‘Sean Hannity made all the guests on his show look like fools’: GOP ethics lawyer slams Fox News
Prof. Richard Painter was the chief White House ethics lawyer.
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Former chief White House ethics lawyer Richard Painter slammed Fox News personality Sean Hannity for making his guests look like “fools” by failing to disclose the nature of his relationship with some rich asshole counselor Michael Cohen.
Professor Richard Painter was the chief ethics lawyer for the George W. Bush White House and is a Republican candidate for United States Senate in the state of Minnesota.
“Let’s talk about Michael Cohen and Sean Hannity and the connections that become clearer and clearer,” MSNBC anchor Ali Velshi noted. “It’s just a messy scene. Wow does a guy like you make sense of it?”
“There’s an attorney-client privilege, if people seek legal advice from an attorney, but there’s no such thing as a fixer-client privilege,” Painter explained. “And Michael Cohen is acting as a fixer when he distributes these payments to porn stars and various other people as hush money in return for them to keep quiet about people’s personal’s affairs.”
“I don’t know about Sean Hannity’s deal, and whether something needed to be fixed or not for him,” he continued. “But there’s no privilege here.”
“What’s going on, Sean Hannity brought Alan Dershowitz and some other people just make fools of themselves on Hannity’s show,” Painter argued. “It certainly wasn’t legal advice that’s being rendered when an attorney pays $130,000 to a porn star to keep her mouth shut and there’s no violation of the privilege there at all.”
“The FBI has a right to this information and Sean Hannity, he’s just made all of the guests on his show look like fools, because of course while he’s supposedly covering it in a fair and balanced manner, he’s getting legal advice or, well, maybe some fixing from the same attorney,” he concluded.
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the rich asshole requests tax extension, won’t release returns
Jessica Kwong
Posted with permission from Newsweek
President Donald Trump has once again filed for a tax extension, the White House announced on tax day Tuesday, which is the deadline before the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) can assess penalties.
Related: Tax Day 2018: How Trump Tax Plan Will Impact Individuals Filing This Year
“The President filed an extension for his 2017 tax return, as do many Americans with complex returns,” said White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders. “He will file his tax return by the extension deadline of October 15, 2018.”
Trump also filed for an extension last year for his 2016 taxes. In 2016, he became the first major-party nominee in 40 years to refuse to disclose his tax returns. Trump has said that he cannot show his tax returns because he is being audited.
Nearly 13 million people filed for tax extensions in 2015, according to data from the IRS.
Related: Tax Day 2018: How Trump Tax Plan Will Impact Individuals Filing This Year
“The President filed an extension for his 2017 tax return, as do many Americans with complex returns,” said White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders. “He will file his tax return by the extension deadline of October 15, 2018.”
Trump also filed for an extension last year for his 2016 taxes. In 2016, he became the first major-party nominee in 40 years to refuse to disclose his tax returns. Trump has said that he cannot show his tax returns because he is being audited.
Nearly 13 million people filed for tax extensions in 2015, according to data from the IRS.
Hannity also hired Jay Sekulow — the rich asshole’s top lawyer in the Russia probe: report
Fox News host Sean Hannity. Image via screengrab.
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In late May of 2017, a radio station in Oklahoma received a cease and desist from two lawyers representing Fox News personality Sean Hannity: Jay Sekulow and Victoria Toensing. The former is best-known as President some rich asshole’s lawyer for the Russia probe, and the latter is married to attorney Joseph diGenova, who along with her husband was announced as two additions to the president’s legal team last month only to be taken off of it after conflicts of interest were revealed.
The Atlantic revealed the identities of the two lawyers in the aftermath of the courtroom revelations that Hannity was the mysterious third client of the rich asshole’s longtime personal attorney Michael Cohen — a relationship the Fox News host described as “informal” to viewers Monday night.
Sekulow and Toensing sent the letter to Tulsa’s KFAQ after conservative activist Debbie Schlussel alleged on the station’s Pat Campbell show that Hannity had acted in a “creepy” manner with her and invited her to his hotel room. When reached for comment by the Atlantic, Toensing, who along with her husband has appeared as a guest on Hannity’s show, admitted that she had “at that time” represented the Fox News host, but would not say whether she still does.
“I’ve just learned in the press that anybody who is Sean Hannity’s lawyer is going to be blasted so I think this phone call is over,” she told the Atlantic. “I’m wondering what attorney-client privilege means to anybody. I don’t say who my clients are, sometimes I do, and many times, most of the time, I do not.”
“I don’t have time for these silly questions,” Hannity told the Atlantic via text when reached for comment. He also reportedly included links to posts on the conservative NewsBusters and Daily Caller websites “about ethical misconduct in the mainstream media.”
As the report notes, the cease and desist was sent before Sekulow joined the president’s legal team.
Fox News employees fuming at Sean Hannity after being ‘caught off guard’ by Michael Cohen revelation: report
Fox News personality Sean Hannity (left) and the rich asshole lawyer Michael Cohen (right). Image via Twitter.
