelled.
Those developments informed the advice the rich asshole’s advisers gave him to not congratulate Putin. But the rich asshole didn’t heed it.
Not only is the rich asshole out of step with Britain, but he’s also out of step with his own administration. Earlier Wednesday, State Department spokesman Heather Nauert commended American and British officials for not attending a Russian briefing “to hear wild accusations and implausible denials.”
“Russia was responsible for the nerve agent attack,” she added.
US & UK were right not to send our Ambassadors to @mfa_russia briefing to hear wild accusations and implausible denials. #Russia was responsible for the nerve agent attack. Attempts to deny responsibility follow a familiar script: Crimea, MH17, Donbas, Litvinenko, doping, etc...
And yet the rich asshole has been unwilling to even directly admit that Russia was responsible for the poison attack in the UK, or for meddling in the US election-meddling scheme.
Asked about the poison attack during a brief Q-and-A with reporters last week, the rich asshole went to great lengths to avoid pinning blame on the Putin regime, saying, “we will condemn Russia or whoever it may be” — but only if “we agree” with the facts.
“As soon as we get the facts straight, if we agree with them, we will condemn Russia or whoever it may be,” he said.
Those comments came about a week after the rich asshole downplayed Russian interference during a press conference, saying “it had no impact on our votes whatsoever” and might’ve been the work of other actors.
“Probably there was meddling from other countries, maybe other individuals,” he said, echoing the infamous comment he made during one of the presidential debates about how a “guy sitting on his bed who weighs 400 pounds” may have been responsible for Democratic hacks, not Russia.
During a subsequent interview with Megyn Kelly, Putin used the same talking pointto dismiss his regime’s involvement in American election meddling.
One of the only sure things during the rich asshole’s presidency has been his reticence to criticize Putin. Last week, retired U.S. Army general Barry McCaffrey cited the rich asshole’s infatuation with Putin as a reason he reluctantly came to the conclusion that the rich asshole is a national security threat.
“Reluctantly I have concluded that President the rich asshole is a serious threat to US national security,” McCaffrey tweeted. He is refusing to protect vital US interests from active Russian attacks. It is apparent that he is for some unknown reason under the sway of Mr Putin.”
Fox News employees say they’re ‘fantasizing’ about following former colleague’s ‘bombshell’ resignation
Former Fox News contributor Ralph Peters. Image via screengrab.
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After former Fox News contributor Ralph Peters’ resignation letter calling the network a “propaganda machine” leaked earlier this week, employees at the company said it caused internal strife — and some jealousy.
CNN reported Wednesday that an employee who spoke to them on condition of anonymity said the letter hit Fox News staff “like a bombshell.”
“The stunning note reverberated through the Fox News community,” CNN’s Oliver Darcy wrote. “Employees passed it along to other employees, people familiar with the matter said, with many agreeing with the thrust of the note: That Fox News opinion personalities were out of control in their devotion to [President Donald] the rich asshole.”
Acknowledging their agreement with Peters’ letter, one employee told CNN that they were “jealous” of him for cutting ties with the network in such a fashion — and that they “fantasized” about doing something similar.
Along with rumblings among low and mid-level staffers, a person familiar with the internal Fox News dialogue surrounding Peters’ resignation told CNN that executives are also concerned about the stunning and public departure of the decorated veteran and conservative commentator.
Darcy noted that Fox News executives’ fears are not unfounded — he will be free to work with other networks once his contract expires next week.
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March 21, 2018
House Speaker Paul Ryan had to baby-sit the rich asshole to help him understand his job — again.
House Speaker Paul Ryan had the unenviable task Wednesday of coaxing the rich asshole across the finish line and getting him to sign a Republican-approved spending bill. If he doesn’t sign it by Friday, the government will run out of funds and shut down.
And Republicans, once again, would be rightly blamed for it.
Normally, it’s not necessary for the Speaker of the House, at the 23rd hour, to hold the president’s hand and make sure he understands his job. But the rich asshole doesn’t seems to understand much about legislation.
He has complained that Congress is not properly funding his racist border wall. “The president is also ‘upset’ that the bill lacks a measure to defund sanctuary cities,” The Atlantic reports.
So, apparently fearing that the rich asshole would express last-minute opposition to the crucial bill, or tweet out objections, Ryan went to soothe him.
After the meeting with Ryan, the White House finally signaled its approval — although with the rich asshole everything can change.
And all of this is nothing new for Ryan. He has ended up baby-sitting the rich asshole before as a key legislative vote loomed.
In January, Republicans were set to reauthorize a package of mass-surveillance activities known as Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). That morning, the rich asshole took to Twitter and started wildly denouncing the move.
“‘House votes on controversial FISA ACT today.’ This is the act that may have been used, with the help of the discredited and phony Dossier, to so badly surveil and abuse the rich asshole Campaign by the previous administration and others?” the rich asshole tweeted.
It was a bizarre move to suddenly attack GOP-approved legislation hours before a vote. But it turned out to be thanks to Fox News. the rich asshole watched a host criticize the bill without knowing that virtually the entire Republican Party supported it.
Ryan then reportedly spent 30 minutes on the phone with the rich asshole walking him through the bill, explaining the difference between domestic and foreign surveillance.
At the time, House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi mocked the rich asshole’s complete ignorance of pending legislation that his own party supported. “He doesn’t even know what the bills are about and he’s putting out tweets,” she said. She added that his tweets were “undermining” the House’s vote.
The final congressional vote for the spending bill is still pending. So Ryan’s baby-sitting duties may not be over yet.
Here are the four main topics Mueller’s team wants to discuss with the rich asshole: report
Special counsel Robert Mueller and some rich asshole (Wikimedia Commons)
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Special counsel Robert Mueller has indicated four main topics his team would like to discuss in a sit-down interview with some rich asshole, CNN reports.
Those include: the rich asshole’s role in crafting a misleading statement on some rich asshole Jr.’s June 2016 campaign meeting with Russians at the rich asshole Tower, “the circumstances surrounding” that meeting, and the president’s decision to fire former FBI director James Comey and onetime national security adviser Michael Flynn, two sources told the media company.
