WATCH LIVE: Sarah Sanders holds press briefing after Paul Ryan announces retirement
White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders (Screenshot)
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White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders is holding a news briefing Wednesday.
The press briefing occurs the same day that President some rich asshole announced military action against Syria and House Speaker Paul Ryan announced he would not be seeking re-election at the end of his term.
Watch live video below:
Michael Cohen caught dining with MSNBC’s Donny Deutsch — who just urged him to turn on the rich asshole
Donny Deutsch and Michael Cohen, composite image.
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President some rich asshole’s embattled attorney Michael Cohen was spotted having lunch with MSNBC contributor Donny Deutsch, CNN reported Wednesday.
CNN White House reporter Elizabeth Landers tweeted about the meeting.
Deutsch, an advertising executive, knows Cohen personally and had urged Cohen to flip on the rich asshole only hours earlier.
“Michael at this point, for whatever his emotional, legal, personal reasons is devoutly, devoutly, devoutly loyal to this president — where I can’t understand it, candidly,” Deutsch said on Morning Joe on Wednesday. “I will see it as this unfolds, (the FBI raid) two days ago it was not about Russia, it was not. It was about banking and finance. When you scratch that scab, there’s a lot of puss coming out of it.”
In March, Deutsch worried that the rich asshole might destroy the world with nuclear weapons to avoid jail.
“This week if you were concerned about some rich asshole being our president, you really felt the noose tighten with Hope Hicks leaving and the Kushner story and the new conspiracy leading directly to the rich asshole from (special counsel) Robert Mueller’s point of view,” Deutsch said. “You really feel it, and the bad news, though, if you’re somebody that’s concerned about the rich asshole, is you’re really starting to see the beginning of a cornered some rich asshole, and what is he capable of doing at the expense of the world or the United States or the consumer to save himself?”
Watch Donny Deutsch on MSNBC’s Morning Joe explaining his relationship with Michael Cohen:
Fox legal analyst says Sarah Sanders let something big slip about the rich asshole’s plan to fire Mueller
Fox News senior judicial analyst Andrew Napolitano served as a New Jersey Superior Court judge.
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The rich asshole the rich asshole White House let slip a major legal opinion during a press briefing with Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Fox News senior judicial analyst Andrew Napolitano explained on Wednesday.
“I want to talk about with where we are with the people potentially on the chopping block,” anchor Harris Faulkner said. “The Deputy A.G. Rod Rosenstein and potentially Jeff Sessions, the Attorney General.”
“The president can fire the attorney general or a deputy attorney general for any reason or no reason,” former Judge Napolitano noted.
Faulkner showed a clip of the White House press secretary claiming the rich asshole “has the power” to fire special counsel Robert Mueller.
“I was surprised to hear it with what Sarah Sanders said,” Napolitano explained. “Right after the clip you ran, she said ‘we’ve been advised we can.’ Translate, they asked for a legal opinion from the Justice Department and from outside lawyers — we now know this — about whether the president can fire Bob Mueller and they got arguments on both sides, but the arguments came down on the side of ‘yes, he can do so.'”
“Now it’s unsettled law, meaning there’s good law saying he can’t and there’s good law saying he can,” he noted.
The conservative legal analyst, who is a visiting professor at Brooklyn Law School, advised President the rich asshole not to fire the special counsel.
“In my opinion, he ought not do so because that will start a cascade of events that will exceed his ability to control,” Napolitano warned.
Watch:
REVEALED: FBI sought records about the rich asshole’s infamous ‘Access Hollywood’ tape in Michael Cohen raid
the rich asshole lawyer Michael Cohen (IowaPolitics.com/Flickr)
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When raiding the office and residences of some rich asshole’s longtime personal attorney Michael Cohen, FBI agents sought information on the president’s infamous “Access Hollywood” tape that made headlines shortly before the 2016 election.
The New York Times reported Wednesday that the FBI agents who searched Cohen wanted “all records” related to the tape during their Monday raid. The report noted that it’s “unclear” whether the president’s personal attorney had anything to do with the tape.
This latest detail from the warrants to raid Cohen’s office and residences comes a day after the Times reported that agents also sought information regarding “hush payments” allegedly made to two other women who claimed to have had affairs with the rich asshole. The agents who raided the attorney also sought records related to a similar agreement made to the rich asshole mistress Stormy Daniels, who is currently cooperating with federal investigators probing the $130,000 payment Cohen gave her in exchange for her silence about the affair in October 2016.
President gives ‘credit to Ivanka’ on sex trafficking
Jessica Kwong
Posted with permission from Newsweek
President Donald Trump gave props to his eldest daughter during a signing for anti-online sex trafficking legislation Wednesday.
"And I have to give credit to Ivanka Trump," the president said. "She's here someplace. She's been a great representative, I will say."
Related: Was Ivanka Trump ‘Complicit’ in Halting Equal Pay Rule? Watchdog Group Is Suing to Find Out
Hous Majority leader Kevin McCarthy followed the president's lead, praising Ivanka Trump for convening a meeting about the bill.
"That's true, thank you very much, Ivanka," the president responded. Asked for his comments, another Republican, Senator Rob Portman of Ohio joked that the president was "correct about Ivanka," prompting laughter in the room.
Ivanka Trump, who has addressed curbing sex trafficking as a senior White House adviser, tweeted about the Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act (FOSTA) earlier on Wednesday.