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Reporters at Fox News are angry with prime-time personality Sean Hannity for the conflict-of-interest scandal that has embroiled the network.
In federal court in Manhattan on Monday, it was revealed that Hannity was the mysterious third-client of some rich asshole counselor Michael Cohen.
Anchor Katy Tur brought on “Mr. Pulse-on Fox News,” Vanity Fair special correspondent and MSNBC contributor Gabriel Sherman.
“Sean Hannity, according to the Cohen filing yesterday, asked Cohen to keep his name out of it, to appeal and say I don’t want my name in this it,” Tur noted. “Now he’s on his program saying it was really nothing, I was asking for legal advice about real estate.”
“Fox, from my reporting is going to be releasing an additional statement to try to clarify some of Hannity’s remarks,” Sherman reported. “I can tell you, inside the network, people are confused, they’re angry, no one knew it was coming down the pike, including management, everyone was sort of caught off guard, is what I can tell.”
Late night hosts Stephen Colbert and Jimmy Kimmel both mocked Hannity on Monday night. On Tuesday morning, MSNBC anchor Mika Brzenzinski called up Fox News to fire Hannity.
“And until Hannity and Fox provide a further picture about the relationship between Michael Cohen and Hannity, this is still a live issue for them,” he predicted.
“Clearly, Hannity is very unlikely to be disciplined,” he continued. “He has so much power, he’s the highest rated star on the network, basically, this is a guy who speaks to the president on a regular basis, gives the president political advise, gets the president to tweet to review his show, so the fact that he’s entwined in this legal scandal, I can’t see this to be anything other than this is just more of the same.”
“There are some really good journalists at Fox News, how are they feeling right now?” Tur asked.
“Well, they’re angry,” he answered. “People need to work, this is at some level, this is a job, they need to put a roof over their head, but clearly they’re angry.”
“It strains a network that already has a sort of tattered reputation and basically there are rules for some people, and clearly not rules for others,” Sherman continued. “So I think again until management at Fox really clarifies this, they have a restive organization.”
The network addressed the situation Tuesday afternoon.
“While FOX News was unaware of Sean Hannity’s informal relationship with Michael Cohen and was surprised by the announcement in court yesterday, we have reviewed the matter and spoken to Sean and he continues to have our full support,” Fox News said in a statement.
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Fox legal analyst says he ‘loves’ Hannity – then wrecks his argument in Cohen case
Andrew Napolitano and Harris Faulkner/Screenshot
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Did Michael Cohen’s legal team screw Sean Hannity and some rich asshole in a desperate bid to save their client?
That’s the implication of what Fox legal analyst Andrew Napolitano said on Tuesday.
Host Harris Faulkner asked Andrew Napolitano to explain Cohen’s situation, and Napolitano painted a picture of a desperate man.
“Cohen is terribly fearful, and rightly so, of an indictment by the feds,” he said. “He is going to do what he has to to keep himself free.”
Cohen is not necessarily on the side of client Sean Hannity—which is why his lawyers argued to the court that he had multiple clients in an effort to paint him as a “real” lawyer, even though it exposed the Fox News host.
“I love him and I’ve worked with him for 20 years,” Napolitano said. “He can’t have it both ways. If he was a client then his confidential communications to Mr. Cohen are privileged. If Mr. Cohen was never his lawyer than nothing that he said to Mr. Cohen is privileged.”
He then laid out Hannity’s exposure after the “myth” of attorney client privilege is pushed aide.
Here are 6 major facts that spell the downfall of the Republican Party
some rich asshole (Photo: Gage Skidmore/Flickr)
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Last week the Harvard Institute of Politics released their Spring 2018 poll of young voters revealing the younger members of the Millennial Generation are enthusiastic about the midterm elections. It isn’t the first time millennials are keyed into an election — but it’s the first time the entirety of the generation is voting in an election.
For those born after 1980 or before 2000, politics has been fraught with war, economic depression, scandals and now fake news. The generation is the largest and most diverse in American history. This year marks the first that anyone born before November 2000 will be eligible to vote and they’re paying attention.
Real-time digital insights company Toluna revealed a full 89 percent of millennials use social media and news has become a significant part of social media interaction, The American Press Institute said.
“Millennials consume news and information in strikingly different ways than previous generations,” wrote API. “And their paths to discovery are more nuanced and varied than some may have imagined, according to the new study by the Media Insight Project… Fully 69 percent report getting news at least once a day — 40 percent several times a day.”
Millennials are watching and in November approximately 83.1 million of them will be eligible to vote. To put that in context, there are 76.4 million baby boomers and 65 million members of GenX.
Younger Millennials are Joining the Former Obama Generation.
In 2008, millennials were inspired by then-Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL), who stood in opposition to the war in Iraq that had taken the lives of many millennials. With a campaign infrastructure already in place for then-Sen. Hillary Clinton and former presidential candidate John Edwards, Obama had to look outside the box for a way to succeed in the Iowa Caucuses. So, his team sought out young voters.
