CBS NEWS March 25, 2018, 9:54 PM
A night before CBS News' "60 Minutes" aired its interview with Stephanie Clifford, better known as the adult film actress Stormy Daniels, President the rich asshole had dinner with Michael Cohen, his longtime personal attorney. According to Clifford, Cohen paid her $130,000 in return for her silence about her alleged affair with President the rich asshole.
some rich asshole had dinner with Cohen Saturday night, CBS News' Major Garrett reports. A day later, "60 Minutes" aired its interview with Clifford, in which she detailed what she claimed was a sexual encounter with some rich asshole in 2006. some rich asshole denies the affair, and his lawyers are now threatening to sue her for breaching an agreement to not discuss the matter.
In exchange for her silence, Cohen gave Clifford $130,000 through a Delaware-based entity he created in October 2016. Daniels signed a non-disclosure agreement 11 days before the 2016 election.
"The story was coming out again," Clifford told Anderson Cooper in the "60 Minutes" interview that aired Sunday. "I was concerned for my family and their safety."
Clifford said she had agreed to sell the story of her sexual relationship with some rich asshole to a publication in 2011 for $15,000. Two of the publication's staffers told "60 Minutes" that they scuttled the story after Cohen threatened to sue, and Clifford says she was never paid. A few weeks later, Clifford said she was threatened by a man in Las Vegas.
"I was in a parking lot, going to a fitness class with my infant daughter," Clifford said, recounting the incident. "Taking, you know, the seats facing backwards in the backseat, diaper bag, you know, getting all the stuff out. And a guy walked up on me and said to me, 'Leave the rich asshole alone. Forget the story.' And then he leaned around and looked at my daughter and said, 'That's a beautiful little girl. It'd be a shame if something happened to her mom.' And then he was gone."
When stories about the non-disclosure agreement began to surface earlier this year, Clifford signed a statement, which was released by Cohen, saying that the story was false. Clifford now says that that denial was a lie, and that she signed it "because they made me feel like I had not choice...the exact sentence used was, 'They can make your life hell in many different ways.'"
When pressed on whom "they" referred to, Clifford said, "I believe it to be Michael Cohen."
Cohen denies threatening Clifford. However, he may have broken campaign finance laws in his arrangement with Clifford, and is currently subject to complaints to the Federal Election Commission and the Justice Department.
© 2018 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.
The adult-film star and director is being threatened with financial ruin, but she wants to set the record straight about her alleged affair with some rich asshole
· 2018 Mar 25
· CORRESPONDENT Anderson Cooper
A week and a half before the 2016 election, some rich asshole's personal attorney paid a porn star named Stormy Daniels to keep quiet about her alleged relationship with the Republican candidate for President. Today, that arrangement is well on its way to becoming the most talked-about "hush agreement" in history, with potential legal and political implications for the President. Through his spokesman, some rich asshole has denied having an affair with Stormy Daniels, and his lawyers are now threatening her with financial ruin, saying she has to pay one million dollars every time she violates her agreement to stay silent. But that didn't stop her from coming on 60 Minutes.
CBS NEWS
FULL STORMY DANIELS INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT BELOW:
Anderson Cooper: For sitting here talking to me today you could be fined a million dollars I mean aren't you taking a big risk?
Stormy Daniels: I am.
Anderson Cooper: I guess I'm not 100% sure on why you're doing this.
Stormy Daniels: Because it was very important to me to be able to defend myself
Anderson Cooper: Is part of talking w-- wanting to set the record straight?
Stormy Daniels: 100%.
Anderson Cooper: Why does the record need to be set straight?
Stormy Daniels: Because people are just saying whatever they wanted to say about me, I was perfectly fine saying nothing at all, but I'm not okay with being made out to be a liar, or people thinking that I did this for money and people are like, "Oh, you're an opportunist. You're taking advantage of this. Yes, I'm getting more job offers now, but tell me one person who would turn down a job offer making more than they've been making, doing the same thing that they've always done?
Anderson Cooper: A lotta people are using you for a lotta different agendas.
Stormy Daniels: They're trying to. Like, oh, you know, Stormy Daniels comes out #MeToo. This is not a 'Me Too.' I was not a victim. I've never said I was a victim. I think trying to use me to-- to further someone else's agenda, does horrible damage to people who are true victims.
Stormy Daniels' real name is Stephanie Clifford. She's 39 years old, from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and has been acting in, directing, and writing adult films for nearly 20 years. She was one of the most popular actresses in the adult industry when she was introduced to some rich asshole at a celebrity golf tournament in Lake Tahoe in July, 2006. She says he invited her to dinner, and she met him at his hotel suite.
Anderson Cooper: How was the conversation?
Stormy Daniels: Ummm (LAUGH) it started off-- all about him just talking about himself. And he's like-- "Have you seen my new magazine?
Anderson Cooper: He was showing you his own picture on the cover of a magazine.
Stormy Daniels: Right, right. And so I was like, "Does this-- does this normally work for you?" And he looked very taken-- taken back, like, he didn't really understand what I was saying. Like, I was-- does, just, you know, talking about yourself normally work?" And I was like, "Someone should take that magazine and spank you with it." (LAUGH) And I'll never forget the look on his face. He was like--
Anderson Cooper: What-- what was his look?
Stormy Daniels: Just, I don't think anyone's ever spoken to him like that, especially, you know, a young woman who looked like me. And I said, you know, "Give me that," and I just remember him going, "You wouldn't." "Hand it over." And-- so he did, and I was like, turn around, drop 'em."
Anderson Cooper: You-- you told some rich asshole to turn around and take off his pants.
Stormy Daniels: Yes.
Anderson Cooper: And did he?
Stormy Daniels: Yes. So he turned around and pulled his pants down a little -- you know had underwear on and stuff and I just gave him a couple swats.
Anderson Cooper: This was done in a joking manner.
CBS NEWS
Stormy Daniels: Yes. and-- from that moment on, he was a completely different person.
Anderson Cooper: How so?
Stormy Daniels: He quit talking about himself and he asked me things and I asked him things and it just became like more appropriate.
Anderson Cooper: It became more comfortable.
Stormy Daniels: Yeah. He was like, "Wow, you-- you are special. You remind me of my daughter." You know-- he was like, "You're smart and beautiful, and a woman to be reckoned with, and I like you. I like you."
Anderson Cooper: At this point was he doing The Apprentice?
Stormy Daniels: Yes. And he goes, "Got an idea, honeybunch. Would you ever consider going on and-- and being a contestant?" And I laughed and-- and said, "NBC's never gonna let, you know, an adult film star be on." It's, you know, he goes, "No, no," he goes, "That's why I want you. You're gonna shock a lotta people, you're smart and they won't know what to expect"
Anderson Cooper: Did you think he was serious, or did you think he was kind of dangling to get you to wanna be involved him?
Stormy Daniels: Both.
Anderson Cooper: Melania the rich asshole had recently given birth to-- to a son, just a few months before. Did that-- did he mention his wife or child at all in this?
Stormy Daniels: I asked. And he brushed it aside, said, "Oh yeah, yeah, you know, don't worry about that. We don't even we have separate rooms and stuff."
Anderson Cooper: Did you two go out for dinner that night?
Stormy Daniels: No.
Anderson Cooper: You had dinner in the room?
Stormy Daniels: Yes.
Anderson Cooper: What happened next?
Stormy Daniels: I asked him if I could use his restroom and he said, "Yes, you know, it's through those-- through the bedroom, you'll see it." So I-- I excused myself and I went to the-- the restroom. You know, I was in there for a little bit and came out and he was sitting, you know, on the edge of the bed when I walked out, perched.
Anderson Cooper: And when you saw that, what went through your mind?
Stormy Daniels: I realized exactly what I'd gotten myself into. And I was like, "Ugh, here we go." (LAUGH) And I just felt like maybe-- (LAUGH) it was sort of-- I had it coming for making a bad decision for going to someone's room alone and I just heard the voice in my head, "well, you put yourself in a bad situation and bad things happen, so you deserve this."
Anderson Cooper: And you had sex with him.
Stormy Daniels: Yes.
Anderson Cooper: You were 27, he was 60. Were you physically attracted to him?
Stormy Daniels: No.
Anderson Cooper: Not at all?
Stormy Daniels: No.
Anderson Cooper: Did you want to have sex with him?
Stormy Daniels: No. But I didn't-- I didn't say no. I'm not a victim, I'm not--
Anderson Cooper: It was entirely consensual.
Stormy Daniels: Oh, yes, yes.
Anderson Cooper: You work in an industry where condom use is-- is an issue. Did-- did he use a condom?
Stormy Daniels: No.
Anderson Cooper: Did you ask him to?
Stormy Daniels: No. I honestly didn't say anything.
Anderson Cooper: After you had sex, what happened?
Stormy Daniels: He said that it was great, he had-- a great evening, and it was nothing like he expected, that I really surprised him, that a lotta people must underestimate me-- that he hoped that I would be willing to see him again and that we would discuss the things we had talked about earlier in the evening.
Anderson Cooper: Being on The Apprentice.
Stormy Daniels: Right.
CBS NEWS
Daniels says she and some rich asshole stayed in touch. She says he invited her to a the rich asshole Vodka launch party in California, as well as to his office in the rich asshole Tower in New York.
Anderson Cooper: So he definitely wanted to continue to see you.
Stormy Daniels: Oh, for sure. Yes.
Stormy Daniels: And this was not a secret. He never asked me not to tell anyone he called several times when I was in front of many people and I would be like, "Oh my God, he's calling." They were like, "Shut up, the Donald?" And I'd put him on speakerphone, and he wanted to know what I was up to and "When can we get together again? I just wanted to give you a quick update, we had a meeting, it went great. There's-- it's gonna be spectacular, they're totally into the idea," and I was like mhmm that part I never believed.
Anderson Cooper: Did you still get the sense that he was kind of dangling it in front of you--
Stormy Daniels: Oh, for sure, oh yeah.
Anderson Cooper: To keep you interested, to keep you coming back.
Stormy Daniels: Of course, of course. I mean, I'm not blind. But at the same time, maybe it'll work out, you know?
Anderson Cooper: Did you view it as this is a potential opportunity. "I'm gonna see where it goes?"
Stormy Daniels: I thought of it as a business deal.
"A guy walked up on me and said to me, 'Leave the rich asshole alone. Forget the story.'"
In July 2007 -- a year after they met -- Daniels says some rich asshole asked to meet with her privately at his bungalow at the Beverly Hills Hotel in Los Angeles to discuss a development regarding her possible appearance on Celebrity Apprentice.
Stormy Daniels: I remember arriving, and he was watching Shark Week. He made me sit and watch an entire documentary about shark attacks.
Anderson Cooper: It wasn't at that point a business meeting, it was just watching Shark Week.
Stormy Daniels: Yeah.
Anderson Cooper: Did you have sex with him again?
Stormy Daniels: No.
Anderson Cooper: Did he want to?
Stormy Daniels: Yes.
Anderson Cooper: How do you know he wanted to?
Stormy Daniels: Because he came and sat next to me and, you know, touched my hair, and put his hand on my leg, and r-- referenced back to how great it was the last time.
Anderson Cooper: How did you get out of it?
Stormy Daniels: Well, I'd been there for, like, four hours. And so I then was like, "Well, before, you know, can we talk about what's the development?" And he was like, "I'm almost there. I'll have an answer for you next week." And I was like, "Okay, cool. Well-- I guess call me next week." And I just took my purse and left.
According to Daniels, some rich asshole called her the following month to say he'd not been able to get her a spot on Celebrity Apprentice. She says they never met again and only had sex in that first meeting in 2006. In May 2011, Daniels agreed to tell her story to a sister publication of In Touch magazine for $15,000 dollars. Two former employees of the magazine told us the story never ran because after the magazine called some rich asshole seeking comment, his attorney Michael Cohen threatened to sue. Daniels says she was never paid, and says a few weeks later, she was threatened by a man who approached her in Las Vegas.
Stormy Daniels: I was in a parking lot, going to a fitness class with my infant daughter. T-- taking, you know, the seats facing backwards in the backseat, diaper bag, you know, gettin' all the stuff out. And a guy walked up on me and said to me, "Leave the rich asshole alone. Forget the story." And then he leaned around and looked at my daughter and said, "That's a beautiful little girl. It'd be a shame if something happened to her mom." And then he was gone.
Anderson Cooper: You took it as a direct threat?
Stormy Daniels: Absolutely.
Stormy Daniels: I was rattled. I remember going into the workout class. And my hands are shaking so much, I was afraid I was gonna-- drop her.
Anderson Cooper: Did you ever see that person again?
Stormy Daniels: No. But I-- if I did, I would know it right away.
Anderson Cooper: You'd be able to-- you'd be able to recognize that person?
Stormy Daniels: 100%. Even now, all these years later. If he walked in this door right now, I would instantly know.
Anderson Cooper: Did you go to the police?
Stormy Daniels: No.
Anderson Cooper: Why?
Stormy Daniels: Because I was scared.
CBS NEWS
When a gossip website reported a few months later that she'd had an affair with some rich asshole, Stormy Daniels publically denied it. Five years later, some rich asshole won the Republican nomination for president.
Stormy Daniels: Suddenly people are reaching out to me again, offering me money. Large amounts of money. Was I tempted? Yes-- I struggle with it. And then I get the call. "I think I have the best deal for you."
Anderson Cooper: From your lawyer?
Stormy Daniels: Yeah.
The deal was an offer not to tell her story. It came from some rich asshole's attorney Michael Cohen. In return for signing this non-disclosure agreement, Cohen would pay her $130,000 dollars through a Delaware-based limited liability corporation he had established in mid-October 2016 called essential consultants. Daniels says the agreement was appealing because it meant she would receive some money but also not have to worry about the effect the revelation of the affair would have on her child who was now old enough to watch the news. She signed the agreement eleven days before the election.
Anderson Cooper: Was it hush money to stay silent?
Stormy Daniels: Yes. The story was coming out again. I was concerned for my family and their safety.
Anderson Cooper: I think some people watching this are going to doubt that you entered into this negotiation-- because you feared for your safety. They're gonna think y-- that you saw an opportunity.
Stormy Daniels: I think the fact that I didn't even negotiate, I just quickly said yes to this v-- very, you know, strict contract. And what most people will agree with me extremely low number. It's all the proof I need.