“Today @POTUS will sign the bipartisan #FOSTA #SESTA bill, which combats sex trafficking online, holds perpetrators accountable & ensures justice for survivors,” she tweeted. “The @WhiteHouse is committed to #EndTrafficking.”
In a meeting she convened in March, Ivanka Trump applauded lawmakers on their progress on FOSTA, which the House had overwhelmingly passed the previous month and incorporates language from a similar Senate bill.
“I have discussed these pieces of legislation with almost everyone in this room over the past several months and commend you on getting us where we are today,” she said at the time. “On behalf of the president and administration, we want to thank all the members here today for your leadership and commitment to end the shameful and tragic crime of online sex trafficking.”
While the bill was endorsed by the Internet Association which represents big companies like Google, privacy and civil liberties advocates say it will weaken online free-speech protections and sex workers have expressed fear it will drive them offline and compromise their safety.
The president has given shout-outs to his eldest daughter before. During a talk in Ohio late last month, he said, “Speaking of a job well done, we have two of my daughters here today: Ivanka, who is working hard on infrastructure!” before going on to briefly mention his younger daughter Tiffany.
"And I have to give credit to Ivanka Trump," the president said. "She's here someplace. She's been a great representative, I will say."
Related: Was Ivanka Trump ‘Complicit’ in Halting Equal Pay Rule? Watchdog Group Is Suing to Find Out
Hous Majority leader Kevin McCarthy followed the president's lead, praising Ivanka Trump for convening a meeting about the bill.
"That's true, thank you very much, Ivanka," the president responded. Asked for his comments, another Republican, Senator Rob Portman of Ohio joked that the president was "correct about Ivanka," prompting laughter in the room.
Ivanka Trump, who has addressed curbing sex trafficking as a senior White House adviser, tweeted about the Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act (FOSTA) earlier on Wednesday.
“Today @POTUS will sign the bipartisan #FOSTA #SESTA bill, which combats sex trafficking online, holds perpetrators accountable & ensures justice for survivors,” she tweeted. “The @WhiteHouse is committed to #EndTrafficking.”
Today @POTUS will sign the bipartisan #FOSTA #SESTA bill, which combats sex trafficking online, holds perpetrators accountable & ensures justice for survivors. Thank you @senrobportman @SenBlumenthal @RepAnnWagner & @RepMimiWalters. The @WhiteHouse is committed to #EndTrafficking
In a meeting she convened in March, Ivanka Trump applauded lawmakers on their progress on FOSTA, which the House had overwhelmingly passed the previous month and incorporates language from a similar Senate bill.
“I have discussed these pieces of legislation with almost everyone in this room over the past several months and commend you on getting us where we are today,” she said at the time. “On behalf of the president and administration, we want to thank all the members here today for your leadership and commitment to end the shameful and tragic crime of online sex trafficking.”
While the bill was endorsed by the Internet Association which represents big companies like Google, privacy and civil liberties advocates say it will weaken online free-speech protections and sex workers have expressed fear it will drive them offline and compromise their safety.
The president has given shout-outs to his eldest daughter before. During a talk in Ohio late last month, he said, “Speaking of a job well done, we have two of my daughters here today: Ivanka, who is working hard on infrastructure!” before going on to briefly mention his younger daughter Tiffany.
Republican congressman unloads on ‘motherf**ker’ the rich asshole in furious over-the-top message to conservative pundit
some rich asshole (AFP/File / SAUL LOEB)
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A Republican Congressman has let loose and expressed his true feelings about President some rich asshole to Erick Erickson, a far right wing pundit. Erickson is a former Fox News contributor and was the editor of RedState. He will not identify the GOP lawmaker who is from a “very Republican” district for obvious reasons, writing the Congressman “is happy to be quoted, so long as I don’t name him.”
“If we’re going to lose because of him, we might as well impeach the motherf**ker,” the unnamed Republican Congressman we’ll call “Rep. X,” supposedly said to Erickson.
Erickson says Rep. X continued his rant, saying, “dammit he’s taking us all down with him. We are well and truly f**ked in November. Kevin [McCarthy] is already circling like a green fly circling sh*t trying to take Paul’s [Ryan] job because nobody thinks he’s sticking around for Nancy [Pelosi]. She’s going to f**k up the cafeteria again too. [Lord’s name in vain], at least I’ll probably lose too and won’t have to put up with that sh*t.”
(Speaker Ryan announced today he is retiring at the end of his term.)
“It’s like Forrest Gump won the presidency, but an evil, really f*cking stupid Forrest Gump. He can’t help himself. He’s just a f**king idiot who thinks he’s winning when people are b*tching about him. He really does see the world as ratings and attention. I hate Forrest Gump.”
The House Judiciary Committee “just might pull the trigger if the President fires Mueller,” Rep. X supposedly said. “The sh*t will hit the fan if that happens and I’d vote to impeach him myself. Most of us would, I think. Hell, all the Democrats would and you only need a majority in the House. If we’re going to lose because of him, we might as well impeach the motherf**ker. Take him out with us and let Mike [Pence] take over. At least then we could sleep well at night.”
Rep. X calls Vice President Pence “competent.”
“I say a lot of shit on TV defending him, even over this,” Rep. X tells Erickson. Erickson describes the Congressman as someone who defends the rich asshole on Fox News and in public but obviously has a different personal opinion. The media and Democrats on Capitol Hill often say many Republican lawmakers oppose the rich asshole in private, but won’t in public. (There are several words for that.)
