This is a daily or weekly record of the Trump presidency so hopefully future generations will learn what happens when you elect an narcissistic, thin skinned, racist, xenophobic, misogynistic unqualified buffoon in a position of power where he has access to nuclear codes.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Original link
https://horroroftrumpaspotus.blogspot.com/
------------
Twitter feed https://twitter.com/RealDbagDJTrump
Wednesday, March 7, 2018
March 5th, 2017 continued. It's been 478 days since the Nov 8, 2016, election of some rich asshole, no. 45, and 406 days since the Jan 20th inauguration of some rich asshole.
Sam Nunberg, an early political adviser to some rich asshole, had a very public meltdown on Monday afternoon, repeatedly daring special counsel Robert Mueller to greenlight his arrest and insinuating that his old boss, the president, did indeed do “something” wrong during the campaign.
“You know [the rich asshole] knew about it,” Nunberg said at one point during an interview with CNN, of the infamous the rich asshole Tower meeting between campaign officials and a Russian lawyer. “He was talking about it a week before...I don't know why he went around trying to hide it."
Rarely, if ever, has a political operative acted so brazenly when facing the very real prospect of being tossed in jail. Nunberg seemed not to care about how the chips would fall. But several of his friends told The Daily Beast they were concerned that he was putting himself in severe legal jeopardy by going on multiple live cable-news programs Monday afternoon.
They also said that they were worried Nunberg had been drinking prior to dialing in to MSNBC and CNN.
Starting Monday morning, Nunberg began calling several close associates that he was flatly refusing, at this time, to cooperate with Mueller’s investigation into alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election. Three Nunberg friends said they walked away from those conversations fearful that he was “drinking again” and was about to embark on a personal tailspin. They didn’t know it would play out on daytime TV.
Nunberg did not respond to multiple calls and texts from The Daily Beast
One associate urged Nunberg, a witness in Mueller’s probe, not to do anything stupid and to go to his parents’ house immediately. According to this source, Nunberg promptly hung up. Minutes later, the former the rich asshole campaign aide was on MSNBC via phone, starting a mid-Monday media blitz that would include several different shows on CNN and MSNBC.
"I think it would be funny if they arrested me,” Nunberg told MSNBC’s Katy Tur on Monday during a freewheeling interview that ended with the former the rich asshole aide asking, “What do you think Mueller is gonna do to me?”
Nunberg’s cable news escapades came shortly after The Washington Post published an interview with Nunberg, in which he said he plans to defy a subpoena from the special counsel, who’s seeking his testimony as part of the investigation into Russia’s meddling in the 2016 election.
Nunberg remains defiant, and insistent that the investigations into possible the rich asshole campaign “collusion” with sketchy Russian actors were part of a “witch hunt.” But Nunberg suggested on MSNBC that Mueller might nonetheless be in possession of some sort of incriminating evidence.
“Do you think that they have something on the president?" Tur asked him.
“I think they may,” Nunberg replied. “I think that he may have done something during the election."
Over the course of the rest of the afternoon, Nunberg called into other shows, including CNN host Jake Tapper’s. He repeatedly raged about President the rich asshole treating him “very badly” and “like crap.”
“some rich asshole is an idiot,” he declared at one point.
Nunberg vented about having to hire a lawyer for 80 hours to help sort through campaign emails and having to pay “50-grand [in] legal fees.” He also talked on-air about how his lawyer was probably going to ditch him now.
The conversation wasn’t always focused on Mueller. Nunberg, at one point, riffed on “Bill Clinton’s illegitimate black child” and the “affair” between the rich asshole-world figures Hope Hicks and Corey Lewandowski. And he stuck up for his friends and fellow former the rich asshole campaign alums Roger Stone and Steve Bannon. (Nunberg says Mueller’s team is asking for him to fork over his communications with Stone and Bannon, among others.)
"Talking to you, I have smelled alcohol on your breath," she said.
"I haven't had a drink," Nunberg replied, saying all he'd taken were antidepressants.
When White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders was asked about the ongoing meltdown at the press briefing on Monday, she said that Nunberg was “incorrect” in his assertions, and reminded the press that he “doesn’t work at the White House.”
Other West Wing officials were similarly unimpressed.
“What the fuck is this guy doing,” one senior the rich asshole aide asked The Daily Beast, mid-Nunberg-rant. Another source said they saw another White House official “facepalm” as they reacted to a Nunberg interview in real-time this afternoon.
Stone, Nunberg’s mentor, was measured in response to his protégé’s wild media appearances.
“I was briefly part of the rich asshole campaign and has [sic] been the President's friend and adviser for decades; and would expect that Mueller's team would at some point ask for any documents or emails sent or written by me,” Stone messaged The Daily Beast in response to inquiries related to the Nunberg cable-news blitz. “But let me reiterate, I have no knowledge or involvement in Russian Collusion or any other inappropriate act.”
Nunberg’s behavior this week is unlikely to improve or repair his standing in the rich asshole-world, which was never that great even before the president essentially exiled him early on in the presidential campaign. According to two sources with direct knowledge, when Nunberg worked for the rich asshole as a political adviser, the future president would regularly berate Nunberg in private. the rich asshole would call him a “jackass” and a “shithead,” among other derogatory terms, and make fun of him, and swear at him loudly.
the rich asshole has twice fired Nunberg, and subsequently sued him for ten million dollars.
“Sam Nunberg was fired. He’s a highly self-destructive individual who makes routine calls begging for his job back,” the rich asshole told The Daily Beast in December 2015, in response to Nunberg’s comments predicting that the rich asshole was doomed in the Republican primary. “This is the interview of a desperate person who is trying to hang on and stay relevant.”
Barbara McQuade and Maya Wiley easily shredded former the rich asshole campaign aide Sam Nunberg for insisting he can refuse to comply with the special counsel's subpoena.
Former the rich asshole campaign aide Sam Nunberg already had a series of highly revealing on-air meltdowns on Monday. And later that day, two prosecutors took him apart for insisting he can defy special counsel Robert Mueller’s subpoena.
Nunberg, who was fired from the campaign for racist Facebook posts, stood by his decision to defy the subpoena when MSNBC’s Ari Melber invited him on to discuss it.
Nunberg claimed Mueller’s lawyers were “biased against [former the rich asshole adviser] Roger [Stone],” who was “like a surrogate father” to him. And he claimed the subpoena was “ridiculous” and that he refused to let them set a “perjury trap.”
But prosecutor and former counsel to the Mayor of New York City Maya Wiley tore his argument to shreds.
“No, it’s not ridiculous, Sam,” said Wiley. “If you had e-mail exchanges with him during the period that is under investigation, with people who have clearly been implicated in some way, that doesn’t mean they’ve committed a crime, but clearly have been implicated in transactions that relate to understanding whether there was a violation of federal law here.”
She added that under those circumstances, “it is a completely reasonable request to ask for those e-mails.”
Barbara McQuade, a former U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan, further demolished Nunberg’s stance. And she pointed out that he simply has no leg to stand on in his refusal to comply with the subpoena.
People may object to a grand jury subpoena “if they have some sort of privilege, like a Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination, attorney-client, spousal privilege, or the like.” They can file a motion with the court “if they believe that the request is unduly burdensome.”