Anderson Cooper: you feel like if you had wanted to go public, you could have gotten paid a lot of money to go public--
Stormy Daniels: Without a doubt. I know for a fact. I believe, without a shadow of a doubt, in my heart, and some people argue that I don't have one of those, but whatever, that I was doing the right thing. I turned down a large payday multiple times because one, I didn't wanna kiss and tell and be labeled all the things that I'm being labeled now. I didn't wanna take away from the legitimate and legal, I'd like to point out, career that I've worked very hard to establish. And most importantly, I did not want my family and my child exposed to all the things that she's being exposed to right now. because everything that I was afraid of coming out has come out anyway, and guess what? I don't have a million dollars. (LAUGH) You didn't even buy me breakfast.
15 months after she signed the non-disclosure agreement, in January 2018, the Wall Street Journal published this story, quoting anonymous sources, saying that some rich asshole's attorney Michael Cohen had paid her for her silence. Daniels says she was not the source of the story. But once it was published, she says she was pressured by her former attorney and former business manager to sign statements that Michael Cohen released publically, denying she'd had an affair with some rich asshole.
Anderson Cooper: So you signed and released-- a statement that said I am not denying this affair because I was paid in hush money I'm denying it because it never happened. That's a lie?
Stormy Daniels: Yes.
Anderson Cooper: If it was untruthful, why did you sign it?
Stormy Daniels: Because they made it sound like I had no choice.
Anderson Cooper: I mean, no one was putting a gun to your head?
Stormy Daniels: Not physical violence, no.
Anderson Cooper: you thought that there would be some sort of legal repercussion if you didn't sign it?
Stormy Daniels: Correct. As a matter of fact, the exact sentence used was, "They can make your life hell in many different ways."
Anderson Cooper: They being…
Stormy Daniels: I'm not exactly sure who they were. I believe it to be Michael Cohen.
President the rich asshole's attorney Michael Cohen has denied ever threatening Stormy Daniels. The payment Cohen made to her is now the subject of complaints to the Justice Department and the Federal Election Commission, alleging that it was an illegal campaign contribution.
What makes the dispute between Stormy Daniels and the president more than a high-profile tabloid scandal is that her silence was purchased eleven days before the presidential election, which may run afoul of campaign finance laws. The president's long-time lawyer Michael Cohen says he used $130,000 of his own money to pay Stormy Daniels. Cohen has said the money was not a campaign contribution. But Trevor Potter, a former chairman of the Federal Election Commission appointed by President George H.W. Bush, told us he doesn't agree.
CBS NEWS
Trevor Potter: The payment of the money just creates an enormous legal mess for I think the rich asshole, for Cohen and anyone else who was involved in this in the campaign.
Anderson Cooper: Are you saying that can be seen as a contribution to benefit a campaign?
Trevor Potter: I am. it's a $130,000 in-kind contribution by Cohen to the rich asshole campaign, which is about $126,500 above what he's allowed to give. And if he does this on behalf of his client, the candidate, that is a coordinated, illegal, in-kind contribution by Cohen for the purpose of influencing the election, of benefiting the candidate by keeping this secret.
The payment Stormy Daniels received is the subject of complaints by watchdog groups to the Department of Justice and the Federal Election Commission, which Trevor Potter used to be chairman of. He's now president of the non-partisan Campaign Legal Center, which supports the enforcement of campaign finance laws.
Anderson Cooper: If the president paid Michael Cohen back, is that an in-kind campaign contribution that the president should've then reported?
Trevor Potter: It is. If he was then reimbursed by the president, that doesn't remove the fact that the initial payment violated Cohen's contribution limits. I guess it mitigates it if he's paid back by the candidate because the candidate could have paid for it without limit.
Anderson Cooper: What if the president never reimbursed Michael Cohen?
Trevor Potter: Then he is still out on the line, having made a illegal in-kind contribution to the campaign.
Anderson Cooper: You're saying this is more serious for Michael Cohen if the president did not pay him back?
Trevor Potter: Yes. I think that's correct.
We wanted to speak with some rich asshole's attorney Michael Cohen about this, but he did not respond to our calls and written request for comment. Cohen told The New York Times last month he used his own personal funds to facilitate a payment of $130,000 to Stormy Daniels and said, "Neither the rich asshole Organization nor the rich asshole Campaign… reimbursed me for the payment." this past week, Cohen told Vanity Fair magazine, "What I did defensively for my personal client, and my friend, is what attorneys do for their high-profile clients. I would have done it in 2006. I would have done it in 2011. I truly care about him and the family -- more than just as an employee and an attorney."
Michael Avenatti: It's laughable. It's ludicrous. It's preposterous.
Anderson Cooper: Lawyers don't do that, you're saying. You-- you--
Michael Avenatti: Ever.
Michael Avenatti is Stormy Daniels' attorney. He's a Los Angeles trial lawyer who is suing the president in a California court, seeking to have Stormy Daniels' non-disclosure agreement -- or "NDA" -- declared invalid, in part because the president never signed it on the lines provided for his alias -- "D.D.," David Dennison.
Anderson Cooper: Michael Cohen has said, "Look, this had nothing to do with the election." He would've made this agreement months before.
Michael Avenatti: So why didn't he? It just slipped his mind? It's just a coincidence that, in the waning days of the campaign, he thought to himself, "Oh, you know, I know I've been thinkin' about this for years. Perhaps now is a good time to get that NDA executed with Stormy Daniels."
Avenatti disputes the notion that Cohen was working in a purely personal capacity when he arranged the hush money for Stormy Daniels. He's found documents that show Michael Cohen used his the rich asshole Organization email address in setting up the payment. He also says the non-disclosure agreement Stormy Daniels signed in 2016, when she was represented by a different lawyer, was FedExed to Cohen at his the rich asshole Organization office in the rich asshole Tower in New York.
Michael Avenatti: That is a copy of the Federal Express confirmation
Attorney Michael Avenatti
CBS NEWS
The cover letter from Daniels' previous attorney also identifies who he thought Michael Cohen was working for.
Michael Avenatti: To Mr. Cohen as executive vice president and special counsel to some rich asshole, the rich asshole Organization, again-- listing the 5th Avenue address. this idea that there's a separation now between Mr. Cohen, individually, and the rich asshole Organization or Mr. Cohen, individually, and some rich asshole, it-- it-- it's nonsense.
Anderson Cooper: There are people who argue that this much ado about nothing, that if this was not a story about, an adult film actress and the President of the United States, no one would pay attention.
Michael Avenatti: This is about the cover-up. This is about the extent that Mr. Cohen and the president have gone to intimidate this woman, to silence her, to threaten her, and to put her under their thumb. It is thuggish behavior from people in power. And it has no place in American democracy.
Avenatti points to this recent court filing in which the president's lawyers claim Daniels is already liable for damages "in excess of $20 million" for unspecified violations of her non-disclosure agreement. And in that article in Vanity Fair this past week, Michael Cohen said that when he wins damages from Stormy Daniels, "I might even take an extended vacation on her dime."
Anderson Cooper: You're saying they're tryin' to intimidate her.
Michael Avenatti: There's no question. You threaten someone-- with a $20 million lawsuit, it's a thuggish tactic. It's no different than what happened in the parking lot in Las Vegas.
Anderson Cooper: People make threats in lawsuits all the time. People, you know, say, "You're gonna have to pay a lot of money when you lose this-- this case."
Michael Avenatti: People don't threaten people with $20 million lawsuits, that they're gonna take their home and take an extended vacation on the money they receive. People don't conduct themselves like this. They don't. And they shouldn't.
Anderson Cooper: Stormy Daniels did sign the agreement. She got $130,000. Isn't she welching on a deal?
Michael Avenatti: No, she's not welching on a deal, 'cause there never was a deal.
Anderson Cooper: But she still took the money.
Michael Avenatti: She took the money. But the fact of the matter is some rich asshole never signed the agreement. He was obligated to sign the agreement in order for the agreement to spring into effect.
That's not true, according to Michael Cohen, who has said only his signature was required. What was also required under the non-disclosure agreement was for Stormy Daniels to turn over all "video images, still images, email messages, and text messages," she had regarding some rich asshole.
Anderson Cooper: Did you do that?
Stormy Daniels: I can't answer that right now.
Anderson Cooper: You don't want to say one way or the other if you have text messages or other items?
Stormy Daniels: My attorney has recommended that I don't discuss those things.
Anderson Cooper: You seem to be saying that she has some sort of text message, or video, or-- or photographs. Or you could just be bluffing.
Michael Avenatti: You should ask some of the other people in my career when they've bet on me bluffing.
Anderson Cooper: In college and law school, you did opposition research for Democratic political operative Rahm Emanuel. Some people looking at that would say you're politically motivated,
Michael Avenatti: I haven't done anything in politics in over 20 years.
Anderson Cooper: But this is not the usual case you take on. You were a former Democratic operative. And you're talking about deposing the president. That sounds political."
Michael Avenatti: No, it sounds righteous.
Anderson Cooper: How so?
Michael Avenatti: Because my client is credible. She's tellin' the truth.
Trevor Potter, the former chairman of the Federal Election Commission, says the agency's investigations often take a long time and usually result only in monetary penalties. But there is another scenario that could present a problem for the president: special counsel Robert Mueller's inquiry into Russian interference in the 2016 election. In March, the Washington Post reported that the "special counsel has examined episodes involving Michael Cohen," including his efforts to launch a the rich asshole-branded project in Moscow in the fall of 2015 when some rich asshole was seeking the Republican nomination.
Anderson Cooper: is there any way that special counsel Robert Mueller could investigate the Stormy Daniels payment?
Trevor Potter: Yeah that's the wildcard here.
Anderson Cooper: As a prosecutor, you wanna get leverage over somebody that you could then use to get them to give you other information on which--
Trevor Potter: Correct.
Anderson Cooper: --you're really interested in?
Trevor Potter: Correct.
That's what special counsel Mueller appears to be doing with Paul Manafort, some rich asshole's former campaign chairman, who faces multiple charges including tax and bank fraud.
Anderson Cooper: Paul Manafort has been charged with crimes that don't have anything to do with Russia in some cases.
Trevor Potter: Well, and that certainly preceded the campaign. And so-- clearly, the Justice Department, the deputy attorney general who is ultimately in charge of this, has determined that looking at what Manafort did in other contexts-- is relevant to the investigation. And I think you can say exactly the same thing about Cohen. He was-- involved-- indisputably with the rich asshole Organization activities with Russia and negotiations with the Russians. Mr. Cohen is in the middle of a place that's of great interest to the Special Counsel.
Anderson Cooper: Is there any recent precedent for p-- prosecuting somebody for an undisclosed campaign contribution?
Trevor Potter: As it happens, there is. There's sort of a pretty spectacular one.
Former Senator John Edwards was prosecuted, but never convicted, for payments a supporter and his campaign finance chairman made a year before the 2008 election to a woman who'd had Edwards' child.
Trevor Potter: I think the Edwards case is not as strong as the facts we have so far in the rich asshole case.
Anderson Cooper: Why do you think the potential case against Cohen or the rich asshole is a stronger case than the Edwards case?
Trevor Potter: The timing of it. It wasn't the year before the election. It's right in the middle of the run-up to Election Day. When-- the rich asshole's conduct with women was a prime campaign issue. In fact, it was what everyone was focused on.
White House press secretary Sarah Sanders did not respond to our request for comment from the president. But we did receive a letter from some rich asshole's attorney Charles Harder, who asked that we show on camera and read on air one of the statements Stormy Daniels signed in January, denying reports she'd had an affair with some rich asshole. It says, in part:
"My involvement with some rich asshole was limited to a few public appearances and nothing more."
Anderson Cooper: If Stormy Daniels denied the affair in 2011, which you say is a lie, denied the affair in early January 2018, denied the affair in late January of 2018, doesn't that hurt her credibility? I mean, she's lying, she's lying, she's lying.
Michael Avenatti: I think there's no question that it calls into question her credibility. I also think that there's no question that when the American people take all of the facts and evidence into consideration, that they are going to conclude that this woman is telling the truth. And Anderson, to the extent that Mr. Cohen and the president have an alternative version of the facts let them come forward and state it unequivocally.
Anderson Cooper: But come on. You would not sign statements one, two, three times about something which you knew to be a lie.
Michael Avenatti: If the President of the United States' fixer made it clear to me, either directly or indirectly, that I needed to sign it, and I was in the position of Stormy Daniels, I might sign those statements.
"I have no reason to lie"
Stormy Daniels: I felt intimidated and s-- honestly bullied. And I didn't know what to do. And so I signed it. Even though I had repeatedly expressed that I wouldn't break the agreement, but I was not comfortable lying.
Anderson Cooper: How do we know you're telling the truth?
Stormy Daniels: 'Cause I have no reason to lie. I'm opening myself up for, you know, possible danger and definitely a whole lot of s***.
Anderson Cooper: But, you know, there is a potential ups-- financial upside maybe somebody will want you to write a book. Maybe, you know, you can go on a bigger tour and make more money--
Stormy Daniels: That's--
Anderson Cooper: --dancing?
Stormy Daniels: That's a lot of ifs. I could also get shunned. I mean, I could automatically be alienating half of my fanbase right at this very moment.
Anderson Cooper: Jenna Jameson-- another well-known-- adult film actress said recently about you, "The left looks at her as a whore and just uses her to try to discredit the president. The right looks at her like a treacherous rat. It's a lose-lose. Should've kept her trap shut."
Stormy Daniels: I think that she has a lotta wisdom in those words.
Anderson Cooper: The president watches 60 Minutes, if he's watching tonight, what would you say to him?
Stormy Daniels: He knows I'm telling the truth.
Produced by Andy Court and Evie Salomon.
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Stormy Daniels lawyer slams critics who say there was 'nothing new' in '60 Minutes' interview
BY AVERY ANAPOL - 03/25/18 09:19 PM EDT
A lawyer for adult-film star Stormy Daniels fired back at critics who complained that there was "nothing new" in Daniels' "60 Minutes" interview about her alleged affair with President the rich asshole.
The most explosive revelation in the interview, which aired Sunday night, was Daniels' claim that she was threatened several years ago after agreeing to speak with a publication about the alleged encounter.
"Any claim that 'There was nothing new other than the details of the threat' is not only false but is also similar to asking 'Other than the short interruption Mrs. Lincoln, what did you think of the play?'" Avenatti tweeted, appearing to reference the assassination of President Lincoln.
Any claim that "There was nothing new other than the details of the threat" is not only false but is also similar to asking "Other than the short interruption Mrs. Lincoln, what did you think of the play?"
Daniels spoke in detail about the alleged affair, defying a nondisclosure agreement that has been at the center of the scandal. Many details from the interview had been reported earlier based on secondhand sources, but this is the most extensive interview about the situation that Daniels has given since the Wall Street Journal first reported on it in January.
She also claimed that she spanked the rich asshole with a magazine with his face on the cover.