According to CNN, “the bulk” of Mueller’s questions pertain to the rich asshole’s decision to fire Comey and Flynn—but are “not the extent” of the special counsel’s probe.
The reports notes “both sides” are close to reaching an agreement “on whether there will be a sit-down interview” between the rich asshole and Mueller. The president is reportedly “champing at the bit” to speak with the special counsel, despite fears from his legal team that the rich asshole risks perjuring himself
some rich asshole Jr. pushed ‘blatantly illegal’ project In India
Eric Umansky, ProPublica, and Andrea Bernstein, WNYC
Posted with permission from ProPublica
Last month, Donald Trump Jr. visited India to tout new Trump properties. Full page ads in India’s top papers announced, “Trump has arrived. Have you?”
It wasn’t Trump Jr.’s first trip to India. “I’ve been coming to India for over a decade,” he said during his visit last month. “There’s an entrepreneurial spirit here … it needs no further explanation.”
This week on “Trump, Inc.,” we’re looking at the Trumps’ years long work in India, where corruption in the real estate industry is endemic.
We worked with Investigative Fund reporter Anjali Kamat, whose reporting on the Trumps’ business in India appears in the new issue of The New Republic.
As with many of the company’s deals abroad, the Trump Organization’s India projects are all licensing deals. Trump Jr. has been closely involved in much of the work.
The Trumps’ first India project, in Mumbai, was halted in early 2012 after investigators found significant “irregularities.” The investigators had been tipped off by a state lawmaker who suspected a $100 million fraud scheme and warned of “gross violations” in the project’s plans. Authorities revoked the building’s permits.
A few months later, in April 2012, Trump Jr. traveled to Mumbai and, along with partners, met with a top official there to try to get the project restarted.
Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan, the equivalent of a U.S. governor, had been told Trump Jr. wanted to discuss investing in the state. But instead, Chavan recalled, Trump Jr. and his partners asked Chavan to overturn the decision to revoke the permits.
Chavan declined. “I would get into trouble to sanction something that was blatantly illegal,” he told us. The plans were “not within the existing rules.” (Chavan has also described the encounter to The New York Times and Washington Post.)
The Trumps were back in India in 2014, after a new government came into power, Narendra Modi’s BJP. The Trump Tower Mumbai — a gold-hued skyscraper that the Trump Organization bills as “unlike anything you have ever seen”—is now slated to finished next year. It is one of five Trump-affiliated projects currently under development in India.
The Trump Organization said the projects are doing well. One Trump partner said they booked $15 million in sales on just one day during Trump Jr.’s visit. It was the last day buyers would qualify for an offer by the Trump Organization’s partners to dine with the president’s son.
Only a handful of names of buyers in the Trump projects have been disclosed.
The Trump Organization, the White House and the developers for the project did not respond to our requests for comment.
Remember, we want to hear from you: Do you have information about Trump-branded projects in India? Or do you have photos of them? Let us know.
You can contact us via Signal, WhatsApp or voicemail at 347-244-2134. Here’s more about how you can contact us securely.
You can always email us at tips@trumpincpodcast.org.
And finally, you can use the postal service:
Trump Inc at ProPublica 155 Ave of the Americas, 13th Floor New York, NY 10013
“Trump, Inc.” is a production of WNYC Studios and ProPublica. Support our work by visiting donate.propublica.org or by becoming a supporting member of WNYC. Find it wherever you get your podcasts.
POLITICS
Andrew McCabe Oversaw Criminal Investigation Of Jeff Sessions
The attorney general was accused of lacking “candor” during congressional testimony.
Former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe authorized an investigation into Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ alleged lack of candor during congressional testimony over his contacts with Russian operatives last year, a source with knowledge of the matter confirmed to HuffPost.
ABC News first reported that Sessions had been under investigation, and that the attorney general was unaware of the probe when he fired McCabe for the FBI official’s own alleged lack of candor during an internal review of how the bureau and Justice Department handled investigations into Hillary Clinton during the 2016 campaign.
Chuck Cooper, a lawyer for Sessions, said in a statement that his client is currently “not under investigation for false statements or perjury in his confirmation hearing testimony and related written submissions to Congress.” Cooper did not say whether the attorney general was under investigation for anything else.
Sessions terminated McCabe just two days before his retirement date on the recommendation of the FBI’s Office of Professional Responsibility, which had evaluated a DOJ Inspector General probe of how top FBI officials handled the Clinton-related investigations. In a statement after his firing, McCabe suggested he was targeted because of his knowledge of the rich asshole’s actions after the firing of former FBI Director James Comey. McCabe turned over hard copies of memos to special counsel Robert Mueller sometime before Friday, a source previously told HuffPost.
“Here is the reality: I am being singled out and treated this way because of the role I played, the actions I took, and the events I witnessed in the aftermath of the firing of James Comey,” McCabe, a lifelong Republican, said.
President some rich asshole, who had long attacked McCabe and accused him of being a shill for Clinton because McCabe’s wife ran for office as a Democrat and received money from an organization linked to a Clinton supporter, praised the firing, which came just two days before McCabe was set to receive his pension.
Sessions testified before Congress that he had not had contact with the Russians during the campaign. Later, it emerged that Sessions had, in fact, met with the Russian ambassador.
When his previous testimony came under scrutiny, Sessions recused himself from the Russia investigation, which ultimately led to the appointment of a special counsel following Comey’s firing. Sessions has denied misleading Congress over his Russian contacts.
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March 21, 2018
the rich asshole is one of Putin's biggest fans, and he can't understand why no one else thinks that's a good thing.
No one thought it was a good idea for the rich asshole to congratulate Russia’s Vladimir Putin on his sham re-election. Not that the all-caps instruction from his own advisers — “DO NOT CONGRATULATE” — stopped him from doing exactly that.
And now he is lashing out at just about everyone, from the media to George W. Bush, because of the widespread criticism for being one of the very few world leaders to congratulate Putin on his so-called win.
“I called President Putin of Russia to congratulate him on his election victory (in past, Obama called him also). The Fake News Media is crazed because they wanted me to excoriate him,” the rich asshole ranted on Twitter Wednesday afternoon.