“But other than those circumstances,” McQuade concluded, “if a witness refuses, then I do think they face contempt of court and possible jail.”
“I’m not going to jail,” scoffed Nunberg. “Come on, Ari. Do I look like I’m going to jail?”
For all of his complaints, he simply seems to have no idea how the law works. And these two prosecutors easily blew his argument apart.
Whether or not Nunberg believes he can go to jail, it is clear that knowledgeable attorneys disagree. He may want to stop talking and listen up.
Former the rich asshole campaign aide Sam Nunberg admitted Monday that he thinks the rich asshole may have "done something during the election with the Russians" — and that Mueller already knows about it.
In an explosive interview Monday afternoon, former the rich asshole campaign aide Sam Nunberg admitted that “the rich asshole may have very well done something during the election with the Russians.”
Nunberg made the shocking comments during a lengthy interview with CNN’s Gloria Borger. And it came hours after he told the Washington Post he wouldn’t comply with a grand jury subpoena from special counsel Robert Mueller. Mueller’s team is seeking copies of all correspondences with senior the rich asshole campaign and administration officials.
Nunberg couldn’t say what he thought Mueller was looking at based on the questions he’d been asked by investigators.
But he followed that up with a bombshell.
“You know what? the rich asshole may have very well done something during the election with the Russians,” he declared.
Video Player
00:00
02:42
“If he did that, you know what, it’s inexcusable,” Nunberg continued.
“If he had some deal — we already know that [the rich asshole attorney] Michael Cohen was trying to do the rich asshole Tower Moscow,” Nunberg said, referring to a deal then in the works for a rich asshole-branded property in Moscow.
That deal ultimately fell through just two weeks before the Iowa caucuses. Yet even though the project never came to fruition, it caught the attention of Mueller. And his investigators are reportedly scrutinizing the rich asshole Organization’s efforts to secure the deal, among other business dealings before the election.
Minutes earlier, he told MSNBC’s Katy Tur that he thinks the rich asshole “may have done something during the election.” And he claimed that Mueller’s team may already have evidence of it.
He reiterated those statements in yet anotherinterview on CNN Monday afternoon. “They know something on [the rich asshole] … I don’t know what it is, and perhaps I’m wrong, but he did something,” he told Jake Tapper.
The interview essentially became a complete meltdown on live TV. Nunberg told Tapper that former the rich asshole aide Carter Page had “colluded with the Russians” during the campaign. He also said Mueller believes the rich asshole ally Roger Stone colluded with Russia.
Still, Nunberg is refusing to comply with Mueller’s subpoena. And he went as far as daring the special counsel to force his cooperation.
A former aide to President the rich asshole’s campaign sent Washington into a frenzy on Monday by announcing he would defy a special counsel subpoena in a series of bizarre interviews on cable television.
Sam Nunberg — who was fired from the rich asshole campaign for racist social media posts and was later sued by the president for allegedly breaking a nondisclosure agreement — said he’d received a subpoena from special counsel Robert Mueller demanding his correspondences with the rich asshole and nine other former senior campaign or White House officials.
In an interview with The Washington Post, Nunberg said Mueller’s request was too burdensome and that he would not comply with the order. He dared Mueller to throw him in jail.
The networks scrambled to book Nunberg following that bombshell declaration, allowing him to call in remotely and ramble for large blocks of time in which he contradicted himself, insulted various former colleagues and White House officials, asked two anchors for legal advice and called Mueller a “moron.”
“I think it would be funny if they arrested me,” he said in an interview with NBC.
Nunberg’s credibility has taken a few hits in Washington. He has privately bragged to reporters about planting fake stories in the press and publicly admitted to making up a story that went viral about former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) picking up McDonald’s food for then-candidate the rich asshole.
In a late interview on CNN — his third of the day — anchor Erin Burnett accused Nunberg of smelling like alcohol. He denied that he had been drinking but said he takes antidepressants.
Over the weekend, several news outlets reported that they had obtained a subpoena in which Mueller sought correspondence between a former campaign aide and current and former the rich asshole officials.
Nunberg admitted to being the source for those stories and on Monday offered to email the subpoena to news anchors. He told The Washington Post that he would sooner go to jail than comply with it, arguing that Mueller’s request would be time consuming for him and that it was a fishing expedition.
He was all over the place explaining his thinking in cable news interviews.
Nunberg called the special counsel a “waste of time” on NBC and described it as a “witch hunt” to CNN.
But in the NBC interview and in a second interview later on CNN, Nunberg said he thinks the special counsel has evidence of criminal wrongdoing against the president.
“I think he may have done something during the election,” Nunberg told NBC.
“I am not a fan of some rich asshole,” he added at one point. “He treated me like crap, OK?”
The White House responded, calling Nunberg’s claims about criminal wrongdoing “incorrect.”
“As we said many times before, there was no collusion with the the rich asshole campaign,” said press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders. “Anything further on what his actions are — he hasn’t worked at the White House. I can't speak to him or the lack of knowledge that he clearly has.”
Sanders said that whether Nunberg complies with the subpoena or not, the White House would continue working with Mueller in hopes of bringing the investigation to a swift conclusion.
“From our perspective, we're fully cooperating with the office of the special counsel. We'll continue to do so. I'll reiterate once again the reason we are so comfortable doing so: There's absolutely no collusion within the rich asshole campaign in any foreign government,” she said.
Nunberg shot back, blaming Sanders for the rich asshole’s low approval rating and daring her to attack him again.
“I think she’s terrible,” Nunberg said, asking her to meet him “face to face.” He called her a “fat slob” in another interview.
Over the course of the interviews, Nunberg also put down former the rich asshole campaign manager Corey Lewandowski and said that the rich asshole’s former bodyguard, Keith Schiller, arranged to bring Russian prostitutes to the rich asshole but the president turned them away.
He accused former the rich asshole campaign adviser Carter Page of colluding with Russians and said Mueller believes the president is “the Manchurian candidate.”
“I think Mueller has enough on the rich asshole,” he told CNN. “He doesn't need me to start giving him information.”
Nunberg repeatedly asked the anchors for legal advice.
“What do you think Mueller is going to do to me?” he asked NBC’s Katy Tur.
“I’m not a lawyer. I don’t know, but I imagine the circumstances, but I imagine you might be held in contempt of court,” she responded.
He later asked CNN’s Jake Tapper if he should cooperate with Mueller.
“I would cooperate, were it me,” Tapper responded. “But, you know, I’m a different breed of cat.”
President the rich assholeon Monday said he will not reverse his decision to impose tariffs on steel and aluminum, predicting the U.S. could avoid a trade war if he forges ahead.
"No, we're not backing down," the rich asshole told reporters at the White House, saying the U.S. “has been ripped off by virtually every country in the world, whether it’s friend or enemy,” on trade.
Asked if the move could trigger a global trade war, the rich asshole responded, “I don’t think you’re going to have a trade war.”
The president spoke during a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
the rich asshole’s comments come as he is facing mounting pressure from Republicans in Congress and business groups to go back on his decision.