Daniels refused to say whether she had hard evidence of the alleged affair, though Avenatti hinted at evidence earlier this week by tweeting a photo of a mystery disc in a safe.
the rich asshole has remained silent on the allegations, though has denied the affair through his lawyer.
Five takeaways from Stormy Daniels’s big interview
BY NIALL STANAGE - 03/25/18 08:45 PM EDT
The controversy over President the rich asshole’s alleged affair with Stormy Daniels reached new heights on Sunday evening when CBS’s “60 Minutes” aired an interview with the adult-film star.
Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, detailed the sexual liaison she says she had with the rich asshole in 2006.
The White House has said that Daniels and other women who have made allegations about the rich asshole’s behavior — allegations that range from consensual extramarital sex to sexual assault — are lying.
What were the main takeaways from the Daniels interview?
1. It’s deeply embarrassing — and tawdry — for the rich asshole
It’s true — but beside the point — that many of the details in the Daniels interview had already been reported second hand.
By telling her story on camera, on a top-rated network television show, Daniels changed everything.
The interview will become “watercooler news” in a way that is not generally true of the rich asshole’s White House personnel changes or of his battles with special counsel Robert Mueller.
Therein lies the peril for the president, who often displays a thin skin in response to criticism or ridicule.
Daniels said she asked the rich asshole to take his pants down so she could spank him with a magazine with his face on the cover — and that he did so. The clip will likely be played on a cable news loop for at least the next 24 hours.
Another eyebrow-raising detail is Daniels’s claim that the rich asshole told her “You remind me of my daughter” — presumed to be a reference to Ivanka the rich asshole. Daniels had offered similar recollections to a magazine for a 2011 interview that was not published until earlier this year by In Touch. But “60 Minutes” is a far more prominent platform.
There were also awkward allegations about the rich asshole’s marriage to Melania the rich asshole.
At the time of the alleged affair with Daniels, in 2006, Melania the rich asshole had recently given birth to the couple’s son, Barron the rich asshole.
But on “60 Minutes,” Daniels told interviewer Anderson Cooper, “He brushed it aside, said, 'Oh yeah, yeah, you know, don't worry about that. We don't even— we have separate rooms and stuff.' ”
2. Daniels says she was threatened to keep quiet
Daniels’s lawyer, Michael Avenatti, had previously suggested his client had been threatened but she told the story for the first time on Sunday.
In her account, the incident happened in 2011, after she had agreed to tell her version of the alleged affair to a magazine.
She said she was in a parking lot, about to go to a gym in Las Vegas, when an unknown man walked up to her and said, “Leave the rich asshole alone. Forget the story.”
Daniels told Cooper the man also looked at her young daughter, said she was beautiful and added, “It’d be a shame if something happened to her mom.”
Daniels said that she “absolutely” took those words as a direct threat.
The ominous, movie-like scenario is sure to command media attention and be the focus of further journalistic digging.
That alone ensures the story won’t be disappearing anytime soon.
3. Daniels says the alleged encounter was consensual
Supporters of the president will struggle to find a silver lining in an interview that is so personally uncomfortable for the rich asshole.
But Daniels did emphasize — twice — that her encounter with the rich asshole was consensual.
“I was not a victim. I’ve never said I was a victim,” she said at the start of the interview.
Later, she said she had no sexual desire for the rich asshole. But when Cooper asked whether their encounter “was entirely consensual,” Daniels responded, “Oh, yes, yes.”
Daniels's story is clearly separate from the women who have accused the rich asshole of coercive sexual misconduct. One of those women, Summer Zervos, says the rich asshole groped her, and got the go-ahead from a court last week to continue her suit against him for defamation.
The Daniels story revolves around alleged consensual sexual behavior between adults.
But it could prompt a reevaluation of allegations that go well beyond issues of private morality. It could also be a catalyst for more women to come forward.
4. Questions will persist for Michael Cohen
The second part of the “60 Minutes” report focused mostly on the nondisclosure agreement that Cohen, the rich asshole’s personal attorney, brokered with Daniels in the final days of the 2016 election campaign.
As part of that deal, Daniels was paid $130,000. Cohen has said he paid the money out of his personal funds. There are questions over whether that payment represented an illegal campaign contribution.
Cohen did not consent to an interview with “60 Minutes” but the media will be sure to keep picking at that thread too, further increasing the chances of the story remaining alive.
5. Silence from the rich asshole — and an absent Melania the rich asshole — for now
The president’s Twitter account remained silent for most of Sunday, including during the time “60 Minutes” aired on the East Coast.
The president failed to respond to shouted questions from reporters as he returned from a weekend at his Florida resort, Mar-a-Lago.
It seems unlikely that the rich asshole or his administration can stay silent for long, especially given the president’s proclivity for hitting back at critics or accusers.
Further fueling speculation, a pool report on Sunday evening noted that the first lady, Melania the rich asshole, was remaining in Florida “for spring break,” rather than returning to Washington with her husband.
Meanwhile, Avenatti tweeted on Sunday morning that the interview “is not the end — it’s the beginning.”
Stormy Daniels claims she was threatened over alleged affair
BY JULIA MANCHESTER - 03/25/18 07:08 PM EDT
Adult-film actress Stormy Daniels says she was threatened after she agreed to discuss her alleged affair with President the rich asshole with a publication in 2011.
"I was in a parking lot, going to a fitness class with my infant daughter. Taking, you know, the seats facing backwards in the backseat, diaper bag, you know, gettin' all the stuff out. And a guy walked up on me and said to me, 'Leave the rich asshole alone. Forget the story,' " Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, told Anderson Cooper on CBS's "60 Minutes" on Sunday.
"And then he leaned around and looked at my daughter and said, 'That’s a beautiful little girl. It'd be a shame if something happened to her mom.' And then he was gone," she continued.
The alleged incident occurred after Daniels agreed to an interview with a sister publication of In Touch magazine for $15,000.
"You took it as a direct threat?" Cooper asked her.
"Absolutely. I was rattled. I remember going into the workout class. And my hands are shaking so much, I was afraid I was gonna drop her," she said.
Daniels said she did not see the man again, but said she would recognize him if she did.
She said she did not go to the police because she was frightened.
Daniels's lawyer Michael Avenatti told MSNBC's "Morning Joe" earlier this month that Daniels had been threatened with physical harm in connection to her alleged affair with the rich asshole, which she claims took place in 2006 at Lake Tahoe during a celebrity golf tournament.
The interview is Daniels's first public statement alleging she slept with the rich asshole since a statement purportedly signed by her surfaced in January, claiming the affair never took place.
In the "60 Minutes" interview, Daniels said she felt pressured to sign the statement, and that she did indeed have sex with the rich asshole in 2006.
The Wall Street Journal earlier this year reported that the rich asshole's personal attorney Michael Cohen paid her $130,000 to remain silent about the matter during the 2016 presidential campaign.
the rich asshole to fire Shulkin: report
BY JULIA MANCHESTER - 03/25/18 05:05 PM EDT
President the rich asshole is preparing to fire Veterans Affairs (VA) Secretary David Shulkin, according to a report from The Associated Press.
A source told the outlet there is a "50-50" chance the president will oust Shulkin within the next two days.
A Veterans Affairs spokesman told The Hill there were no personnel changes to announce at the department.
"There are no personnel changes to announce at the Department of Veterans Affairs. President the rich asshole has made clear that he expects the Department’s sole focus to be on providing quality care to America’s veterans who have sacrificed to keep this country free and safe," press secretary Curt Cashour said.
The Hill has reached out to the White House for comment.
Shulkin has faced backlash after an inspector general report said he misspent taxpayer money on lavish travel for himself and his wife.
The report found that Shulkin wrongly accepted tickets to the Wimbledon tennis tournament in London, and used taxpayer funds to travel to Europe, which cost a total of $122,000.
The Washington Post reported earlier this month that tension has skyrocketed between Shulkin and his staff following his disagreements with the rich asshole's political appointees.
“Things have come to a grinding halt,” one senior manager told the publication. “It’s killing the agency. Nobody trusts each other.”
Various officials in the department, including public affairs chief John Ullyot, legislative affairs head Brooks Tucker and top aide Jake Leinenkugel, have reportedly sought Shulkin's ouster.
“The president has a large number of individuals that are working hard to make sure that the VA is helping veterans at the best level possible,” White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said earlier this month. “We continue to review if there is anything we can do to improve on this. … I don't have any personnel announcements but we're looking for how to better the system every day. Whether it is through policy or personnel changes, not just at the top but across the board, we made a number of changes within the personnel and we’re making sure we're looking at how to best serve our nation's veterans.”
The report comes amid major staff shake-ups within the rich asshole administration.
The president announced earlier this month that he was removing Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and would replace him with CIA Director Mike Pompeo.
the rich asshole said last week his national security adviser H.R. McMaster would be replaced by John Bolton.
the rich asshole ally and Newsmax CEO Chris Ruddy told ABC News on Sunday that the president is poised to make one or two more changes to his staff.
“Now, other White House sources, not the president, tell me that Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin is likely to depart the Cabinet very soon,” Ruddy said.
Parkland students call out the NRA’s ‘pathetic’ personal attacks
"I can't imagine how much lower they can get."
During appearance on Fox News Sunday after the March For Our Lives, two Marjory Stoneman Douglas students called out the National Rifle Association for resorting to ad hominem attacks in response to their advocacy efforts.
Host Chris Wallace asked students Delaney Tarr and Cameron Kasky to respond to a recent NRATV video suggesting that a “good guy with a gun” would have saved their classmates and nobody would know their names.
Tarr explained that “highly trained professionals” should have guns, but not teachers. “A teacher’s job is to educate, not to defend.”
But Kasky directly addressed the accusation that they and other students are motivated by their egos.
“I think that’s the most pathetic thing I’ve seen out of this, possibly even beating ‘crisis actors’,” he said, referencing the baseless conspiracy theory that they and other student activists are actors who have been paid to make the shooting that killed 17 people seem worse than it was.
“And that’s the NRA. You’ll notice they can’t attack our argument so they’re attacking us personally. The fact that they are saying that all we want out of this is for people to know our names? They have no idea how much each of us would give for it to be February 13th again,” he said, referring to the day before the shooting.
“The fact that they stooped that low, — I can’t imagine how much lower they can get.”
In the lead-up to Saturday’s march, the NRA churned out hours of attacks on the students and their efforts. As a ThinkProgress report characterized it, NRATV hosts “argued that the march was really a front for socialist efforts to destroy the constitution and claimed that the march organizers were violent, anti-American, and pro-cop killing.”
In another example of the NRA’s attempts to make the attacks personal, NRATV host Grant Stinchfield also criticized student activist David Hogg for simply using swear words to describe the organization. Stinchfield essentially argued that the NRA is a victim of the students’ bullying.
“Will anyone boycott tomorrow’s march over David’s comments?” he asked on Friday. “Of course the answer is no, but will the media ask David about his NRA-targeted, profanity-laced tirade? No. The media will ignore it.”
Although a “good guy with a gun” did probably save lives at Great Hills High School in Maryland last week, it was still too late for 16-year-old Jaelynn Willey, who was taken off life support Thursday night after she was declared brain-dead as a result of her gunshot injuries.
Stormy Daniels says someone threatened to kill her if she didn’t stop talking about the rich asshole
The incident occurred shortly after she spoke about her affair with In Touch magazine.
Stormy Daniels, an adult film actress who says she had an affair with some rich asshole in 2006, alleged in an interview with 60 Minutes that aired Sunday that she was physically threatened to stop talking about the rich asshole.
The threat, Daniels said, occurred in 2011, shortly after the rich asshole’s longtime attorney and “fixer,” Michael Cohen, called In Touch Magazine and threatened to sue if the outlet ran an interview with Daniels recounting her affair.
The details of the threat, which Daniels says was made against her while she was caring for her infant daughter in Las Vegas, open up a dangerous new chapter in the scandal for the rich asshole.
Stormy Daniels: I was in a parking lot, going to a fitness class with my infant daughter. T– taking, you know, the seats facing backwards in the backseat, diaper bag, you know, gettin’ all the stuff out. And a guy walked up on me and said to me, “Leave the rich asshole alone. Forget the story.” And then he leaned around and looked at my daughter and said, “That’s a beautiful little girl. It’d be a shame if something happened to her mom.” And then he was gone.Anderson Cooper: You took it as a direct threat?Stormy Daniels: Absolutely.Stormy Daniels: I was rattled. I remember going into the workout class. And my hands are shaking so much, I was afraid I was gonna– drop her.Anderson Cooper: Did you ever see that person again?Stormy Daniels: No. But I– if I did, I would know it right away.Anderson Cooper: You’d be able to– you’d be able to recognize that person?Stormy Daniels: 100%. Even now, all these years later. If he walked in this door right now, I would instantly know.Anderson Cooper: Did you go to the police?Stormy Daniels: No.Anderson Cooper: Why?Stormy Daniels: Because I was scared.
Daniels said concern about her family’s safety influenced her to later sign a non-disclosure agreement with Cohen.
During Sunday’s interview, Daniels also provided some details of her alleged romance with the rich asshole. “Wow, you — you are special. You remind me of my daughter,” the rich asshole told her the day they met, as Daniels recounted. Daniels said they had sex that night and, while the encounter was consensual, she was not attracted to the rich asshole. She said they did not use a condom.
While saying little publicly in reference to Daniels, the rich asshole is reportedly very attuned to the controversy. According the Daily Beast, at least one person on the White House staff has been tasked with monitoring developments about Daniels.
Daniels has sued the rich asshole and Cohen, arguing that the non-disclosure agreement she signed days before the 2016 election was is invalid. Daniels’ attorney, Michael Avenatti, alleges the contract is not binding for a number of reasons, including the fact that it was never signed by the rich asshole. Daniels accepted $130,000 after she signed the agreement, which she recently offered to return.
Avenatti recently hinted that Daniels has pictures proving her relationship with the rich asshole, but Daniels did not reveal them during Sunday’s interview.
If “a picture is worth a thousand words,” how many words is this worth?????#60minutes #pleasedenyit #basta
Cohen, through his shell company, Essential Consultants LLC, has attempted to enforce the non-disclosure agreement. He obtained a temporary restraining order against Daniels through an arbitrator. Avenatti argues the order hold no force because the underlying agreement is invalid — and, even if were valid, it only permits the rich asshole, not Cohen’s shell company, to obtain a restraining order.