“But honestly, I wish the motherf*cker would just go away. We’re going to lose the House, lose the Senate, and lose a bunch of states because of him. All his supporters will blame us for what we have or have not done, but he hasn’t led. He wakes up in the morning, sh*ts all over Twitter, sh*ts all over us, sh*ts all over his staff, then hits golf balls. F*ck him. Of course, I can’t say that in public or I’d get run out of town.”
Of course.
the rich asshole-loving CNN pundit gets brutally mocked after claiming Paul Ryan’s retirement is bad news for Democrats
Former Congressman Jack Kingston (R-GA) on CNN.
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Although most Republicans see House Speaker Paul Ryan’s decision to not run for another term as deeply ominous for the House GOP, the rich asshole-loving CNN pundit Jack Kingston has other ideas.
Kingston, a former Republican congressman from Georgia, wrote on Twitter Wednesday that Ryan’s impending retirement is actually bad news for Democrats because it means they won’t be able to run against him in this fall’s midterm elections.
“Speaker Ryan’s retirement perplexes Dems as now they have no one to attack,” Kingston wrote. “Meanwhile Dems will have to defend Pelosi.”
.@SpeakerRyan retirement perplexes Dems as now they have no one to attack. Meanwhile Dems will have to defend #Pelosi. foxnews.com/politics/2018/…
Even though Democrats will likely not be able to run against Ryan, Kingston fails to mention that President some rich asshole is historically unpopular at this point in his presidency. In fact, as FiveThirtyEight documents, the rich asshole’s average approval rating at this point in his presidency is lower than any other president in recent history, dating all the way back to Harry Truman.
Kingston’s followers noted this omission and instantly buried him in ridicule — as of this writing, Kingston’s tweet has over 700 replies and merely 17 “likes.”
Check out some of the responses below.
Jack Kingston: North Atlantic Iceberg is in serious trouble after ill-advised run-in with mega liner HMS Titantic
I honestly cannot believe that you get paid to share your opinions with the world.
Donald Trump. Paul Ryan’s replacement, Mitch McConnell, most of Trump’s unethical cabinet team, the NRA if it keeps fighting common sense gun control, the Koch Brothers, Russia, local and state GOP who refuse to stand up to Trump, the list goes on and on.
"no one to attack." Yeah, because this midterm was always going to be a referendum on Resignin' Ryan. Bless your heart.
This is one of the dumbest takes I have ever read on Twitter.
Yes, they will only have *squints at notes written on hand* the Republican president, Senate majority leader, and every GOP member who has voted in support of their agenda.
I think you're missing the forest for the orange elephant in the room.
Here are 8 of Paul Ryan’s most shameless surrenders to the rich asshole
Paul Ryan has been a loyal supporter of some rich asshole even as he acknowledged the president's many serious flaws/Screenshot
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Speaker of the House Paul Ryan announced this morning that he will retire from congress after 20 years.
After 20 years of gainful employment, Ryan, who never held a full-time job outside politics, rides into the sunset where he will live out the rest of his days back on the dole after receiving his federal pension at age 50. Despite working to cut social security, Ryan was raised and educated on the taxpayer’s dime after his father dropped dead at age 55.
The Wisconsin representative became a national name after being tapped by Mitt Romney to run as vice president in 2012. He leaves a legacy inextricably linked to some rich asshole, a man who he seems to despise but whom he would never stand up to. Seemingly no one—on the left or right—was sad to see Ryan step aside this morning.
Here are eight occasions when Ryan could have stood up to stop the rich asshole but didn’t.
Paul Ryan refused to criticize the rich asshole by name when acknowledging that the future president’s violent campaign rallies, in which minorities and protestors were often brutalized by thuggish supporters, were problematic. “I think the candidates need to take responsibility for the environment at their events. There is never an excuse for condoning violence, or even a culture that presupposes it,” Ryan said at the time. But the rich asshole never took responsibility, and did condone violence. Ryan refused to stand up and demand anything from his party’s leader.
Paul Ryan rolled over on Russia in June 2016, and has never looked back. Republicans had been hawkish on Russia since Ronald Reagan, but some rich asshole’s affinity for the nation changed all that. Before the Republican convention, the party re-wrote its platform to remove anything that might seem as confrontational to Russian dictator Vladimir Putin and Paul Ryan, then the most powerful Republican in the country, went along with it.
Paul Ryan seemingly knew that Russia was up to no good, too. Which is why he and a few colleagues laughed about a House Republican and the rich asshole colluding with a hostile foreign power during a meeting on Capitol Hill. “There’s two people I think Putin pays: Rohrabacher and the rich asshole,” said Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), in an exchange recorded and later reported by The Washington Post. (California Rep. Dana Rohrabacher is fervent defender of Russia.) Ryan laughed about this and then swore the Republicans present to secrecy.
Paul Ryan endorsed the rich asshole for president in 2016. He wasn’t quick to do it, as he seemingly realized it was a bad idea, but in June 2016 he did it anyway. What makes it worse is that Ryan’s reluctance was based on a principled stand—such as opposing the rich asshole’s ban on Muslims entering the country. But such proposals were not enough to push Ryan to make a principled stand. “I feel confident he would help us turn the ideas in this agenda into laws to help improve people’s lives,” he said when he made the endorsement.