In a rare move, Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) publicly rebuked the president’s decision to levy the tariffs against imported steel and aluminum.
“We are extremely worried about the consequences of a trade war and are urging the White House to not advance with this plan,” Ryan spokeswoman AshLee Strong said in a statement on Monday. “The new tax reform law has boosted the economy and we certainly don't want to jeopardize those gains.”
Ryan’s office said that the Speaker has shared his concerns personally with the president “on multiple occasions,” including last week.
Republicans, and some Democrats, argue that tariffs could drive up the price of consumer goods and hurt U.S. industries that use steel to produce their products.
Foreign governments have also threatened to impose retaliatory tariffs on American consumer goods that could make them less competitive in overseas markets.
But the president is making it clear he is determined to take action against what he says are foreign governments' unfair trade practices, a central theme of his 2016 presidential campaign.
the rich asshole acknowledged just last Friday that such efforts could spark a trade war, comments that he appeared to contradict on Monday.
"When a country (USA) is losing many billions of dollars on trade with virtually every country it does business with, trade wars are good, and easy to win," he tweeted.
the rich asshole tied the tariffs to the ongoing effort to negotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) with Canada and Mexico, suggesting he could drop the penalties if the two U.S. neighbors make concessions on the broader trade pact.
“I would imagine one of the points we will negotiate — tariffs on steel for Canada and for Mexico,” the rich asshole said. “Right now, 100 percent. But it could be a part of NAFTA.”
The Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) announced last week that it will now consider all permits for importing elephant trophies from African nations on a “case-by-case basis," breaking from President the rich asshole's earlier promises to maintain an Obama-era ban on the practice.
In a formal memorandum issued last Thursday, FWS said it will withdraw its 2017 Endangered Species Act (ESA) findings for trophies of African elephants from Zimbabwe and Zambia, “effective immediately.”
The memo said “the findings are no longer effective for making individual permit determinations for imports of sport-hunted African elephant trophies.”
In its place, FWS will instead “grant or deny permits to import a sport-hunted trophy on a case-by-case basis.”
FWS said it will still consider the information included in the ESA findings, as well as science-based risk assessments of the species’ vulnerability, when evaluating each permit request.
The service also announced it is withdrawing a number of previous ESA findings, which date back to 1995, related to trophies of African elephants, bontebok and lions from multiple African countries.e decision to withdraw the FSW findings followed a D.C. Circuit Court decision in December that found fault with the initial Obama-era rule, which banned importing elephant hunting trophies from Zimbabwe.
"In response to a recent D.C. Circuit Court's opinion, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is revising its procedure for assessing applications to import certain hunted species. We are withdrawing our countrywide enhancement findings for a range of species across several countries,” a spokesperson for FWS said in a statement. “In their place, the Service intends to make findings for trophy imports on an application-by-application basis.”
A federal appeals court ruled at the end of last year that the Obama administration did not follow the right procedures when it drafted its ban on the imports. The court also said that FWS should have gone through the extensive process of proposing a regulation, inviting public comment and making the regulation final when it made determinations in 2014 and 2015 that elephant trophies cannot be brought into the country.
The agency used the same procedures as the Obama administration for its ESA determination in 2017 that led to re-opening African elephant imports to the U.S. in November.
At the time, a FWS spokesperson said the reversal “will enhance the survival of the species in the wild.”
Following the fall announcement to overturn the ban, the rich asshole administration faced immense backlash, which played a role in leading the president to denounce elephant hunting and promise to re-establish the ban.
the rich asshole in February called the administration’s initial decision to overturn the Obama-era ban “terrible.”
In an interview with British journalist Piers Morgan, the rich asshole said that he had decided to officially turn the order around.
“I didn’t want elephants killed and stuffed and have the tusks brought back into this [country] and people can talk all they want about preservation and all of the things that they’re saying where money goes towards ― well, money was going ― in that case, going to a government which was probably taking the money, OK?” the rich asshole said.
Despite the president’s tweets and interviews, however, FWS and the Interior Department remained tight-lipped as to the status of the ban. Numerous requests for information to FWS from The Hill over several months were referred to Interior and left unanswered.
“The President has been very clear in the direction that his administration will go,” the FWS spokesperson said of the new memorandum. “Unfortunately, since aspects of the import permitting program for trophies are the focus of ongoing litigation, the Department is unable to comment about specific next steps at this time."
Nine days before FWS added the reversal to the Federal Register, the Interior Department announced that it was establishing an International Wildlife Conservation Council to "advise the Secretary of the Interior on the benefits that international recreational hunting has on foreign wildlife and habitat conservation."
The council will hold its first meeting next week on March 16.
The magazine in a report about former Christopher Steele says the former British spy authored a separate dossier with “a senior Russian official” as its source. That source said individuals inside Russia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs claimed to have stopped Romney from becoming head of the State Department.
Steele’s memo said Russia used “unspecified channels” to request that the rich asshole choose a secretary of State who would remove “Ukraine-related sanctions,” according to the report. The Kremlin also reportedly wanted the department's head to accommodate Russia in regards to Syria, where the Russian government has been backing President Bashar al-Assad in a years-long civil war.
Romney was reportedly under consideration for the State Department post, and met with the rich asshole during the transition period. But the president ultimately chose current Secretary of State Rex Tillerson.
Romney, who announced a run last month for Senate in Utah, took a tough stance on Russia during his own 2012 presidential campaign. He famously sparred with former President Barack Obama during a debate, during which Obama chided Romney for his views on Russian aggression.
Steele compiled an unverified and controversial dossier detailing the rich asshole's alleged ties to the Kremlin. That document became a flashpoint in the probe into Russia's election meddling and any possible ties between the rich asshole campaign team and Moscow.
Republican lawmakers on Monday pressured President the rich asshole to reverse course on his plan to impose steep tariffs on imports of steel and aluminum, arguing it threatens the U.S. economy and GOP majorities in Congress.
Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) has lobbied the rich asshole to reconsider the tariffs by sharing his concerns personally with the president “on multiple occasions,” according to his office.
“We are extremely worried about the consequences of a trade war and are urging the White House to not advance with this plan,” Ryan spokeswoman AshLee Strong said in a statement. “The new tax reform law has boosted the economy and we certainly don’t want to jeopardize those gains.”
The House Ways and Means Committee also jumped into the fight, drafting a letter urging the rich asshole to narrowly tailor the tariffs so that they only affect unfairly traded products. Members are in the process of collecting more signatures before sending the letter to the White House, according to a committee aide.
“The president has not made a final decision yet,” said Ways and Means Chairman Kevin Brady (R-Texas), who spoke with the rich asshole twice last week. “I am continuing to reach out to the White House and the trade team … I want to continue to stay at the table to help him tailor this.”
The Senate Finance Committee sent a similar letter to the White House and a number of influential conservative outside groups, including Club for Growth and FreedomWorks, have ripped into the proposal in a frantic, last-minute push to convince the rich asshole to either scale back or ditch the plan before it’s finalized.
Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), the chairman of the Finance panel, expressed confidence that the maneuvers would persuade the rich asshole to drop his tariff plan, which he blamed on protectionist advisers at the White House.