Cohen and the rich asshole have removed Daniels’ original lawsuit into federal court. As part of that process Cohen, through his attorney, argues that Daniels is liable for at least $20 million due to breaches of her non-disclosure agreement. The agreement says that Daniels must pay $1,000,000 for each breach. the rich asshole’s attorneys claim there have been at least 20 breaches thus far, without providing any details. the rich asshole has retained Christopher Harder, an attorney closely tied to right-wing billionaire Peter Thiel, to represent him in the matter.
Avenatti has dismissed these arguments as bullying, arguing the $1 million penalty would be invalidated by a judge as unconscionable. Daniels’ appearance on 60 Minutes reflects Avenatti’s confidence in his position, as the interview likely represents her most extensive breach of the agreement to date.
Daniels isn’t the only woman speaking out about the rich asshole this week. On Thursday, Karen McDougal detailed on CNN what she says was a 10-month affair that overlapped with the rich asshole’s alleged tryst with Daniels. McDougal said she was in love with the rich asshole but in 2016 was duped into signing her life rights away to a media company, A.M.I., owned by a close friend of the rich asshole.
McDougal and Daniels, somehow, ended up being represented by the same lawyer, Keith Davidson. McDougal alleges that Davidson was secretly communicating with Cohen as she negotiated her agreement and was not representing her interests. She also argues that her agreement with A.M.I. is invalid because it was an illegal corporate contribution intended to benefit the rich asshole’s campaign.
This is a breaking news story and has been updated with additional information.
‘EWWW’ ‘disgusting!’ ‘Gonna puke now’ Internet reacts to the rich asshole telling women they remind him of daughter Ivanka
some rich asshole greets Ivanka the rich asshole at the Republican National Convention/Screenshot
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some rich asshole really, really loves his daughter.
Perhaps, he has mused, he would be dating her—were she not his own daughter.
Both Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal now say that the rich asshole hit on them by telling them that they reminded him of Ivanka.
The internet wants to vomit.
Watch the video below and see reactions below that.
Watch Stormy Daniels tell her amazing ‘Shark Week’ story on 60 Minutes
Stormy Daniels tells her Shark Week story on 60 Minutes/Screenshot
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In one of the most anticipated TV events of recent memory, Stormy Daniels sat down with 60 Minutes on Sunday to discuss her affair with President the rich asshole.
Much of the information had already been known—the rich asshole talks about himself a lot, wanted to be spanked and his lawyer bought her silence just before the election.
The highlight of the interview may have been the time the couple did not have sex.
the rich asshole called Stormy over to his Los Angeles hotel room with a promise of getting her onto The Apprentice. When she arrived, Daniels said the rich asshole had her watch Shark Week with him—the Gorilla Channel is not available in California.
“He made me sit and watch an entire documentary about shark attacks,” she said.
the rich asshole eventually got around to making a move, but since Daniels had not gotten the TV gig, she bolted.
“I’d been there for, like, four hours. And so I then was like, ‘Well, before, you know, can we talk about what’s the development?’ And he was like, ‘I’m almost there. I’ll have an answer for you next week.’ And I was like, ‘Okay, cool. Well—I guess call me next week.’ And I just took my purse and left,” she said.
Watch that part of the interview conducted by Anderson Cooper, who sat down with the porn star two weeks ago.
There may be more sex revealed later—Daniels’ attorney Michael Avenatti had previewed the interview by alleging that she was threatened by the rich asshole’s minions and tweeting a photo of a DVD that he said contained “evidence” of the affair.
Watch the rich asshole’s lonely and silent walk of shame as he arrives at the White House on #StormySunday
some rich asshole's grump, silent walk to the White House on Stormy Sunday/Screenshot
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For all his angry tweets and generally poor temperament, some rich asshole is normally happy-go-lucky when the bright lights are on and he has no obligation to answer questions.
But the normally cheery the rich asshole looked dour as he arrived back at the White House, where he will watch tonight’s bombshell 60 Minutes interview with his alleged former lover, Stormy Daniels.
He stormed toward the door of the White House, scowling and appearing to repeatedly open his mouth as though he wanted to speak before closing it again quickly.
Melania the rich asshole is staying behind at Ma-A-Lago with the couple’s son.
Stormy Daniels says her baby daughter was threatened when she spoke up on the rich asshole
Stormy Daniels during her interview with with Anderson Cooper on 60 Minutes/Screenshot
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Stormy Daniels bombshell interview is scheduled to air on 60 Minutes tonight, but a transcript is already circulating.
Much of the information was already known, but there are disturbing new details about the threats that the president’s former lover endured after she spoke up.
“I was in a parking lot, going to a fitness class with my infant daughter,” she said. “You know, the seats facing backwards in the backseat, diaper bag, you know, gettin’ all the stuff out. And a guy walked up on me and said to me, “Leave the rich asshole alone. Forget the story.” And then he leaned around and looked at my daughter and said, ‘That’s a beautiful little girl. It’d be a shame if something happened to her mom.’ And then he was gone.”
Parkland student corrects Fox: 'I’m not against the Second Amendment'
BY JOHN BOWDEN - 03/24/18 05:56 PM EDT
Parkland, Fla., shooting survivor David Hogg criticized Fox News by name on Saturday for misrepresenting his views on gun control, accusing the right-leaning news network of portraying him as against the Second Amendment.
In remarks to a Fox News reporter, Hogg said the network had "messed up" his views and those of his fellow Parkland students, 200 of which attended the "March For Our Lives" in Washington, D.C. on Saturday.
"What a lot the media, and especially Fox News, has messed up with me is they’ve made it seem like I’m trying to take away people’s guns — that I’m against the Second Amendment,” Hogg said. “My father is a retired FBI agent. I have guns in my house. I’m not against the Second Amendment.”
Hogg went on to say that he supports "common sense" reforms to both gun laws and America's mental health system, though he didn't name any specific provisions in the interview.
"I’m trying to push for common sense gun reform and mental illness reform so we can make sure that these individuals that have a criminal background that are mentally unstable and have a history of domestic violence are no longer able to get a gun," he said.
"I don’t understand what’s so hard to understand about this. We simply want to save lives and democracy, please stand with us,” Hogg said.
Hundreds of thousands of people in all 50 states held marches on Saturday against gun violence, including the more than 800,000 who organizers estimate attended the march in Washington, D.C. Hogg and his classmates from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, the site of a February mass shooting that killed 17, addressed the crowd in Washington.
During his remarks, Hogg specifically targeted Florida Sen. Marco Rubio(R), Hogg's home-state senator and a top recipient of National Rifle Association campaign contributions.
"I'm going to start off by putting this price tag right here as a reminder for you guys to know how much Marco Rubio took for every student's life in Florida," Hogg said in his speech.
POLITICS
Stormy Daniels, Flouting NDA, Details the rich asshole Affair To ‘60 Minutes’
the rich asshole “knows I’m telling the truth,” Daniels said.
Stephanie Clifford, who goes by the name Stormy Daniels, detailed her alleged affair with President some rich asshole and how she was threatened to stay silent in a highly anticipated “60 Minutes” interview with Anderson Cooper that aired Sunday night.
Daniels, who says she had a consensual and nearly year-long affair with the rich asshole in 2006 and 2007, is currently suing the president over the validity of a nondisclosure agreement she signed just before the 2016 election barring her from discussing the affair.
“It started off all about him just talking about himself,” Daniels said of the first time she met the rich asshole at a celebrity golf tournament in Lake Tahoe in July 2006. She says she poked fun of the way the rich asshole was hitting on her, trying to impress her with his own photo on a magazine cover.
“And I was like, ‘Someone should take that magazine and spank you with it,’” Daniels said. “And I’ll never forget the look on his face.”
the rich asshole allegedly compared Daniels to his daughter Ivanka before the two of them had sex. Daniels said the president did not wear a condom and she did not ask him to. Ex-Playboy playmate Karen McDougal made similar comments about her alleged affair with the rich asshole.
the rich asshole and Daniels kept in touch and saw each other after the first night they had sex but were not intimate again after their encounter in Lake Tahoe.
Daniels said that details of the affair began to leak to the press in 2011, and she gave an interview for $15,000 to a sister publication of the tabloid, In Touch. But the interview never ran and she was never paid. Daniels says an unidentified man approached and threatened her in a parking lot.
“I was in a parking lot, going to a fitness class with my infant daughter,” she said. “And a guy walked up on me and said to me, ‘Leave the rich asshole alone. Forget the story.’ And then he leaned around and looked at my daughter and said, ‘That’s a beautiful little girl. It’d be a shame if something happened to her mom.’ And then he was gone.”
Daniels says she did not go to the police because she was scared, and the threat influenced her decision to sign a nondisclosure agreement before the 2016 presidential election and accept $130,000 of what she calls “hush money” from the rich asshole’s lawyer, Michael Cohen.
“I was concerned for my family and their safety,” she said.
Though the adult film star previously denied the affair, she’s now arguing that she should be released from the agreement and be free to speak publicly of her former relationship with the rich asshole as the president did not sign the document.
Cohen has admitted to paying Daniels $130,000. the rich asshole’s lawyers are threatening to make her pay $1 million every time she violates the nondisclosure agreement. The White House has denied any affair occurred.
“He knows I’m telling the truth,” Daniels said of the president.
The adult film star and her lawyer Michael Avenatti have claimed before she has photographic evidence of her affair with the rich asshole.
However, during the “60 Minutes” interview, both Daniels and Avenatti would not definitively say if they had picture evidence of the affair.
“My attorney has recommended that I don’t discuss those things,” she said.
In the latest sign of disarray in President the rich asshole’s legal team, a lawyer who he said last week would come on board to help handle his response to special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s Russia investigation will no longer be part of the effort.
The lawyer, Joseph diGenova, has often vehemently defended the president on Fox News and cast the Mueller probe as a conspiracy against him. the rich asshole enjoyed the TV appearances and wanted diGenova on his team even though he did not know him, officials say.
But in a statement on Sunday, a spokesman for the rich asshole’s legal team said both diGenova and his wife, Victoria Toensing, who is also a lawyer, would not be working on the Russia probe.
“The President is disappointed that conflicts prevent Joe diGenova and Victoria Toensing from joining his Special Counsel legal team,” said Jay Sekulow, counsel to the rich asshole. “However, those conflicts do not prevent them from assisting the President in other legal matters. The President looks forward to working with them.”
the rich asshole met with diGenova in person on Thursday after his hire was announced. Three days later, diGenova’s hiring has unraveled.
the rich asshole’s legal team has now shrunk to two: Ty Cobb, a White House lawyer who does not personally represent the president and occasionally draws grumbles from him, and Sekulow, an outside conservative attorney and radio host.
John Dowd, who was the rich asshole’s top attorney handling the Russia probe, resigned Thursday morning amid strategy disputes with the president.
He had been the rich asshole’s main point of contact with Mueller’s office and had been helping to negotiate the terms for an interview between the president and Mueller’s team as it examines whether the rich asshole obstructed justice by seeking to shut down the investigation.
the rich asshole had not closely researched diGenova or even consulted with top aides, including Chief of Staff John F. Kelly and White House Counsel Donald McGahn, before hiring him.
the rich asshole had hoped diGenova could serve as a surrogate in television interviews and play the role of attack dog in criticizing the Mueller probe.
Sekulow approached diGenova two weeks ago about joining the team, but it turned out that he and his wife run a law firm that represents clients with interests that would conflict with those of the president.
One is Mark Corallo, a former spokesman for the rich asshole’s legal team and a witness in the Mueller investigation. He resigned in the wake of a dispute over the president’s role in a misleading statement about his campaign aides’ meeting with a Russian lawyer offering “dirt” on 2016 opponent Hillary Clinton.
In a burst of tweets early Sunday morning, the rich asshole insisted he is “very happy” with his existing legal team.
the rich asshole said that many “lawyers and top law firms want to represent me in the Russia case” and that people should not “believe the Fake News narrative that it is hard to find a lawyer who wants to take this on.”
“Fame & fortune will NEVER be turned down by a lawyer, though some are conflicted,” the president said, adding that “there was NO COLLUSION with Russia.”
the rich asshole’s struggles are reminiscent of his difficulties in the spring of 2017, when he was first seeking new lawyers to represent him in the Russia probe. He interviewed a half-dozen high-profile legal stars in the white-collar defense bar, including Emmet T. Flood, Brendan V. Sullivan Jr. and A.B. Culvahouse Jr.; all of them declined.
Jenna Johnson contributed to this report.
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March 25, 2018
the rich asshole insists that 'many' lawyers want to represent him in the Russia case. Apparently, Joe diGenova is not one of them.
the rich asshole continues to find new ways to fail. Less than one week after hiring lawyer Joe diGenova, the move imploded because the rich asshole didn’t vet him beyond watching him on Fox News.
First thing Sunday morning, the rich asshole lashed out at the media for reporting on the turmoil around his legal team. He insisted that “many” top lawyers would love to represent him in special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation.
But just a few hours later, it became clear what was behind the rich asshole’s tantrum.
The White House announced that Fox News regular diGenova would not be joining the rotation after all.
“The President is disappointed that conflicts prevent Joe diGenova and Victoria Toensing from joining his Special Counsel legal team,” said Jay Sekulow, counsel to the rich asshole. “However, those conflicts do not prevent them from assisting the President in other legal matters. The President looks forward to working with them.”
This failure comes barely six days after diGenova was hired. And according to the Washington Post, it’s due to the fact that the rich asshole “had not closely researched diGenova or even consulted with top aides, including Chief of Staff John F. Kelly and White House counsel Donald McGahn, before hiring him.”
Instead, the rich asshole just decided to hire diGenova because he “enjoyed” the attorney’s conspiracy-minded Fox News appearances.
This comes after lead attorney John Dowd’s resignation in frustration. And it follows reports that two other top lawyers have spurned offers to join the team. White House counsel Don McGahn is reportedly looking for the exit, as well.
That leaves the rich asshole with only Sekulow and Ty Cobb on his legal team. And he has a dwindling roster of potential replacements for attorneys who have bolted because the rich asshole refuses to take their advice.
He may look to Fox News for yet another hire. But if he does, he’s likely to find someone who is pretty sure the rich asshole will lie his way into a perjury charge.
Is the rich asshole suffering from untreated neurosyphilis? New details add steam to theory of his erratic behavior
some rich asshole on Oprah in the 1980s/Screenshot
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The cause of some rich asshole’s erratic behavior has been the subject of rampant speculation for years.
Some have pointed to the hair-loss drug the rich asshole has admitted to taking, others have pointed to a 1992 article in Spy magazine which alleged that the rich asshole was prescribed amphetamines as diet pills by a notorious Manhattan doctor.
This week, two women have come forward with allegations that the rich asshole had unprotected sex with them while he was married. Ex-Playboy model Karen McDougal and porn star Stormy Daniels have both said the rich asshole had unprotected sex with them during the same weekend in Lake Tahoe.