Just a week later, Paul Ryan refused to drop his endorsement after the rich asshole’s racist remarks about a federal judge. “Claiming a person can’t do their job because of their race is sort of like the textbook definition of a racist comment,” Ryan said at the time. And yet, while recognizing that the rich asshole was racist, Ryan would not back away from endorsing him.
Paul Ryan still refused to back away from his endorsement after the rich asshole apparently admitted to sexual assault on the Access Hollywood tape. Ryan “deserted” the rich asshole but refused to actually pull his endorsement or encourage others not to vote for the rich asshole, basically telling Republicans that they were on their own. Ryan disinvited from a joint campaign appearance in Wisconsin but would not call for him to step aside.
Paul Ryan refused to criticize the rich asshole by name after the president supported the white supremacist who killed a peaceful protestor in Charlottesville. Ryan implied that he took issue with the president’s “moral relativism” but would not actually say the rich asshole was wrong and that his comments were harmful to the country.
We will not tolerate this hateful ideology in our society. My thoughts on #Charlottesville → spkrryan.us/2fYAXyX
Paul Ryan refused to reign in a House Republican who leaked a Senate Democrat’s texts, which were obtained under the pretense of an impartial investigation into the rich asshole’s ties to Russia. Senator Mark Warner of Virginia had tried to set up a meeting with “pee tape” dossier author Christopher Steele, who is in hiding as Russia assassinates people believed to have been his sources. Devin Nunes would not deny leaking a congressional colleague’s sensitive texts—and Paul Ryan would not do anything about it.
‘You deserve the rich asshole!’ The View’s Meghan McCain erupts in anger after audience cheers Paul Ryan retirement
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“The View” co-host Meghan McCain warned audience members they would be sorry for cheering the departure of House Speaker Paul Ryan — a man she greatly admires — from the U.S. Congress.
Ryan announced his retirement shortly before Wednesday’s program began, and the conservative McCain complained when the studio audience loudly celebrated the news.
“The cheering kind of surprises me a little bit because Paul Ryan is a politician of an era gone by,” McCain said. “He was one of the most powerful congressmen between 2009 and 2016, before Trumpism sort of completely took over. He was a really classic conservative, and this party is the party of the rich asshole now. People like me who are old-school conservatives, we’re really on our way out — and it makes me really sad.”
McCain said she and her husband, conservative commentator Ben Domenech, agreed Paul was almost too good for today’s Washington, D.C.
“My husband, I was texting him about it, and he said, ‘He committed the worst sin — he was serious, polite and nice,'” McCain said. “‘That’s not what people want right now.'”
McCain said she believes Ryan is tired of being asked about President some rich asshole’s daily scandals, although the House Speaker rarely comments on them.
“He gave a press conference saying he wants to spend time with his family — I believe him to a point,” she said. “I believe he doesn’t want to deal with this anymore, and he doesn’t want to go home to his constituents in Wisconsin and try and explain some of the tweeting and the more incendiary things that President the rich asshole is doing right now.”
McCain said the rich asshole and his allies were chasing top Republicans out of Washington, and she warned they would be sorry for applauding their departure.
“We’re having Trey Gowdy on tomorrow — this is the bloodletting of classic conservatives,” she said. “The people that are cheering. Do you know what comes in its place? Trumpism, and I assume if you don’t like Paul Ryan, you probably hate the rich asshole more.”
McCain cautioned the audience that Ryan and other his former running mate were probably the best that Republicans had to offer at this point.
“So maybe don’t cheer when people like Paul Ryan and Mitt Romney and Trey Gowdy, and people like Ben Sasse, who are, thank god, still in office, or maybe on their way out, because I assure you — what’s in its place you will like a lot less.”
The segment devolved into shouting match after McCain’s co-hosts called Ryan an “enabler” of the rich asshole’s assault on democratic institutions.
“He has gone up against the rich asshole.,it’s part of the reason why he is stepping down right now,” McCain shouted. “That’s factually inaccurate — he has gone up against the rich asshole time and time again. He has been crucified by hardcore conservative media as a result of it.”
Co-host Joy Beshar said Ryan got what he wanted — tax cuts for the rich — by allowing the rich asshole to do as he pleased, and McCain erupted.
“What do you want? If Paul Ryan isn’t good enough,” McCain shouted, and Beshar said she wanted him out of the House. “But that’s not logical. We live in a democracy, we should want two healthy parties. They are against each other, but if Paul Ryan is the greatest sin, this is how we got the rich asshole because if Paul Ryan and Mitt Romney and people like this are the worst politicians, then you deserve the rich asshole. He was trying to fight for democracy and ideals. Now I have no idea.”
Paul Ryan’s retirement is a sign Republicans are giving up — here’s why
Congressman Paul Ryan of Wisconsin speaking at the 2013 Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in National Harbor, Maryland. (Gage Skidmore/Flickr)
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With the announcement that he will be leaving Congress in 2019, Speaker of the House Paul Ryan has guaranteed that his congressional legacy will be that of a cautionary tale — namely, of a once fiercely autonomous and independent-minded legislator who sold his soul in order to appease a corrupt politician, President some rich asshole. And he will be leaving behind a party at a crossroads, on the verge of a very important election.
“This will be interpreted as almost a concession that the Republicans will lose the House,” Larry Sabato, founder and director of the Center for Politics, told Salon. “And ask yourself what you would do if you were a vulnerable Republican seeking reelection in the House. Might you not consider not running for reelection? Of course you would! Now most of them will run anyway, but some of them will retire. This is the little additional kick they need to go out the door. And it’s bound to demoralize some of the House Republicans.”