The criticism of the rich asshole’s congratulatory call has come not just from the media but from members of his own party and intelligence veterans like former CIA Director John Brennan. Brennan said Wednesday that the rich asshole’s call, and his refusal to stand up to Putin, suggests Russia “may have something personally” on the rich asshole.
But the rich asshole has never let facts get in the way of an impetuous Twitter rant.
“They are wrong!” he continued. “Getting along with Russia (and others) is a good thing, not a bad thing. They can help solve problems with North Korea, Syria, Ukraine, ISIS, Iran and even the coming Arms Race. Bush tried to get along, but didn’t have the ‘smarts.’ Obama and Clinton tried, but didn’t have the energy or chemistry (remember RESET). PEACE THROUGH STRENGTH!”
Perhaps he has forgotten that Bush, who nicknamed Putin “Pootie-Poot,” was also fond of Putin.
“I looked the man in the eye. I found him to be very straightforward and trustworthy,” Bush once bragged. “I was able to get a sense of his soul.”
That, of course, was long before Russia tried to hijack the 2016 presidential election to install the rich asshole in the White House. Which is why even those leaders who might have once thought there was a way to work with Putin have become even more critical since then.
Not the rich asshole, though. He has continued to defend Putin, publicly taking his word over the unanimous conclusion of the United States intelligence community.
And it’s the rich asshole’s steadfast devotion to Putin that has the rest of the world shaking its collective head about his behavior and questioning what is really between the two — besides “chemistry.”
Former deputy FBI director McCabe oversaw an investigation into Jeff Sessions before the attorney general fired him
This file photo from July shows former FBI deputy Andrew McCabe, right, with Attorney General Jeff Sessions. (AFP/File / ALEX WONG)
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Former deputy FBI director Andrew McCabe, who was fired by Jeff Sessions last week, authorized a criminal investigation of the attorney general last year, ABC News reports.
McCabe, who was terminated for his “lack of candor,” had similarly opened a federal probe into “whether Sessions lacked candor when testifying before Congress about contacts with Russian operatives,” according to ABC News.
Sources told ABC that Sessions was not aware McCabe had overseen an investigation into his conduct when he terminated the former deputy FBI director last Friday, but a lawyer for Sessions refused to confirm that.
Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who took over the Russia probe after Sessions’ recusal, informed top Democratic and Republican lawmakers of the investigation into Sessions’ testimony at a briefing last year.
As ABC News reports, shortly thereafter, Rosenstein appointed special counsel Robert Mueller, who is investigating Russia meddling in the 2016 presidential campaign and collusion with some rich asshole’s campaign, as well as a host of other potential crimes. Sessions’ testimony before Congress falls under Mueller’s probe.
In a statement, Chuck Cooper—a lawyer for Sessions—insisted the attorney general “is not under investigation for false statements or perjury in his confirmation hearing testimony and related written submissions to Congress.”
the rich asshole defends congratulating Putin on election victory
BY JONATHAN EASLEY - 03/21/18 03:36 PM EDT
President the rich asshole on Wednesday stood by his decision to congratulate Russian President Vladimir Putin on his reelection.
the rich asshole noted that President Obama also called to congratulate Putin after his 2012 election victory and said it is a “good thing” for the U.S. to have warm relations with Russia.
I called President Putin of Russia to congratulate him on his election victory (in past, Obama called him also). The Fake News Media is crazed because they wanted me to excoriate him. They are wrong! Getting along with Russia (and others) is a good thing, not a bad thing.......
.....They can help solve problems with North Korea, Syria, Ukraine, ISIS, Iran and even the coming Arms Race. Bush tried to get along, but didn’t have the “smarts.” Obama and Clinton tried, but didn’t have the energy or chemistry (remember RESET). PEACE THROUGH STRENGTH!
the rich asshole called Putin on Tuesday and congratulated him on winning a fourth term. The leaders also discussed a potential face-to-face meeting in the future.
The president has faced criticism from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle for the call. Election observers and Putin's political opponents have issued charges of widespread fraud in the election.
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) called the rich asshole's congratulations an insult to the Russian people and said that “an American president does not lead the Free World by congratulating dictators on winning sham elections.”
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) noted “the lack of credibility in tallying the results” in the election, in which Putin won 77 percent of the vote.
One of Putin’s biggest critics, Alexei Navalny, was barred from running due to a criminal conviction that many believe to have been politically motivated.
International election-watchers said that the contest was tainted by ballot-stuffing and other irregularities.
The president was also criticized for failing to challenge Putin on Russia’s interference in the 2016 presidential election or over the Kremlin's alleged involvement in the poisoning of a former Russian spy living in Britain.
Last week, the Treasury Department slapped new sanctions on two-dozen Russian individuals or entities for meddling in the 2016 election.
The U.S. and its allies have blamed Moscow for a brazen chemical attackagainst a former Russian agent and his daughter in southern England.
There have been media reports that the rich asshole' s national security advisers urged him not to congratulate Putin on the call.
The Washington Post reported late Tuesday that a section of the rich asshole’s briefing materials for his call with Putin read “DO NOT CONGRATULATE” in all-capital letters.
The White House has expressed alarm over the leak to the Post, with a senior administration official calling it a "fireable offense and likely illegal."
POLITICS
President some rich asshole is having second thoughts about supporting the omnibus spending deal that was reached Wednesday morning, according to a source familiar with the president’s thinking.
The source also said House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) plans to go to the White House on Wednesday afternoon to try to sell the president on the GOP wins in the $1.3 trillion government funding bill and assure him that it’s a good deal for Republicans.
the rich asshole is apparently most upset about the spending deal’s lack of funding for a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. The deal, which would fund the government until October, would provide $1.6 billion for border funding but only $641 million for a wall.
Congressional leaders announced the omnibus deal Wednesday after months of negotiating over spending levels and specific line-items. The omnibus was expected to pass both chambers in the next couple of days, barring any unforeseen hiccups, but the president pulling back his support could put Republicans in a tough spot. For one, they might not be able to put up enough votes to pass the bill in either chamber. And if the rich asshole truly opposed the bill, he could veto the legislation and send the government into a shutdown.
