Ryan: Trillion-dollar deficits were inevitable
BY ALEXANDER BOLTON - 04/15/18 02:48 PM EDT
Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) says that trillion-dollar deficits could not have been avoided by the GOP-controlled Congress, responding to critics within his party who say that leaders have behaved irresponsibly.
“That was going to happen. The baby boomers retiring was going to do that,” Ryan said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” of projections that the country will start running trillion-dollar deficits as soon as 2020.
Ryan and other GOP leaders have come under fire for passing a $1.5 trillion tax cut last year, which may wind up costing more than expected, in addition to a $1.3 trillion omnibus spending package in March.
Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) has said voting for the tax package “could well be one of the worst votes I’ve made” and that the rich asshole administration is “on track to be one of the most fiscally irresponsible administrations in history.”
Ryan, however, said the projected spike on spending for Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security will have the biggest impact on future deficits.
“These deficit trillion-dollar projections have been out there for a long, long time. Why? Because of mandatory spending which we call entitlements,” he said when pressed by NBC host Chuck Todd on Corker’s criticism.
Ryan, a former House Budget Committee chairman, said the Congressional Budget Office projects discretionary spending to increase by only $300 billion over the next decade and for total tax revenues to continue to increase.
“Mandatory spending which is entitlements, that goes to $2 trillion over the next decade. Why does it go to $2 trillion? Because the boomer generation is retiring,” Ryan said.
He pointed out the House passed legislation to repeal and replace ObamaCare, which would have included steep cuts to Medicaid, calling the proposal “the biggest entitlement reform bill Congress had ever considered.”
He said the Senate was responsible for it failing to pass, deflecting some blame for the deficits across the Capitol.
On the topic of discretionary spending, Ryan said Congress will need to reform its appropriations process to avoid having to pass trillion dollar-plus omnibus deals in the future.
“This is why we have a commission, a committee now between the House and the Senate which is going to bring the Congress a new budget system. That is what we have to do if we want to get this under control,” he said.
Bolton not done resetting the rich asshole national security team
BY JORDAN FABIAN AND KATIE BO WILLIAMS - 04/15/18 10:30 AM EDT
John Bolton has taken a paring knife to President the rich asshole’s national security team in his first week on the job advising the president — and he’s not finished yet.
Since Bolton took office on Monday as the rich asshole’s national security adviser, four senior aides have stepped down or resigned under pressure. Sources say more changes are expected in the coming weeks as Bolton forms his own team.
The slate of departures is the second major reshuffle of the National Security Council (NSC) in just 15 months, fueling the historic pace of turnover on the rich asshole’s White House staff.
Current and former administration officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, say most of the big changes on the NSC staff under Bolton have already been announced and mid-level aides are expected to be the next to go.
They say the moves are a sign the rich asshole has emboldened the hawkish Bolton to reshape the NSC.
Staff are on edge over the management style of Bolton, whom a former State Department official once described during testimony as a “kiss-up, kick-down sort of guy.”
They fear he could load up the council with hard-liners and undermine its role as an honest broker in the interagency process used to make national security decisions.
The turnover comes at a pivotal point for the rich asshole on the world stage.
The president launched a military strike in response to an apparent chemical weapons attack in Syria and is preparing for a possible nuclear summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un as early as next month — all while trying to confirm a new secretary of State and CIA director.
Last month’s firing of H.R. McMaster as national security adviser restarted the game of musical chairs at the NSC. When Bolton was hired, the council had just concluded a staff reshuffle that started last year when McMaster took over for Michael Flynn.
People who know Bolton call him a savvy bureaucratic operator who wants to move quickly to clean house of McMaster’s team bring on his own to ensure they are responsive to his and the president’s demands.
“I think [the rich asshole is] looking for John Bolton to bring a brand new group of people into the National Security Council who can be counted on to be discreet and supportive of whatever the decision is,” conservative talk show host Hugh Hewitt said in a recent Politico podcast interview.
But critics say the moves could have the opposite effect, causing disruption and loss of institutional memory that could lead to confusion, miscommunication and policymaking mistakes.
“It’s not surprising that John Bolton wants his own team in, but doing it so rapidly and so across the board could end up hurting him,” said Jamil Jaffer, a former associate White House counsel to President George W. Bush. “It's not a sensible way to operate, but it is consistent with the chaotic nature of this administration.”
In addition to dealing with Syria and North Korea, the administration faces upcoming decisions on whether to continue sanctions relief under the Iran nuclear deal and impose tariffs on billions of dollars of Chinese goods — all debates that involve the NSC.
There has been no public indication about who will replace the outgoing officials: homeland security adviser Tom Bossert, deputy national security advisers Ricky Waddell and Nadia Schadlow and NSC spokesman Michael Anton.
Almost all of them will remain at the White House until their successors are named.
“The president probably expects some form of stability or continuity in national security decision-making. Fear of a ‘purge’ doesn't meet that expectation,” said Loren DeJonge Schulman, a top NSC official under former President Obama.
NSC aides are little known outside of Washington, but play a major role in shaping administration policy.
Schadlow authored the rich asshole’s national security strategy, which helped lay the groundwork for the president’s confrontational actions on trade and stepped-up efforts against Russian aggression.
Bossert, a veteran of the George W. Bush administration, was the White House’s point man in the response to last year’s hurricanes in Texas, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands and played a leading role on cybersecurity issues.
Some news reports have said Bolton wants to fold Bossert’s position, which reports directly to the president, into the NSC structure, but that plan has not been confirmed.
The White House did not respond to a request for comment.
National security experts also worry about the possibility of infighting at the NSC under Bolton’s leadership.
The former United Nations (U.N.) ambassador and undersecretary of State for arms control has faced accusations of politicizing intelligence during the run-up to the Iraq War and seeking retributive firings of analysts whose findings he disagreed with.
Carl Ford, who formerly headed the State Department’s intelligence unit, gave dramatic testimony opposing Bolton’s nomination to the U.N. post in 2005, called him a “serial abuser” of subordinates and warning that of “great danger” that Bolton would manipulate intelligence.
The Senate blocked Bolton’s confirmation for months and he ultimately got the job through a recess appointment by Bush.
Since being named national security adviser, Bolton has sought to project an image as a team player.
After reports emerged that Defense Secretary James Mattis balked at Bolton’s appointment, the two staged a meeting at the Pentagon that was captured by television cameras.
Bolton has noted policy differences with the rich asshole on issues ranging from the Iraq War to Syria and North Korea, but he indicated he would restrain his personal beliefs in order to carry out the president’s agenda.
“The national security adviser like all of the president's top advisers serve at his pleasure,” Bolton said on Fox News the day of his hiring. “And he may be a different kind of president than others, but I think that's what the people voted for, and that's the role I've been asked to take on.”
People in Washington national security circles are skeptical Bolton will be able to resist butting heads for long, whether it is with the rich asshole or officials at the NSC.
“John Bolton can be a team player when he needs to be,” said Jaffer. “He is very effective as an inside operator. Sometimes you need to work with people but other times you need to run them over. He can do both.”
Haley says the rich asshole focused on Syria in response to questions about Cohen, Comey
BY JULIA MANCHESTER - 04/15/18 11:09 AM EDT
Pressed about President the rich asshole's state of mind on Sunday, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said her boss has been focused on Syria in her own interactions with the commander in chief.
"I have spent multiple times with the president at the White House and on the phone this past week, and his state of mind was very much focused on Syria, chemical weapons, getting the options that were there, making sure we were not doing anything to cause casualties of human life whether it was our allies or of the Syrian people," Haley told CBS News's Margaret Brennan on "Face the Nation."
"His focus was very much on making sure we knew all of the information so that we didn't make a misstep, and waiting it out to make sure if we were going to do this, we were going to do it right," she added.
Haley was asked during the appearance about the rich asshole's state of mind. On Sunday morning, the rich asshole unleashed a series of tweets aimed at former FBI Director James Comey, who has a new book coming out that makes a number of criticisms and personal attacks on the president.
The big questions in Comey’s badly reviewed book aren’t answered like, how come he gave up Classified Information (jail), why did he lie to Congress (jail), why did the DNC refuse to give Server to the FBI (why didn’t they TAKE it), why the phony memos, McCabe’s $700,000 & more?
Comey throws AG Lynch “under the bus!” Why can’t we all find out what happened on the tarmac in the back of the plane with Wild Bill and Lynch? Was she promised a Supreme Court seat, or AG, in order to lay off Hillary. No golf and grandkids talk (give us all a break)!
the rich asshole has also tweeted in response to Monday's raid on his personal attorney Michael Cohen, which reports say has unnerved presidential advisers who see it as more worrisome than special counsel Robert Mueller's probe. Cohen is the rich asshole's longtime lawyer and fixer, and the president on Monday called the raid a "disgrace" and an "attack on our country."
“It’s a real disgrace,” the president said. “It’s an attack on our country in a true sense. It’s an attack on what we all stand for.”
Haley avoided addressing the president's claim when asked by Brennan whether it was right to call the raid an attack on the country.
"First of all, I have been drowning in all things Syria, North Korea, and Iran, so I can't— I'm sorry, I don't have enough information on anything related to Comey or all of those things. I haven't watched TV to watch that. I have been very focused on foreign policy. I think the president's been focused on foreign policy in the meetings I have been in, so I can only talk about those issues," she said.