It will be a loss, no matter how Ryan spins it.
“Well, we haven’t heard him say anything, and I’m sure when he gets his opportunity he will declare this to be a victory lap and claim that it has no effect at all on the November elections and there are so many good people to replace him and Republicans will hold the majority. And of course that’s all poppycock,” Sabato said.
“We know the speakers have served a fairly lengthy period,” Sabato said. “Now occasionally when you had a change of House majority control, a speaker went out but then came back in, as [Republican Joe] Martin and [Democrat Sam] Rayburn did. But no, this is highly unusual. It’s a degree of instability that the House has not seen in modern times.”
And Ryan will be leaving behind a fractured Republican Party.
“The Republican caucus in the House is badly split,” Sabato said. “Depending on how you count the factions — you can go to four or five — generally speaking it’s the Freedom Caucus versus more mainstream conservatives versus the tiny handful of remaining moderates. So it’s not pleasant to be speaker, certainly not like the old days, and then you have the the rich asshole factor in. That’s got to be a nightmare for any speaker of the House.”
While it’s tempting to pin all of the blame for Ryan’s decision to leave on the rich asshole, Sabato drew attention to the fact that the previous Speaker of the House, Republican John Boehner, retired less than three years ago because of his own headaches dealing with the current GOP.
And Ryan leaves behind a legacy that was quickly tarnished.
“Ryan was once seen as the cutting edge of the new, younger, energetic conservative wing of the Republican Party,” Sabato said. “And I’m sure he’s very proud of that tax bill. That will be what he cites today and forever. And of course with a certain segment of America, that will resonate — that is the wealthier segment, the corporate segment, the people who will be employing Ryan at lavish salaries. But my feeling is that Ryan, who was once respected for being principled, has in fact turned into one of some rich asshole’s prime enablers. And that’s how he will be remembered.”
Although it’s unclear whether the rich asshole himself feels this way, he certainly had a glowing appraisal for Ryan on Twitter when the retirement was announced.
It is likely that the two top contenders to replace Ryan as Speaker of the House are House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif, and Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La., according to Axios . Because Scalise has said that he won’t seek the job if McCarthy wants it, McCarthy will likely emerge as the frontrunner if he announced that he wants the job.
Democrats, meanwhile, are hoping that Ryan may take advantage of the fact that he no longer has to seek reelection to work with their party on important issues.
“With his newfound political freedom, I hope the Speaker uses his remaining time in Congress to break free from the hard-right factions of his caucus that have kept Congress from getting real things done. If he’s willing to reach across the aisle, he’ll find Democrats willing and eager to work with him,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer told The New York Times.
Bipartisan efforts to protect Mueller ramp up after White House claims the rich asshole has power to fire him
Legislators on both sides of the aisle are reportedly fearful that the administration may try to take down the special counsel before long.
‘This is the nightmare’: Republicans are freaking out about Paul Ryan’s decision to not run for reelection
Paul Ryan speaks to Fox News (screen grab)
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House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) on Wednesday announced that he would not seek reelection — and Republicans are now starting to freak out about imminent doom in this year’s midterm elections.
In an interview with the New York Times, former Rep. Thomas M. Davis (R-VA) said that Ryan’s decision to step down after his current term could portend disaster and crush Republican morale heading into this fall’s elections.
“This is the nightmare scenario,” he said. “Everybody figured he’d just hang in there till after the election.”
Similarly, Axios reports that “one of Washington’s best-wired Republicans” thinks Ryan’s announcement could be the final nail in coffin for the House GOP’s majority.
“This is a Titanic, tectonic shift,” the source said. “This is going to make every Republican donor believe the House can’t be held.”
Ryan’s retirement also makes it more likely that a Democrat could pick up his seat this November, as Ryan was already facing a well funded challenge from Randy Bryce, an iron worker and union representative who raised an impressive $2.1 million last quarter to challenge the outgoing Republican leader to represent Wisconsin’s first congressional district.
With Ryan not running again, election forecasters at the Cook Political report have shifted WI-01 from being a “Solid R” district to only being a “Lean R,” while Larry Sabato’s Crystal Ball has shifted it from “Likely Republican” to “Toss-up.”
the rich asshole admits to obstruction of justice on Twitter, says he only did it to ‘fight back’
Tweets a good lawyer would advise against.
On Wednesday morning, President the rich asshole tried to make a case that investigators had no good reason to raid the office, home, and hotel room of his longtime personal attorney, Michael Cohen. But in doing so, the rich asshole seemed to casually admit to obstruction of justice.
“I (we) are… doing things that nobody thought possible, despite the never ending and corrupt Russia Investigation, which takes tremendous time and focus,” the rich asshole tweeted. “No Collusion or Obstruction (other than I fight back), so now they do the Unthinkable, and RAID a lawyers office for information! BAD!”
Suffice it to say there is no “fighting back” exception to obstruction of justice charges, which were part of the articles of impeachment against Richard Nixon and Bill Clinton.
the rich asshole’s tweet comes almost 11 months to the day after he seemed to admit to obstructing justice during an interview with NBC’s Lester Holt conducted just days after he fired FBI Director James Comey — who at the time was overseeing the investigation into the the rich asshole campaign.
the rich asshole told Holt that “when I decided to do it, I said to myself… this Russia thing with the rich asshole and Russia is a made up story.” In short, the rich asshole admitted his decision to fire Comey was motivated by his frustration about the FBI’s investigation of his campaign.