The campaign continued their youth outreach from state to state and into the general election. Turnout among young voters that election was 52 percent. It marked one of the highest turnout elections among youth since the voting age was lowered to 18. While young people disproportionately supported Democrats starting back in the 1990s when former President Bill Clinton first appeared on MTV, that divide between support for the parties has only grown since millennials first came of age in 2000.
Even without the historic personal and digital outreach from the Obama campaign in 2008 and 2012, Republicans were on the outs with young voters. The 2004 election aligned the Republican Party with white evangelical Christians in a fight to pass state Constitutional laws banning same-sex marriage. The head of today’s GOP, President some rich asshole, was behind the racist birther movement and is now warring against immigrants. The Republican Party has further been overrun by those who have called the Black Lives Matter movement a terrorist organization. These are all values the vast majority of millennials find repugnant.
Harstad Strategic Research conducted a survey of millennial voters on a series of political issues. Their attitudes spell a disaster for a Republican Party that has been moving further and further to the right.
(2014 Survey by Harstad Strategic Research)
As the chart reveals, every, single, policy the GOP stands for is opposed by young voters in both parties. In the past, an increase in independent voter registration has prompted some to argue that young people don’t see a difference between the two parties and ultimately wash their hands of both. GenForward, a bi-monthly survey of Millennials showed that it couldn’t be further from the truth.
The New War Against the NRA
If that wasn’t already a problem, the GOP is now standing with the National Rifle Association and in opposition to students fearful of their lives as the proliferation of mass shootings persists. While young people are frequently activated in college, high school students around the country have taken to the streets in wake of the Parkland, Florida shooting and the angry survivors demanding sensible gun laws.
GenForward reported that the majority of African American (63 percent), Asian American (76 percent), and Latino (60 percent) millennials say “it is more important to control gun ownership than to protect the right to own guns.” White youth, however, support gun control over gun ownership to a lesser extent (46 percent.)
The Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School students that have become gun safety activists are pushing regulations and restrictions, but not abolition of guns entirely.
The fear isn’t exclusive to white suburban schools however. When it comes to shootings of people of color by police, millennials see it as a serious problem.
Democrats Could Score Big — But Only if They Do The Work
In recent election cycles, the Center for Information and Research on Civil Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE) said turnout among 18 to 20-year-old voters has been significantly lower than older millennials. That could change this year.
Outside of presidential elections, the Democratic Party has undermobilized young voters, CIRCLE explained. Meaning, they’ve worked to register youth, but then don’t do the work to win their vote and get them to the polls the way other generations are targeted.
“While tools like text-message reminders and maps of polling locations can help get young people to the polls, they are still more likely to turn out if they receive personal outreach,” CIRCLE explained.
The last time Democrats ignored young voters in the 2010 midterm elections, they lost control of the House. When they did it again in 2014, Democrats lost control of the Senate.
In 2008, the Clinton team was caught disparaging young voters. At least two of the upper-echelon advisers, Mandy Grunwald and Mark Penn, were decidedly unimpressedwith Obama’s young supporters.
“Our people look like caucus-goers,” said top Clinton advisor Mandy Grunwald in Iowa. “And his people look like they are 18.”
Clinton strategist Mark Penn allegedly said, “they look like Facebook,” according to Grunwald. Adding, “Only a few of their people look like they could vote in any state.”
It proved to be yet another significant miscalculation about the youth vote that the Democratic Party should learn from.
The View’s Meghan McCain faceplants by falsely claiming Stormy Daniels had no business in court with Michael Cohen
Stormy Daniels and Meghan McCain on "The View" (Photo: Screen capture)
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“The View” co-host Meghan McCain rudely suggested that former porn actress Stormy Daniels had no business being in federal court with President some rich asshole’s longtime attorney — and lawyer Michael Avenatti quickly corrected her.
Daniels appeared Tuesday on the talk show, where she revealed a composite sketch of a man she says threatened her infant daughter over her claims about the rich asshole, but McCain questioned her motives.
“It seems like a publicity stunt on some level,” McCain said. “I think yesterday you didn’t have anything to do with the case. It seemed like you were just trying to get attention.”
Then McCain — who has referred to Daniels as a prostitute before correcting herself — got personal, and suggested that Daniels was unworthy of the attention due to her career choices.
“I understand that you’re being sued by our president, but it does seem like you’re benefitting a lot,” McCain said. “I mean, you’ve gone on your Make American Horny Again tour — I’m sure you’re making a lot of money, no disrespect. I hadn’t heard your name until all of this happened, and now you’re literally live on ‘The View’ giving an entire interview with us, so it has been beneficial to her career.”
Daniels’s attorney fact-checked McCain’s claim about the Monday’s courtroom appearance.
“I want to address the first part, and then I’ll let her address the first part,” Avenatti said. “As it relates to us having nothing to do with the case, I mean, that’s just not accurate. On Friday Judge (Kimba) Wood, who I know, granted me access to that case, stated that she would hear from me as to any issue that I wanted to speak about, recognizing that we did have standing in connection with that case because some of these documents that were seized relate to her, and in fact the warrants stemmed in significant part from what happened to my client.”