The government is currently funded through Friday.
A senior GOP aide told HuffPost that the strongest argument Republicans have in convincing the rich asshole is that he would draw 100 percent of the blame for a shutdown if he backed out of the omnibus deal now.
“It is no wonder why Tillerson called the rich asshole what he called him,” the GOP source said, referring to reports that former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson called the president a “moron.”
Some of the rich asshole’s political advisers, though, see wall construction as critical to the rich asshole’s survival. He promised a wall along the Mexican border so many times over the course of his presidential campaign that failing to deliver would be disastrous, they said ― first in the November midterms, and then in the president’s re-election campaign.
They say starting construction on a border wall could mean the difference between losing 20 House seats this year and losing 50.
Base voters have been patient so far ― but, the thinking goes, that could evaporate instantly if the rich asshole and the Republican-run Congress pass a spending bill of well over $1 trillion that does not make good on one of the president’s top promises.
This issue has been deemed so important that the rich asshole has been advised to veto the spending bill if it doesn’t pay for wall construction.
Neither Ryan’s office nor the White House immediately responded to a request for comment.
However, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders released a statement acknowledging that the rich asshole had been speaking with both Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky).
“The president and the leaders discussed their support for the bill, which includes more funds to rebuild the military, such as the largest pay raise for our troops in a decade, more than 100 miles of new construction for the border wall and other key domestic priorities, like combating the opioid crisis and rebuilding our nation’s infrastructure,” Sanders wrote.
This article has been updated with comment from Sanders and with additional information about the rich asshole’s advisers.
Devin Nunes is under investigation for potential campaign finance violations
Devin Nunes (Photo: Gage Skidmore/Flickr)
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House Intelligence Chairman Devin Nunes (R-CA) is under investigation for potentially violating campaign finance laws, according to a letter sent to him by the Federal Election Commission.
The Daily Beast reported Wednesday that the letter, which was sent to Nunes’ mother/campaign treasurer Toni Dian Nunes, found three potential violations stemming from donations he accepted in 2017.
As per the FEC’s letter to Nunes’ campaign committee, two of the alleged violations came from donors who surpassed the $2,700 legal limit for individuals donating to campaigns. The FEC flagged donations from healthcare lobbyist Jeffrey J. Kimbell, whose firm represented ambulance companies, totaled $3,000. Nunes, the Beast noted, sponsored two bills in 2017 regarding ambulance services.
In addition to exceeding the legal limit for individual donors, the FEC also found that Stone Land Company, a farming company located near Nunes’ district in California, donated $10,000 to Nunes re-election campaign. The Beast noted that Stone Land Company’s donation violates FEC stipulating that candidates cannot take donations “from corporations and labor organizations unless made from separate segregated funds established by the corporations and labor organizations.”
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March 21, 2018
All of a sudden, the reality TV star in the Oval Office thinks lack of political experience is a bad thing.
the rich asshole has tried to make his political inexperience into a virtue, but now he’s attacking Democratic candidates who have never held elected office.
In other words, he’s warning against candidates just like him.
During a speech at the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) dinner Tuesday night, the rich asshole fretted about the upcoming midterms, in which Republicans are bracing to lose the House and maybe even the Senate.
At the dinner, the rich asshole ominously promised to lend his thus-far-toxic “help” to Republican candidates, and made a bizarre attack against the record number of Democrats who are running.
“Our opponents are fielding the most candidates they’ve ever had in a quarter century,” he said. “Many have not held office before, which means it will be easier for them to conceal their true beliefs.”
This new criticism is coming from the same man who has insisted since the beginning of his campaign that he’s not a politician and his total lack of experience is a good thing. This, the rich asshole said countless times, was what uniquely qualified him to “drain the swamp.”
It’s also the way he and his enablers have justified his unpresidential and potentially illegal behavior, like obstructing justice.
“The president’s new at this,” Speaker Paul Ryan said last June. “He’s new to government, and so he probably wasn’t steeped in the long-running protocols that establish the relationships between DOJ, FBI and White Houses. He’s just new to this.”
And just as the rich asshole observes about others, he has freely discarded views and promises he made as a candidate, most infamously, his insistence that Mexico — not American taxpayers — would pay for the rich asshole’s border wall.
But there is a world of difference between a reality television star with a demonstrated track recordof chronic bankruptcies, lying, overt racism, and sexual predation, and some of the Democrats who are running to unseat Republicans this cycle.
Many of them are women who have been inspired to run by the massive resistance that sprung up on day one of the rich asshole’s presidency, including one of his accusers. Another was inspired to run by a Republican’s attack on Parkland school shooting survivor Emma Gonzalez.
Some of the Democrats the rich asshole refers to have spent their time in military service to their country. the rich asshole, on the other hand, avoided service in Vietnam using a dubious claim of bone spurs, and called avoiding STDs his “personal Vietnam.”
Other Democratic candidates have spent their time working to catch and imprison criminals, while the rich asshole has spent his time obstructing justice.
These Democrats all have records they can be proud of. But if Republicans insist on attacking them for never having held office, the rich asshole is the wrong person to do deliver that message.
Stormy Daniels brilliantly shuts down the rich asshole defenders: ‘Sit down before you hurt yourself’
By J Chang from USA (AEE2009_Jan11_Nikon 850 Uploaded by gohe007) [CC BY-SA 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons.
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Stephanie Clifford, better known by her stage name Stormy Daniels, hilariously defended herself on Wednesday against nasty attacks from supporters of President some rich asshole.
Joey Benedetto, who works for the rich asshole supporting talk radio personality Bill Mitchell, got very personal in his attacks on Daniels.
“It’s quite sad. Honestly I’m surprised the rich asshole even wasted his time on a third rate porn star,” Benedetto charged.
“Hope he wore a condom because I’m sure you harbor every nasty virus on the planet,” Benedetto continued. “I’d feel safer sticking my cock in a sewer.”
Daniels, who has over half a million Twitter followers, shut down Benedetto.