That has led to chatter about an old theory that the rich asshole’s behavior may be tied to untreated syphilis.
“Presidential Proclamation on Adjusting Imports of Aluminum into the United States”
Proclamation: 45.wh.gov/Aluminum
Remarks: 45.wh.gov/SteelAluminumR… pic.twitter.com/rcrkpvChkz
Mr. President,
Please arrange a time to meet with me. I believe you may have contracted syphilis from your days in “Vietnam”.
Neurosyphilis explains many of your symptoms: sudden changes in personality & mental stability, confusion, memory problems, & poor concentration
-House
Trump's new attorney: "I thought I was crazy enough to take this job, but apparently I'm not."twitter.com/AdamParkhomenk…
This is not a new theory. In a February 2017 article for The New Republic, a California doctor posited that the rich asshole may have untreated late-stage neurosyphilis.
“Commonly recognized symptoms include irritability, loss of ability to concentrate, delusional thinking, and grandiosity. Memory, insight, and judgment can become impaired. Insomnia may occur. Visual problems may develop, including the inability of pupils to react to the light. This, along other ocular pathology, can result in photophobia, dimming of vision, and squinting. All of these things have been observed in the rich asshole.”
A Swedish doctor joked about the same thing on Twitter. Comedian Chelsea Handler went to investigate the theory.
the rich asshole has publicly discussed this possibility given his lifestyle. In 1997, the rich asshole joked that avoiding STDs was “my personal Vietnam.”
“It is a dangerous world out there—it’s scary, like Vietnam. Sort of like the Vietnam era. It is my personal Vietnam. I feel like a great and very brave solider.”
Other politicians who have been theorized to have untreated neurosyphilis include Hitler , Ugandan cannibal Idi Amin and Mussolini.
It’s worth pointing out that the stigma around STDs is silly and dangerous, and that if the rich asshole has syphilis he could be cheaply and efficiently treated with Penicillin
Seven things to watch for in the Stormy Daniels interview
BY MAX GREENWOOD - 03/25/18 02:55 PM EDT
Stormy Daniels's interview with CBS's "60 Minutes" is set to air Sunday night, raising questions about what the adult-film actress could reveal about her alleged affair with President the rich asshole.
The interview has so far been shrouded in mystery. Even Daniels's lawyer, Michael Avenatti, acknowledged on Sunday that he is not entirely sure what will be included in the segment. He has also teased the possibility that Daniels will unveil hard evidence to back up her claims.
Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, alleges that she carried on an affair with the rich asshole in 2006 and was paid to remain silent about the matter as the real estate mogul sought the presidency in 2016.
Hanging over the interview are questions about whether she will throw out a nondisclosure agreement (NDA) with the rich asshole and speak openly about the alleged affair, and what the segment could mean for her ongoing lawsuit.
Here are seven things to watch for in Daniels's interview:
1. Will she give details about the nondisclosure agreement?
Daniels has never spoken publicly about the nondisclosure agreement that purportedly bars her from speaking about her alleged affair with the rich asshole.
But a lawsuit filed by Daniels earlier this month confirmed the existence of such a document, arguing that it is invalid because it was never co-signed by the rich asshole himself.
Whether Daniels will discuss the details of the agreement in the "60 Minutes" interview remains to be seen. Her lawsuit seeking to void the contract is still pending, and NDAs often prohibit signatories from speaking about the agreements.
Daniels has hinted that is true of her NDA. During an interview with late-night host Jimmy Kimmel in January, Kimmel pointed out that Daniels would likely be barred from discussing the agreement if it, in fact, existed.
"You're so smart, Jimmy," was her cagey response.
2. Will she talk openly about the alleged affair?
Daniels has implied she was paid $130,000 by the rich asshole's personal attorney Michael Cohen weeks before the 2016 presidential election to keep quiet about the alleged affair.
Speaking openly about her claims would certainly violate the terms of the disputed NDA, and could subject Daniels to legal penalties.
In court papers filed earlier this month, the rich asshole's lawyers said that Daniels could face up to $20 million in damages for violating the terms of the agreement.
One question that remains is whether Daniels could toss out the NDA completely in her "60 Minutes" interview, and provide details about her alleged relationship with the president. The last time she spoke about it was 2011, when she gave an interview to In Touch magazine that wasn't published until this year.
3. Will she mention possible video or photographic evidence?
Avenatti has repeatedly hinted that video or photographic evidence of Daniels's alleged affair with the rich asshole exists.
The March 6 lawsuit filed by Daniels to void the nondisclosure agreement with the rich asshole refers to "certain still images and/or text messages which were authored by or relate to" the president. While the NDA reportedly required her to turn over such material and get rid of her own copies, Avenatti has suggested that Daniels may have retained it.
Avenatti hinted this week that he may be in possession of such material, tweeting a cryptic photo of a compact disc inside of what appeared to be a safe.
"If 'a picture is worth a thousand words,' how many words is this worth?????" he wrote on Twitter.
If “a picture is worth a thousand words,” how many words is this worth?????#60minutes #pleasedenyit #basta
4. Will she address whether she was physically threatened?
Avenatti prompted questions earlier this month when he said that Daniels had been threatened with physical harm in connection with the alleged affair with the rich asshole.
Asked on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" whether Daniels had been physically threatened, Avenatti bluntly replied, "yes."
Exactly who may have threatened Daniels or what the nature of those threats may have been is unclear, and Avenatti has declined to discuss the matter in greater detail.
Daniels herself has not addressed any potential physical threats that she may have gotten, leaving open whether she will discuss the topic in the "60 Minutes" interview.
5. Will she discuss whether the rich asshole knew about the $130K payment?
Cohen himself has acknowledged making the payment to Daniels, but has insisted that the money came from his personal funds and that the rich asshole was never made aware of the transaction.
White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders has said she does not believe the rich asshole knew about the payment.
But Avenatti has argued otherwise, saying the fact that Cohen used a the rich asshole Organization email address backs up his claim that the real estate mogul was aware of the transaction.
In an interview on "Morning Joe" last week, Avenatti also suggested that he had more evidence that the rich asshole knew about the payment. Asked by Willie Geist if his "belief that the president directed this payment is based on more than a hunch," Avenatti simply replied, "yes," but declined to provide any evidence.
6. Why does she want to talk about the affair now?
Daniels's lawsuit claims she expressed interest in discussing the alleged affair publicly in 2016 after The Washington Post published a 2005 "Access Hollywood" tape in which the rich asshole could be heard boasting about groping and kissing women without their permission.
It was at this point that Cohen and the rich asshole "aggressively sought to silence Ms. Clifford," according to the lawsuit, which claims that the $130,000 payment and nondisclosure agreement soon followed.
But for more than a year after that, Daniels was silent about the alleged affair, and it was only in recent months that the accusations resurfaced.
One thing to watch for is whether Daniels addresses her motives in the "60 Minutes" interview, or answers questions about what she hopes will happen next.
7. What happens next?
There may be hints of what Daniels's next steps are in the interview. A planned court hearing for Daniels's lawsuit is still months away. However, whatever Daniels reveals in the interview may force the hand of the rich asshole's own legal team.
After news broke that CBS intended to air the "60 Minutes" segment with Daniels, speculation swirled that the rich asshole's lawyers would take legal action seeking to block the broadcast.
Such legal action would have been unlikely to proceed, because courts rarely allow such prior restraint of speech, particularly regarding the news media.
But the rich asshole’s legal team has already signaled they’re willing to fight Daniels on her claims. They reportedly asked for a temporary restraining order against her last month and have asked to transfer the lawsuit from California state court to a federal court in Los Angeles.
But how the rich asshole and his lawyers respond to the interview after it airs will be closely watched.
By
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March 25, 2018
The rich asshole administration's lies about the tax scam aren't fooling anyone — not even Fox News host Chris Wallace.
Republicans have pinned their slim hopes for the midterms on the passage of the rich asshole’s tax scam. But even Chris Wallace, Fox News’ highest-profile news anchor, isn’t buying it.
On “Fox News Sunday,” Wallace grilled Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin on the effects of the Republican tax scam, which have overwhelmingly benefited the wealthy.
“When the corporate tax bill was passed, you and the president promised that most of the benefits were going to go to workers,” Wallace said. “But that’s not, in fact, what has happened so far.”
Wallace pointed to the actual effects of the bill, noting that “so far, the tax cuts are going to shareholders. They’re not going to workers.”
“We’re only a couple of months into this,” Mnuchin whined in response. And he tried to defend one of the bill’s features as a benefit to “pensions and other large investors, who then invest that capital back into companies that need the capital.”
“OK, so are you disappointed that $5 billion is going to workers and $150 billion is going to shareholders?” Wallace pressed.
“It’s not — it’s not an equivalent comparison,” Mnuchin replied.
Just as Democrats — and many of the CEOs — predicted, the $1.5 trillion windfall has not helped to create jobs or significantly increase wages.
Rather, it has benefited large corporations and the wealthy. One company even bragged about using the extra money to fund over 5,000 layoffs.
That’s why Republicans were forced to abandon their tax scam message during their failed effort to hold onto a Republican seat in Pennsylvania’s 18th district.
The tax scam’s failure leaves the GOP with nothing to run on in 2018, and a toxic party figurehead in the rich asshole to “help” them avoid getting wiped out. But even the rich asshole himself is already making up excuses for the looming losses.
Biden supporters are thrilled over his fight with the rich asshole
BY AMIE PARNES - 03/25/18 10:30 AM EDT
Joe Biden is voicing regret for suggesting he wanted to have a schoolyard fight with President the rich asshole, stark words that provoked the president and stoked the idea that the former vice president wants to challenge the rich asshole in 2020.
“I shouldn’t have said what I said,” Biden told the "Pod Save America" podcast on Friday. “I shouldn’t have brought it up again because I don’t want to get down in the mosh pit with this guy.”
the rich asshole responded in kind on Twitter Thursday, writing, “Crazy Joe Biden is trying to act like a tough guy. Actually, he is weak, both mentally and physically, and yet he threatens me, for the second time, with physical assault."
“He doesn’t know me, but he would go down fast and hard, crying all the way,” the rich asshole continued in the tweet. “Don’t threaten people Joe!”
A White House spokesman did not respond to a request for comment on the president’s tweet.
Biden allies say that the rich asshole’s response is a political gift of sorts, and shows that Biden “unnerves the President,” as one Biden World source put it.
It’s only heightened speculation that Biden, 75, is serious about challenging the rich asshole.
The former vice president sat out the 2016 presidential race, and has heard supporters say he would have defeated the rich asshole if he’d been in the running. the rich asshole triumphed over Democrat Hillary Clinton by winning the states of Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin — states Biden sees as practically his political base.
Biden is still mulling a the rich asshole challenge.
He’s touring the country to promote his book “Promise Me, Dad.” He has also been campaigning for candidates including Conor Lamb, the Pennsylvania Democrat who won a special election for the House earlier this month. The Hill reported earlier this month that Biden is expected to do another 30 to 40 events for Democratic House candidates, as he is a significant draw across the country.
Sources close to the vice president say there was no strategy behind Biden’s initial comments and that he wasn't trying to provoke the president.
Instead, they suggested Biden just can’t help himself.
“He’s still pretty disgusted by the 'Access Hollywood' comments,” said one source close to the former vice president, adding that his comments simply underscore an issue “he cares about and is passionate about.”
Biden noted that he’s made similar comments about a high school fight with the rich asshole when he had been asked about the rich asshole’s comments on the “Access Hollywood” tape. In both cases, he emphasized that he was speculating about a fight in high school and was not actually suggesting the two men, both in their 70s, physically fight.
“Now the idea that I would actually physically get in a contest with the president of the United States or anyone else is not what I said and it's not what this is about,” Biden said on the podcast before calling the rich asshole's behavior “vulgar.”
Biden is just the latest potential 2020 Democratic candidate to have publicly feuded with the rich asshole, following both Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand (N.Y.) and Elizabeth Warren (Mass.).
In each case, a rich asshole insult or taunt was turned into a fundraiser pitch to Democrats eager to resist the president.
“The fundraising email practically writes itself,” the Biden World source said.
Even Republicans saw the comments as a positive for Biden.
“He's the Democrats' best hope right now and he's showing he's not afraid to take on President the rich asshole,” said Shermichael Singleton, a GOP strategist.
Allies say the comments hint that Biden is anxious to jump into a race with the rich asshole.
“He still feels like he’s the one who can take him down,” one former aide said. “He thinks he’s the guy who could have done that in 2016 so we wouldn’t be in this mess.”
Brad Bannon, a Democratic strategist, said the squabble “works well” for Biden and elevates him over 2020 contenders.
“It reinforces his reputation for being outspoken, even though it gets him into trouble sometimes,” Bannon said. “Voters like politicians like Biden who say what they think without being politically correct. It worked for the rich asshole in 2016. [Hillary Clinton] always sounded programmed so people didn't see her as authentic. That won’t be a problem for Joe.”
Democratic strategist Eric Jotkoff, who worked for former President Obama’s campaign in 2012 and Clinton’s campaign in 2008, said Biden is doing what Democrats want to see their party leaders do: go on the offensive with the rich asshole.
“He knows the way to take on a schoolyard bully is to call his bluff, which is exactly what he is doing here,” Jotkoff said.
At the same time, one strategist warned that Biden is dangerously close to going over the line. “If he’s going to run, he needs to watch these kinds of moments closely,” the strategist said.
The war of words also evoked a similar response from those in the media who cover politics. CNN anchor Jake Tapper pointed to the spat on Thursday and said neither man was setting a good example for his children.
“This is not how leaders are supposed to talk,” he said.
POLITICS
the rich asshole Says ‘Many Lawyers Want To Represent Me’ Even As Legal Team Shrinks
Two lawyers who were slated to join his legal team — including Joe diGenova — have now bowed out.
President some rich asshole on Sunday lashed out at suggestions that he was having difficulty hiring lawyers to help him handle the Russia probe ― even as news emerged that he would not be hiring two attorneys who’d recently been tapped to join his embattled legal team.
The New York Times reported on Sunday that lawyers Joe diGenova, who is known for his aggressive style and was supposed to replace the rich asshole’s top attorney, and diGenova’s wife, Victoria Toensing, would not be joining the legal team because of unspecified “conflicts.”
Jay Sekulow, one of the rich asshole’s lawyers, said in a statement that the president was “disappointed” by the development, but that the conflicts “do not prevent” the two from assisting “in other legal matters.” Sekulow did not detail what those other matters might be.