“Some of us have weighed in. ... I think he’s thinking it through,” he told reporters. “I think he’s shooting one across the bow and letting people know that we’re not being treated fairly.”
Yet all of the public pushback appeared to have little effect on the rich asshole, who declared Monday that he will not reverse his decision to impose 25 percent tariffs on steel and 10 percent on aluminum.
“No, we’re not backing down,” the rich asshole told reporters at the White House when asked about Ryan’s criticism.
The tariff spat marks a rare public break between the rich asshole and Republican leaders in Congress, who traditionally support free trade.
Republicans’ pitch to the rich asshole has largely focused on economic concerns. They say the proposed tariffs could send the stock market plunging and erase economic gains from the $1.5 trillion tax cut — two successes the GOP plans to tout in the upcoming midterm elections.
GOP strategist Doug Heye said “there’s no question” that the tariffs could undermine the party’s midterm message.
“Increased consumer costs because of tariff escalation hurt the positive messaging on the economy the party tries to focus on when tweets don’t get in the way,” he said.
U.S. trading partners are weighing retaliatory measures that appear to be designed to cause maximum political pain.
Harley-Davidson, which is based in Ryan’s home state, is facing retaliatory tariffs from Europe on its motorcycles. The European Union has also threatened to impose tariffs on Kentucky bourbon, a mainstay of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s (R-Ky.) home-state economy.
The White House has yet to officially announce the tariffs, which could be unveiled as soon as this week. Lawmakers and business groups hope to use the remaining time to persuade the president to scrap his plans, or at least create carve-outs for certain U.S. allies.
White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders left the door open to changes, including exemptions for friendly nations like Canada, saying that the details have yet to be finalized. But the spokeswoman also made it clear the rich asshole has no plans to scrap the proposal entirely.
“The president wants to make sure we are doing everything we can to protect American workers and protect industries like the steel and aluminum industries,” Sanders said.
the rich asshole also pushed back on the notion that the tariffs would hurt the economy.
“Our country, on trade, has been ripped off by virtually every country in the world, whether it’s friend or enemy. Everybody. China, Russia — and take people who we think are wonderful, the European Union,” the president said Monday in the Oval Office. “We lost $800 billion a year on trade. Not going to happen. We’re going to get it back.”
But the rich asshole also reversed previous comments, saying, “I don’t think you’re going to have a trade war” as a result of the tariffs. the rich asshole tweeted last Friday that “trade wars are good, and easy to win.”
If the rich asshole does move forward, congressional leaders may consider legislative action to stop the tariffs, according to one GOP source.
Under the Constitution, Congress has authority over trade issues. But lawmakers have passed multiple bills in the past ceding some of that power to the president when it comes to trade deals.
the rich asshole invoked a rarely used legal provision that allows him to unilaterally impose the tariffs on national security grounds. The Commerce Department found that there was a national security risk to the U.S. because of its reliance on steel and aluminum imports.
Lawmakers could pass a new bill saying that the rich asshole does not have the authority to levy the tariffs or attach a policy rider to a government-funding bill blocking the proposal. In order to overcome a presidential veto, two-thirds of Congress would need to agree.
But some members of Congress have already dismissed the idea of trying to rein in the rich asshole’s executive power on trade.
“No, that’s clearly a trade promotion authority,” said Sen. James Lankford(R-Okla.), referring to the process that makes it easier for the president to enter into trade agreements.
Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), the Senate’s No. 2 Republican, does not believe GOP members will hold up the rich asshole’s nominees over the tariffs.
It also remains uncertain whether Republicans would be united in blocking the rich asshole’s proposal, even for lawmakers who oppose the tariffs.
Spokesmen for McConnell declined to comment, including on whether he has privately raised concerns with the White House. Speaking from the floor on Monday, McConnell made no mention of the rich asshole’s looming tariffs.
House Freedom Caucus Chairman Mark Meadows (R-N.C.), a the rich asshole ally, said he has spoken with the administration about the tariff plan, which he would prefer to see far more targeted.
But Meadows, who predicted that there would be little appetite in Congress to rein in the rich asshole’s executive power or take any other sort of legislative response, stopped short of directly criticizing the president.
“Criticizing a tactic is not something that I’m prepared to do as much as looking at the results and where we may end up,” Meadows told reporters on Monday evening. “I think it’s too early to judge how this may turn out, other than to know that there’s real discussions that have been happening over the last several days.”
“BAT-SH*T CRAZY is the best medical description for his behavior,” the former White House lawyer tweeted in the midst of Nunberg’s several phone and in-person interviews Monday afternoon.
Dean also referenced fellow Watergate scandal figures G. Gordon Liddy, an FBI agent who worked in the clandestine “White House Plumbers” investigative unit and Martha Mitchell, the wife of President Nixon’s attorney general who was outspoken in her condemnation of his administration.
Shortly after the Washington Post broke the story about Nunberg’s intent to defy Mueller’s subpoena that led to his string of interviews, the former White House counsel blasted his decision to do so.
“This is not Mr. Nunberg’s decision, and he will be in criminal contempt for refusing to show up,” Dean said.
“He can take the 5th Amendment. But he can’t tell the [Grand] Jury to get lost,” he continued. “He’s going to lose this fight.”
On Monday afternoon, former the rich asshole campaign aide Sam Nunberg did three different television interviews — one with MSNBC, and then two with CNN — in which he explained why he doesn’t plan to cooperate with a grand jury subpoena ordering him to testify on Friday before a federal grand jury investigating Russia’s interference in the 2016 election. Each of them was an unmitigated disaster.
Nunberg is not necessarily the most reliable narrator. He was fired from the campaign for racist Facebook posts and at times has been at odds with the rich asshole, who sued Nunberg for $10 million, alleging he violated a confidentiality agreement.
Nevertheless, Nunberg made a number of explosive claims during the interviews. Here are the highlights.
Nunberg says he thinks Mueller has the goods on the rich asshole
Nunberg said that he came away from an interview with Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s team persuaded that they may “have something” on the rich asshole.
“I think they may… I think that he may have done something during the election,” Nunberg told MSNBC. “But I don’t know that for sure.”
Nunberg argues that Russian agents hacking Hillary Clinton's emails was "fine" because "she should have protected her e-mails."
(FACT CHECK -- the emails that were hacked and released by WikiLeaks weren't Hillary's, but were the DNC's and John Podesta's.) pic.twitter.com/j89SRZQIGI
“I suspect that they suspect something about him… The way they asked about his business dealings… it just made me suspect that they suspect something about him,” he said.
REPORTER: "Do you believe that the special counsel has something on Donald Trump?"
NUNBERG: "I suspect that they suspect something about him... The way they asked about his business dealings... it just made me suspect that they suspect something about him." pic.twitter.com/Et6zIyveOr
Nunberg says the rich asshole knew about the rich asshole Tower meeting with the Russians
Nunberg told CNN’s Jake Tapper that he believes the rich asshole knew about a June 2016 meeting in the rich asshole Tower between top campaign officials and a Kremlin-connected lawyer who promised to provide the campaign with dirt about Hillary Clinton.