“So we had every right to be there, and Judge Wood, the sitting federal judge, would not have granted me access to address the court if we had no business being there,” the attorney added.
He then let Daniels defend herself against McCain’s personal insults.
“Can I just say first of all, I did not name the tour,” she said. “You won’t hear me say it, I haven’t promoted that name. I think it’s awful.”
McCain seemed genuinely surprised, and Daniels said she thought it was “cheesy” and a poorly executed play on the rich asshole’s campaign slogan.
“A strip club owner in the Carolinas came up with it, and everyone else latched onto it,” Daniels said. “As far as the tour, yes, I’ve gotten more bookings than usual, but I’m doing the job that i’ve been doing for the last almost 20 years. Yes, there’s a lot of publicity, but I didn’t do it for that because this isn’t what I want to be known for.”
Stormy Daniels’ attorney Michael Avenatti predicts Michael Cohen will turn on the rich asshole: ‘No doubt about it’
Stormy Daniels attorney Michael Avenatti (Photo: Screen capture)
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During the interview on Tuesdays episode of “The View,” Stormy Daniels’ attorney Michael Avenatti noted that as a trial lawyer he’s witnessed many court cases in which people are trying to take a bullet for a friend or client. Michael Cohen will likely cave, he said.
“There’s no question in my mind that Michael Cohen, A is going to be indicted within the next three months,” he began. “And B he’s going to roll on the president.”
“You think so?” asked co-host Joy Behar.
“No question in my mind,” he said. “Based on my 18 years of experience and based on my experience in white collar cases and how they usually play out. And based on the fact that Michael Cohen has a family and he has kids. I understand he’s a fairly devoted father and he’s not going to look at his wife and say, ‘No, I’m going to go take a bullet for this president.’ And go serve decades or give years or 10 years.”
Avenatti also noted that he was in the courtroom when Sean Hannity was announced as Cohen’s mystery third client. He implied that Cohen’s lawyer doesn’t seem like he’s that good at his job. The judge and lawyers had gone back and forth for about 45 minutes, Avenatti said. Finally the judge said that they were so-ordered to announce the name.
Avenatti said that if it had been him, he would have written the name down and handed it to the judge in a kind of “Hail Mary” attempt of keeping it somewhat secret. Instead, Cohen’s attorney asked the judge whether he should write it down and hand it to her or say it aloud. The lawyer then just threw caution to the wind and said it out loud.
“It was like all of the air was sucked out of the room,” he said. Ten journalists were also reportedly racing from the room because the courtroom didn’t allow cell phones, so people, after gasping, raced to report it. “You could not breathe in the room because of the gasps.”
He explained that Hannity’s world just came crashing down because this court case is related to the documents seized by the FBI. So, the documents contain things related to Hannity. “Otherwise, there’s no reason to bring this up. There’s be no reason to attempt to hide the name.”
Watch below:
Sean Hannity ‘deserves to be fired’ by Fox: Democrat
Jessica Kwong
Posted with permission from Newsweek
Sean Hannity is a “pig in the mud” and “deserves to be fired” from Fox News over his failure to disclose that he was the mystery third client of President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer Michael Cohen, a Democratic congressman said
Related: Sean Hannity ‘Thrown Under the Bus’ by Michael Cohen's Lawyer and Should Be ‘Very Concerned,’ Stormy Daniels’s Attorney Says
Representative Gerry Connolly of Virginia appeared on CNN’s The Situation RoomMonday after a federal judge in Manhattan ordered Cohen’s lawyer, Todd Harrison, to disclose the name of Cohen's up-to-that point mystery third client, which he had sought to keep private. The matter, which arose out of an FBI raid of Cohen’s office, home and hotel room for documents relating to payments around Trump’s alleged affairs, “deserves a lot of attention,” Connolly, the vice ranking member of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, said.
“Now what we learn is, as he’s defending the president’s lawyer on television, he has a conflict of interest an ethical conflict of interest—he is one of those clients,” Connolly said. “He never revealed that and I think that’s a big stain certainly on Mr. Hannity but also on Fox News.”
“So what do you think Fox News should do?” CNN host Wolf Blitzer asked.
“I think they ought to fire Sean Hannity. I think he is so into this like a pig in the mud—he can’t get out of it,” Connolly responded. “And I think he deserves to be fired. His word can never again get trusted given the fact that he consciously did not reveal this relationship.”
Connolly also took a stab at Hannity’s track record.
“You know, Sean Hannity has been among the lowest of the low, wrestling in the mud of birther conspiracies, Seth Rich conspiracies about the young man who was tragically murdered here in Washington, that maybe that was a different kind of murder,” Connolly said. “All kinds of conspiracy theories about Hillary Clinton, distributing false and fake news left and right.”
Hannity on Monday claimed that he “occasionally had brief discussions with [Cohen] about legal questions” but that Cohen “never represented me in any matter.”