“At least the sewer won’t reject you” Daniels shot back, “although you’re probably used to rejection by now.”
Another Twitter user chimed in.
“Third rate Porn Star? That’s what you’re worried about?” the user asked, adding an emoji of a face laughing with joy. “How about a third rate [President of the United States of America] who sexually abuses women? Talk about a sh*t hole.”
Daniels added her own thoughts to the user’s questions.
“I was curious about this too. I really question the priorities of someone more worried about the quality of a pornstar than a president,” Daniels noted. “The only decisions I’m really responsible for is what position I want to do next & what color lipgloss best compliments my costar’s penis.”
Daniels also explained her motivations.
“I have also never claimed to be a victim. Ever heard of leading by example? Do you have any f*cking idea how many ‘real victims’ are now coming forward?” Daniels responded to a critic. “No. No, you don’t. Sit down before you hurt yourself.”
White House: Leaking the rich asshole briefing materials a 'fireable offense'
BY JORDAN FABIAN - 03/21/18 12:49 PM EDT
The White House on Wednesday said that leaking President the rich asshole’s briefing materials could be a “fireable offense,” responding to reports that the president disregarded a warning against congratulating Russian President Vladimir Putin on his reelection.
“If this story is accurate, that means someone leaked the President’s briefing papers. Leaking such information is a fireable offense and likely illegal,” a senior White House official said in a statement.
The Washington Post reported late Tuesday that a section of the rich asshole’s briefing materials for his call with Putin read “DO NOT CONGRATULATE” in all-capital letters.
the rich asshole also did not follow instructions to condemn Putin over the poisoning of a former Russian double agent and his daughter in the U.K., according to the Post.
The White House has not confirmed the report, but multiple news outlets followed with similar stories. The person or people responsible for the leak have not been publicly identified.
It’s not clear whether the rich asshole received the warning before getting on the call with Putin. The Post reported that national security adviser H.R. McMaster briefed the president in person about the call, but did not mention the issue.
The leak sparked yet another Russia-related controversy for the embattled White House, which is under the microscope in special counsel Robert Mueller's probe into Moscow's interference in the 2016 presidential election.
It renewed questions about the rich asshole’s approach toward Russia, which is frequently at odds with U.S. allies, Congress and some members of his own administration.
Instead of confronting Putin about a host of tense issues, the rich asshole not only congratulated the Russian leader but also discussed a possible summit meeting with him.
“An American president does not lead the Free World by congratulating dictators on winning sham elections,” Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said in a statement following the call.
The fact that sensitive briefing materials leaked out also alarmed top administration officials, who are concerned members of the rich asshole’s own staff could be trying to undermine him.
“Illegal or not if you’re leaking Presidential talking points you’re not serving the President and should not be @WhiteHouse,” tweeted Sam Winograd, a former National Security Council official in the Obama White House.
POLITICS
President some rich asshole is having second thoughts about supporting the omnibus spending deal that was reached Wednesday morning, according to a source familiar with the president’s thinking.
The source also said House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) plans to go to the White House on Wednesday afternoon to try to sell the president on the GOP wins in the $1.3 trillion government funding bill and assure him that it’s a good deal for Republicans.
the rich asshole is apparently most upset about the spending deal’s lack of funding for a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. The deal, which would fund the government until October, would provide $1.6 billion for border funding but only $641 million for a wall.
Congressional leaders announced the omnibus deal Wednesday after months of negotiating over spending levels and specific line-items. The omnibus was expected to pass both chambers in the next couple of days, barring any unforeseen hiccups, but the president pulling back his support could put Republicans in a tough spot. For one, they might not be able to put up enough votes to pass the bill in either chamber. And if the rich asshole truly opposed the bill, he could veto the legislation and send the government into a shutdown.
The government is currently funded through Friday.
A senior GOP aide told HuffPost that the strongest argument Republicans have in convincing the rich asshole is that he would draw 100 percent of the blame for a shutdown if he backed out of the omnibus deal now.
“It is no wonder why Tillerson called the rich asshole what he called him,” the GOP source said, referring to reports that former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson called the president a “moron.”
Some of the rich asshole’s political advisers, though, see wall construction as critical to the rich asshole’s survival. He promised a wall along the Mexican border so many times over the course of his presidential campaign that failing to deliver would be disastrous, they said ― first in the November midterms, and then in the president’s re-election campaign.
They say starting construction on a border wall could mean the difference between losing 20 House seats this year and losing 50.
Base voters have been patient so far ― but, the thinking goes, that could evaporate instantly if the rich asshole and the Republican-run Congress pass a spending bill of well over $1 trillion that does not make good on one of the president’s top promises.
This issue has been deemed so important that the rich asshole has been advised to veto the spending bill if it doesn’t pay for wall construction.
Neither Ryan’s office nor the White House immediately responded to a request for comment.
However, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders released a statement acknowledging that the rich asshole had been speaking with both Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky).
“The president and the leaders discussed their support for the bill, which includes more funds to rebuild the military, such as the largest pay raise for our troops in a decade, more than 100 miles of new construction for the border wall and other key domestic priorities, like combating the opioid crisis and rebuilding our nation’s infrastructure,” Sanders wrote.
This article has been updated with comment from Sanders and with additional information about the rich asshole’s advisers.
‘They are wrong!’ the rich asshole rage tweets at critics who wanted him to criticize Putin to his face
the rich asshole's relationship with Moscow has stalked the first year of his presidency, with key former aides under a US investigation for alleged collaboration with the Kremlin. (SPUTNIK/AFP / Mikhail KLIMENTYEV)
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President some rich asshole on Wednesday lashed out at critics in the media and in his own party who criticized him for congratulating Russian President Vladimir Putin on his election victory while failing to mention Russia’s alleged role in deploying a deadly nerve agent inside America’s closest ally.
“I called President Putin of Russia to congratulate him on his election victory (in past, Obama called him also),” the rich asshole wrote. “The Fake News Media is crazed because they wanted me to excoriate him. They are wrong! Getting along with Russia (and others) is a good thing, not a bad thing.”