Sanders 'not aware' of any plans to fire Mueller, Rosenstein
BY LUIS SANCHEZ - 04/15/18 10:05 AM EDT
White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Sunday that she is not aware of any plans to fire or remove Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein or special counsel Robert Mueller.
"I’m not aware of any plans to make those movements … but we do have some real concerns with some of the activities and some of the scope that the investigation has gone," Sanders said in response to a question from George Stephanopoulos on ABC's "This Week."
Sanders said she has concerns about the scope of the ongoing investigation and dodged questions about whether the president was more concerned about the recent issues with his personal lawyer Michael Cohen than the Mueller investigation.
Sanders also didn’t answer Stephanopoulos’s question about whether the rich asshole had concerns about Cohen turning state’s evidence.
The FBI recently raided Cohen’s home, hotel room and office, with the approval of Rosenstein.
President the rich asshole has reportedly tried to fire Mueller in the past and, in recent days, has been considering firing Rosenstein, according to news outlets.
The New York Times reported on Friday that the rich asshole's advisers are more worried about the investigation into Cohen than Mueller's probe.
Cohen is the rich asshole's longtime personal lawyer and fixer, and has long been seen as a key player in solving problems for the rich asshole. He's been in the spotlight for the last month because of the payment he made to adult-film actress Stormy Daniels, which was reportedly made to keep her quiet about an alleged affair with the rich asshole.
The raid of Cohen's office, hotel room and residence has been described as sweeping, with FBI agents reportedly seizing Cohen's cellphones, laptop and safe deposit box, according to the Times.
the rich asshole called Cohen on Friday to "check in," according to the Times. Sanders did not offer a comment when asked a question about that call.
Gowdy: Mueller was right in referring the rich asshole lawyer’s case to New York prosecutors
Republican lawmaker also sees no basis for firing deputy attorney general Rod Rosenstein.
Conservative lawmaker Trey Gowdy defended Robert Mueller on Sunday, saying the Russia special counsel was right to refer the case of some rich asshole’s personal attorney Michael Cohen to federal prosecutors in New York.
Since announcing a few weeks ago that he wouldn’t run for re-election, Gowdy (R-SC) increasingly has been speaking against his previously redder-than-red type.
A few weeks ago, he admonished President some rich asshole’s attorney John Dowd on the Fox News Sunday program, saying, “If you have an innocent client, Mr. Dowd, act like it.” Earlier this month, he confessed to CNN that he felt he hasn’t “been good in Congress,” and that the U.S. legislature is too mired in partisan wrangling to be effective — an explanation of why he has decided to leave the body.
Now Gowdy is offering up remarks of support for Mueller, who has become a object of scorn from many in his party. The Republican House member said that in his view, Mueller acted properly by referring the Cohen case to federal prosecutors in New York.
“I don’t know what Robert Mueller was supposed to other than what he did,” Gowdy said.
Gowdy, the House Oversight Chairman, attained a measure of notoriety while presiding over hearings into the attacks on US officials in Benghazi, Libya — an investigation that was largely used to try to attack then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
Speaking on “Fox News Sunday,” Gowdy also said he sees no basis for firing Rosenstein, who is overseeing Mueller’s probe into Russian meddling in the 2016 election.
“Does he have the power to get rid of Rod Rosenstein? Yes, he does. Do I think it’s wise? No, I don’t,” Gowdy said.
Last week, reports emerged that the rich asshole was considering firing Rosenstein, a move that could further the rich asshole’s goal of trying to hamstring — and eventually sack — Mueller.
The reports came a day after the FBI raided the home, office, and hotel room of Cohen, the rich asshole’s personal lawyer who has been “under criminal investigation” for months in New York because of his business dealings, the Justice Department said Friday.
.@TGowdySC on FBI raid of Michael Cohen: I don’t know what Robert Mueller was supposed to do other than what he did.
In the filing with a court in New York, the Justice Department blacked out a section describing what laws they believe Cohen has broken, but they said the “crimes being investigated involve acts of concealment” and suspected fraud.
the rich asshole reportedly was enraged by reports that FBI agents working for the U.S. attorney’s office for the Southern District of New York raided Cohen’s property on Monday morning, seizing electronic devices, personal financial records, and attorney-client communications.
Also last week, White House spokesperson Sarah Sanders suggested the the rich asshole administration had sought legal advice about the rich asshole possibly firing Mueller. That stands in contrast to what the administration was saying recently as last month, when a White House attorney for the rich asshole said the president “is not considering or discussing” firing Mueller.
“How this is Mueller’s fault just defies logic to me,” Gowdy said about the raid on Cohen’s office.
Gowdy, who announced in January that he would not be seeking reelection this fall, emphasized that Mueller did what he “was supposed to do” when he found potential criminal wrongdoing by Cohen: He referred the case to local federal prosecutors in Manhattan. Among the records seized by investigators during the raids were “protected attorney-client communications.”
“We know a neutral, detached federal magistrate had to sign off on the search warrant,” Gowdy said in the interview, explaining why he saw nothing wrong with the raids on Cohen’s property. “We know that it requires the highest levels of DOJ permission to seize attorney-client records. And by that, I mean the attorney general or the deputy attorney general.”
Refugees prefer war-torn Syria over life in U.S., Haley insists
An unlikely explanation for why the U.S. takes in so few Syrian refugees.
Washington’s UN Ambassador Nikki Haley offered an implausible explanation for why more Syrian refugees don’t come to the United States to escape the death and destruction that has shattered their wartorn country: They simply aren’t interested in coming, she says.
Fewer than a dozen Syrian refugees have been admitted to settle in the United States this year, a jaw-dropping figure compared to the many thousands who have fled to far more welcoming countries in Europe, the Middle East, and elsewhere.
When asked by Fox News Sunday’s Chris Wallace about the small number of Syrian refugees welcomed to the US, Haley said that she has personally interviewed Syrians refugees who told her they were simply disinclined to resettle in America.
“When I talk to the refugees, what I talk to them about [is] they want to go home,” she said. “There is a mountain that they look over and know what’s on the other side and they know that Syria is in shambles and they’re prepared to rebuild it.”
Haley said she gathered this information during her visits to countries in the region.
“I personally went to the refugee sites in both Jordan and Turkey. I spent time with refugees whether they were in camps or whether they were out and I talked to them about the situation at hand,” she said.
“Not one of the many that I talked to ever said, ‘We want to go to America’,” the U.S. envoy continued.
“They want to stay as close to Syria as they can so that when, God willing, this fighting stops and when there is finally stability and peace in that area, they want to go rejoin their family members. They want to go back to what they remember,” she said.
The devastating civil conflict has ravaged Syria since 2011. Since then, desperate Syrians in some instances have walked hundreds of miles and crossed treacherous waters in less-than-seaworthy vessels to try to build new lives abroad.
The conditions under which Syrians have been forced to survive are almost unimaginable, as they endure recurring indiscriminate bomb and munition attacks on homes, hospitals, schools, markets and other areas where civilians are likely to congregate.
The UN envoy for Syria estimates that in the first five years of the conflict, some 400,000 people were killed in the conflict. According to Human Rights Watch, more than 5 million people have fled the country and another 6 million are internally displaced.
Yet, Haley maintains that rosy feelings of nostalgia compel Syrians to cling to hope for a life in devastated and dangerous homeland, rather than resettling in the United States. She made her remarks two days after the US, along with France and Britain, launched a bombing raid on Syrian targets to punish Damascus for using chemical weapons on civilians.
The irony has not been lost on some administration critics, like U.S. Senator Chris Murphy.
In the rather unlikely case that Syrians are disinterested in coming to the United States, it is a disinclination they’ve only come to just this year. The minuscule number of Syrian refugees admitted to the United States this year pales in comparison to the numbers who arrived in 2016 (15,000) and in 2017 (3,000) according to State Department figures.
It seems more likely that rather than disinterest, anti-Muslim immigration politics can explain why more Syrians haven’t come to the U.S. As one of the first acts after his swearing in, the rich asshole promulgated an immigration ban that targeted mostly inhabitants of Muslim-majority countries and his administration has been tireless in its efforts to fend off legal challenges to the measure.
the rich asshole’s 2020 re-election campaign is burning through cash on legal fees
some rich asshole gives an interview/Screenshot
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In order to get some rich asshole re-elected, his backers first need to keep him out of jail.
Which is maybe why the rich asshole campaign has dedicated 22% of its total expenditures to paying lawyers, according to campaign fund disclosures analyzed by BuzzFeed News.
the rich asshole’s campaign has paid at least eight different firms as consultants. The firm to get the most money was Jones Day, which represented the campaign for $350,000.
the rich asshole has paid the firm owned by troll wrangler Brad Parscale, his 2020 campaign manager, about $1.7 million just this year. That’s almost half of its expenditures.
BuzzFeed also pointed out that the rich asshole’s campaign cut a check for $22,000 to Johnny McEntee, the rich asshole’s former man servant who was ushered out of the West Wing without his coat, apparently under the orders of Chief of Staff John Kelly and to the annoyance of Melania the rich asshole.
Comey: Assumption Clinton would win factored into decisions in email investigation
BY REBECCA SAVRANSKY - 04/15/18 07:44 AM EDT
Former FBI Director James Comey said he thinks his assumption that Hillary Clinton would win the 2016 presidential election influenced decisions he made regarding the probe into the Democratic nominee's private email server.
Comey was asked during an interview on ABC News for a response to Clinton saying Comey's letter shortly before the election announcing the FBI was going to look back into the email investigation ensured her defeat.