The president’s extraordinary Twitter admission comes a day after responded to news of the Cohen raid by expressing deep confusion about attorney-client privilege. In a tweet, the rich asshole proclaimed that “Attorney–client privilege is dead!” — apparently oblivious to the existence of the “crime-fraud exception,” which means communications between you and your attorney about future criminal acts are not protected.
the rich asshole is not a lawyer, and his legal team is currently in chaos. His former lead attorney responding to Mueller’s investigation, John Dowd, resigned late last month — reportedly because he and the rich asshole weren’t on the same page about whether sitting for an interview was a good idea. Two replacements he sought to add to his team decided not to join it, purportedly due to a conflict of interest. That left the rich asshole’s least qualified lawyer, Jay Sekulow, as a de facto leader of his legal team.
Last month, Bloomberg reported that Mueller’s investigation pertaining to obstruction of justice is “close to completion, but he may set it aside while he finishes other key parts of his probe, such as possible collusion and the hacking of Democrats.”
‘Run away like a coward’: Paul Ryan flees Congress — and the internet erupts in joyful mockery
Paul Ryan discusses cutting taxes in an interview/Screenshot
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some rich asshole threatened to start a war this morning, a possible attempt to distract from the fact that investigators raided the offices of his personal attorney on Monday and likely have a whole boatload of new evidence against him.
Turns out, maybe he didn’t need to start a new war. At the same time the rich asshole was warning Russia of his plans to shoot missiles at Syria’s despotic leadership, Paul Ryan united the nation in a rare moment of joy when news broke that he is “retiring” at age 48. The fiscal arch-conservative will have completed 20 years of service with the federal government and will get his full pension starting at age 50.
The Republican speaker of the house is loathed by both Democrats and #MAGA Republicans and has been ineffective at corralling the anarchist Tea Party wing of his own party. Which is why Ryan is getting whacked from the left and right on Twitter.
Left:
Man Farts Up Entire Elevator Then Gets Off at Next Stop twitter.com/thehill/status…
Right:
Left:
Right:
maga
Left:
Paul Ryan:
Voted against repealing 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell.'
Voted against marriage equality.
Voted against gay adoption.
He now retires to spend quality time with what's left of his spine.#BystanderRyan
Right:
Left:
Narrator: Paul Ryan won't do any of these things. twitter.com/ananavarro/sta…
Left:
Right:
Right:
.@realDonaldTrump has radically transformed the GOP in a way that no President has before. @SpeakerRyan leaving Congress proves just that.
Can’t wait to see what lies ahead! #MAGA
And then someone pointing out the unique situation in which all of America is united for one brief moment:
Gotta love it when left wing twitter and right wing twitter actually agree on something. The fact that it's absolute joy over @SpeakerRyan resigning just makes it sweeter
the rich asshole’s tough talk on Russia lasted 41 minutes
President the rich asshole's tweets on Russia are incredibly confused.
President some rich asshole’s early morning tweets on Wednesday have created even more confusion around his strategy in Syria as well as policy on Russia.
First, he threatened Russia, which is supporting the regime of President Bashar al-Assad in Syria, where a deadly gas attack over the weekend left dozens of civilians dead.
This, so far, has been the president’s only public statement on how he plans to respond the attack. He said on Monday that he’d make a decision on to proceed within 48 hours. He even cancelled a trip to summit in Lima, Peru scheduled for this weekend because he said he’d be busy with Syria.
But 40 minutes after he told Russia to “get ready” for missiles to rain down in Syria, he called for improved relations with Russia and seemed to ask for and end to the arms race:
President the rich asshole policy on Syria has been wildly inconsistent. In April 2017, in response to another chemical attack in Syria, he ordered a strike on an airbase there.
Three months later, he stopped a CIA program arming anti-Assad rebels. He also did not respond to the chemical attacks that have taken place in the past year, until this last one in Douma over the weekend.
But the rich asshole’s strategy has been especially confused in recent weeks.
He blindsided the Pentagon and the State Department when he told the audience at a campaign rally in Ohio on March 30 that U.S. troops would be leaving Syria “very soon.”
After a tense meeting with his generals, it was reported — though not publicly articulated — that U.S. troops, around 2,000, would remain in Syria for maybe six months.
It’s unclear how the pullout can be executed without risking losing territory back to the self-proclaimed Islamic State (ISIS) or giving Assad allies, Russia, and Iran carte blanche on operating there. Russia on Tuesday blocked a U.N. resolution on Syria, seeking access to Douma for an investigation.
the rich asshole’s other tweets on Wednesday morning focused on his favorite targets: the media’s reporting on the Justice Department investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election as well as the investigation itself.
Since taking office, President the rich asshole has also threatened Venezuela and North Korea with military action, which have not yet materialized. But his new National Security Advisor John Bolton is a bit of an X-factor in this equation.
While Bolton has called the war in Syria a “sideshow,” he is notoriously hawkish on Iran, and might be keen on engaging with Iran’s forces there, writing in 2016, “[T]he road to Damascus runs through Tehran. Our attention should be on regime change in Iran first. Only when the ayatollahs are swept aside is there even a glimmer of a chance for Middle East peace and security.”
CNN’s Cuomo hammers Alan Dershowitz for defending the rich asshole: ‘Have you seen this president respect any tradition?’
CNN's Chris Cuomo interviews Alan Dershowitz (Screen cap).