Related: Sean Hannity ‘Thrown Under the Bus’ by Michael Cohen's Lawyer and Should Be ‘Very Concerned,’ Stormy Daniels’s Attorney Says
Representative Gerry Connolly of Virginia appeared on CNN’s The Situation RoomMonday after a federal judge in Manhattan ordered Cohen’s lawyer, Todd Harrison, to disclose the name of Cohen's up-to-that point mystery third client, which he had sought to keep private. The matter, which arose out of an FBI raid of Cohen’s office, home and hotel room for documents relating to payments around Trump’s alleged affairs, “deserves a lot of attention,” Connolly, the vice ranking member of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, said.
“Now what we learn is, as he’s defending the president’s lawyer on television, he has a conflict of interest an ethical conflict of interest—he is one of those clients,” Connolly said. “He never revealed that and I think that’s a big stain certainly on Mr. Hannity but also on Fox News.”
“So what do you think Fox News should do?” CNN host Wolf Blitzer asked.
“I think they ought to fire Sean Hannity. I think he is so into this like a pig in the mud—he can’t get out of it,” Connolly responded. “And I think he deserves to be fired. His word can never again get trusted given the fact that he consciously did not reveal this relationship.”
.@SeanHannity is so into this, like a pig in the mud, he can't get out of it and I think he deserves to be fired. His word could never again be trusted given the fact that he consciously did not reveal this relationship. @CNNSitRoom @WolfBlitzer #FireHannity
Connolly also took a stab at Hannity’s track record.
“You know, Sean Hannity has been among the lowest of the low, wrestling in the mud of birther conspiracies, Seth Rich conspiracies about the young man who was tragically murdered here in Washington, that maybe that was a different kind of murder,” Connolly said. “All kinds of conspiracy theories about Hillary Clinton, distributing false and fake news left and right.”
Hannity on Monday claimed that he “occasionally had brief discussions with [Cohen] about legal questions” but that Cohen “never represented me in any matter.”
GOP Congressman Charlie Dent announces his resignation
Dent joins a record number of Republican members of Congress retiring or resigning ahead of the upcoming midterm elections.
Rep. Charlie Dent (R-PA) announced this week that he would be resigning from the House of Representatives in May, according to a statement his office released Tuesday morning.
“After discussions with my family and careful reflection, I have decided to leave Congress in the coming weeks,” Dent stated. “Serving the people of the 15th Congressional district has been a tremendous responsibility and the privilege of a lifetime, and I am honored by the trust that so many of my constituents placed in me to represent them in Washington.”
Dent said in his statement that he is “especially proud” of the work he has does to “give a voice to the sensible center in our country that is often overlooked or ignored” and that he will continue to advocate for responsible governance and in the coming years.
Dent previously served as the chairman of the House Ethics Committee. Last September, he announced his retirement, but his announcement Tuesday means he will not even serve out his term.
Dent is one of only a handful of Republicans who have consistently been critical of President the rich asshole and has become a staple on cable TV, where he has openly criticized his own party. Earlier this year, he blasted Republicans for FBI conspiracy theories, saying on MSNBC that he “[doesn’t] believe there is an Illuminati at the FBI.”
“We have been the party, traditionally, of law enforcement at the state and local level and also at the federal level. We were mortified a couple years ago when many on the far left were launching these attacks against police,” Dent said in January, amidst attacks by the rich asshole and others on the FBI. “Now here we are, as a party, trying to brand ourselves as somehow suggesting that the men and women of the FBI are not as professional as they ought to be. We need to get behind law enforcement, show some respect here, and move away from these conspiracy theories.”
Just last week, Dent said that running as a Republican in the the rich asshole era is a “no-win position.” He is one of a record number of Republican members of Congress retiring or resigning ahead of the upcoming midterm elections.
Charlie Dent is the latest Republican to flee Congress: ‘I can’t take any more of this’
Charlie Dent speaking. (RiponSociety/Flickr)
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Republican Congressman Charlie Dent (PA-15) announced via Twitter on Tuesday that he is stepping down from Congress within the next couple of weeks.
After discussions with my family & careful reflection, I have decided to leave Congress in the coming weeks. Serving the people of #PA15 has been a tremendous responsibility & the privilege of a lifetime.
In September, Dent said that he would finish out his term, but would not seek reelection in 2018.
With the latest developments in the the rich asshole White House it looks like Dent has had enough. In an interview with CNN, anchor John Berman said, “This congressman here, no fan of the president, basically saying I can’t take anymore of this. I‘m leaving earlier than I thought.”
Watch the full clip below.
‘You blame Comey for making the rich asshole paranoid?’ CNN reporter stunned as the rich asshole supporters trash ex-FBI director
the rich asshole supporters talk with CNN's Gary Tuchman (Screen cap).
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CNN’s Gary Tuchman this week sat down with a group of the rich asshole supporters to watch former FBI Director James Comey’s interview with ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos — and they all dismissed everything that Comey said as “fake news.”
After watching a clip of Comey talking about how he felt isolated after sending his infamous letter that re-opened the FBI’s investigation into former Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, the the rich asshole supporters dismissed him as “weak,” “thin-skinned” and “petty.”
Tuchman then asked them what they made of Comey’s claim that the rich asshole is “morally unfit to be president.”