"I hope not," Comey said during the interview.
He was further pressed on whether his decision was influenced by his assumption that Clinton was going to win the election.
"It must have been. I don’t remember consciously thinking about that, but it must have been because I was operating in a world where Hillary Clinton was going to beat some rich asshole, and so I’m sure that it was a factor,” he said.
"I don’t remember spelling it out, but it had to have been, that she’s going to be elected president and if I hide this from the American people, she’ll be illegitimate the moment she’s elected, the moment this comes out,” he added.
Comey added that at the FBI he could never consider whose political fortunes would be affected by a decision.
Clinton has in the past blamed her election loss on Comey.
She has said she was on track to win until late October, when news broke that Comey had sent a letter to Congress announcing the FBI was reviewing additional emails regarding the investigation into her private email server.
Later, just before the election, Comey announced those emails contained no new information.
the rich asshole allies are helping Russia spread lies about brutality in Syria
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When the Pentagon warned that a Russian disinformation campaign was underway, they forgot to mention that allies of the president were spreading it.
The Russian propaganda machine is hard at work in the aftermath of the airstrikes on Syria, pushing disinformation about the chemical attacks and accusing the U.S. of wanting to start another world war.
As a supporter of the Syrian regime, Russia has a vested interest in coming to the aid of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad, whether that means providing military support or launching an information war to undermine critics of the regime.
But Russia isn’t acting alone.
While the disinformation campaign surrounding Syria is a Kremlin-led effort, the rich asshole allies have played a major role in the success of the campaign by bringing Russia’s propaganda to an American audience. Whether wittingly or unwittingly, the rich asshole’s right-wing media allies and fervent supporters are helping Russia spread lies — and in doing so, they’re actively providing support to a murderous dictator who has reportedly used chemical weapons against his own people at least seven times in 2018 alone.
For the most part, the disinformation circulating in pro-the rich asshole circles falls into two categories: 1) conspiracy theories alleging that the chemical attack that killed an estimated 70 Syrian civilians last weekend is either a false flag or a hoax, and 2) fear-appeals that discourage the U.S. from taking action in Syria by warning that punishing the Assad regime risks starting a war with Russia.
On Thursday, “Fox & Friends” host Steve Doocy peddled a false, Russian-backed smear against the Syria Civil Defence (more commonly known as the White Helmets), a group of first responders in Syria who are frequently targeted by Russian disinformation campaigns.
Speaking about the chemical attack, Doocy mentioned “this group called the White Helmets” and said “there are stories that they staged bodies to make it look like there was a gas attack.”
As described by The Guardian, the White Helmets have been “the target of an extraordinary disinformation campaign … propagated online by a network of anti-imperialist activists, conspiracy theorists and trolls with the support of the Russian government (which provides military support to the Syrian regime).”
The White Helmets are a target for several reasons, but mainly because their presence on the ground allows them to provide evidence of the Assad regime’s use of chemical weapons and other atrocities against the Syrian people.
When the Syrian government launched a chemical attack that killed 83 people last April, the fringe outlet Infowars picked up a Russian conspiracy theory and peddled it to Americans, saying the attack was staged by the White Helmets and describing the humanitarian group as an “al-Qaida affiliated group funded by George Soros.”
The top hashtags on Securing Democracy’s Hamilton 68 dashboard, which tracks 600 accounts linked to Russian influence campaigns, shows the overlap between pro-the rich asshole social media users and pro-Assad Russian propaganda. On Sunday afternoon, the same group of accounts tweeting conspiracy theories about the White Helmets were also tweeting under the hashtag “#MAGA.”
Hamilton 68 dashboard
While much of the disinformation was pushed by fringe media outlets like Infowars, the propaganda campaign also made its way onto mainstream outlets.
On Monday, Fox News’ Tucker Carlson said we have “no real idea what happened” in Syria and claimed that people are simply “making it up” when they attribute responsibility for the chemical attacks to Assad.
“Starting with the poison gas attack itself. All the geniuses tell us that Assad killed those children, but do they really know that? Of course they don’t really know that,” Carlson said. “They are making it up. They have no real idea what happened.”
Chuck Holton, a war correspondent for the Christian Broadcasting Network and frequent contributor to NRATV, also joined the chorus of right-wing voices this week, claiming that the April 7 chemical attack could be a “false flag.”
Far-right politicians also helped drive the false flag narrative. On Wednesday, Virginia State Senator Richard H. Black (R-Loudon) stood on the floor of the state Senate and gave a speech defending Assad and alleging that the chemical attack last weekend was a hoax. All of the deaths in Douma, he said, were fake.
Not long ago, Black was attacking special counsel Robert Mueller in an interview with Russian propaganda outlet RT, and his Twitter feed shows that he is a frequent critic of the Russia investigation and avowed member of the “MAGA” coalition.
Far-right British politician Nigel Farage, an outspoken the rich asshole supporter, also weighed in on Syria this week, accusing “globalists” of wanting to start a war with Russia and calling the chemical attack in Syria a “false flag.”
But right-wing media and political figures weren’t the only ones helping Russia’s disinformation campaign gain traction in America.
On social media, many the rich asshole supporters pushed the same disinformation, calling the chemical attack a “false flag” and falsely claiming that there is “no evidence” that Assad was behind the chemical attack.
This mirrors what happened last year, when far-right media platforms launched a full-fledged propaganda campaign running cover for the Syrian regime after it killed 83 people in a chemical attack.
Right-wing media outlets and the rich asshole supporters like Mike Cernovich also promoted the “#SyriaHoax” conspiracy theory last year on social media — a disinformation campaign that was traced directly to a pro-Assad Russian propaganda outlet.
When the Pentagon warned this weekend that a Russian disinformation campaign was underway, they forgot to mention one thing: that allies of the president were spreading it. While some of these the rich asshole fans are likely promoting this content without realizing that they are pushing Russian propaganda, the result is the same: Americans are increasingly exposed to disinformation that serves to prop up a murderous dictator and advance the goals of the Kremlin.
Gowdy: Mueller was right in referring the rich asshole lawyer’s case to New York prosecutors
Republican lawmaker also sees no basis for firing deputy attorney general Rod Rosenstein.
Conservative lawmaker Trey Gowdy defended Robert Mueller on Sunday, saying the Russia special counsel was right to refer the case of some rich asshole’s personal attorney Michael Cohen to federal prosecutors in New York.
Since announcing a few weeks ago that he wouldn’t run for re-election, Gowdy (R-SC) increasingly has been speaking against his previously redder-than-red type.
A few weeks ago, he admonished President some rich asshole’s attorney John Dowd on the Fox News Sunday program, saying, “If you have an innocent client, Mr. Dowd, act like it.” Earlier this month, he confessed to CNN that he felt he hasn’t “been good in Congress,” and that the U.S. legislature is too mired in partisan wrangling to be effective — an explanation of why he has decided to leave the body.
Now Gowdy is offering up remarks of support for Mueller, who has become a object of scorn from many in his party. The Republican House member said that in his view, Mueller acted properly by referring the Cohen case to federal prosecutors in New York.
“I don’t know what Robert Mueller was supposed to other than what he did,” Gowdy said.
Gowdy, the House Oversight Chairman, attained a measure of notoriety while presiding over hearings into the attacks on US officials in Benghazi, Libya — an investigation that was largely used to try to attack then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
Speaking on “Fox News Sunday,” Gowdy also said he sees no basis for firing Rosenstein, who is overseeing Mueller’s probe into Russian meddling in the 2016 election.
“Does he have the power to get rid of Rod Rosenstein? Yes, he does. Do I think it’s wise? No, I don’t,” Gowdy said.
Last week, reports emerged that the rich asshole was considering firing Rosenstein, a move that could further the rich asshole’s goal of trying to hamstring — and eventually sack — Mueller.
The reports came a day after the FBI raided the home, office, and hotel room of Cohen, the rich asshole’s personal lawyer who has been “under criminal investigation” for months in New York because of his business dealings, the Justice Department said Friday.
.@TGowdySC on FBI raid of Michael Cohen: I don’t know what Robert Mueller was supposed to do other than what he did.
In the filing with a court in New York, the Justice Department blacked out a section describing what laws they believe Cohen has broken, but they said the “crimes being investigated involve acts of concealment” and suspected fraud.
the rich asshole reportedly was enraged by reports that FBI agents working for the U.S. attorney’s office for the Southern District of New York raided Cohen’s property on Monday morning, seizing electronic devices, personal financial records, and attorney-client communications.
Also last week, White House spokesperson Sarah Sanders suggested the rich asshole administration had sought legal advice about the rich asshole possibly firing Mueller. That stands in contrast to what the administration was saying recently as last month, when a White House attorney for the rich asshole said the president “is not considering or discussing” firing Mueller.
“How this is Mueller’s fault just defies logic to me,” Gowdy said about the raid on Cohen’s office.
Gowdy, who announced in January that he would not be seeking reelection this fall, emphasized that Mueller did what he “was supposed to do” when he found potential criminal wrongdoing by Cohen: He referred the case to local federal prosecutors in Manhattan. Among the records seized by investigators during the raids were “protected attorney-client communications.”
“We know a neutral, detached federal magistrate had to sign off on the search warrant,” Gowdy said in the interview, explaining why he saw nothing wrong with the raids on Cohen’s property. “We know that it requires the highest levels of DOJ permission to seize attorney-client records. And by that, I mean the attorney general or the deputy attorney general.”