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CNN’s Chris Cuomo on Wednesday grilled Harvard Law School professor Alan Dershowitz about his Tuesday evening dinner with President some rich asshole — and he nailed him for overlooking the dangers that this particular president presents to the rule of law.
During the segment, Dershowitz insisted that the rich asshole was not likely to fire special counsel Robert Mueller, despite the fact that the president has made increasingly personal attacks on Mueller and his team in recent weeks. Dershowitz argued that while the rich asshole would have the power to fire Mueller or to otherwise curtail his probe, the president would likely not do so given the past precedents of presidents declining to exercise such powers.
“Historically, presidents do, under executive authority, have the right to determine who should be investigated and who should not,” he insisted. “But there’s a long tradition of presidents not doing that, and I think it would be a serious mistake and a mistake that would lose himself support on many Republicans.”
Cuomo then dropped the hammer and pointed out that the rich asshole has in the past spat on past precedents for presidential behavior.
“Have you seen this president respect any tradition of that nature since he’s been president?” he asked.
“Well, I think that he should respect this tradition,” Dershowitz replied. “It would be a mistake to do any firing.”
Later in the segment, Cuomo mocked Dershowitz for insisting that he didn’t give the rich asshole any legal advice when the two men had dinner on Tuesday.
“You spent a whole dinner with him, and President the rich asshole sat across from one of the most esteemed lawyers in the country and didn’t ask you for any advice on these legal issues?” Cuomo asked him incredulously. “What did you say? ‘This is a beautiful piece of chicken?'”
Watch the video below.
MSNBC’s Donny Deutsch: Michael Cohen has the power to ‘bring down the rich asshole presidency’ — but the rich asshole will ‘do anything’ to stop him
Donny Deutsch (MSNBC)
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MSNBC’s Donny Deutsch knows attorney Michael Cohen personally, and he does not believe that he will serve a lengthy prison term to protect President some rich asshole.
The “Morning Joe” contributor said he’s spoken recently to the president’s longtime attorney, and he’s advised Cohen to look out for the interests of himself and his family — but so far he remains loyal.
“Michael at this point, for whatever his emotional, legal, personal reasons is devoutly, devoutly, devoutly loyal to this president — where I can’t understand it, candidly,” Deutsch said. “I will see it as this unfolds, (the FBI raid) two days ago it was not about Russia, it was not. It was about banking and finance. When you scratch that scab, there’s a lot of puss coming out of it.”
Host Joe Scarborough scolded Deutsch for his language on the morning news program, saying viewers and their children might be trying to enjoy breakfast, and he then segued to Cohen’s family.
“You know Michael — he has children, he has a wife, he has a family,” Scarborough said. “The man has to be awfully isolated by now, and I just can’t imagine that he’s willing to sacrifice the well being of his children for the well being of the rich asshole’s children.”
Deutsch agreed, and said Cohen has a chance to stand “on the right side of history.”
“In every instance they raided a lawyer’s, the FBI raided lawyers, they’ve ended up in jail,” Deutsch said. “Michael can have one of two legacies. Michael can have a legacy of spending time in jail and being one of ‘all the president’s men’ — the man — or he can have a legacy in the history books that maybe changes the course of history and brings down this presidency. That’s obviously very heavy on Michael’s shoulders and decisions he has to make.”
Scarborough said Cohen shouldn’t worry about bringing down the rich asshole’s presidency, but instead focus on telling the truth to investigators — but Deutsch said those choices cannot be separated.
“The calculus clearly changed for his story arc with what happened a couple days ago,” Deutsch said. “There is going to be that crossroad. That is why some rich asshole was sitting there the other day like this [with his arms crossed and glowering].”
“some rich asshole knows what’s there,” Deutsch added. “some rich asshole will do anything but allow this rock to be peeled open — even if this means him quitting or getting impeached. He’s not going to allow this process to go forward, he cannot.”
Paul Ryan is retiring from Congress
At least he got those tax cuts though.
Speaker of the House Paul Ryan announced to friends, colleagues, and the press Wednesday morning that he will not run for re-election in 2018.
In a Wednesday morning press conference, Ryan said he will remain Speaker until the end of the year and looks forward to spending more time with his children.
“You all know that I did not seek this job,” Ryan said. “I took it reluctantly, but I have given this job everything that I have, and I have no regrets whatsoever for having accepted this responsibility.”
Ryan will join over 30 other Republicans in the House of Representatives who have already announced their retirements earlier this year, an indication that the GOP believes the party may not have what it takes to hold onto the House in 2018. Democrats only needs to pick up 24 seats to take back the chamber.
Although Democrats have a number of vulnerable incumbents themselves, many of the Republican retirements — including Reps. Charlie Dent (R-PA), Frank LoBiondo (R-NJ), Dave Reichert (R-WA), and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL) — represent strong chances for Democrats to pick up seats, especially with enthusiasm high in the Democratic base.
Democrats need to flip 24 Republican-held seats to regain control of the house.
Ryan’s potential opponent, a pro-union ironworker named Randy Bryce, was expected to be a tough challenger for Wisconsin’s 1st District. Bryce’s campaign announced Tuesday that they outraised Ryan in the first three months of 2018 by $1.75 million without taking money from corporate PACs.
“Paul Ryan decided to quit today rather than face Randy Bryce and the voters,” a statement from the Bryce campaign reads.