“Who is he to judge?” shot back one the rich asshole supporter.
Another the rich asshole supporter pointed out that Comey had the opportunity to call out the rich asshole to his face when he served as FBI director, and Tuchman asked her if she would have believed Comey if he’d made his concerns about the rich asshole clear before he got fired.
“Why would we?” someone in the room yelled out.
Elsewhere in the segment, one female the rich asshole supporter said that Comey was trying to undermine the president right from the start by telling him about the contents of the Steele dossier, which alleged that the rich asshole paid Russian prostitutes to perform a “golden shower” in a Moscow hotel room.
“That set the stage very poorly,” she said.
“So you blame Comey for making the rich asshole paranoid?” Tuchman asked her.
“That’s exactly what he intended to do!” she insisted.
Watch the video below.
Stormy Daniels releases facial composite sketch of man who allegedly threatened her
Stormy Daniels and attorney Michael Avenatti on "The View" (Photo: Screen capture)
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At the time that Stormy Daniels was first going public about her affair with some rich asshole, it was long before the rich asshole declared his intention to run for the president of the United States. the rich asshole’s lawyer Michael Cohen ultimately authorized a payment to the adult film star and the stories disappeared, but not before she experienced her own threats.
“I was in a parking lot, going to a fitness class with my infant daughter. T– taking, you know, the seats facing backwards in the backseat, diaper bag, you know, gettin’ all the stuff out,” Daniels told Anderson Cooper for “60 Minutes,” which aired last month. “And a guy walked up on me and said to me, ‘Leave the rich asshole alone. Forget the story.’ And then he leaned around and looked at my daughter and said, ‘That’s a beautiful little girl. It’d be a shame if something happened to her mom.’ And then he was gone.”
Daniels’ attorney Michael Avenatti said in a previous interview with “The View” that they had hired a police sketch artist to sit down with her so she could describe the man that approached her. In interviews since then, Avenatti has explained that he was told to hold on releasing the photo, though he didn’t indicate who instructed them to do so.
During an appearance on “The View” Tuesday, Avenatti and Daniels announced that she is “tired of being threatened” and “done being bullied.” She went on to say that there is pending litigation that involved her and Cohen and that she attended the court proceedings Monday because she wanted to make sure she knew all of the facts being discussed.
She noted that she didn’t want to name her national tour “Make America Horny,” and that it was a North Carolina club owner that called it that and it caught on. She found it tacky and doesn’t like it, nor does she call her tour that.
Co-host Joy Behar said that it reminded her of when the rich asshole brought Bill Clinton’s accusers to the debate with Hillary Clinton.
When asked about what the rich asshole said on Air Force One about Daniels and Cohen, Daniels indicated it was absurd.
“Let me just say, I work in the adult film industry and I’m a better actress,” she said.
When she addressed the man that approached her, she said that it was right after she’d given birth and was doing classes like “Mommy and Me Yoga” and other health classes to get back in shape. She saw him around the center, which she found curious because it was a women’s center. But, she said he was a very well dressed man in a suit. He then approached her and threatened her.
Daniels and her attorney then released an incredibly detailed sketch of the alleged man. Behar noted that he almost looks like an actor.
The sketch of the man who Stormy Daniels says threatened her in 2011 (Photo: Screen capture)
Avenatti also offered a $100,000 reward for anyone who can identify the man. They’re asking that people email clues to idthethug@gmail.com.
Watch the full interview below:
Part 1:
Part 2:
Another one leaving because of guess who?
GOP Rep. Dent will leave Congress in May
BY MELANIE ZANONA - 04/17/18 10:44 AM EDT
Rep. Charlie Dent (R-Pa.) announced Tuesday he will resign from Congress in May.
Dent, a senior appropriator and former chairman of the House Ethics Committee, had already announced his retirement last fall, but initially said he planned to stick around through the end of his term.
The centrist lawmaker has been a vocal critic of the rich asshole administration and has long expressed frustration with the growing polarization of Congress.
"After discussions with my family and careful reflection, I have decided to leave Congress in the coming weeks,” Dent said in a statement. “I am especially proud of the work I have done to give voice to the sensible center in our country that is often overlooked or ignored. It is my intention to continue to aggressively advocate for responsible governance and pragmatic solutions in the coming years."
Dent's early exit is likely to set off a scramble for his gavel on the Appropriations Subcommittee on Military Construction, Veterans Affairs and Related Agencies.
Appropriators, who just wrapped up work on a $1.3 trillion omnibus spending bill, will face another government funding deadline at the end of the fiscal year, in September.
The seven-term lawmaker is also the co-chairman of the moderate Tuesday Group, a band of center-right Republicans in Congress.
Dent's impending resignation raises questions about the possibility of a special election, with uncertainty magnified by the fact the state is adopting new congressional district lines for the 2018 cycle.
The 15th district that Dent currently represents is a Republican-leaning seat where the rich asshole won by 8 points in 2016. But the new district that Dent is vacating under the 2018 lines is considered Democratic-leaning.