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April 15, 2018
News you actually want to know, and what you can do to make a difference.
Welcome to your weekly roundup of good news about good people, how you can help make a difference — and a picture of President Obama to make you smile.
John Oliver shuts down “crisis pregnancy center” nonsense
Reproductive rights activists were at the Supreme Court recently, defending a California law that forbids so-called “crisis pregnancy centers” from lying to patients about things like the safety of abortion.
And on his HBO Show, host John Oliver took CPCs to task for those garbage tactics. As he notes, the “primary purpose” of these centers “is to talk women out of terminating a pregnancy — something they don’t often make that clear.”
CPCs use deceptive ads and names, and even open their facilities just steps away from an actual abortion clinic, all to attempt to lure people in and shame them into continuing a pregnancy they don’t want, can’t afford, or which may endanger their health.
Watch Oliver give a brilliant and informative run-down of these shady centers.
Oregon becomes second state to pass net neutrality law
Following the lead of its neighbor to the north, Oregon just became the second state in the country to pass its own net neutrality law in defiance of the rich asshole administration’s efforts against it.
“When the federal government repealed net neutrality, it took a giant step backward,” Oregon Democratic Gov. Kate Brown said upon signing the bill.
The bill will block ISPs like Comcast and AT&T from throttling traffic to users, and also prevents state agencies from doing business with ISPs that don’t play fair.
ACTION ALERT: Protect the Census!
The rich asshole administration is actually trying to sabotage the Census, a crucial tool for political representation, funding for vital services, and more.
Organizing for Action can put you in touch with your senator to demand an accurate and thorough Census.
Minnesota Public Schools to officially accept students’ preferred names and gender
Minnesota Public Schools took a big step toward inclusivity and progress for transgender and non-binary kids.
Students may now fill out a form noting their preferred gender identifiers and pronouns, as well as their preferred names, to be entered in the MPS database.
As Out4GoodMPS noted, “This important change allows for students to have their name and gender properly reflected in our systems, brings about greater visibility and respect for our transgender and gender non-conforming students, and helps build strong student/staff relationships.”
Anchorage voters are first in the nation to reject bigoted “bathroom bill”
Anchorage, Alaska, made it clear that transphobic “bathroom bills” are not welcome or wanted in the city.
Voters there rejected the hateful bill that would have forced people to use public bathrooms and locker rooms that align with the gender they were assigned at birth.
The bill’s failure was a hopeful sign in the fight against such bigoted efforts.
“Transgender discrimination is popping up everywhere, and this victory means that as a nation we can stand together against discrimination,” declared Lillian Lennon, a trans woman who campaigned against the bill.
Equal Rights Amendment one step closer to finally becoming reality
The Equal Rights Amendment has a simple and seemingly inarguable aim: “Equality of rights under the law shall not be abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.”
Yet the amendment, first introduced in 1923, has been shunted aside time and time again. In 1972, Congress passed the amendment and sent it to the states for ratification. 38 states needed to do so in order for the amendment to be added to the Constitution. By 1982, after numerous deadline extensions, 35 had done so, and there it stayed until Nevada ratified it in 2017.
Now, Illinois has finally come around, with the state Senate voting 43-12 to ratify the ERA. With that passage, only one more state would be needed to — finally — make this very straightforward concept a legal reality.
ACTION ALERT: the rich asshole is not above the law!
Already, over 300,000 Americans have committed to protesting if the rich asshole makes the reckless move to fire special counsel Robert Mueller.
MoveOn has all the information you need to find an event near you or start one yourself, to make sure the rich asshole knows that despite his fervent beliefs, he is not above the law.
Break out the tiny violins: Stormfront is going broke
Here’s the best dose of schadenfreude you’ve gotten in a long time: the internet’s oldest white supremacist website is going broke.
Stormfront launched in 1996, and has been a cesspool of hatred and violence ever since. But apparently, people aren’t buying what the racists are selling anymore.
The Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks hate groups, noticed a recent post on the site from founder and former Klansman Don Black that bemoaned a massive drop in donations.
“Our contributions have once again totaled less than $2000, which is not enough to cover our basic server and radio bills, and this month we no longer have enough personal money to make up the difference,” Black wrote. The site will also archiving and shuttering its main server and restricting access due to the “financial crisis.”
Hallelujah — and good riddance.
Justice Ginsburg knows immigrants make America great
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg presided over a naturalization ceremony at the New York Historical Society, where she offered history, wisdom, and some heartfelt words of welcome.
She spoke about her own father, who came to the U.S. at 13 with no money and unable to speak English. And she held up her own life as proof that where one starts from needn’t determine where one will end up in life.
The audience included new citizens from 59 countries, and Ginsburg’s famous collar was a special multi-colored one to mark the diverse occasion.
“We are a nation made strong by people like you,” she told the crowd of pastors, doctors, taxi drivers, and others. And she made sure to offer a different take on America’s greatness than the one we tend to hear these days.
“Alexis de Tocqueville wrote that the greatness of America lies not in being more enlightened than other nations, but rather in her ability to repair her faults,” Justice Ginsburg said.
ACTION ALERT: No troops at the border!
the rich asshole wants to send troops to the southern border as part of his racist and ridiculous attacks on immigration.
Sign the petition from the Southern Border Communities Coalition to tell him that we don’t need more militarization to stoke his anti-immigrant agenda.
Bank of America will no longer lend to manufacturers of “military-style” weapons
The gun safety movement, which has been given renewed and notable vigor by the teenage survivors of the Parkland school shooting, saw another crucial step forward.
Bank of America recently announced that it will stop lending money to companies that manufacture “military-style” weapons, such as the AR-15.
After the shooting in Parkland, the bank wanted “to contribute in any way we can to reduce these mass shootings,” said Anne Finucane, the bank’s vice president. To that end, executives decided that they no longer wanted to “underwrite or finance” the weapons used in those horrific events.
Vermont governor signs gun control package
Setting an example for his fellow Republicans, Vermont Gov. Phil Scott signed a package of new gun safety measures into law.
The bills include raising the minimum gun-buying age to 21, enhancing background checks, and banning high-capacity magazines and bump stocks.
Scott made the non-partisan urgency of such measures clear, calling it a “moral and legal obligation and responsibility to provide for the safety of our citizens.”
Defying hecklers in the crowd at the signing ceremony, Scott declared that he was choosing “action over inaction, doing something over doing nothing.”
ACTION ALERT: Boot Pruitt!
EPA chief Scott Pruitt has become almost cartoonish in his corrupt nature. So it’s long past time to give him the boot.
Join the Center for American Progress in calling on Pruitt to resign from the office he is not fit to hold.
Sen. Tammy Duckworth became the first senator to have a baby in office
You already knew Sen. Tammy Duckworth was a bad-ass, but she decided to go ahead and prove it once again.
Duckworth recently gave birth to her second child, daughter Maile Pearl, becoming the first senator to have a baby while in office.
She’s been a trailblazer for decades, and is an amazing role model not just for her own children, but for kids — and adults! — everywhere.
And as she continues to fight for every American to be able to live their best and healthiest lives possible, she also makes clear that inspiration can be found in every one of us.
“What inspires me is when people get up and exercise their constitutional rights, like the children who protested for sensible firearm legislation,” Duckworth declared. “I wore the uniform of this country for 23 years to defend my fellow Americans’ right to freedom of speech. When I see somebody act in the most patriotic and American of ways and choose to speak their mind, that inspires me.”
POLITICS
Cohen Denies Report That Mueller Has Evidence Of Secret Prague Trip
the rich asshole’s lawyer is doubling down after McClatchy DC reported the special counsel can prove a big part of the Steele dossier.
President some rich asshole’s lawyer is doubling down after a new report suggesting that special counsel Robert Mueller can prove a big part of the Steele dossier.
McClatchy DC reported Friday that Mueller has evidence that Michael Cohen, a longtime personal attorney for the rich asshole, traveled to Prague months before the 2016 election.
The outlet cited two unnamed sources familiar with the matter. If the report is indeed true, it would mark a significant development in Mueller’s investigation.
“Bad reporting, bad information and bad story,” Cohen wrote Saturday in a tweet denying the McClatchy article.
Proof of the alleged trip would lend support to the Steele dossier ― the report by former British intelligence official Christopher Steele containing allegations that the rich asshole campaign conspired with the Russian government to win the election. (The dossier is also how we know about the alleged “golden shower thing.”) It was funded by Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign and the Democratic National Committee.
According to the dossier, Cohen played a part in the alleged conspiracy. It says he used a meeting with a Russian nongovernmental organization as cover to meet with Russian officials during a trip to Prague in August or September 2016. They allegedly discussed a “coverup and damage limitation operation in an attempt to prevent the full details of the rich asshole’s relationship with Russia being exposed,” and discussed how to make “deniable cash payments” to “Romanian hackers.”
Cohen, for his part, says he’s never been to Prague. He even shared his passport with BuzzFeed to support his claim.
In his tweet on Saturday, the attorney said he was in Los Angeles with his son at the time in question.
Bad reporting, bad information and bad story by same reporter Peter Stone @McClatchyDC. No matter how many times or ways they write it, I have never been to Prague. I was in LA with my son. Proven! mcclatchydc.com/news/politics-…
“Proven!” he wrote.
However, the lack of a Czech stamp in Cohen’s passport does not necessarily rule out the possibility that he traveled to the Czech Republic.