“All he had to say was, ‘yeah, we met with the Russians. The Russians offered us something, and we thought they had something, and that was it,'” Nunberg said. “I don’t know why he went around trying to hide it.”
NUNBERG: "Do you think should I cooperate? Should I spend 80 hours going over my e-mails, Jake?"
TAPPER: "If it were me, I would. Just asking my opinion. Because it sounds like pain. But he is the special counsel and he does have the long arm of the law." pic.twitter.com/N8PFFNS5Ai
Nunberg also said that he doesn't believe that Trump didn't know about the June 2016 Trump Tower meeting between top campaign officials and a Kremlin-connected lawyer who promised the campaign dirt on Hillary Clinton. pic.twitter.com/vbpppobIze
Last summer, the rich asshole helped craft a misleading statement about the meeting. During an interview with the New York Times, the rich asshole denied having any knowledge about it.
“No, I didn’t know anything about the meeting,” the rich asshole said.
Nunberg says the rich asshole foreign policy adviser Carter Page was colluding with Russia
During his second interview with CNN, Nunberg told Jake Tapper that foreign the rich asshole foreign policy adviser Carter Page “was colluding with Russia,” but he downplayed the significance of it.
“He was not really an adviser, Jake, come on — do you really think he was an adviser? He was a name on a list,” Nunberg said.
NUNBERG: "I think Mueller has enough on Trump. He doesn't need me to start giving him information on Stone and Bannon. Jake, I communicated with Roger Stone and Steve Bannon 15 times a day. So I have to spend 80 hours going over e-mails?"
Nunberg closes his 3rd TV interview by saying Carter Page "was colluding with the Russians," but downplays significance of that because "he was not really an adviser." (Trump mentioned him by name as a foreign policy adviser during the campaign.) pic.twitter.com/zO5NXFOAq2
On MSNBC, Former Trump campaign aide Sam Nunberg says he won't cooperate w/Mueller
"I'm 1st person to go out here & say I'm not cooperating. B/c it's absolutely ridiculous what they want from me. Should I spend 80 hours going over e-mails?..it would be funny if they arrested me"
“Do you think should I cooperate? Should I spend 80 hours going over my e-mails, Jake?” he asked.
“If it were me, I would,” Tapper replied. “Just my opinion. Because it sounds like pain, but he is the special counsel and he does have the long arm of the law.”
Nunberg closes his 3rd TV interview by saying Carter Page "was colluding with the Russians," but downplays significance of that because "he was not really an adviser." (Trump mentioned him by name as a foreign policy adviser during the campaign.) pic.twitter.com/zO5NXFOAq2
NUNBERG: "Do you think should I cooperate? Should I spend 80 hours going over my e-mails, Jake?"
TAPPER: "If it were me, I would. Just asking my opinion. Because it sounds like pain. But he is the special counsel and he does have the long arm of the law." pic.twitter.com/N8PFFNS5Ai
Nunberg says he’s too busy to go through his emails
Nunberg framed his refusal to comply with the subpoena around his frustration that Mueller’s team is asking for a complete record of his emails with other the rich asshole campaign aides, including Roger Stone and Steve Bannon, going back to November 2015.
“The subpoena is absolutely ridiculous,” Nunberg told CNN’s Gloria Berger. “Why should I hand them over every email I’ve had with Steve Bannon since November of 2015? Give me a break.”
Nunberg reiterates that he's not cooperating with the subpoena simply because he doesn't want to spend "80 hours" sorting through his old emails to comply with Mueller's request pic.twitter.com/xjPRegQ977
During his interview with Tapper, Nunberg said: “I think Mueller has enough on the rich asshole. He doesn’t need me to start giving him information on Stone and Bannon. Jake, I communicated with Roger Stone and Steve Bannon 15 times a day. So I have to spend 80 hours going over e-mails?”
NUNBERG on why he's not cooperating: "I shouldn't have to spend that much time. I shouldn't have to go to a grand jury. I'm spending a lot of money on legal fees. A lot of other people are. And granted, Donald Trump caused this because he's an idiot." #ItDontWorkLikeThatpic.twitter.com/o2Q8xSHH8X
NUNBERG: "I think Mueller has enough on Trump. He doesn't need me to start giving him information on Stone and Bannon. Jake, I communicated with Roger Stone and Steve Bannon 15 times a day. So I have to spend 80 hours going over e-mails?"
Nunberg says Mueller is honing in on the rich asshole’s 2013 trip to Moscow
Nunberg said that his interview with Mueller left him with the impression that investigators are honing in on the rich asshole’s 2013 trip to Moscow for the Miss Universe pageant.
“They probably want to know about Miss Universe 2013, if I had to guess,” Nunberg told CNN, in response to a question about why he thinks Mueller’s team wants him to testify before a grand jury.
Nunberg reiterates that he's not cooperating with the subpoena simply because he doesn't want to spend "80 hours" sorting through his old emails to comply with Mueller's request pic.twitter.com/xjPRegQ977
Nunberg says that he thinks Trump's 2013 trip to Moscow for the Miss Universe competition has become a focus of Mueller's investigation pic.twitter.com/n7svNpJlGq
Regarding the Steele dossier’s claim that the rich asshole took part in lewd sexual escapades with Russian prostitutes during that trip, Nunberg said the rich asshole’s personal bodyguard told him that one of the rich asshole’s Russian contacts, Emin Agalarov “offered to send women up to the rich asshole’s room [in Moscow] but the rich asshole didn’t want it. He’s too smart for that, he didn’t want it.”
Nunberg says that he thinks Trump's 2013 trip to Moscow for the Miss Universe competition has become a focus of Mueller's investigation pic.twitter.com/n7svNpJlGq
NUNBERG: "I was told that that idiot, Emin, had offered to send women up to Trump's room [in Moscow] but Trump didn't want it. He's too smart for that, he didn't want it."
Mueller thinks the rich asshole ‘is the Manchurian Candidate’
Nunberg told CNN that his impression is that Mueller “thinks that the rich asshole is the Manchurian Candidate,” but he said he doesn’t agree with that assessment.
“Mueller thinks that trump is the Manchurian Candidate, and I will tell you I disagree with that,” Nunberg said during his first CNN interview.
NUNBERG: "I was told that that idiot, Emin, had offered to send women up to Trump's room [in Moscow] but Trump didn't want it. He's too smart for that, he didn't want it."
NUNBERG closes with this: "Mueller thinks that trump is the Manchurian Candidate, and I will tell you I disagree with that." pic.twitter.com/U1YkcQOzzi
Ex-the rich asshole aide Sam Nunberg (left) and CNN host Erin Burnett (right). Image via screengrab.
DON'T MISS STORIES. FOLLOW RAW STORY!
During the most recent of several interviews on Monday, former the rich asshole campaign aide Sam Nunberg denied speculation that he’d been drinking despite CNN host Erin Burnett noting she smelled booze on him.
“Talking to you, I have smelled alcohol on your breath,” Burnett said, noting their close physical proximity.
“I’ve not had a drink,” Nunberg replied.
“I know it’s awkward,” the host responded, asking him to state for the record that he was not drunk or on “anything else.”
“No,” he said. “Besides my meds, my antidepressants.”