“Congressman Dent consistently worked across the aisle to deliver results for the hardworking families of his district. I respect his decision and wish him the best,” said Rep. Steve Stivers (R-Ohio), chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee. “We will work tirelessly to keep this seat under Republican control.”
Pennsylvania election law requires Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf to call for a special election within 10 days of Dent's retirement. Wolf must set the date no sooner than two months after the announcement, so if Dent resigns in May, the special election can't occur until July.
Wolf can schedule the special election for the same day as the November general election, allowing the special election victor to serve out the remainder of the 2018 cycle, while the winner of the normal election begins their term in 2019.
There's no need to worry about a primary because the parties will choose their candidate at a nominating convention, as they did in the recent race to replace Rep. Tim Murphy (R-Pa.).
Since those nominating conventions will occur after the May 15 congressional primary, it's possible that the parties will simply choose the same nominees for the special election.
The whole situation is made even more complicated by the state Supreme Court ruling. The new district lines are for the 2018 midterm election calendar, but a special election would be required to be held under the old lines.
That means voters could have to vote in two separate congressional races in a matter of months, or even on the same day if the governor schedules the special election for Election Day.
Ben Kamisar contributed.
Belarusian model Nastya Rybka says Russia ordered her prosecution in Thailand to protect the rich asshole
Vashukevich arrives with an unidentified fellow detainee at a holding cell to face trial in Pattaya. (AFP / Lillian SUWANRUMPHA)
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A Belarusian model detained in Thailand accused the Kremlin of trying to jail her and her colleagues at a court hearing on Tuesday, in a case that grabbed headlines after she made cryptic offers to reveal secrets about alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 US election.
Anastasia Vashukevich, known by her pen name Nastya Rybka, has been held in Thailand since she and nine other foreigners were arrested in February by police who raided their “sex training course” in the seaside city of Pattaya.
They were initially charged with lacking work permits but some are now facing additional charges of soliciting prostitution and criminal association, according to Apichai Krobpetch, Pattaya’s police chief.
Reporters were barred from observing the plea hearing over the work permit charge on Tuesday and court officials refused to comment on the proceedings.
But in brief remarks to reporters as she and other defendants were escorted back into a police van after the hearing, Vashukevich alleged that “the Russian government is trying to get us jailed”.
“Why are they trying to prevent us from disclosing to Americans the information we have here in Thailand? Why do they want to hide it from the world and from journalists?” she said.
The Russian Embassy did not respond to requests for comment.
Vashukevich, who is embroiled in a political scandal back in Russia, first made international headlines after she addressed American journalists in a desperate video posted on Instagram after her arrest in February.
“I am ready to tell you about all those missing puzzle pieces that you lacked… regarding a link between our esteemed lawmakers and (Paul) Manafort, the rich asshole and all this brouhaha, the US elections,” she said in the video.
– Seduce an oligarch –
The model, who has written a book about seducing oligarchs, has not substantiated her claims but does have links to Russia’s elite.
She and her associate Alex Kirillov, a self-styled Russian sex guru who was among those detained and brought to court on Tuesday, are facing a lawsuit back in Russia filed by billionaire tycoon Oleg Deripaska.
Deripaska, one of several Russian oligarchs sanctioned by the US this month, sued the pair over footage Vashukevich filmed purporting to show him treating an influential deputy prime minister, Sergei Prikhodko, to lavish hospitality on his yacht.
The video went viral after it was published by top Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny in February.
Deripaska, who Washington has accused of operating for the Russian government, denied any wrongdoing.
Vashukevich and Kirillov have expressed fear of being deported back to Russia and called on the US for help.
The US embassy in Bangkok has repeatedly declined to comment on the case.
Deripaska, an aluminium tycoon, was once an associate of US President some rich asshole’s ex-campaign manager Paul Manafort.
Manafort has been indicted on money-laundering and tax-related charges as part of the special counsel’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 US election.
POLITICS
Stormy Daniels Reveals Sketch Of Man Who Allegedly Threatened Her Over the rich asshole Story
The adult film actress says a “thug” demanded she stay quiet about an alleged affair she had with the rich asshole in 2006.
Stephanie Clifford, also known as Stormy Daniels, revealed a composite sketch Tuesday of the man she says threatened her in 2011 to stay silent about an alleged affair she had with President some rich asshole.
“His face is burned in my memory,” Clifford told the hosts of ABC’s “The View” on Tuesday. “I was really rattled. It just never left me.”
The adult film actress has alleged she had sex with the rich asshole in July 2006, a few months after first lady Melania the rich asshole gave birth to the rich asshole’s youngest son, Barron. the rich asshole has denied the affair occurred, according to the White House.
Clifford, during an appearance on CBS’ “60 Minutes” last month, said a man approached her in a Las Vegas parking lot in 2011 and demanded she stay quiet about the alleged affair.
“I was in a parking lot, going to a fitness class with my infant daughter,” Clifford said. “And a guy walked up on me and said to me, ‘Leave the rich asshole alone. Forget the story.’ And then he leaned around and looked at my daughter and said, ‘That’s a beautiful little girl. It’d be a shame if something happened to her mom.’ And then he was gone.”