Statement from Dem #WI01 candidate Randy Bryce (@IronStache) on Speaker Ryan's retirement: "Paul Ryan decided to quit today rather than face Randy Bryce and the voters"
Bryce raised $2.1 million in the first quarter of this year, $4.75 million total, according to his campaign
Ryan unfortunately didn’t stay long enough in Congress to fulfill his life-long dream of slashing Medicaid, Medicare, and Social Security, but he did secure tax cuts for corporations and the wealthiest Americans.
As for who will take Ryan’s place as Speaker of the House, Politico reported earlier this week that Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy and Majority Whip Steve Scalise are positioning themselves to take his place.
Comey ‘stunned’ ABC News crew by comparing the rich asshole to ‘mob boss’: report
Former FBI director James Comey at a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on June 8, 2017 (Screenshot/YouTube)
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Former FBI Director James Comey is getting ready to promote his book that’s scheduled to be released this week — and a new report claims he left people “stunned” during a recently taped interview with ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos.
Axios reports that the former FBI director compared President some rich asshole to a “mob boss” in the upcoming interview, and one source tells the publication that the interview will “certainly add more meat to the charges swirling around the rich asshole.”
According to Axios, Comey is going to reveal information that he has never discussed before — and the publication’s source predicts that Comey is “going to shock the president and his team.”
Comey’s book, titled “A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies, and Leadership,” is set to release on April 17. White House aides are reportedly already concerned about the rich asshole’s reaction to Comey’s book, and one former administration official said this week that they expected the book to be “more damaging” than Michael Wolff’s book “Fire and Fury,” which topped bestseller lists earlier this year.
The ABC interview with Comey is scheduled to air at 10 p.m. on Sunday, April 15.
‘I mean, my god’: MSNBC’s Mika hammers Republicans who think the rich asshole is ‘too smart’ to fire Mueller
Mika Brzezinski (MSNBC)
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MSNBC’s Mika Brzezinski mocked Republican lawmakers who trust that President some rich asshole would not trigger a constitutional crisis by ending the special counsel investigation into his campaign ties to Russia.
The president reportedly sought to fire special counsel Robert Mueller in December after investigators subpoenaed information on his business dealings with Deutsche Bank, and White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders claimed the rich asshole had the authority to do so — but GOP lawmakers insist the rich asshole is “too smart” to remove Mueller.
“He’s too smart to fire mueller?” Brzezinski said. “Is that what they’re going on here? Because there’s legislation that would make sure that he can’t fire Mueller.”
The “Morning Joe” co-host called out Republican lawmakers too afraid to challenge the president and too afraid to face their constituents on television.
“If these Republicans are so sure and so confident to step out in front of the cameras for the first time, for some of them, in a long time, why don’t they just pass the legislation and make sure he can’t?” Brzezinski said.
She said the president had been threatening to end the Russia investigation, one way or another, almost since it began — and she challenged her viewers who serve in the U.S. Congress to take those warnings seriously.
“I don’t know anybody who really, with a straight face, can trust that this president means what he says after the patterns and the track record we have seen throughout his entire presidency,” Brzezinski said. “Do I need to make a list? I mean, my god.”
‘Get ready Russia’: the rich asshole announces Syrian missile strike on Twitter against ‘Gas Killing Animal’ Assad
Pres. some rich asshole interviewed by Tucker Carlson (Screen capture)
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President some rich asshole on Wednesday announced that he would soon be launching a missile strike against Syria — and warned Russia to back off from retaliating.
“Russia vows to shoot down any and all missiles fired at Syria,” the rich asshole wrote. “Get ready Russia, because they will be coming, nice and new and ‘smart!’ You shouldn’t be partners with a Gas Killing Animal who kills his people and enjoys it!”
the rich asshole’s tweet announcing a missile strike against Syria comes despite the fact that he has said in the past that he does not want to telegraph his military actions before they are taken.
the rich asshole has been unusually busy tweeting on Wednesday morning, as he has once again attacked the New York Times
‘They wanted to crawl under the table’: Gen. Hayden rips the rich asshole for using military leaders as ‘political props’
Retired Gen. Michel Hayden
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Retired Gen. Michael Hayden on Tuesday slammed some rich asshole for using a meeting of his top military leadership to vent his frustrations about the FBI and special counsel Robert Mueller, remarking that Hayden’s former colleagues “wanted to crawl under the table” during the president’s comments.
the rich asshole on Monday called the FBI raid of longtime personal attorney Michael Cohen “an attack on our country,” something CNN’s Don Lemon points out he never described Russian meddling as. The CNN host asked Hayden what he makes of that.
“Yeah, it just jumps right out at you,” Hayden began. “The president certainly—I mean, we all have this failing—but I think the president has this in a special way: He sees all things through his own personal lens, and with regard to the Russia question, he keeps seeing it with regards to his own legitimacy as president.”
“He made all those really, I think, over-the-top comments,” he continued. “And he did it in the presence of all of America’s combatant commanders … They were the props for that. And I think if the president wanted to vent, I think most presidents would not have done it in that setting with those members in the room.”
“What was going through their minds when the president went off on this tangent or tirade?” Lemon asked.
“I know some of them, and I was looking at them,” Hayden said. “They put on their best formal military face, but kind of reading their minds, I think all of them kind of wanted to crawl under the table. They did not want to be there in those circumstances. It’s just so inappropriate. We have great deference to civilian authority in the American armed forces, but in return for that, we’re not used as political props.”
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