CNN’s Erin Burnett on Monday confronted former some rich asshole aide Sam Nurnberg as he continued his whirlwind press tour following the announcement he will not be complying with a grand jury subpoena from special counsel Robert Mueller.
Nunberg told Burnett he’d been “a campaign advisor [for the rich asshole] from 2011 to 2016, when everybody was laughing at some rich asshole,”—a claim that appears to counter the president’s own timeline of when he began eyeing a 2016 run.
“You were campaign advisor from 2011?” Burnett asked. “He was thinking about running that long?”
“Yeah,” Nunberg said, before launching into a tirade against White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders—who Nunberg previously called a “fat slob.”
“I wasn’t planning on asking about this early in the interview but you talked about her fat mouth, I want to ask you about this,” Burnett said. “It is important. You’ve done six interviews this the past four hours. ‘Bizarre’ was a word that some White House officials were using to describe some of your interviews. ‘Nuts’ is another one … Let me ask you this. You talked about her fat mouth. You called her a ‘fat slob’ in another interview. I reached out to a the rich asshole ally.”
“This person told me, … ‘You’re drunk or off your meds.’ At least half a dozen other CNN reporters have received similar messages. Is this a hit job or is something wrong?” Burnett asked.
Nunberg replied he “really could care less what the rich asshole White House” has to say, citing the president’s approval rating and once again attacking Huckabee Sanders as “a terrible press officer.”
“They can say whatever they want about me,” Nunberg said. “They have treated Roger [Stone] and me terribly. Terribly.”
Over the past month Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) has been pressing the National Rifle Association (NRA) for answers about money it may have received from the Kremlin or Russian nationals. The NRA, thus far, has tried to stonewall the senator — but Wyden isn’t letting up just yet.
After the NRA dodged his previous questions about its ties to Russia, the senator sent a new round of questions to the group on Monday. Wyden requested information on the structure of the NRA’s election-related expenditures, as well as information about the group’s notorious December 2015 trip to Moscow, where NRA higher-ups met with sanctioned Russian officials.
The letter follows recent revelations about the FBI investigating potential financial ties between Russian nationals and the NRA, especially in light of the $30 million the NRA donated to some rich asshole’s presidential campaign — money that came from a segment of the organization that isn’t required to disclose donors.
The FBI’s investigation has centered on the role Alexander Torshin, a Russian politico who is close to President Vladimir Putin, played in potential financing. Torshin — who describes himself as a “life member of [the] NRA” — was identified by Spanish investigators as a key player in Russian money laundering in Europe. For good measure, Torshin claims he met the rich asshole through the NRA.
In a February letter, Wyden requested documents pertaining to any contributions from Russia or Russian nationals to the NRA, notably focusing on “Russian-backed shell companies” and “real estate ownership documentation.” (Wyden also sent a letter to the Treasury Department on the topic in February, but a spokesperson for the senator told ThinkProgress that Treasury hasn’t yet replied.)
The NRA’s response to Wyden, however, effectively ignored the senator’s request, with secretary and general counsel John Frazer writing simply that “the NRA and its related entities do not accept funds from foreign persons or entities in connection with United States elections.”
At no point in Frazer’s letter did he deny that the NRA had received funding from the Kremlin.
As Wyden notes in his latest letter, the NRA’s lack of response has only led to greater concerns. “I remain concerned about the inability to get clear answers to several questions about the possibility that Russian actors funneled foreign funds into NRA electioneering activity,” Wyden wrote this week. “Clear answers to these questions are a matter of national security, campaign finance law, and American sovereignty.”
Now, though, Wyden isn’t simply looking for information about any potential financial links between the NRA and Russia. Rather, he has expanded his request to include information on how the NRA ensures potential foreign donations aren’t funneled, wittingly or otherwise, to support domestic electoral campaigns. The senator requested information on “the steps [the NRA] takes to ensure that domestic entities donating funds are not owned or controlled by foreign nationals,” as well as how the NRA vets donors in the first place.
Moscow monies
In addition to any possible financial ties, the new letter shows Wyden is interested in another bizarre link between the NRA and Russia. In 2015, a series of NRA officials — including NRA donor Joe Gregory, current NRA president Pete Brownell, and former NRA president David Keene, alongside the rich asshole booster Sheriff David Clarke — took an ignominious trip to Moscow, allegedly as a fact-finding mission regarding gun rights in Russia.
The timing of the trip would have been more than enough to merit questions. However, it also appears that the NRA crew made time to meet with Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin — a far-right Russian official sanctioned by the U.S. for his role in Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
According to a series of photos shared by Rogozin on his Twitter account, which is now private, the sanctioned Russian official can be seen chatting with Clarke — with Torshin apparently sitting alongside — as well as smiling next to Keene, Brownell, and Gregory. (The trip was Keene’s second venture to Moscow linked to Torshin over the past few years.)
IN A SERIES OF PHOTOS HE POSTED ON TWITTER. ROGOZIN, UNDER SANCTIONS FROM THE U.S., CAN BE SEEN HOBNOBBING WITH NRA HIGHER-UPS, INCLUDING DONORS, BOOSTERS, AND CURRENT AND FORMER PRESIDENTS. (CREDIT: TWITTER)
Wyden, as it is, focused on Gregory’s role in the trip in his latest letter. As the senator noted, Gregory was recently listed as one of the NRA’s top donors, as well as a member of the NRA’s “Golden Ring of Freedom,” itself a group of “elite donors who chip in checks of $1 million and upwards.”
While Gregory’s profile was recently removed from the NRA’s website, his previous biography listed him as one of the “charter” members of the “Golden Ring of Freedom” group. The NRA also described him a few years ago as the “chairman” of the “Golden Ring of Freedom.”
In his letter, Wyden requested information on “any Russian nationals” who were part of the “Golden Ring of Freedom” — or any other related donor programs — as well as information on the “purpose of Mr. Gregory’s December 2015 trip to Moscow.”
Torshin, meanwhile, has disputed any allegations that he acted as a conduit for Russian monies to the NRA. He tweeted a few weeks ago that he’s still “waiting” on “concrete evidence” of any links.
Still, Torshin, who has described Keene as a “friend,” doesn’t seem to have made much attempt to obscure his NRA ties. Torshin’s Twitter feed boasts a trove of NRA-related material, including a 2012 tweet of a plaque reading “Freedom Isn’t Free.”
The Daily Beast spoke to several friends of the former campaign aide fired early on during the rich asshole’s presidential run, many of whom said they thought Nunberg might be day drunk.
“Several of [Nunberg’s] friends told The Daily Beast they were concerned that he was putting himself in severe legally jeopardy by going on multiple live cable-news programs Monday afternoon,” the report notes. “They also said that they were worried Nunberg had been drinking prior to dialing in to MSNBC and CNN.”
In one instance, Nunberg hung up on an associate who was trying to convince him “not to do anything stupid and to go to his parents’ house immediately.” Minutes later, the report read, the man once sued by some rich asshole for “leaking” information to the press was on MSNBC with host Katy Tur, the first of multiple phone interviews throughout the afternoon.