The president then added that, unlike past American presidents, he alone had the “smarts” and “chemistry” to work well with Putin.
“They can help solve problems with North Korea, Syria, Ukraine, ISIS, Iran and even the coming Arms Race,” he wrote. “Bush tried to get along, but didn’t have the ‘smarts.’ Obama and Clinton tried, but didn’t have the energy or chemistry (remember RESET). PEACE THROUGH STRENGTH!”
Even though the rich asshole has said that he stands shoulder-to-shoulder with the United Kingdom after it accused Russia of deploying a deadly nerve agent on its soil, the president failed on Tuesday to mention the incident at all during his call with Putin — despite the fact that the rich asshole was the one who initiated the call.
Additionally, the rich asshole’s own aides warned him to not congratulate Putin on his win — and yet the rich asshole did it anyway, either because he ignored their advice or didn’t bother reading it
Karen McDougal is the woman with the best chance of bringing down the rich asshole
Stormy Daniels is in the headlines, but Karen McDougal is a bigger problem for the rich asshole.
There has been extensive media coverage of Stormy Daniels, the adult film star who says she had an affair with some rich asshole in 2006. Daniels’ new attorney, Michael Avenatti, has been a fixture on TV. Daniels herself is scheduled to be interviewed on 60 Minutes on March 25.
But another woman, former Playboy Playmate Karen McDougal, whose story has attracted significantly less attention, may end up being a bigger problem for the rich asshole. (McDougal will appear on TV this Thursday on CNN with Anderson Cooper.)
In some respects, McDougal’s story is similar to Daniels’. Like Daniels, she met the rich asshole at a 2006 golf tournament in Lake Tahoe. the rich asshole later wined and dined both women at the Beverly Hills Hotel. He promised them both apartments. And then, as election day approached, both women were paid to keep quiet. They were both represented by the same lawyer, Keith Davidson.
Now, Daniels and McDougal have sued, asking the court to formally invalidate their agreements and let them speak freely.
But the nature of the agreements signed by Daniels and McDougal are quite different. From a legal perspective, the structure of McDougal’s contract appears to be worse for the rich asshole and his associates.
Daniels was paid by the rich asshole’s lawyer, while McDougal was paid by a corporation
Daniels was paid $130,000 through a shell corporation set up by the rich asshole’s lawyer, Michael Cohen. Cohen says he was not reimbursed by the campaign or the rich asshole Organization and it was something he decided to do on his own — and not to influence the election. Cohen’s story strains credulity, and he has not ruled out the possibility of being reimbursed by the rich asshole personally.
If it turns out the rich asshole reimbursed Cohen for the payment in an effort to help his election campaign, it would violate election law because it was not reported. But the underlying contribution — $130,000 from the rich asshole to his campaign — is not illegal. the rich asshole is allowed to donate unlimited sums of money to his own campaign. In fact, the rich asshole repeatedly promised to self-fund his entire campaign but ended up raising millions from other sources.
Daniels argues, among other things, that the contract is invalid because the rich asshole was named as a party and did not sign the agreement.
McDougal, on the other hand, was paid by a corporation. She was paid $150,000 in August 2016 by American Media Inc., the parent company of the National Enquirer. Direct corporate donations to a campaign are illegal whether they are reported or not. McDougal argues that her contract was invaild for that reason — the purpose of the contract, a corporate donation to benefit the rich asshole campaign — was illegal.
Watchdog groups have already filed FEC complaints against the rich asshole related to the payments to Daniels and McDougal. But the complaint related to McDougal could be more serious.
Daniels signed a non-disclosure agreement, while McDougal signed a contract to talk about her life
The agreement Daniels signed was a non-disclosure agreement. If it was valid, the deal was that she wasn’t to talk about her relationship with the rich asshole. Avenatti argues the agreement is not valid for a variety of reasons, but doesn’t dispute the nature of the contract.
McDougal’s contract, however, was purportedly to give her a platform to speak. It grants the rights for her story about any affairs with married men to A.M.I. and contemplates a number of publicity opportunities for McDougal, including columns and magazine covers. Further, after the agreement was signed, a different attorney was able to negotiate an amendment to McDougal’s contract that allows her to respond to “legitimate press inquires regarding the facts of her relationship with some rich asshole.”
This makes it less likely that a judge will find that McDougal’s contract restrains her from speaking about her relationship with the rich asshole and harder for AMI or any other party to collect damages.
Michael Cohen’s role was shady with Daniels, but shadier with McDougal
In Stormy Daniel’s case, Michael Cohen’s role is certainly suspicious. Cohen created a shell company and then negotiated the non-disclosure agreement on behalf of that company. Still, Daniels signed the contract knowing Cohen and his longtime client, the rich asshole, was involved.
Cohen’s involvement in the McDougal case is even more suspect. He was not a party to the agreement and did not openly negotiate for either side. Nevertheless, according to McDougal’s lawsuit, her lawyer, Keith Davidson, kept Cohen apprised of the status of the negotiations. McDougal essentially alleges that her lawyer at the time, Davidson, defrauded her and was really looking out for the interests of Cohen and the rich asshole.
David Pecker, the president of AMI, publicly stated that he made the deal with McDougal not because he was interested in telling her story but to protect his some rich asshole. He justified the expenditure to the New Yorker’s Jeffrey Toobin by saying he viewed any attack on the rich asshole as an attack on his corporation because the rich asshole was “a personal friend of mine.”
This creates a lot more potential legal liability for Cohen and, by extension, the rich asshole if they are found to have participated in such a scheme.
By
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March 21, 2018
the rich asshole did the one thing his advisers warned him not to do, and now he's furious that the whole world knows it.
the rich asshole woke up raging against his usual set of enemies on Wednesday morning. But what prompted his latest bout of fury may have come from inside the White House — a humiliating leak on Tuesday that confirmed concerns the rich asshole is nothing but a Russian lapdog.
the rich asshole and his chief of staff, John Kelly, are reportedly furious that someone close to the rich asshole leaked to the press that he was explicitly told not to congratulate Vladimir Putin on his recent election win.
Yet that’s what exactly what the rich asshole, who’s accused of colluding with Russians, did.