Sources told McClatchy that Cohen traveled to Prague through Germany and did not require a passport “because both countries are in the so-called Schengen Area in which 26 nations operate with open borders.” The sources did not say whether Cohen would have used a commercial or private plane to fly to Europe, or why there does not appear to be a record of such a trip.
McClatchy notes that “it’s unclear whether Mueller’s investigators also have evidence that Cohen actually met with a prominent Russian ― purportedly Konstantin Kosachev, an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin ― in the Czech capital.”
the rich asshole could survive firing Rosenstein or Mueller because of Fox News: Washington Post columnist
Sean Hannity, who could help the president survive mass protests if he acted against the people investigating his illegal behavior/Screenshot
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Richard Nixon’s “Saturday Night Massacre” was the beginning of the end of his presidency, as Republicans rebelled against the president over his attempt to cover up the Watergate break-in by ordering the dismissal of the special prosecutor investigating him.
Would the same thing happen with the rich asshole? Washington Post columnist Margaret Sullivan doesn’t think so, and says Fox News is the main reason.
“The pro-the rich asshole media, led by Fox, would give cover, and huge swaths of Americans would be encouraged to believe that the action was not only justified but absolutely necessary,” she writes. “You can see it coming.”
Sullivan points out that the rich asshole’s biggest defender, Sean Hannity, has been pushing the idea for months and that it’s landed with Republicans, a majority of whom now believe the Justice Department and the FBI are actively working to undermine the rich asshole.
“Millions of Americas might take to the streets, but just as many would be nodding their approval from their living rooms, with Fox and its ratings star Hannity leading the applause,” she writes. “In the Fox News era, the nation that turned against Nixon’s corrupt rejection of the rule of law may not even exist anymore.”
Read the full column here
POLITICS
the rich asshole Rages Against Comey Over Claims In New Book
the rich asshole tweeted Sunday that the former FBI director “always ends up badly and out of whack.”
President some rich asshole attacked James Comey in a series of tweets Sunday, claiming the former FBI director’s new book contains “many lies.”
the rich asshole took aim at several allegations made in A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies, and Leadership, Comey’s forthcoming tell-all book about his decades-long career in criminal justice. He accused Comey of writing “phony” memos about their interactions and ranted over his handling of the Hillary Clinton email scandal.
the rich asshole’s tweets come hours before Comey’s highly anticipated interview with ABC News, which will air at 10 p.m. Sunday. Comey is expected to discuss his new book, set for release on Tuesday, and answer questions about the federal investigation into whether the rich asshole’s 2016 presidential campaign colluded with Russia.
Comey’s interview with ABC News is just the first in a whirlwind media tour surrounding his new book, of which more than 200,000 copies have already been sold. On Thursday, he is expected to sit down with CNN’s Jake Tapper to give his first live interview since the rich asshole fired him as head of the Russia probe in May.
“My book is about ethical leadership & draws on stories from my life & lessons I learned from others,” Comey tweeted Sunday. “I hope folks read the whole thing and find it useful.”
News reports containing passages from Comey’s new book, as well as clips from his upcoming interview with ABC News, set the internet ablaze last week. Comey wrote in his memoir that the rich asshole was obsessed with disproving the so-called pee tape allegation from the infamous intelligence dossier about him.
“I honestly never thought these words would come out of my mouth, but I don’t know whether the current president of the United States was with prostitutes peeing on each other in Moscow in 2013,” Comey told ABC’s George Stephanopoulos in a preview of Sunday’s show. “It’s possible, but I don’t know.”
GOP tries to hide from tax scam as Americans hold over 100 protests
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Republicans are trying to hide from their massively unpopular tax scam bill on the campaign trail. Americans across the nation took to the streets ahead of Tax Day to make sure no one forgets.
As Tax Day in the U.S. approaches, Republicans are trying to escape the specter of the unpopular tax scam they forced through Congress.
But Americans aren’t going to let them erase history so easily.
On Saturday, dozens of marches and rallies were held all across the country, from California to Washington state to Palm Beach, Florida — where marchers made a visit to Mar-a-Lago.
Then on Sunday, the protests kicked into high gear. Americans planned to hold over 100 events as the culmination of a months-long “Repeal the rich asshole Tax” tour.
The marches sought to make opposition to the tax scam loud and clear — for any Republicans looking ahead to November and getting nervous about holding on to their seats.
One woman in Michigan made the issue crystal clear — accompanied by a familiar friend.
Republicans tried to insist that their tax bill would be good for everyone, something even Sen. Mitch McConnell confessed was a lie. The truth is that the bill was designed to help only those who needed it the least, and to hurt people who are already struggling.
Eventually, some of them finally began to admit the obvious truth about the scam. But of course, such admissions weren’t accompanied by a newfound desire to help people rather than harm them. the rich asshole himself thinks it’s “beautiful” when families struggle to make ends meet.
Rather than admit they foisted a colossal and damaging mess on their constituents, Republicans are simply abandoning the tax bill talking points.
It’s no wonder. The bill’s unpopularity is already causing the GOP pain at the ballot box. A stunning upset in Pennsylvania, in a district the rich asshole won by 20 points, was likely only the beginning. The shift from reliably red to suddenly blue in Orange County, California, is another harbinger of self-inflicted turmoil.
House Speaker Paul Ryan’s resignation only drove home the party’s utter disarray.
The GOP is panicking about a “blue wave” in the midterms. The American people are making it clear that candidates are right to be scared.
POLITICS
Paul Ryan Brushes Off Criticism That He Enabled the rich asshole
The retiring House speaker wants to be remembered as the man who ushered in tax reform.
WASHINGTON ― House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) attempted in an interview airing Sunday to frame his legacy on his own terms, brushing off the criticism that he facilitated President some rich asshole’s makeover of the Republican Party.
The speaker announced last week that he plans to retire at the end of his term to spend more time with his family. Ryan is finishing his career in Congress under the rich asshole, a man he repeatedly criticized during the 2016 presidential campaign for racially charged, derogatory and vulgar statements and proposals but whose agenda he has helped enact.
NBC’ “Meet the Press” host Chuck Todd asked Ryan about the criticism that he enabled the rise of the rich asshole.
“Enabling ― So, so what did we do?” Ryan asked in the interview, which took place on Friday, according to a transcript provided by NBC News. He went on to spotlight what he sees as his own achievements ― such as establishing empowerment zones in poor communities, passing tax reform and spurring economic growth ― and said he hopes to accomplish more this year.
When pressed about the rich asshole, Ryan said that they had agreed on an agenda, but wouldn’t say definitively whether they shared a vision for the GOP. “You’d have to ask him that,” Ryan said, adding that he and the president differed on policies for trade and some entitlement programs, but are “rolling in the same direction” on most things.
“Sure, no two people are going to agree on everything,” Ryan said. “We have different styles. We have different ideas. But it’s a big tent party. And we represent different corners of the tent.”
Todd read him a quote from former Wisconsin radio host Charlie Sykes, who said of Ryan, “When people write the history of this era, it will be the triumph of Trumpism over Ryanism, and that’s got to be a bitter pill to swallow.”
“I just don’t see it like that,” Ryan said.
The speaker also said that though it is Congress’ role to serve as a check on the executive branch if there is abuse of civil liberties or power, he didn’t see a need for one potential action: a bill that would bar the president from firing special counsel Robert Mueller. The Justice Department special counsel is investigating whether the rich asshole campaign worked with the Russian government to meddle in the 2016 election.
the rich asshole sought to have Mueller fired in December, The New York Times reported last week. The president denied that report and said he is taking a cooperative approach to dealing with the special counsel.
Ryan said that he did not think a bill to protect Mueller, which a bipartisan group of senators are pushing, would be necessary because the White House was not going to fire him.
“I don’t think he should be fired. I think he should be left to do his job,” Ryan said of Mueller. “And I don’t think they’re really contemplating this.”
French president brags that he convinced the rich asshole to strike Syria as the US was poised to pull out
some rich asshole and France's president Emmanuel Marcon/Screenshot
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French President Emmanuel Macron is taking credit for President the rich asshole’s decision to fire $165 million in missiles at Syria, an attack that came with ample warning and which apparently killed no one.
the rich asshole was going to honor his campaign commitment to isolationism—the thing that made him popular with people like Alex Jones—until the dapper Frenchman talked him into firing some missiles. That angered Republican isolationists—and made Alex Jones cry.
“Ten days ago, President the rich asshole was saying ‘the United States should withdraw from Syria.’ We convinced him it was necessary to stay,” Macron said in an interview on France’s BFM TV. “We convinced him it was necessary to stay for the long term.”
Emmanuel Marcon during the interview in which he bragged of convincing the rich asshole/Screenshot
Macron agreed with the rich asshole that the attack was “perfectly carried out.”
Watch a CNN segment on Macron below.
COMEDY
Robert De Niro’s Mueller Scorches ‘Focker’ Michael Cohen (Ben Stiller) On ‘SNL’
“You little weasel.”
link
Ben Stiller’s Michael Cohen got the grilling of his life via a lie detector test administered by special counsel Robert Mueller, played by Robert De Niro, in cameos that thrilled the audience in “Saturday Night Live’s” cold open.
The face-off was a twisted take on the film “Meet the Parents” when De Niro’s character gets to know his soon-to-be son-in-law, Greg Focker, played by Stiller.
Once again, Stiller, this time playing President some rich asshole’s attorney, is strapped to a polygraph.