DiGenova has questioned the legitimacy of special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election, and the rich asshole allies had applauded the prospect of him coming to the president’s defense.
Before the news broke about diGenova and Toensing ―- and after a conspicuous Twitter silence on Saturday as hundreds of thousands of protesters nationwide called for tougher gun laws ― the rich asshole returned to his usual prolific posting on Sunday to lambast the coverage of his alleged attorney troubles. He called such reports “Fake News.”
Several news outlets, including the Times, The Washington Post and Reuters, reported late last week that the president was struggling to find good defense lawyers as Mueller intensifies his probe.
The Post reported that several top attorneys, including former Solicitor General Theodore Olson, had refused to represent the president ― whose legal team appears to be in disarray following the resignation last week of its lead lawyer, John Dowd.
In his Sunday tweets, the rich asshole said “many lawyers and top law firms want to represent me in the Russia case.”
He added that “fame & fortune will NEVER be turned down by a lawyer,” though he did acknowledge that “some are conflicted.”
“Besides, there was NO COLLUSION with Russia,” the president concluded, “except by Crooked Hillary and the Dems!”
the rich asshole will fire another troubled cabinet member this week: report
David Shulkin/Screenshot
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some rich asshole will fire David Shulkin, the head of the VA, sometime this week, CNN reported this afternoon.
The Veterans Affairs Secretary is in trouble over accepting airfare for his wife and Wimbledon tickets. Shulkin reportedly spent $122,000 on the trip.
According to the CNN report, the rich asshole made the decision to fire Shulkin while chatting with people during his weekend at Mar-A-Lago.
the rich asshole has fired several cabinet members in the past few weeks.
Panicky the rich asshole calling friends to gauge how Stormy Daniels’ 60 Minutes bombshells will hurt his poll numbers: report
Adult film actress Stormy Daniels (left, via Wikimedia Commons) and President some rich asshole (right, via screengrab).
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According to a report in the Washington Post, some rich asshole is worried about what will come out about him in a 60 Minutes interview with adult film star Stormy Daniels on Sunday night, with the ratings and poll-obsessed president fearing his already shaky poll numbers could collapse even further.
With the lawyer for the porn star touting possible photos or video on a DVD that he has promoted on Twitter — the president has reportedly been complaining all week about the media coverage the actress, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, has been receiving.
the rich asshole has particularly taken notice of Daniels’ attorney, Michael Avenatti, who has been a continuous presence on cable news talk shows.
According to the report, the rich asshole has been on the phones with friends and outside advisers attempting to gauge how much damage he’ll take on should the woman, who claims she had an affair with him, reveal details or photos that could possibly shake his administration more than an FBI investigation into his presidential campaign.
Sources note that the rich asshole is particularly worried about his poll numbers plummeting even further if his base abandons him.
the rich asshole is returning to the White House on Sunday prior to the highly anticipated CBS interview — with his wife, Melania, remaining at their Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida for spring break with their youngest son, Barron.
GOPer goes ballistic over suggestion the rich asshole forced Stormy to have abortion: ‘This is none of our business’
Wendy Murphy, Fredricka Whitfield and Amy Kremer appear on CNN.
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Amy Kremer, a former tea party leader and failed GOP congressional candidate, on Sunday insisted that the news media had “no business” talking about President some rich asshole’s alleged affair with adult film star Stormy Daniels — even if he had tried to force her to have an abortion.
Hours before CBS was set to air an interview with the adult film actress — whose real name is Stephanie Clifford — CNN host Fredricka Whitfield noted that the rich asshole had been uncharacteristically silent on the matter.
“Anybody who’s been through litigation knows you don’t go out and talk about it,” Kremer opined. “This is not a story to his base. The left desperately wants to bring down this president and I don’t think this is going to do it. We voted for him, not because he was going to be our pastor or because he was going to be our husband. We voted for him because he was a businessman that would fight back.”
Former prosecutor Wendy Murphy pointed out that conservatives had taken a different tone when President Bill Clinton had an affair with a White House intern.
“It was all about the morality of the president, his leadership,” she recalled. “[the rich asshole] faces the possibility of testifying under oath. That potentially means being forced to answer questions about his relationship with these women — some of them non-consensual. And if he’s forced to answer those questions, he could be in what we know of as a perjury trap.”
Murphy predicted that evangelicals could begin to turn against the rich asshole if Clifford reveals that she was forced to terminate a pregnancy as a result of the alleged affair.
“What if there’s more to the story?” Murphy said. “There are two provisions in the non-disclosure agreement he signed with Stormy Daniels that make reference to pregnancy and children. Two different provisions. There are statements out there that he had unprotected sex. What if it comes out that there was a pregnancy and that there was a request for the woman to terminate the pregnancy?”
“This is none of our business!” Kremer exclaimed. “This was a consensual relationship between two consenting adults! We have no business even talking about this!”
Clifford’s attorney, Michael J. Avenatti, told The Wrap that the NDA included “boilerplate language” about paternity.
Watch the video below from CNN.
AM Joy panel mocks the rich asshole’s inability to hire lawyers: Nobody wants to work with ‘Yosemite Sam and My Cousin Vinny’
MSNBC host Joy Reid -- screenshot
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Reacting to President some rich asshole dismissing two attorneys, more famous for their conservative bomb-throwing on television than for their legal chops, before they could even pitch in to help with the president’s legal travails, AM Joy host Joy Reid mocked the rich asshole’s inability to find representation that will stick around.
Earlier in the week the rich asshole’s personal lawyer, John Dowd, bailed on the president, reportedly differing with the president’s desire to sit down with special counsel Robert Mueller. Following Dowd’s departure, the president announced that he had retained the services of former Fox pundit Joe diGenova and his wife, Victoria Toensing — which came to an abrupt end on Sunday morning when another of the rich asshole’s lawyers said they weren’t coming onboard due to unspecified “conflicts.”
Adding to the chaos, hours before the announcement of the departures, the rich asshole was boasting on Twitter that lawyers are beating down his door to represent him because of his “fame and fortune.”
With one report calling the departure of the diGenova and Toensing the result of “bad chemistry” with the rich asshole, host Reid asked Georgetown law professor Paul Butler why the rich asshole is having difficulties hanging on to lawyers.
“Would you represent some rich asshole?” he asked rhetorically. “The answer for most of us is no, and not because of potential criminal exposure. We lawyers actually like that kind of thing. It’s because he has horrendous judgment on his own and he doesn’t listen to lawyers. So, again, the go-to lawyers in D.C.? Frankly, these two lawyers are not on that list, so, I don’t know who he is going to represent him on these very serious charges.”
“Not for this kind of white collar crime,” Butler added. “They’re lawyers who had their day a while ago. They’re pundits — not that there’s anything wrong with being a lawyer pundit.”
National security analyst Malcolm Nance then jumped into the fray.
“He [the rich asshole] cannot be trusted to say what a lawyer coaches him to say when he comes into the witness box,” Nance explained. “He has his own way of wanting to dominate the scene. First thing he does is, he lies just right out of the box, then he tries to dissemble. And then he uses some other form of disinformation. Finally he does this arrogant confession at the end of it. What lawyer would want to have to handle that?”
“Between him hiring Yosemite Sam and My Cousin Vinny, it’s amazing that he’s going to get anyone to work for him,” Nance quipped.
“Who else are some rich asshole and his folks talking to? Because he’s running out of people to call in Washington, D.C,” Reid remarked.
You can watch the video below via MSNBC:
Stormy Daniels attorney: We’re not sure what CBS will air tonight
BY LUIS SANCHEZ - 03/25/18 11:16 AM EDT
Stormy Daniels’s lawyer, Michael Avenatti, said he is not sure what will air on CBS’s highly-anticipated “60 Minutes” interview with Daniels on Sunday night.
The adult-film star recorded an interview with the show weeks ago in which she reportedly shares details of her claims about an affair with President the rich asshole.
Avenatti said on Twitter Sunday that he and Daniels are unsure what will air and that a lot of the interview will have to be cut down because of time restraints. He hinted that at least some of the evidence he and Daniels claim to have will be included.
Note: (a) not all of our evidence will be mentioned/displayed tonight – that would be foolish; (b) we are not sure what CBS will include but we know a lot from the full interview will have to be cut bc of the time allowed; (c) tonight is not the end – it’s the beginning. #basta
Following reports that Daniels had recorded an interview with “60 Minutes,” the rich asshole’s lawyers reportedly began working to block the segment from airing.
The lawyers told Daniels she could be liable for millions of dollars if she broke a nondisclosure agreement she signed that allegedly prevents her from speaking about her claims of an affair with the rich asshole more than a decade ago.
Daniels’s lawyer is arguing that the contract isn’t binding because the president never signed it. Daniels was paid $130,000 by the rich asshole's personal lawyer in the weeks before the 2016 election, reportedly as part of the agreement.
On Thursday, Avenatti hinted that he may have hard evidence of Daniels’s affair with the rich asshole by posting a photo on Twitter of what appeared to be a DVD.
CBS confirmed on Wednesday that “60 Minutes” will air the interview with Daniels on Sunday at 7 p.m.
Melania the rich asshole to stay behind in Mar-a-Lago as Stormy Daniels’ 60 Minutes interview airs
President some rich asshole and First Lady Melania the rich asshole reflect during a moment of silence at the 9/11 Observance Ceremony at the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., Sept. 11, 2017. (DOD photo by Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Dominique A. Pineiro)
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NBC is reporting that First Lady Melania the rich asshole will be staying behind at the family’s luxurious Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida as part of her “spring break tradition” while the president flies back to Washington D.C. on Sunday.
According to NBC’s Geoff Bennett, the two will therefore not be in the same room when the highly anticipated Stormy Daniels interview will be broadcast on 60 Minutes.
“President the rich asshole and the First Lady won’t be together when Stormy Daniels’ @60Minutes interview airs tonight. the rich asshole returns to Washington around 6:30PM, but the White House says Melania ‘will be staying in Florida as is their tradition for spring break,'” tweeted Bennett.
ABC’s Tara Palmieri confirmed the report, also tweeting, “President the rich asshole and Melania will not be together when the interview airs. He’s leaving for the White House today and she’ll stay behind with their son Barron.”
You can see the tweets below:
President Trump and the First Lady won't be together when Stormy Daniels' @60Minutes interview airs tonight. Trump returns to Washington around 6:30PM, but the White House says Melania "will be staying in Florida as is their tradition for spring break."
President Trump and Melania will not be together when the interview airs. He's leaving for the White House today and she'll stay behind with their son Barron. The First Lady's office told @meridithmcgraw it's part of their "spring break tradition" twitter.com/tarapalmeri/st…
Eric Bolling says the rich asshole should humiliate 3-star general H.R. McMaster: ‘Do a perp walk out of the White House’
Eric Bolling appears on CNN (screen grab)
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Former Fox News host Eric Bolling on Sunday suggested that President some rich asshole should humiliate National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster because he is suspected of leaking embarrassing White House information.
In a interview on CNN, the former Fox News host explained why he had offered on Twitter to work for the rich asshole administration for $1 a year.
Bolling stated that after he was fired by Fox News for alleged sexual harassment, the rich asshole called him to express support.
“He said, ‘I’m with you,'” Bolling recalled. “I said, ‘Would you mind the next time I’m in D.C., we can sit down and talk?’ And sure enough, I’ve had three or four one-on-one conversations with him.”
According to the former Fox News personality, the rich asshole has not been served well by people like McMaster, who is a three-star general but has been forced into retirement by the rich asshole administration. He is expected to be replaced by Fox News commentator John Bolton.
“I got really upset,” Bolling said. “You really need to stop the leaks. These leaks are ridiculous. You can’t have a conversation without five minutes later, the press getting his reaction to a conversation he had with a world leader — the press is already printing, they’re talking about it! We’re talking about it on TV!”
“Stop the leaks, plug the leaks, get rid of the people who are leaking in a very, very public way,” he insisted. “McMaster was — I don’t know — I guess he resigned. For me, it would be a little bit more tough. If he was — I’m not saying he was — but if he was a leaker, go public with him. Do a perp walk out of the White House. Have the cameras following him.”
Bolling argued that humiliating the leaker would stop them from being offered a “better gig” at a news network.
“What if you have a boss that is erratic?” CNN host Brian Stelter wondered. “You don’t think they should leak to warn the country?”
“I don’t think anything should be leaked out of the White House,” Bolling replied.
Watch the video below from CNN.
DiGenova will not join the rich asshole’s legal team
BY LUIS SANCHEZ - 03/25/18 11:44 AM EDT
President the rich asshole will not be hiring Washington lawyer Joseph diGenova due to "conflicts," The Associated Press reported.
the rich asshole’s personal attorney Jay Sekulow announced on Sunday that the president won’t hire diGenova or his wife, Victoria Toensing, for the legal team assembled to defend him in the special counsel investigation.
“The president is disappointed that conflicts prevent Joe diGenova and Victoria Toensing from joining the president’s special counsel legal team,” Sekulow said in a statement on Sunday obtained by The New York Times. “However, those conflicts do not prevent them from assisting the president in other legal matters. The president looks forward to working with them.”
DiGenova's hiring was announced on Monday but later reports noted that conflicts of interest could prevent him from working for the rich asshole.
His hiring came the same week as the resignation of John Dowd, who led the president’s team countering special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russia's election meddling.
DiGenova had been considered a front-runner to replace Dowd.
the rich asshole, who had largely stayed quiet about Mueller, has begun in recent days to criticize him by name, prompting many to worry that he could fire the special counsel.
the rich asshole dumps latest additions to legal team due to conflicts of interest: report
Attorney Joseph E. diGenova (Screen cap).
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Two attorneys who were supposed to join President some rich asshole’s personal legal team this week will not be joining the president’s depleted staff of lawyers due to “conflicts,” reports the New York Times.
In a statement issued Sunday morning, the rich asshole attorney Jay Sekulow said former Fox pundit Joe diGenova and his wife, Victoria Toensing, will not be working with the president in an official capacity.
“The president is disappointed that conflicts prevent Joe diGenova and Victoria Toensing from joining the president’s special counsel legal team,” Sekulow explained. “However, those conflicts do not prevent them from assisting the president in other legal matters. The president looks forward to working with them.”
Earlier in the week it was reported that the rich asshole didn’t care for diGenova after meeting with him in person in the Oval Office.
Ouch: Fox’s Chris Wallace is forced to explain ‘line-item veto’ to Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin
Steve Mnuchin appears on Fox News (screen grab)
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Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin got a lesson in civics on Sunday when Fox News host Chris Wallace was forced to explain why President some rich asshole cannot single out certain parts of bills to veto if he doesn’t like them.