During his in-person interview with MSNBC’s Ari Melber later in the evening, Nunberg joked that he “wouldn’t go to jail” before his co-panelist Maya Wiley, a New School executive and civil rights activist, tried to convince him otherwise.
Wow, former Trump campaign staffer Sam Nunberg is on @AriMelber’s MSNBC show right now, and just said, laughingly, “I’m not going to jail, come on.” He’s going blow off Mueller’s subpoena and he thinks he won’t be held in contempt for it. Dude.
GOP’er watching Nunberg live texts me:
“He just guzzled an entire cup of water.
“He’s laughing that he's not going to jail.
“It’s so riveting they aren't going to commercial.
“This is turning into a counseling session. ‘I think your family wants you home for Thanksgiving, Sam.’” https://twitter.com/thebeatwithari/status/970806485503668224 …
Former CIA agent Phil Mudd (Photo: Screen capture)
DON'T MISS STORIES. FOLLOW RAW STORY!
Former intelligence official Phil Mudd on Monday joked that ex-the rich asshole campaign aide Sam Nunberg’s bizarre media spectacle was akin to flipping the bird to the special counsel.
“If [Nunberg] says he’s not gonna speak, that’s basically raising a middle finger to the teacher in the classroom,” Mudd mused. “He’s gonna get some detention — that is, the director’s gonna go to a judge if he doesn’t show up to the grand jury.”
The former CIA counterintelligence director said he nevertheless believes Nunberg may do the right.
“I think this guy’s gonna look in the mirror and say whoa, hold on a second,” Mudd concluded.
A powerful fossil fuel industry trade group is holding a conference this week at President the rich asshole’s hotel in Washington, D.C., a venue that has been at the center of conflict-of-interest concerns.
Oil and gas officials are gathering at the hotel as part of the Independent Petroleum Association of America’s (IPAA) annual “Congressional Call-Up” where the officials get the opportunity to discuss top policy issues with members of Congress and the rich asshole administration.
This is at least the third energy industry group to select the rich asshole International Hotel as the site for a conference since the rich asshole’s inauguration in January 2017.
The IPAA represents oil and gas production companies of various sizes, with ConocoPhillips Co. its largest member. As opposition to oil and gas drilling began to grow in the late 2000s, the trade group created Energy In Depth, a rapid response group that provides information about the industry as a counterweight to resistance from anti-fracking organizations.
On Monday, the meeting kicked off in a room at the back of the hotel — the Lincoln Library — where attendees, numbering about 60, were scheduled to receive a game plan for the three days of the conference. Inside the hotel, no signs or corporate sponsor banners marked the location of the meeting, which was not open to the news media. Anti-fossil fuel activists were organizing a protest against the IPAA for Monday evening outside the rich asshole hotel.
Asked why the association chose the rich asshole International Hotel for this year’s meeting, IPAA spokesperson Neal Kirby told ThinkProgress that price, location, and availability were the primary reasons. “IPAA’s choice of venues are completely unrelated to our advocacy efforts,” he said.
Officials from IPAA member companies come to Washington each year for the Congressional Call-Up because they view the oil and gas industry as burdened by too many regulations at the federal level. Kirby said the IPAA is encouraged by how the rich asshole administration, in such a short time, has promoted “pro-American energy jobs.” But he emphasized the group believes more can be done at the congressional level to reach the “nation’s full energy potential.”
Since the hotel opened almost 18 months ago, energy industry trade groups have joined foreign governments in choosing the rich asshole hotel over other venues. Located on Pennsylvania Avenue, it is only a few blocks from the White House.
Lobbyists working on behalf of the kingdom of Saudi Arabia, for example, spent $270,000 on rooms, catering, and parking at the hotel during its first six months in operation, Time reported.
And in 2017, both the American Petroleum Institute (API) — one of the most powerful industry trade groups in Washington — and the National Mining Association (NMA) held conferences at the hotel.
The rich asshole Organization leases space for the hotel, which opened in October 2016, from the federal government.
Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke spoke at API’s board of directors’ meeting in March 2017. Three members of the rich asshole’s Cabinet — Energy Secretary Rick Perry, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, and Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta — spoke at the NMA meeting last October. The NMA’s board of directors has included chief executives from mining firms such as Peabody Energy, Drummond Company, and Cloud Peak Energy.
Heads of NMA member companies, including Robert Murray, raisedmoney during the 2016 election for the rich asshole. Since the rich asshole took office, Murray has repeatedlymet with administration officials, including at least three times with Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Scott Pruitt. Andrew Wheeler, a former lobbyist for Murray Energy is awaiting a Senate vote on his nomination to the No. 2 position at the EPA. Murray also pressed Perry to provide federal help to the ailing coal industry.
Previous presidents often divested their business assets or placed them in a blind trust administered by an independent third party to avoid both conflicts of interest and the appearance of them, according to a Time magazine report. Unlike his predecessors, the rich asshole has stepped away from the operations of his business, but he has not relinquished ownership.
“He is one great big example of exploiting public office for private gain,” Kathleen Clark, a law professor and ethics expert at Washington University in St. Louis, told Time. “Of course it’s a scandal.”
The rich asshole hotel charges guests well above their competitors in Washington. It’s not just industry, though — members of the rich asshole administration have also stayed or lived at the hotel, the Washington Post reported last year.
This is “part of the reason they’ve been able to turn an unexpected profit on a relatively empty hotel,” according to Jordan Libowitz, communications director for the nonprofit Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington.
NATIVE AMERICANS AND THEIR SUPPORTERS RALLY IN FRONT OF THERICH ASSHOLE INTERNATIONAL HOTEL ON APRIL 27, 2017 IN WASHINGTON, DC. CREDIT: CHIP SOMODEVILLA/GETTY IMAGES
The rich asshole Organization had projected that it would lose a couple million dollars at the hotel during the first four months of 2017 as it established a new hotel and convention business. The hotel has 40,000-square-feet of meeting space and 263 guest rooms. But the hotel reported a $1.97 million profit during the period despite the fact that its occupancy rate is much lower than its competitors in Washington.
“I think it’s pretty clear that groups use his business to attempt to curry favor with the president,” Libowitz told ThinkProgress. “Even if he’s not getting a report from the business itself, there are plenty of reports in the media — he knows. It’s also become abundantly clear that many in Congress are fine with turning a blind eye towards this practice as long as he supports their legislative goals — many have even taken to spending campaign money at his properties.”
The IPAA held its 2017 congressional call-up meeting at the Loews Madison Hotel, which is now owned by Hilton, located about 10 blocks north of the rich asshole hotel. Two years ago, the congressional call-up was held at the Hay-Adams Hotel, just north of the White House.
The group’s main themes at this year’s meeting at the rich asshole hotel will be access to public lands for oil and gas drilling, the permitting process for pipelines, and wildlife issues.
“While IPAA members are located throughout the nation, the single largest hindrance stifling independent producers is the application and enforcement of the Endangered Species Act,” the IPAA says in a fact sheet distributed at the meeting that highlights the group’s legislative and regulatory priorities for 2018.