“I’ll start with some easy ones: How did ya like the pee pee tape?” De Niro asks. He quickly adds, “I’m kidding! We’ll get to that later.”
“Are you a lawyer?” Mueller then probes.
“Ish,” says Stiller. As for threatening people as part of his work, “Cohen” admits: “Let’s just say I’ve cut a lot of letters out of a lot of magazines.”
“Cohen” accuses “Mueller” of launching personal-attack witch hunts against the rich asshole family.
De Niro insists that investigators try to keep a dispassionate distance by using code names for the family. the rich asshole’s code name used to be “Putin’s little bitch,” now it’s “Stormy’s little bitch,” he explains. Ivanka’s is “girlfriend,” and Jared Kushner is “other girlfriend.” Eric and some rich asshole Jr. are referred to as the “two Fredos,” and Cohen is “dead man walking.”
Then Mueller takes off the gloves: “You listen to me, you little weasel ... You broke the law and now we’re going to catch all you little Fockers, you got that?”
Stiller’s Cohen has lots to hide. At the start of the cold open, he admits to Jeff Sessions (Kate McKinnon) and Mike Pence (Beck Bennett): “I’m some rich asshole’s lawyer. I got a whole hard drive that’s just labeled ‘yikes!’”
Check out the rest of the sketch above.
GOP lawmaker dismisses Scott Pruitt’s security justifications for exorbitant travel spending
House Oversight Committee chairman ratchets up investigations into EPA chief's lavish spending on travel.
House Oversight and Government Reform Committee chairman Trey Gowdy (R-SC) is ratcheting up his investigations into Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Scott Pruitt in the wake of ongoing allegations of profligate spending of taxpayers’ money by the agency.
Gowdy is particularly troubled by Pruitt’s level of spending on first-class travel. If it’s security that concerns Pruitt, the EPA chief would be just as safe flying in the back of an airplane because most people wouldn’t recognize him, the Republican congressman said in an interview on “Fox News Sunday.”
Pruitt has stated that he flies first class or on military jets at taxpayer expense due to security reasons. “We’ve had some incidents on travel dating back to when I first started serving in the March-April time frame,” Pruitt told the New Hampshire Union Leader in February.
On numerous occasions, Pruitt has been approached at airports “to the point of profanities being yelled at him and so forth,” Henry Barnet, director of the agency’s Office of Criminal Enforcement, told Politico in February.
Gowdy isn’t buying Pruitt’s reasoning for needing to fly first class. “I’d be shocked if that many people knew who Scott Pruitt was,” he said.
“So the notion that I’ve got to fly first class because I don’t want people to be mean to me — you need to go into another line of work if you don’t want people to be mean to you, like maybe a monk where you don’t come into contact with anyone,” Gowdy argued.
In his role as House Oversight Committee chairman, Gowdy on Friday demandedinterviews with five top aides to Pruitt. The lawmaker cited “new information” his committee had obtained regarding Pruitt’s official travel and his housing rental agreement last year with the wife of an energy lobbyist.
Gowdy is also seeking documents from the EPA on the changes last year to round-the-clock security protection for Pruitt, contracts to sweep Pruitt’s office for electronic surveillance, his trips to Italy and Morocco, and travel by Pruitt’s security chief.
Pruitt’s predecessor, Gina McCarthy, flew coach, and was not accompanied by security during her personal trips. Pruitt’s 24-hour security reportedly has extended to personal trips to Disneyland and the Rose Bowl in California.
The Associated Press reported that Pruitt spent millions on a full-time security detail with 20 members, which is three times the size of the part-time detail McCarthy used.
“The reason the Oversight Committee wants to know whether or not the EPA is a good steward of taxpayer money is because Congress created the EPA; we fund the EPA,” Gowdy said in the Sunday morning interview. “It is entirely legitimate for us to ask, ‘Are you being good stewards of the American taxpayer dollar?'”
Gowdy said he has become concerned about whether Pruitt’s explanations for his spending as EPA administrator are credible.
Pointing to Congress’s jurisdiction over the federal Office of Government Ethics, Gowdy also stressed it is appropriate for his committee to look into Pruitt’s apartment lease with the wife of an energy lobbyist.
Even though Pruitt paid a $50-per-day rental rate, not a monthly rate, the apartment was not available to any other tenants during the period in 2017 that Pruitt had access to it. Pruitt’s relationship with the lobbyist couple — Vicki and Steven Hart — goes back years. The couple donated $4,366 to Pruitt’s campaigns for Oklahoma attorney general and his federal leadership political action committee.
Sarah Sanders’ fake Syria ‘war room’ photo backfires spectacularly
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Things did not go as planned.
White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders desperately wanted to have a dramatic photo of the war room when the decision was made to bomb Syria. Unfortunately for her, no such photo exists — but Sanders wasn’t about to let a little detail like that get in the way.
And so on Saturday night, Sanders tweeted out an “official” photo of the Situation Room, writing, “Last night the President put our adversaries on notice: when he draws a red line he enforces it. (Inside the Situation Room as President is briefed on Syria – Official WH photos by Shealah Craighead).”
There’s only one problem with the photo: Mike Pence, who is pictured in the Situation Room to the right of the rich asshole, was not in the White House Friday night. He wasn’t even in the United States — he was in Peru for the Summit of the America’s.
Pence even posted a picture of his arrival in Peru on Friday:
Landed in Peru & honored to be at the @SummitAmericas on behalf of @POTUS & the American people. Just completed an important meeting w/ Venezuelan opposition leaders as we look to hold the undemocratic Maduro regime accountable for its actions. #SummitPeru
Sanders was apparently hoping that we would be too distracted by the drama of a black-and-white image to actually look at the photo.
Sanders was sorely mistaken.
Not long after she posted the tweet, savvy Twitter users started pointing out the discrepancy and then proceeded to drag her for the misleading photo.
Fascinating tweet in which Sarah Sanders reveals that Mike Pence was simultaneously in Peru and Washington. If this new capability doesn’t scare our enemies, nothing will. #QuantumEntanglementMike twitter.com/presssec/statu…
Pence is in Peru. Sounds like fake news to me. twitter.com/presssec/statu…
Fun fact: This picture is NOT from last night as Mike Pence is mysteriously in the room while also out of the country.
There is NOTHING @PressSec won't lie about. twitter.com/PressSec/statu…
NBC News White House correspondent Kelly O’Donnell recognized the shirt Sanders is wearing the photo as the same one she wore on Wednesday — suggesting that the photo was actually taken two full days before the decision to strike Syria was announced.
Friday night @VP was off to Peru. @nikkihaley was in NY for UN. @PressSec appeared to be wearing this striped blouse at Wednesday's briefing so this behind the scenes photo in Situation Room likely not taken "last night" as tweet suggests but earlier in week twitter.com/PressSec/statu…
Despite being called out for the photo and dragged all over Twitter, the tweet was still up twelve hours later — a point that one Twitter user made this morning.
The worst part isn't that this picture isn't what Sanders says it is, the worst part is that it is still up 12 HOURS LATER despite literally tens of thousands of people telling her that twitter.com/PressSec/statu…
Ten minutes later, Sanders posted an addendum to her original tweet:
Last night the President put our adversaries on notice: when he draws a red line he enforces it. (Inside the Situation Room as President is briefed on Syria - Official WH photos by Shealah Craighead) pic.twitter.com/GzOSejdqQh
As I said, the President put our adversaries on notice that he enforces red lines with the strike on Syria Friday night. The photo was taken Thursday in the Situation Room during Syria briefing.
As Sanders learned the hard way, when you lie all the time, you lose the privilege of getting the benefit of the doubt.
Sanders gets up behind the White House podium and lies to the American public on a near daily basis — and the American public clearly doesn’t trust a word that comes out of her mouth. Nor do they trust a single tweet that comes from her fingertips, and for good reason.
Watch: Republican Michael Steele tries to mansplain the 2016 election and Zerlina Maxwell is not having it
Zerlina Maxwell and Michael Steele on MSNBC/Screenshot
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The media tour tied to the release of James Comey’s book is bringing back all sorts of arguments about what happened in the 2016 campaign and why.
On Sunday afternoon, MSNBC invited on Michael Steele, the former chairman of the Republican Party, and Zerlina Maxwell, who worked on Hillary Clinton’s campaign.
Maxwell and Steele quickly locked horns over what would have happened had James Comey not violated Department of Justice protocol and issued a politically charged announcement about investigating Hillary Clinton’s emails just days before ballots were cast—a decision he now admits was informed by his assumption that Hillary would win.
“Whether or not you change what Comey did, the outcome of that election would have been the same, because America did not like Hillary Clinton, thy did not want her in that job, Steele claimed.
“We’re talking about an election that was decided by 80,000 votes across three states, and all the independent analysis says she was on an upward trajectory, ready to win the election, until the Comey letter stopped her momentum,” she said.
Steele, who has been off the front lines of electoral politics since the rise of the Tea Party, then told her that Hillary should have campaigned in Wisconsin. He claimed internal polls suggested so. They didn’t, Maxwell said.
“I was there,” Maxwell said.
Watch the fiery exchange below.
Federal judge shuts down the rich asshole’s ‘new’ transgender military ban
"The Court is not persuaded."
A federal court in Seattle in a ruling on Friday shut down President the rich asshole’s “new” ban on transgender people serving in the military, which was issued by his administration last month.
the rich asshole had claimed that the old ban was revoked and replaced with the new one, but U.S. District Judge Marsha Pechman rejected this distinction, noting that the new documents “do not substantively rescind or revoke the ban, but instead threaten the very same violations that caused it and other courts to enjoin the ban in the first place.”