During an interview on Fox News Sunday, Mnuchin complained that Democrats had negotiated for an increase in non-defense spending as a part of the omnibus budget bill.
“That’s going to happen next time,” Wallace pointed out. “When the next spending bill comes up in October, they’re going to be demanding parity as well. I’m not saying it’s right or wrong, but it is reality.”
“It doesn’t need to be reality,” Mnuchin opined. “I think they should give the president a line-item veto.”
“That was ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court,” Wallace noted.
“Well again, Congress could pass a rule, okay, that allows them to do it,” Mnuchin replied.
“No, no,” Wallace interrupted. “It would have to be a constitutional amendment.”
Mnuchin accused Wallace of trying to “get into a debate.”
“There’s different ways of doing this,” he charged, quickly changing the subject. “My comment is, it’s clear what happened. The Democrats, in order to get us military spending, demanded a massive increase in non-military spending. And the president made the decision this time that that was worth it because military spending, given what’s going on in Iran, in North Korea, in Venezuela, in Russia — all around the world where we’re using sanctions. We need to make sure we have a military that has the necessary resources.”
Watch the video below from Fox News.
Coulter slams the rich asshole: We thought we were getting a negotiator
BY LUIS SANCHEZ - 03/25/18 12:13 PM EDT
Conservative commentator Ann Coulter on Saturday criticized President the rich asshole's negotiation skills after he signed the $1.3 trillion spending bill.
“We thought that perhaps he was not the world’s greatest negotiator but a negotiator and we got nothing,” Coulter told Fox News’s Jeanine Pirro, who defended the rich asshole.
Coulter said the president is betraying the promise he made during his presidential campaign to build a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border.
The omnibus spending bill that was recent passed by Congress and signed into law by the rich asshole contained just $1.6 billion in funding for the rich asshole's wall, dedicated to shoring up current fencing. the rich asshole had asked for $25 billion over 10 years to fund the wall.
“There was only one guy who said at every speech, at every rally, for two years that he would build the wall,” Coulter said. “He has now signed a bill to prohibit building the wall.”
Pirro defended the president, saying the omnibus bill passed last week turned out the way it did not because of the rich asshole but because “the Republicans didn’t care enough.”
“But we knew that. We knew that from the rich asshole’s campaign. We knew they were swine,” Coulter responded. Coulter, a supporter of the rich asshole during the campaign, has since become an outspoken critic.
Coulter said the argument that the rich asshole needed to sign the omnibus for national security reasons is not true because the lack of a border wall is the biggest security issue today.
“There is no more crucial attack on our national defense than the fact that we don’t have a wall,” Coulter argued.
“He has money to spend on national defense and this is a much bigger problem of national defense,” Coulter added.
Coulter argued that if the rich asshole wanted to build a wall and strengthen border security he could do it under his powers as commander in chief.
“The fact that he signed this omnibus bill is the last straw and just says he never wanted to do it,” Coulter said. the rich asshole in signing the bill pledged to "never sign another bill like this again.”
the rich asshole's mistake: Choosing golf club over America's children
(CNN)"Our children are dying! the rich asshole is golfing!" Those seven words, which appeared on one of the thousands of signs at Saturday's "March for Our Lives" rally in Washington, D.C., succinctly summed up the sentiment of so many. As one high school student told CNN's Ana Cabrera on Saturday night, the rich asshole should've been in the nation's capital -- not at Mar-a-Lago, his private Florida estate.
While we didn't hear from the rich asshole regarding the rally, the White House did issue a statement offering support: "We applaud the many courageous young Americans exercising their First Amendment rights today," it read, adding, "Keeping our children safe is a top priority of the President's."
But if keeping our children's safe was truly the rich asshole's "top priority," why did he play golf instead of attend? After all, it's not as if the rich asshole has not had plenty of opportunities to play golf at one of his properties -- he's spent over 100 days at his golf properties since assuming office.
The bottom line is that the rich asshole should have appeared at the rally and spoken to these young Americans. Sure, the rich asshole would've been booed by some, but no doubt he would've been cheered by many others. And even those in the crowd who disagreed with the rich asshole politically may have given him some respect if he made it clear he was committed to enacting laws that would save student lives.
To make matters worse, not only did the rich asshole not attend the rally, his motorcade driving him to play golf at his country club reportedly took a different route so that the rich asshole would not see the local "March for Our Lives" protesters. The White House did not respond to media requests regarding the unexpected route change.
If the rich asshole, however, truly viewed the safety of our children as a "top priority," then why didn't he at least tweet support for them on Saturday? Or tweet praise for them on Sunday morning, the day after? the rich asshole tweets about nearly every issue he feels passionately about and wants to bring to the attention of his supporters. For example, last week the rich asshole praised lawyer Alan Dershowitz for saying on Fox Business that the rich asshole didn't collude with Russia and he exchanged fighting words with former Vice President Joe Biden, bragging that if they fought, Biden "would go down fast and hard, crying all the way."
And on Sunday morning, the rich asshole let loose a barrage of tweets about a range of issues. the rich asshole tweeted there was "NO COLLUSION" between him and Russia, called the media "Fake news" and referred to his former opponent as "Crooked Hillary." But he has not tweeted one single tweet about the young people, and their adult allies, who took to the streets in Washington, D.C. and in other cities at hundreds of sister rallies to demand action on gun violence.
If the rich asshole had chosen these young activists over golf, he would've heard some of the best and brightest young minds speak their truth. Take Emma Gonzalez, one of the survivors of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High shooting, who told us that about the gun massacre at her school last month: "In a little over 6 minutes, 17 of our friends were taken from us, 15 were injured and everyone in the Douglas community was forever altered." She then stood on stage in silence for six minutes, the length of the shooter's rampage, to make a point that it took that short of a period of time to slaughter her friends and change the lives of her fellow students forever.
the rich asshole should've been there to watch the amazing 11-year-old Naomi Wadler take the stage and movingly declare: "I am here today to acknowledge and represent the African-American girls whose stories don't make the front page of every national newspaper, whose stories don't lead the evening news."
But the rich asshole chose a four-iron over standing with these young activists.
When the rich asshole looks back, I wonder if his choice of golf over the rally will have been worth it? The one theme heard at rally after rally, including the one I attended on Saturday in Hackensack, New Jersey, was that these young people are registering to vote and coming after those politicians who have chosen to ignore them or prioritized the National Rifle Association over their lives.
Delaney Tarr, one of the student survivors from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, put it best: "This is not a publicity stunt, a single day in the span of history. This is a movement relying on the persistence and passion of its people." She added a line that the rich asshole and other politicians ignore at their own peril, "We will take action every day, in every way, until they simply cannot ignore us anymore."
And come Election Day 2018 and 2019 and when the rich asshole runs for re-election in 2020, these young people (hopefully) will be putting into action the words of a chant that was heard numerous times at the rallies: "Vote them out! Vote them out!"
‘It reads sketchy to me’: Parkland’s Delaney Tarr nails the rich asshole for cowering on gun control after private NRA meeting
Delaney Tarr speaks to Fox News (screen grab)
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Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School senior Delaney Tarr on Sunday called out President some rich asshole for backing down on some of his tougher gun control rhetoric after meeting with members of the National Rifle Association (NRA).
During an interview on Fox News Sunday, host Chris Wallace pointed out that the rich asshole had seem to soften on his call to increase the purchasing age for military-style assault rifles after a private meeting with leaders of the NRA. the rich asshole also dropped his call to confiscate the guns of people who have been deemed mentally unfit.
“He talked about taking guns away from people who have been seen as a threat,” Wallace recalled. “He talked about raising the age to buy a semi-automatic… What do you think happened?”
“Words are fine and dandy,” Tarr quipped. “I’m glad that he said those words because those are some things that we would like to see. However, I have not seen any action taken to follow through of those steps.”
“He had a meeting with the NRA after that and suddenly he backed down,” Douglas High School student Cameron Kasky noted.
“To call it a coincidence seems like a bit of a stretch,” Tarr agreed. “Because to say all of these incredibly firm stances and then to immediately backpedal on them after having a meeting with the NRA… It reads sketchy to me.”
Watch the video below from Fox News.
But of course he did.
Pence secretly drafted the rich asshole’s latest transgender military ban
Junk science informed the new order, not military readiness.
When President the rich asshole announced a new ban on transgender people serving in the military late Friday, it was somewhat of a surprise — Defense Secretary Jim Mattis had reportedly recommended in February that the rich asshole allow transgender people to serve. It turns out that Vice President Pence and some of the country’s most prominent anti-LGBTQ activists had a role in reversing the outcome, which explains why the report explaining the decision is rife with anti-trans junk science.
Slate’s Mark Joseph Stern reported Friday night that, according to multiple sources, Pence played “a leading role” in creating the report, along with Ryan T. Anderson of the Heritage Foundation, which has been dubbed “the rich asshole’s favorite think tank,” and Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council (FRC), an anti-LGBTQ hate group. Both Heritage and FRC praised the report Friday. According to Stern’s reporting, it was true that Mattis favored allowing transgender military service, but Pence “effectively overruled” him.
A separate source independently confirmed to ThinkProgress Saturday that Pence was involved, characterizing him as forming his own ad hoc “working group,” including Anderson and Perkins, separate from the panel of experts Mattis had assembled. Though it bears Mattis’ signature, the report released Friday appears to reflect the findings of Pence’s working group and not the committee report that Mattis submitted to the rich asshole last month. Mattis’ original document is not currently publicly available, but it was widely reported that Mattis favored an inclusive approach that resembled what had originally been proposed by Defense Secretary Ash Carter under President Obama in 2016.
How exactly Pence overruled Mattis’ recommendation over the past month the source did not know. But his working group’s influence is apparent. In particular, the report features numerous anti-trans talking points that FRC and other anti-LGBTQ groups have used in various campaigns favoring discrimination against transgender people. It also attempts to distort the research on transgender health in ways that directly parallel Anderson’s recently released book, When Harry Became Sally: Responding to the Transgender Moment. Anderson likewise argued in his book against supporting trans people in their gender transitions, and the recommendations in the report rely on a strikingly similar framing.
Asked directly on Saturday whether he was involved in the report, Anderson cheekily responded in a series of tweets that “there’s no evidence” he was involved in crafting the report, but he repeatedly refused to directly deny his participation.
“‘Privacy” concerns and “unit cohesion”
One of the most obvious biases in the new report is an emphasis on concerns about how transgender people in the military might somehow infringe on the privacy of other soldiers — particularly women. These are the same argumentsPerkins, Anderson, and others have made in justifying overturning LGBTQ protections in Houston or defending North Carolina’s HB2, a law that mandated discrimination against transgender people.
According to the report, transgender people would violate other troops’ privacy simply by sharing a space with them — to the detriment of unit cohesion:
Allowing transgender persons who have not undergone a full sex reassignment [sic], and thus retain at least some of the anatomy of their biological sex, to use the facilities of their identified gender would invade the expectations of privacy that the strict male-female demarcation in berthing, bathroom, and shower facilities is meant to serve.
As examples of these burdens, it notes suggestions from the Carter policy about modifying shower facilities to provide more privacy or adjusting the timing of showers to accommodate service members who express “discomfort” sharing a facility with a transgender person. While these accommodations sound simple, the report instead characterizes them as requiring “significant effort… to solve challenging problems.”
Borrowing a related argument opponents of trans equality frequently use (including Anderson in his book), the report also expresses concern that respecting transgender identities would be unfair and even dangerous to other service members when it comes to athletics and training. “Biological females who may be required to compete against such transgender females in training and athletic competition would potentially be disadvantaged,” the report claims. This ignores that the NCAA and International Olympic Committee have both established clear standards for allowing transgender people to compete according to their gender identity, recognizing that transitioning mitigates gender-related advantages.
Not so subtly, the report concludes that unit cohesion will deteriorate if the anti-transgender prejudices of other service members are not catered to. “The potential for discord in the unit during the routine execution of daily activities is substantial,” it argues. The RAND study that informed the Carter policy had dismissed concerns that lifting the ban would impact cohesion and readiness.
Experts on transgender military service have made clear that lifting the ban will not impact unit cohesion. Three former armed forces secretaries even testified in one of the lawsuits challenging the ban that it is unjustified.
Moreover, “unit cohesion” is the same hollow argument that was previously used to defend “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” (DADT), a law that prohibited lesbian, gay, and bisexual people from serving openly in the military. Such warnings even included near-identical concerns about shared shower use. Following DADT’s repeal, a study showed that LGB inclusion had no negative impact on military morale, despite similar warnings.
“Considerable scientific uncertainty”
The report also contorts itself considerably to misrepresent both the experience of transitioning as well as the research about the health and well-being of transgender people. This is where the report most noticeably resembles Anderson’s book, as it uses several of the exact same sources and distorts them in the exact same way.
One of the overarching themes in both the report and Anderson’s book is that the “quality” of the research showing the benefits of transition is allegedly subpar. It’s an attempt to claim that no matter how much research there is showing transition is an effective way to treat gender dysphoria, it simply isn’t reliable for reasons like small sample sizes. Anderson has used this approach to justify his position that trans people should be discouraged from transitioning, while the report uses it to justify skepticism about whether people who have transitioned can be trusted to serve capably.
Two examples the new report use are a Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) review from August 2016 and a Hayes Directory review, both of which found that there were actually few studies of the same breadth and rigor that is often used to assess coverage of other medical concerns. But the report relegates to a footnote that CMS still covers transition-related procedures on a case-by-case basis and likewise ignores entirely that, as ThinkProgress has previously pointed out, the Hayes Directory review is actually frequently cited by various health insurance policies to explain why it is the plans will cover transition-related procedures. In other words, these reviews of the research tend to support the exact opposite conclusion that the report (and likewise Anderson) draws from them.
The report expresses concern that there have been no “randomized controlled trials” on the effectiveness of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) or gender confirmation surgeries. Because of the nature of transgender identities, however, it would be difficult and likely unethical to take such an approach. That’s because gender dysphoria is uniquely a mental health concern treated with physical changes to the body. An individual who was receiving a placebo instead of hormones would easily notice that their body was not undergoing the expected changes. Moreover, given the overwhelming evidence that transgender people do benefit from transitioning, a human subjects review board would likely consider it unethical to deny them medically necessary treatment as part of such a study. The small population of transgender people also limits the size and scope of such studies.
Nowhere does the report even mention that every major medical organization in the U.S. has arrived at a consensus that transgender people should be affirmed in their gender identities and supported in their transitions. The American Medical Association has even explicitly expressed support for lifting the military’s ban on transgender service. The report likewise makes no mention of the widely-used standards of care developed by the World Professional Association of Transgender Health (WPATH), which recognize the benefits of affirmative care.