Endangered species advocates note the Endangered Species Act has protected iconic animals like the bald eagle, the California condor, and the Florida panther, and helped preserve wild areas. Since January 3, 2017, Congress has seen the introduction of at least 63 proposals that would strip federal protections from specific species or undercut the Endangered Species Act. These attacks from industry-friendly lawmakers build on an already existing 303 pieces of legislation that attempted to weaken the Endangered Species Act from previous Congresses, according to the Center for Biological Diversity.
Kirby said the IPAA has almost 130 meetings set up with members of Congress on Tuesday. On Wednesday, the meeting attendees plan to travel to the EPA’s office, located across the street from the rich asshole hotel, to meet with federal environmental officials.
In a statement on Monday, Stephanie Tulowetzke, an organizer with the Sunrise Movement, a nonprofit environmental group composed of young people, said: “There could be no better symbol of the corrupting influence of Big Oil over our government than having a high-dollar fossil fuel lobbying event at the rich asshole Hotel.”
Special counsel and former FBI director Bob Mueller (image via screengrab).
DON'T MISS STORIES. FOLLOW RAW STORY!
Onetime some rich asshole aide Sam Nunberg on Monday capped his rambunctious media tour by releasing the grand jury subpoena he’s refusing to comply with.
After giving no fewer than four public interviews (including one where he fat-shamed White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders), Nunberg provided theWashington Posta copy of his grand jury subpoena as part of special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation.
White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders (left) and former the rich asshole campaign aide Sam Nunberg (right). Images via screengrab.
DON'T MISS STORIES. FOLLOW RAW STORY!
Completing his bizarre scorched-earth media spree, onetime the rich asshole campaign aide Sam Nunberg took to a local news station Monday afternoon to call White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders a “fat slob”
“She’s a joke,” Nunberg said. “OK fine, yeah, she’s unattractive, she’s a fat slob, but that’s not relevant.”
“The person she works for has a 30 percent approval rating,” he continued. “If she wants to start attacking me, that’s fine. She can do that.”
CNN reported Monday that Nunberg’s interviews stunned several the rich asshole administration aides who’ve grown used to scandal, calling them “bizarre” and “nuts.”
Other aides have said “they try to tune out daily developments on the Russia investigation — the only way, they say, they’d be able to continue about the business of running the country.”
“I’ve said many times before that there was no collusion with the rich asshole campaign,” the press secretary said. “Anything further on what his actions are, he didn’t work at the White House so I certainly can’t speak to him or lack of knowledge that he has.”
White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders dodged a question about whether President the rich asshole spoke with billionaire investor Carl Icahn prior to announcing last week his intention to impose hefty tariffs on steel.
the rich asshole and Icahn’s communications have been at issue after ThinkProgress reported last week that Icahn dumped more than $30 million in steel-related stock days before the announcement. A leading expert in insider trading, Duke Law professor James D. Cox, told ThinkProgress the timing of the sale was “awfully suspicious” and “unquestionably” warranted a federal investigation.
A key question in any such inquiry is whether Icahn was in touch with the rich asshole or others in the White House and learned material inside information about potential steel tariffs.
Fox Business’ Blake Burman asked Sanders if she “could tell us the last time the president has spoken to Mr. Icahn and whether or not he told Mr. Icahn of what he was planning to do.”
Sanders dodged Burman’s question.
“I’m not aware of any of their — of a recent conversation between the two of them. So I’d have to verify and get back to you. But I’m not aware of any conversations,” Sanders replied.
Of course, Sanders saying she is not aware of any conversations is very different than saying that no conversations occurred.
ThinkProgress and more than a dozen other media outlets have inquired in the last several days about recent conversations between the rich asshole and Icahn. The White House has not provided any response. In a statement to NPR, a White House spokesperson suggested that, even if the rich asshole and Icahn talked about the sanctions, it would not be inside information since the rich asshole has discussed the possibility of tariffs in the summer of 2017.
Cox, however, said this is an incorrect interpretation of insider trading law.
“It’s been in the atmosphere, but if there was a conversation or a bit of information that made the uncertainty less uncertain,” Cox told ThinkProgress, “[W]hat’s important here, is did [Icahn] have privileged information that allowed him to better evaluate the likelihood that the rich asshole would actually do something.”
Fox News host Shepard Smith on Monday observed that former the rich asshole campaign aide Sam Nunberg was risking jail time by refusing to comply with a subpoena from special counsel Robert Mueller.
“But he says ‘I’m not willing to do this’,” Smith reported. “Well, if you don’t answer a subpoena with ‘Yeah, I’ll be there’ — they usually lock you up. That’s normally how this works. I don’t know what is going to happen here. We shall see.”
Later in his show, during an interview with Axios reporter Caitlin Owens, Smith again noted that Nunberg was putting himself in legal jeopardy.
“I don’t know if he does not understand how the federal courts work or what it is, but you don’t get to really ask the feds why.”
“I don’t know if anyone knows what he is thinking,” Owens replied. “Subpoenas are not optional.”
White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders on Monday insisted that President some rich asshole did not collude with Russia to win the election even though a former campaign staffer suggested otherwise.
Former the rich asshole campaign aide Sam Nunberg revealed on Monday that he would not comply with a subpoena from special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation. During an interview with MSNBC, Nunberg also said that he learned in a previous interview that Mueller may already have proof of crimes committed by the rich asshole during the election.
But at Monday’s White House press briefing, Sanders slammed Nunburg and insisted that he was lying.
“I definitely think he doesn’t know that for sure because he’s incorrect,” Sanders said. “I’ve said many times before that there was no collusion with the rich asshole campaign. Anything further on what his actions are, he didn’t work at the White House so I certainly can’t speak to him or lack of knowledge that he has.”
After forwarding a subpoena from special counsel Robert Mueller to the Washington Post, former the rich asshole campaign aide Sam Nunberg gave MSNBC a freewheeling interview that included his belief that his onetime boss may be guilty of collusion with the Russians.
After admitting to host Katy Tur that he’d been interviewed by Mueller’s investigators, the host asked Nunberg if he believes the special counsel “has anything” on the rich asshole.
“I think they may,” the ex-aide responded. “I think he may have done something during the election. But I don’t know that for sure.”
Elsewhere in the interview, Nunberg told Tur that he thinks it’d be “funny” if he were arrested for failure to comply with Mueller’s subpoena.
“Why does Bob Mueller need to see my emails when I send Roger [Stone] and Steve [Bannon] clips and we talk about how much we hate people?” the erstwhile the rich asshole aide asked rhetorically.
He also admitted that “Donald the rich asshole being involved in conservative politics was not good for his business.”
“By the way,” Nunberg said at one point, “I think my lawyer is going to dump me right now.”
In a freewheeling interview with Tapper, Nunberg asked the host’s advice about ignoring a subpoena from special counsel Robert Mueller, and demanded to know whether he was the only person who’s ever ignored such a demand.
Nunberg’s media blitz was reminiscent of another former the rich asshole aide, Carter Page, who visited multiple news networks last year in a series of bizarre interviewsimmediately after Mueller revealed onetime the rich asshole adviser George Papadopoulos pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI.
The Internet on Monday was simultaneously baffled and amused by Nunberg’s multiple live TV appearances. Read some of the best replies, below:
No comments:
Post a Comment