Indeed, she found the claim that the new ban has exceptions wholly unconvincing:
The Court is not persuaded. The Implementation Plan prohibits transgender people — including those who have neither transitioned nor been diagnosed with gender dysphoria — from serving, unless they are “willing and able to adhere to all standards associated with their biological sex.”Requiring transgender people to serve in their “biological sex” does not constitute “open” service in any meaningful way, and cannot reasonably be considered an “exception” to the Ban. Rather, it would force transgender service members to suppress the very characteristic that defines them as transgender in the first place.
As she did when she first ruled against the ban last year, Pechman also concluded that transgender people are a “suspect class” — a group vulnerable to unfair treatment and discrimination solely because of their identity. Thus, any rationale for categorically excluding them from service must be examined and considered with heightened scrutiny.
Perchman stopped short of analyzing the rich asshole administration’s new justifications for the ban, in part because of the last-minute timing in which they were presented to the court. There has thus not yet been opportunity to assess whether those justifications merit the court’s deference.
But Pechman was skeptical, which is why she also allowed the rich asshole himself to remain party to the case. “Defendants to date have failed to identify even one general or military expert he consulted, despite having been ordered to do so repeatedly,” she wrote. “Indeed, the only evidence concerning the lead-up to his Twitter announcement reveals that military officials were entirely unaware of the ban, and that the abrupt change in policy was ‘unexpected.’ Even [Defense Secretary James Mattis] was given only one day’s notice before President the rich asshole’s Twitter announcement.”
“As no other persons have ever been identified by defendants — despite repeated court orders to do so — the court is led to conclude that the ban was devised by the president, and the president alone.”
The government’s unwillingness to clarify who consulted on the original ban squares with reporting from both ThinkProgress and Slate that the new ban was not based on military recommendations at all. Instead, Vice President Pence impaneled his own working group, featuring prominent anti-LGBTQ advocates, and overruled recommendations to allow for transgender people to join the military.
Lambda Legal Senior Attorney Natalie Nardecchia praised Friday’s ruling. “The court wants to expose this bigoted ban for all of its ugliness at trial, and we are happy to oblige. If it’s a full record the judge wants, then it’s a full record we will give her,” she said.
“We look forward to putting the capriciousness and cruelty of this discriminatory ban against transgender people on trial, where it can be relegated for good to the trash heap of history, alongside other vile military policies that discriminated based on race, sex, and sexual orientation.” Lambda Legal and OutServe-SLDN are representing the plaintiffs in the Washington case.
According to Pechman’s preliminary injunction, the new ban is just as unenforceable as the old one as the case moves forward.
Huckabee Sanders claims she is ‘not aware’ of the rich asshole’s plans to fire Mueller
White House press secretary Sarah Sanders (Screenshot)
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Huckabee Sanders ‘Not Aware’ Of Plans To Fire Mueller
Harriet Sinclair
Posted with permission from Newsweek
White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders has claimed she is unaware of any plans by President Donald Trump to dismiss Special Counsel Robert Mueller or Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein.
Her comments, in an interview with ABC’s This Week, come less than a week after the president suggested he had been told by “many people” to fire Mueller.
“I'm not aware of any plans to make those movements,” Sanders told host, ABC News Chief Anchor George Stephanopoulos when asked whether Trump had plans to dismiss Mueller or Rosenstein.
“Look, the president has been extremely cooperative, as have a number of members of the administration. Everything that's been asked of us we've provided. And we're continuing to be cooperative. But we do have some real concerns with some of the activities and some of the scope that the investigation has gone,” she added.
The president has been notoriously critical of Mueller’s investigation into Russia’s alleged attempt to influence the U.S. election, and potential collusion between Russia and Trump’s team.
Indeed, over the past month the president has become increasingly vocal about his frustration with the investigation, tweeting about the matter on a number of occasions.
And following an FBI raid on his personal lawyer Michael Cohen that Cohen’s lawyer said came following a referral from Mueller, Trump told reporters, “I think it’s a disgrace what’s going on. We’ll see what happens…. Many people have said, ‘You should fire [Mueller].’”
Huckabee Sanders herself also confirmed during a press briefing last week that the president “certainly believes he has the power” to fire Mueller, in a comment that prompted concern from Democrats.
And following confirmation from the Department of Justice that Cohen has been “under criminal investigation” for months over his business dealings, CNN reported, Huckabee Sanders also spoke out the president's relationship with Cohen.
“He’s had a long relationship with Michael Cohen, he’s going to continue to have that relationship,” Huckabee Sanders told This Week.
“The president is very confident in the fact that he has done nothing wrong and he can’t speak on behalf of anyone else, but he’s very confident in what he has and hasn’t done. And he’s going to continue focusing and fighting for the American people,” he added.
Her comments, in an interview with ABC’s This Week, come less than a week after the president suggested he had been told by “many people” to fire Mueller.
“I'm not aware of any plans to make those movements,” Sanders told host, ABC News Chief Anchor George Stephanopoulos when asked whether Trump had plans to dismiss Mueller or Rosenstein.
“Look, the president has been extremely cooperative, as have a number of members of the administration. Everything that's been asked of us we've provided. And we're continuing to be cooperative. But we do have some real concerns with some of the activities and some of the scope that the investigation has gone,” she added.
The president has been notoriously critical of Mueller’s investigation into Russia’s alleged attempt to influence the U.S. election, and potential collusion between Russia and Trump’s team.
Indeed, over the past month the president has become increasingly vocal about his frustration with the investigation, tweeting about the matter on a number of occasions.
And following an FBI raid on his personal lawyer Michael Cohen that Cohen’s lawyer said came following a referral from Mueller, Trump told reporters, “I think it’s a disgrace what’s going on. We’ll see what happens…. Many people have said, ‘You should fire [Mueller].’”
Huckabee Sanders herself also confirmed during a press briefing last week that the president “certainly believes he has the power” to fire Mueller, in a comment that prompted concern from Democrats.
And following confirmation from the Department of Justice that Cohen has been “under criminal investigation” for months over his business dealings, CNN reported, Huckabee Sanders also spoke out the president's relationship with Cohen.
“He’s had a long relationship with Michael Cohen, he’s going to continue to have that relationship,” Huckabee Sanders told This Week.
“The president is very confident in the fact that he has done nothing wrong and he can’t speak on behalf of anyone else, but he’s very confident in what he has and hasn’t done. And he’s going to continue focusing and fighting for the American people,” he added.
Roundly mocked for using ‘mission accomplished’ trope, the rich asshole doubles down
Even George W. Bush's former press secretary says he wouldn't have recommended use of the term.
President some rich asshole on Sunday defended his use of the term “mission accomplished” to describe the Friday night attacks on Syria, even as President George W. Bush’s former spokesperson said he wouldn’t have recommended the president use the term.
the rich asshole, in an early morning tweet, said the attacks on Syria were carried out with great “precision.” He claimed his use of the term was intentional and that he knew the “Fake News Media” would seize on his use of it. But the president said he “felt it is such a great Military term, it should be brought back.”
On Saturday, the rich asshole tweeted: “Thank you to France and the United Kingdom for their wisdom and the power of their fine Military. Could not have had a better result. Mission Accomplished!”
Twitter immediately erupted with a fusillade of mockery after the remark, as well as the rich asshole’s defense of it.
“I didn’t think I could be shocked by a tweet anymore but ‘mission accomplished’ was so surprising I had to double check that it was not a spoof,” Sen. Brian Schatz (D-HI wrote Saturday.
Donald Trump's angry insistence that he knew perfectly well the back story of the phrase, "Mission accomplished," confirms ... he had no idea at all twitter.com/realDonaldTrum…
In May 2003, less than two months after the U.S. military launched its invasion and occupation of Iraq, President George W. Bush arrived on USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier in the co-pilot’s seat of a Navy fighter jet. He then proceeded to give a speech about the status of the invasion.
“Major combat operations in Iraq have ended,” Bush said, the infamous “Mission Accomplished” banner hovering over him. “In the battle of Iraq, the United States and our allies have prevailed.”
But the conflict would drag on for more than a decade, killing hundreds of thousands of Iraqis and Americans, including civilians, and unleashing ISIS from a power vacuum that ensued. The moment — especially the “Mission Accomplished” on the banner — dogged Bush for the remainder of his presidency.
Speaking on ABC’s “This Week” on Sunday, White House spokesperson Sarah Sanders defended the rich asshole’s use of the term, saying the U.S. military “100 percent met its objective” in Syria by targeting chemical weapons infrastructure.
Um...I would have recommended ending this tweet with not those two words. twitter.com/realdonaldtrum…
Former Bush press secretary Ari Fleischer said on Twitter that he would not have recommended that the president end his tweet with the phrase.
On CNN’s Sunday show “State of the Union,” Sen. Angus King (I-ME) said: “I think it’s impossible to say at this point that the mission has been accomplished.”
“We did a strike a year ago for that same purpose and it was deemed a success,” but the Syrian government continued to use chemical weapons, King said.