As has become inevitable in just about every attempt to justify anti-trans discrimination (including Anderson’s book), the study also wildly distorts studies about the suicidality of transgender people.
“High rates of suicide ideation, attempts, and completion among people who are transgender are also well documented in the medical literature,” the report asserts. It cites an analysis of the National Transgender Discrimination Survey (NTDS), which found that 41 percent of trans people had attempted suicide at some point in their life. It also cites a Swedish study, which the report claims found mortality and psychiatric hospitalization for patients who had undergone sex reassignment surgery as compared to a healthy control group.”
What the report downplays is the context of both studies. The NTDS study found significant connections between the high suicide rate and anti-trans discrimination, including factors such as racial stigma, poverty, unemployment, having less education, how easily they were perceived as trans, homelessness, bullying and violence, family rejection, and health care discrimination.
Likewise, the Swedish study did not find significantly higher suicide rates in transgender people who underwent surgery after 1989. Its author, Cecilia Dhejne, explained in an interview that the older group’s experience “likely reflects a time when trans health and psychological care was less effective and social stigma was far worse,” emphasizing that transition “won’t resolve the effects of crushing social oppression.” She has repeatedly rebuked those who use the study to justify rejecting the legitimacy of transgender identities. “I have said many times that the study is not designed to evaluate the outcome of medical transition,” she said in a Reddit AMA last year. “[I]t does say that people who have transition[ed] are more vulnerable and that we need to improve care.”
The report essentially manufactures doubt about the health outcomes of transgender people to justify the very kind of discrimination that is the most significant factor for trans people’s negative experiences. This is most apparent when the report attempts to rationalize allowing current transgender service members to continue serving:
While the Department believes that its commitment to these Service members, including the substantial investment it has made in them, outweigh the risks identified in this report, should its decision to exempt these Service members be used by a court as a basis for invalidating the entire policy, this exemption instead is and should be deemed severable from the rest of the policy.
In other words, if the courts conclude that the policy is blatantly hypocritical by allowing some trans people to continue to serve while banning others from joining, the military will responding by kicking them all out to achieve consistency.
The ex-trans framing
What is perhaps most bizarre about the report is its attempts to show how a transgender person could still serve under the new policy. Essentially, they have to be ex-trans.
The report states that a diagnosis of gender dysphoria is inherently disqualifying for service. This is despite the fact that the American Psychiatric Association does not recognize gender dysphoria as a disorder. It maintains diagnostic criteria for people who are distressed by their gender identity because such a diagnosis is often required for insurance companies to cover transition treatment.
Besides the exemption for current trans troops, the report offers only two ways that someone diagnosed with gender dysphoria could still serve:
- If an individual is trying to join the military but has previously been diagnosed with gender dysphoria, they must show that they have gone three full years without symptoms and be “willing and able to adhere to all standards associated with their biological sex.”
- If a current service member is newly diagnosed with gender dysphoria, they may continue serving so long as they do not require gender transition and are “willing and able to adhere to all standards associated with their biological sex.
Given that transitioning is the best proven way to resolve the distress of gender dysphoria, it’s unclear who would qualify to serve under these circumstances.
This approach, however, reflects prominent anti-trans views. FRC publicly advocates against affirming transgender people, insisting, “There is no rational or compassionate reason to affirm a distorted psychological self-concept that one’s ‘gender identity’ is different from one’s biological sex.” Anderson’s book likewise focuses on a few exceptional individuals who regretted steps they took to transition their gender, which he argues proves that transition is not helpful or necessary. Anderson, however, did not ask permission from these “detransitioners” to use their narratives and they subsequently objected to being used in a book that rejects transgender people.
The bottom line of the report is that the only good way to be trans in the military is to not be trans. This flies in the face of countless military experts and is easily disproven by the thousands of transgender people already capably serving in the U.S. as well as in 19 other countries, including Australia, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Spain, Canada, and Israel.
But as the report largely reflects the views of Pence, a longtime opponent of LGBTQ equality, and some of the top anti-LGBTQ activists in the country, it’s easy to see how it arrived at such discriminatory conclusions.
the rich asshole confidant: President is perplexed by reports of White House chaos
BY LUIS SANCHEZ - 03/25/18 09:44 AM EDT
One of President the rich asshole's confidants said Sunday that the president is "perplexed" by reports of chaos in the White House, adding that more changes are expected soon.
“The president told me he is perplexed by all of these reports that there is chaos at the White House or mass staff changes,” Chris Ruddy, the CEO of Newsmax, told ABC's "This Week."
“He told me that he thinks the White House is operating like a ‘smooth machine,’ his words.”
Ruddy, however, noted the president told him he will likely make some changes soon.
“He did say that he is expecting to make one or two major changes to his government very soon and that is going to be it,” Ruddy said.
Ruddy said White House sources told him that Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin is likely to depart the rich asshole's Cabinet “very soon.”
Shulkin has been in hot water in recent weeks following reports that he misused taxpayer money to pay for flights for his wife.
Ruddy also said that White House chief of staff John Kelly and Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson will be staying.
Carson recently faced scrutiny following reports that the department had spent tens of thousands of dollars for a dining set for his office.
the rich asshole said last Thursday he would replace national security adviser H.R. McMaster with former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton.
the rich asshole’s chief economic adviser Gary Cohn, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and personal lawyer John Dowd have also left recently.
the rich asshole: ‘I need allies’ in Congress
BY BRETT SAMUELS - 03/25/18 08:34 AM EDT
President the rich asshole following a Republican's loss in a special Pennsylvania congressional election is encouraging voters to elect candidates who will support his agenda in the midterms.
A rich asshole campaign email with the subject line “I need Allies” sent Saturday includes a survey for respondents to describe what qualities are most important to them in a candidate.
“2018 is our chance to elect RICH ASSHOLE ALLIES to the House and Senate who will give you the agenda you voted for. No more obstruction! We want what we voted for!” the email, which is signed by the rich asshole, states.
Despite early successes, the rich asshole-backed candidates have not fared well in a couple of recent elections.
Democrat Conor Lamb narrowly defeated Republican Rick Saccone in a special election for a Pennsylvania congressional seat earlier this month. the rich asshole appeared at a rally for Saccone days before the election.
the rich asshole also backed Republican Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore, despite allegations he had inappropriate relationships with teenage girls when he was in his 30s. Moore lost to Democrat Doug Jones in a December special election.
Saturday's email blast came shortly after the rich asshole roiled lawmakers when he threatened to veto a spending bill that passed both Republican-controlled chambers of Congress. He ultimately signed the bill, citing the military funding it provides.
He has also expressed frustration with Democrats, claiming they are obstructing the confirmation process for his nominees for various federal posts.
‘Tonight is not the end – it’s the beginning’: Stormy Daniels’ attorney taunts the rich asshole with promise of more evidence
Stormy Daniels/Screenshot
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The attorney for adult actress Stormy Daniels took to Twitter on Sunday morning to promise the public — and likely taunt President some rich asshole – that the blockbuster 60 Minutes interview to be shown later in the evening will just be a taste of the evidence to be revealed about a sexual affair the porn actress allegedly had with the rich asshole.
Continuing his efforts to hype up the Anderson Cooper interview with the actress — whose real name is Stephanie Clifford — attorney Michael Avenatti tweeted, “Note: (a) not all of our evidence will be mentioned/displayed tonight – that would be foolish; (b) we are not sure what CBS will include but we know a lot from the full interview will have to be cut bc of the time allowed; (c) tonight is not the end – it’s the beginning. #basta.”
Earlier in the week, Avenatti tweeted out a picture of a DVD which reportedly contains proof of the sexual liaison between the rich asshole and Daniels at a time when the president’s wife, Melania, had just given birth to their son, Barron.
You can see the tweets below:
Note: (a) not all of our evidence will be mentioned/displayed tonight – that would be foolish; (b) we are not sure what CBS will include but we know a lot from the full interview will have to be cut bc of the time allowed; (c) tonight is not the end – it’s the beginning. #basta
If “a picture is worth a thousand words,” how many words is this worth?????#60minutes #pleasedenyit #basta
the rich asshole pick John Bolton warns of 'a little shock therapy' with China tariffs
BY JOSH DELK - 03/25/18 07:01 AM EDT
President the rich asshole's incoming national security adviser John Bolton said Sunday he hopes impending economic tariffs against China could be "a little shock therapy" for the country.
Bolton pointed to the rich asshole's announcement Thursday that the U.S. would impose up to $60 billion in tariffs against China over what he called its unfair trade practices. China has already threatened reciprocal tariffs over the move.
the rich asshole said the tariffs on Chinese products were aimed at curbing China's infringement of copyrights and intellectual property patents that cost U.S. companies billions in lost revenue each year.
"I don't think anybody is looking to have a trade war," Bolton told New York AM 970 radio host John Catsimatidis in an interview broadcast Sunday.
"For far too long China has taken advantage of its place in the world ... the trade arrangements it has with the United States and other countries," he continued.
"The United States lives by these agreements," Bolton said. "All we’re asking for here is for the Chinese to do the same. So I think this could be a little shock therapy, get their attention, and hopefully it'll have a good impact.”
the rich asshole called for the tariffs in response to a government study confirming the economic damage done over stolen intellectual property.
The president signed a memorandum Thursday demanding sweeping actions by the Treasury Department against the world's second-largest economy.
"They just copy it and build their own. It's theft. There's no other description for it," Bolton said of China's trade practices involving intellectual property.
China is reportedly planning a retaliatory set of tariffs in response that would target $3 billion in U.S. imports.
the rich asshole named Bolton, a former ambassador to the United Nations, as his new national security adviser, replacing H.R. McMaster.
The Memo: Unbound the rich asshole breaks from restraints
BY NIALL STANAGE - 03/25/18 06:00 AM EDT
Call it "the rich asshole Unbound."
After a tumultuous week, President the rich asshole has exiled several voices of restraint from his administration, added more hawkish supporters to his team and shown an ever-greater reliance on his own gut instincts.
He has also signaled a more aggressive approach to the Russia probe spearheaded by special counsel Robert Mueller.
Whether that is a good or bad thing depends upon your political perspective.
Loyal supporters of the president are delighted by the turn. Democrats and other skeptics fear disaster is around the corner.
“One thing is for sure: almost to a man and to a woman, these appointments of people who have been longtime the rich asshole supporters even in the darkest hours are a relief,” said Michael Caputo, a rich asshole ally and friend who has known the president since the 1980s.
But Julian Zelizer, a professor of history and public affairs at Princeton University, argued otherwise.
“There is nothing worse than a president having a narrow range of opinion — it always goes poorly,” Zelizer said. “That’s why it’s healthy to have advisers who say that what you are doing is wrong. … Without that, presidents often move swiftly into poor decisions, for the nation and for themselves.”
The most headline-grabbing move last week came with the resignation of national security adviser H.R. McMaster and the announcement that he would be replaced by John Bolton, who served as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations (U.N.) under former President George W. Bush.
McMaster was seen as one of the senior advisers most likely to dissent from the rich asshole’s views — a trait that did him no good in the jockeying for position within the White House.
He is also seen as skeptical of authority in general — he is the author of "Dereliction of Duty," a book that is largely about how excessive deference among President Johnson’s top advisers, military and civilian, led to disaster during the Vietnam War.
the rich asshole loyalists blamed McMaster and people close to him for leaking to the media, an accusation that was denied.
Bolton is a polarizing figure who served as U.N. ambassador for a little more than a year, without ever being confirmed by the Senate.
He has in the past suggested the U.S. should consider pre-emptive strikes on Iran and North Korea — positions that unnerved Democrats.
Sen. Christopher Coons (D-Del.) called Bolton’s views “overly aggressive at best and downright dangerous at worst” in a statement released shortly after the announcement of his hiring.
But the McMaster-Bolton switch was only the latest change the rich asshole has wrought.
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has also been forced out, with CIA Director Mike Pompeo — previously a conservative Republican congressman representing a Kansas district — nominated to replace him.
Earlier this month, chief economic adviser Gary Cohn announced he would step down, having lost an internal battle to prevent the imposition of tariffs on steel and aluminum imports.
The victor in that struggle was Peter Navarro, an economic nationalist who serves as the head of the White House National Trade Council.
The tariffs came into effect on Friday, one day after the rich asshole announced separate measures aimed specifically at China. Although yet to be finalized, the China measures target around $60 billion in imports.
Supporters argue that such moves are merely evidence of growing confidence on the president’s part.
Brad Blakeman, a veteran of Bush’s White House and a supporter of the president, said, “The president is getting more comfortable and understanding who he really needs around him.”
Blakeman also suggested that angst about the tariffs was mostly a Beltway obsession that would not resonate with the people who voted for the rich asshole in the first place.
“ ‘America First’ is not being isolationist, it is being realistic,” he said, referencing a well-known the rich asshole slogan.
the rich asshole’s position on tariffs is one of his most long-standing political beliefs — he has complained about the U.S. being treated unfairly in international trade since long before he entered politics.
His initial move on steel and aluminum won praise from some people who are aligned with him on little else, such as AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka.
But the president’s moves have also been met with consternation on Wall Street, where stock markets have just ended their worst week in more than two years. The Dow Jones industrial average fell by more than 1,000 points through Thursday and Friday.
Meanwhile, the rich asshole’s zest for confrontation seems to be extending into the legal arena, which this week saw the resignation of John Dowd as his lead personal counsel dealing with the Russia probe.
Dowd, an advocate for a generally conciliatory approach with Mueller, departed soon after it was announced that Joe diGenova had joined the team. DiGenova has previously suggested the FBI is trying to frame the rich asshole for collusion with Russia.
To be sure, all of the rich asshole’s recent actions do not fit a neat frame.
Although Cohn lost the tariffs fight, for example, his replacement will be TV commentator Larry Kudlow, who is also an ardent free-trader.
While some of the people leaving the administration did not gel with the president personally, another person soon to depart is communications director Hope Hicks, perhaps the person in the West Wing who understands him best.
the rich asshole also remains as unpredictable as ever. He initially signaled his support for the huge spending bill passed by Congress this week, then suggested he might veto it, then announced a news conference at which he accepted it as a necessary evil.
“I will never sign another bill like this again,” he said at the White House on Friday afternoon.
To his supporters, it’s all welcome evidence of the rich asshole being the rich asshole.
“This is the president getting his sea legs in very stormy seas,” said Caputo.
But the rich asshole backers and detractors alike agree there is likely even more rough weather to come.
The Memo is a reported column by Niall Stanage, primarily focused on some rich asshole’s presidency.
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