“the rich asshole did not follow specific warnings from his national security advisers [yesterday] when he congratulated … Putin on his reelection — including a section in his briefing materials in all-capital letters stating ‘DO NOT CONGRATULATE,'” the Washington Post reported.
The White House did not deny the claim.
“We had a very good call,” the rich asshole told reporters in the Oval Office, describing the collegial phone conversation. Not only did the rich asshole praise Putin for winning a rubber-stamp re-election, but he did so in the wake of accusations that Russia and perhaps Putin himself approved a military-grade nerve gas attack on private citizens in England.
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 undermining another American election.
“The speed and sensitivity of the leak prompted immediate finger-pointing within the administration, as aides reeled from a leak that could only have come from a small group of people, each of whom is trusted with sensitive national secrets,” Axios reported.
It turns out the rich asshole often doesn’t bother to read briefing materials prepared for him by top national security aides. Or the rich asshole simply didn’t care about the all-caps advice and wasn’t going to pass up a chance to compliment Putin.
The latest embarrassing West Wing disclosure simply confirms that those who work closely with the rich asshole fear his Putin alliance.
the rich asshole staffers personally intervened to cover up how much proposed tip sharing rule would cost
Mick Mulvaney signed off on a scheme to simply delete inconvenient figures from a key report.
A rich asshole administration policy that could cheat food service workers out of hundreds of millions of dollars in income was knowingly misrepresented by White House leaders over the objections of career staffers, casting doubt on the reliability of the facts and figures the president’s team uses to push for policies that affect millions of people’s lives.
Staff in the White House’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) insisted that an announcement of changes to tipped worker pay rules should include their professional estimates of the potential downside for workers, Bloomberg BNA reports. When Labor Secretary Alex Acosta disagreed and moved to delete the bad news from the administration’s paperwork, OIRA head Neomi Rao tried to block the now-incomplete regulation from moving forward.
Rao’s staff wanted the rule to include an official estimate of how much worker pay could end up diverted to managers under the proposal: $640 million, a much lower figure than the “billions” that Acosta’s own staff had reportedly found in their earliest calculations. But if you’re trying to rewrite pay rules in the food sector, $640 million in legalized pilfering is still a lot to swallow. Better to get that down, or better still, make it invisible.
Acosta turned to Mick Mulvaney, currently serving double duty atop the Office of Management and Budget and at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, for help. Mulvaney has groomed a public image as a teller of hard truths and master of wonky details over his years in Washington. But in this instance, BNA’s sources say, he sided with Acosta and ordered the inconvenient figures dumped down the memory hole.
The story is a classic example of ideology trumping fact. There may be good reasons to revive the old tip-sharing pools that Obama-era regulations constrained. But waves of analysis of the Acosta proposal had found that unscrupulous managers and owners would be able to include themselves in these tip pools, effectively siphoning off a large chunk of frontline workers’ pay to their own pockets. Rather than acknowledge those analyses and prepare counterarguments for why such abuses would be unlikely, or additional provisions to the rule to address the loophole, Acosta and Mulvaney simply erased the problem and moved forward as though it didn’t exist.
Such cavalier treatment of contradictory evidence bodes ill for the administration’s broader approach to rewriting the rules of the economy. President some rich asshole has repeatedly said that cutting red tape and shrinking the regulatory state are priorities for his time in office. But it now appears “the rich asshole’s sweeping effort to cut government red tape may happen without keeping the public apprised of the costs and benefits,” BNA wrote.
Politicians often play it loose with the public when describing their policy ideas. It’s easier to talk about freeing ranchers from persnickety federal land management rules, for example, than it is to say that redrawing the lines of national monuments would make a lot of money for oil, gas, and mining companies.
But away from the election-season rhetoric, there are supposed to be rational organizations weighing the pros and cons of any given idea. A group of impartial, dispassionate experts who only report what the numbers say are an essential ingredient in making policy decisions that will be best for the country. Imagine a proposal on carbon emissions that might slow the threat to coastal communities from sea-level rise while also pushing up costs for some consumer goods in the short term. Partisans who seek elected office and campaign checks will have messy incentives to play up one side or the other of that trade off. But in theory, there’s a group of people like OIRA — career staffers who care about what the numbers say — who can tell us all what the exact nature of the trade-off is.
the rich asshole’s deregulatory crusaders appear determined to mute and bypass those adult voices, to use their gut instead of their brains to set the rules that will govern the economy for all 320 million Americans.
‘Rush to rage’: CNN host levels the rich asshole for ‘failing third-grade spelling test’ while attacking Mueller
John King appears on CNN (screen grab)
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CNN host John King on Wednesday pointed out that President some rich asshole undercut his own criticism of special counsel Robert Mueller when he misspells words in his attack tweets.
In a since-deleted early morning tweet, the rich asshole misspelled “counsel” and “whether.” He later reposted the tweet, but “counsel” was still spelled incorrectly.
“The president attacks the special counsel and in the process fails a third-grade spelling test,” King explained. “Attacking Robert Mueller by name goes against the advice of the president’s lawyers. So when he does it, we learn about his anger at them as much as with the investigation.”
“There’s no staff around him when the president watches the morning cable shows and lashes out,” the CNN host noted. “And apparently no spell check or grammar police.”
According to King, the rich asshole would have received “a D or an F” from his third-grade teacher.
“Why the rush to rage?” King added. “The president is mad at his lawyers because they’ve been unable to make Mueller disappear and because he doesn’t like the questions the special counsel has outlined in negotiations over a possible presidential interview.”
Watch the video below from CNN.
White House tries new spin on the rich asshole’s Putin call: The president doesn’t bother reading his briefing memos
Vladimir Putin shaking hands with some rich asshole - MSNBC screengrab
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The rich asshole White House is putting a new spin on news that President some rich asshole congratulated Russian President Vladimir Putin despite being given a memo by his national security staff that specifically told him not to do so in all-capital letters.
A White House source tells Fox News reporter John Roberts that even though the rich asshole was given a card that had the words “DO NOT CONGRATULATE” written on it, the president didn’t choose to intentionally ignore his staffers’ advice.