UN Ambassador Haley: US troops will remain in Syria until goals are achieved
US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley speaks during an emergency Security Council meeting over North Korea's latest nuclear test (AFP Photo/KENA BETANCUR)
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Haley: US troops to stay in Syria until goals achieved
Posted with permission from Al Jazeera
The US will not pull its troops out of Syria until Washington's goals are accomplished, Nikki Haley, the US ambassador to the UN said.According to Haley, the three aims for the US are ensuring chemical weapons are not used in any way that poses a risk to US interests; Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) is defeated; and there is a good vantage point to watch what Iran is doing."[It is our goal] to see American troops come home, but we are not going to leave until we know we have accomplished those things," Haley said on Fox News on Sunday.
In a separate interview, Haley said that the US was preparing new sanctions on Russia over its continued support of Syrian President Bashar-al Assad.
The sanctions would be announced by US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on Monday, Haley said on CBS.
"They will go directly to any sort of companies that were dealing with equipment related to Assad and chemical weapons use," she said.
Haley also ruled out any one-on-one talks between President Assad and the US over the Syrian crisis.
She said Syria had so far refused to take part in multilateral negotiations as part of a political process facilitated by the UN, adding that Syria was not "worthy" of direct talks with Washington.
Tense relations
The relations between Moscow and Washington are tense after the US, UK and France carried out a wave of strikes on the alleged chemical facilities of Assad's government early on Saturday.Russia has been the foremost supporter of the Assad government since the Syrian war began more than seven years ago.The attack came a week after a suspected deadly chemical attack on the rebel-held Damascus suburb of Douma .
The White Helmets , a local civil defence agency, accused the Assad government of carrying out the gas attack, which is believed to have killed 85 civilians, including children, and injured hundreds of others.
The US and allies say they have evidence that the attack was carried out by Assad's forces. In response, Russia pledged to retaliate for what it described as a "fabricated" chemical gas attack.
the rich asshole flails at Comey in litany of distorted, contradictory tweets
He sees the narrative he wants to see, even if it doesn't follow from the facts.
In a series of tweets, President the rich asshole lashed out at former FBI director James Comey, attempting to distort details from Comey’s new book to suit his narrative. The tweets contradict themselves in regards to whether Comey is believable and misinterpret what has been released so far.
The first tweet Sunday morning suggested that Comey’s announcement days before the election that the probe into Hillary Clinton’s emails was being reopened was a veiled attempt to get a job with Clinton.
But Comey’s announcement most likely helped Clinton lose the election, as even Clinton herself believes. Comey does say in his book and his upcoming interview with ABC’s George Stephanopoulos that he believed she would win and that impacted his decision to release his letter about the investigation.
He was concerned, however, that the revelation would make her an “illegitimate president” if it was withheld, so he thought it needed to come to light before the election. the rich asshole’s belief that Comey must be politically biased in Clinton’s favor led to his own bizarre conclusion that this action would somehow endear Comey to her administration.
the rich asshole also insisted that Comey committed numerous crimes and is deserving of jail.
These hollow accusations are ironic, since the rich asshole seemingly admitted just this week to obstruction of justice and then pardoned Scooter Libby, who had been convicted of obstruction of justice. More importantly, he candidly explained nearly a year ago that he fired Comey because of his role in the Russia investigation into the rich asshole campaign, which many experts agreed constituted obstruction of justice.
In another tweet, the rich asshole suddenly argued that Comey did have some degree of credibility when he threw former attorney general Loretta Lynch “under the bus” — seemingly parroting the New York Post headline about the detail from the book.
It’s true that Comey does suggest in the book that Lynch played some role in his decision to make statements about the Clinton email investigation, including a cryptic “development still unknown to the American public to this day.” But Comey explicitly says he didn’t think Lynch interfered with the investigation and he downplayed the significance of her tarmac conversation with President Bill Clinton. It seems the rich asshole read the headline and drew his own conclusion, ignoring the details of the reporting.
In the following tweet, the rich asshole reverted back to calling Comey a liar, once again rejecting all his claims that the rich asshole asked him for loyalty, as Comey first testified last summer.
This seems to echo efforts by the administration and its surrogates to make the most of the Comey book. This was particularly evident in an interview the Republican National Committee’s Kayleigh McEnany gave on Friday, in which she claimed Comey was a liar but also argued that his book exonerates the rich asshole.
After a tangentially related tweet about attorney-client privilege, referencing the FBI’s raid on his personal lawyer Michael Cohen, the rich asshole continued his rant against Comey by calling him “slippery,” “not smart!”, and “the WORST FBI Director in history, by far!”
Sunday morning’s tweets follow a White House press briefing Friday in which Sarah Huckabee Sanders lambasted Comey as a “liar and a leaker.” She even said, “One of the president’s great achievements will go down as firing James Comey.” If, as the rich asshole admitted a year ago, he fired Comey to protect himself from the Russia investigation and that’s found to be obstruction of justice, it will certainly be one of most memorable actions he took as president.
Tea Party Gov. tries to backtrack on blaming protesting teachers for child rape — and gets torn to shreds
Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin (Screen cap).
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Republican Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin last week came under heavy criticism when he said teachers in his state who walked out of school for one day to protest state education funding were responsible for all children who were sexually abused by their parents in their absence.
“I guarantee you somewhere in Kentucky today, a child was sexually assaulted that was left at home because there was nobody there to watch them,” Bevin said. “I guarantee you somewhere today, a child was physically harmed or ingested poison because they were left alone because a single parent didn’t have any money to take care of them.”
Now Bevin has posted a video on YouTube in which he tries to walk back his comments, although he didn’t apologize for them — rather, he said he regretted that people seem to have misinterpreted his remarks.
“For those of you understanding what I’m saying, thank you, I appreciate that you do,” he said. “But clearly, a tremendous number of people did not fully appreciate what it was I was communicating or what it was I was trying to say. I hurt a lot of people, many people have been confused or hurt, or just misunderstand what I was trying to communicate.”
Bevin then took personal responsibility for the way that his words were interpreted.
“I apologize for those who have been hurt by the things that were said, it was not my intent whatsoever,” he said.
Bevin’s video so far has not been well received, as it has gotten only 16 “likes” compared to 112 “dislikes” on his YouTube page as of this writing. Additionally, Bevin’s tweet of his apology has been hammered by some Kentucky residents who think he was being disingenuous by saying his words were merely misinterpreted.
Check out the video — and some top reactions — below.
It is my responsibility to represent you, not only when I’m speaking to you but also when I’m speaking on your behalf. It is not my intent to hurt anyone...but to help us all move forward. We need each other. We’re in this together. #WeAreKY youtube.com/watch?v=BQSxmW…
Please God don’t ever speak on my behalf. You’ve made national news with your embarrassing remarks. Please stop talking. Thanks.
No one was “confused” by what you said. People were appalled because they understood it perfectly. #resign
Please don’t speak on my behalf. You do not represent me or the thousands of Kentucky teachers lining the Capitol steps on Friday. An apology is only as good as the action behind it. Show us something different, Governor Bevin. Show us some respect.
I’m a die hard Republican but every ounce of my being regrets voting for you.
I believe you intended to offend teachers, and as a teacher, I was offended. So your communication was effective and not misunderstood. I will never forget your degrading speech about education to educators during the ceremony for teaching awards. I heard you loud and clear.
What a fake apology. It’s the listener’s fault for hearing what you said. A true leader would say “I messed up. Here’s my letter of resignation. I have brought shame on the office and have offended the citizens of the Great Commonwealth of Kentucky. My intent was evident.”
3:48 of you basically saying, "I apologize for getting caught on camera saying my true thoughts."
While you were writing that, I guarantee someone was sexually assaulted.
Stormy Daniels’ lawyer drops a bomb on Michael Cohen — and tells CNN his cigar buddies have ‘Russian ties’
Stormy Daniels attorney Michael Avenatti (Photo: Screen capture)
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Michael Avenatti, the attorney for adult film star Stormy Daniels, leveled a jaw-dropping accusation against the rich asshole lawyer Michael Cohen on Sunday.
During an interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper, Avenatti claimed that the men Cohen was seen smoking cigars with outside of a courthouse on Friday afternoon had unspecified ties to the Russian government.
“Michael Cohen was videotaped and photographed sitting with a number of men,” Avenatti said. “We believe that a number of those actually had ties, Russian ties, as crazy as that sounds. This story gets more strange and more strange by the day. You couldn’t make this up if you wanted to.”
Tapper seemed taken aback by Avenatti’s allegations and pressed him for more details.
“Can you shed more light on what you said?” he asked. “I mean, I saw a picture of one of the people he was sitting with, and he has ties to one particular Russian wealthy individual. What else are you talking about?”
“I don’t want to say too much this morning, but you can’t make this stuff up,” Avenatti replied. “I don’t understand what he is doing, what Michael Cohen’s doing with each passing day. This is getting worse and worse for him and getting worse and worse for the president.”
Watch the video below.
the rich asshole rage-tweets at ‘Slimeball!’ Comey for saying Hillary was going to win the 2016 election
some rich asshole gives an interview/Screenshot
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President some rich asshole was up bright and early attacking former FBI Director James Comey for saying in an ABC interview that he believed Hillary Clinton was going to win the 2016 presidential election.
Writing on Twitter, the rich asshole said, “Unbelievably, James Comey states that Polls, where Crooked Hillary was leading, were a factor in the handling (stupidly) of the Clinton Email probe. In other words, he was making decisions based on the fact that he thought she was going to win, and he wanted a job. Slimeball!”
The president is reacting to Comey’s statement that he was working under the assumption of Clinton victory when he issued an statement about her emails that later proved to be unfounded.
You can see the tweets below:
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