Rather, the official says, the rich asshole “likely didn’t see the memo as his pre-call briefing was by phone — not in person — and ‘do not congratulate’ was not mentioned in the phone briefing.”
Senior @WhiteHouse official tells @FoxNews that while NSC's Putin call briefing memo said "DO NOT CONGRATULATE", @realDonaldTrump likely didn't see the memo as his pre-call briefing was by phone - not in person - and 'do not congratulate' was not mentioned in the phone briefing.
In addition to ignoring warnings against congratulating Putin, the president also reportedly ignored aides’ request to condemn Russia’s alleged use of a deadly nerve agent against a former Russian spy who is living in the United Kingdom.
Industries unite in battle against the rich asshole’s tariffs
BY VICKI NEEDHAM - 03/21/18 06:00 AM EDT
Powerful business groups are mobilizing their forces, urging President the rich asshole to stop a wave of sweeping tariffs they worry will hurt the U.S. economy and start a global trade war.
the rich asshole’s decision to levy far-reaching tariffs has prompted business groups to form alliances in the hopes of persuading the president and lawmakers on Capitol Hill to curtail or kill the proposed trade moves.
Business leaders have expressed growing concerns not only about the rich asshole’s decision to slap tariffs of 25 percent on steel imports and 10 percent on aluminum imports, but the likelihood that the president will announce this week upward of $60 billion in tariffs on imports from China to punish Beijing for lax intellectual property protection practices.
“We’re seeing a ready, fire, aim process, and we’re hoping that the next round of trade remedies that are considered are done more surgically and carefully,” said David French, senior vice president for government relations with the National Retail Federation (NRF).
The pressure on the White House is coming from across the business world, with advocates for the agriculture, retail and auto industry all releasing separate letters denouncing the steel and aluminum tariffs and warning against other potential trade moves.
Last week, a handful of business groups met up at the NRF to discuss how they can work with the White House and Congress to shape the tariffs and avoid being hurt by the rich asshole’s actions.
French said more than 600 groups are pooling their resources to, at the very least, persuade the administration to streamline the tariffs. He called it the largest such lobbying effort for the NRF since 2016’s successful campaign against the creation of a border adjustment tax.
“So this may have to be getting the band back together,” French said.
Hun Quach, vice president for international trade at the Retail Industry Leaders Association, who attended the NRF meeting, said their main argument to the rich asshole administration is that higher tariffs will create additional costs “that will eventually get passed down to our customers” on products from clothing to electronics.
“The section 301 actions that the president could take will hit every sector of this economy,” she said.
One lobbyist told The Hill that the rich asshole’s actions make it difficult to know what the outer limit is on trade policy, especially given that his protectionist tendencies have been on display for decades.
On Friday, the rich asshole is expected to follow through with his promise to impose hefty tariffs under the 301 provision — reportedly about $60 billion a year — to punish China for unfair intellectual property policies and practices.
Under section 301 of the trade law, the president has the power to take unilateral action to retaliate against China on trade.
Even with business optimism at its highest levels in recent history, the rich asshole’s tariff tirade is creating anxiety among some CEOs.
To that end, the business groups say they are working with the White House and advocating a strategic and a targeted approach to zero in on China’s persistent trade problems.
Joshua Bolten, president and CEO of the Business Roundtable, told reporters last week that the growing uncertainty surrounding trade, from the ongoing North American Free Trade Agreement negotiations and the investigation into China’s trade policies, are a “possible headwind” that could negate many of the benefits of tax and regulatory reform.
U.S. Chamber President and CEO Thomas Donohue said last week that if the China tariffs reach $60 billion, “the impact would be even more devastating.”
Yet some Republican lobbyists with corporate clients, including two close to the rich asshole administration, insist that the tariff threats are a means to bring other countries to the negotiating table.
“The end goal, in the rich asshole’s mind, is to help business. It’s the stick he needs to get the carrot,” one said. “The carrot is to renegotiate NAFTA and get a TPP deal,” referring to an Obama-era trade pact with Pacific Rim countries.
Although the rich asshole withdrew from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) during his first month in office, he hinted more recently that he would be open to rejoining the agreement, provided changes are made.
A fourth lobbyist told The Hill that corporate lobbyists and chief executives are doing a disservice to the advocacy effort by focusing primarily on discussing the tariff issue with each other and with the administration, rather than trying to convince the rich asshole's base in small towns that support the nationalist policies.
“They're talking to themselves and not communicating to the people [the rich asshole is] trying to reach, at least to try and neutralize that issue. If you want to yell and scream at BLT [steakhouse], fine. But don't think that's going to have any impact,” the lobbyist said.
However, while the effort appears to be taking shape as a grasstops campaign — focusing on high-level influential figures rather than constituencies — many groups are targeting their messaging around the impact the tariffs could have on consumers.
The business groups argue that a blanket tariff approach won’t punish China and will instead only serve to hurt U.S. businesses.
Matt Priest, president and CEO of the Footwear Distributors & Retailers of America (FDRA), called the potential China tariffs “an existential threat to the American consumer.”
“There is no industry left behind in the sense of those that are under threat from this action because we all source goods from China,” Priest said.
In 2017, $3 billion tariffs were paid for imports into the United States by the footwear industry.
“For us, it’s how much is enough,” Priest said.
“Why on earth would you feel the need to continue to add insult to injury and pile on.”
Tariffs on most consumer goods average just 1.3 percent, but they average from 11 percent for footwear and reach rates as high as 67.5 percent.
But the administration has shown that it can shift on a dime, complicating the lives of staffers and advocates alike.
“I told a client this today: There are things that I would have ordinarily said have no chance of happening. It's a fool’s errand to make any large prognostications. The stuff that comes out over there [at the White House] is totally unpredictable and increasingly volatile,” a fifth lobbyist said.
“People think [U.S. Trade Representative Robert] Lighthizer is an adult who can do what he can on this. Ultimately, the rich asshole, if he wants to be a force of nature and roll with his gut, who the heck knows.”
— Megan R. Wilson contributed.
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