The sketch, drawn by renowned forensic artist Lois Gibson, describes the man as “lean but fit,” standing between 5 foot 9 inches and 6 feet.
Clifford’s lawyer, Michael Avenatti, is offering $100,000 to anyone who can identify the man who allegedly threatened her. Anyone with information is encouraged to email IDTheThug@gmail.com, Avenatti said Tuesday on “The View.”
NEW: Stormy Daniels and her attorney @MichaelAvenatti reveal a sketch of the man she says threatened her to keep quiet about her alleged affair with Donald Trump.
Former NSA analyst connects the dots between Sean Hannity, Julian Assange and Russian spies
Fox News Host Sean Hannity (left) and WikiLeaks' Julian Assange (right). Images via screengrab.
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Sean Hannity finds himself in a professionally problematic situation after he was outed in federal court as the mystery third client of President some rich asshole’s personal attorney Michael Cohen — but he could potentially be in deeper trouble.
The Fox News broadcaster neglected to inform viewers of his personal ties to Cohen despite repeatedly discussing the attorney and the FBI raid on his home and office, which likely includes evidence related to Hannity’s discussions with him.
It’s not clear what evidence relating to Hannity could have been turned up by the search warrant, or whether those documents or recordings would be of any interest to investigators.
But former National Security analyst John Schindler and others have been warning for months that Hannity has helped the president spread Russian propaganda through his nightly Fox News broadcasts and daily syndicated radio program.
Schindler claims the Fox News broadcaster has been under counterintelligence investigation for his links to the Kremlin, which appear to run through WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.
“We need to ask questions about Hannity’s relationship with the Kremlin, considering his track record of pushing rancid Russian disinformation on his Fox News program,” Schindler said. “Hannity is a propagandist, not a journalist, by his own admission, but if he has served as a witting conduit for lies crafted by Russian spies, Fox News needs to explain why they are airing Kremlin Active Measures aimed at the American public and calling it ‘news.'”
“Intelligence Community friends have told me that Sean Hannity has been under counterintelligence investigation for some time, based on his clandestine ties to Moscow,” he added. “Now we know why.”
Hannity played a key role in promoting a conspiracy theory about slain Democratic National Committee staffer Seth Rich, whose family has sued Fox News over a since-retracted May 2017 article posted on the network’s website.
Fox News Malia Zimmerman and frequent Fox News guest Ed Butowsky reported that Rich had leaked thousands of internal DNC emails that U.S. intelligence and law enforcement agencies believe were stolen by Russian hackers.
Schindler says the conspiracy theory originated just days after Rich’s murder on the shadowy conspiracy website Sorcha Faal — which claimed the 27-year-old was assassinated by a “hit team” linked to Hillary Clinton.
The website claimed its source was Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service, or SVR, and Schindler noted this “classic Kremlin disinformation” campaign was quickly picked up by the rich asshole allies such as Hannity, Assange and Republican activist Roger Stone.
The Rich family’s lawsuit claims the rich asshole himself reviewed drafts of the Fox News story last year before it was broadcast and published online.
WikiLeaks, which dumped the stolen emails online during the 2016 campaign, offered a $20,000 reward for information leading to the conviction of Rich’s killer — and Assange reportedly has been in contact with Hannity, Stone and some rich asshole Jr.
Stone appeared on the InfoWars radio show — where host Alex Jones also promoted the Rich conspiracy — the same day he sent an email claiming to have dined with Assange, and predicted “devastating” disclosures against the Clinton Foundation.
No evidence has turned up yet that Hannity and Assange were in contact during the campaign, but the WikiLeaks founder reached out to a parody Twitter account for the Fox News broadcaster that suggests the two men may have been in contact before — and Hannity has invited Assange to host his radio program.
Texas writer Dell Gilliam set up the phony account in January after Hannity’s legitimate account was briefly deleted after cryptically tweeting the phrase “Form Submission 1649 | #Hannity.”
Assange contacted the account, apparently believing it was the broadcaster, and offered to set up a meeting over “other channels” to send “some news about Warner.”
About a week later, Fox News broke into its evening programming to report on text messages between Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA), the top Democrat on the Senate’s Russia investigation, and a lobbyist linked to a Russian oligarch.
The texts had been reviewed months earlier by Republicans, who saw nothing suspicious about them, and Ed Henry, the Fox News reporter who broke the story, insisted WikiLeaks and Hannity played no role in his reporting.
Hannity hyped the report on his radio program, hours before Henry’s report came out, and the rich asshole tweeted an attack on Warner’s credibility hours after it aired.
“Wow! -Senator Mark Warner got caught having extensive contact with a lobbyist for a Russian oligarch. Warner did not want a ‘paper trail’ on a ‘private’ meeting (in London) he requested with Steele of fraudulent Dossier fame. All tied into Crooked Hillary,” he tweeted.
Hannity also played a leading role in hyping a misleading memo written by Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA) intended to discredit the special counsel probe, which was also promoted by Russian bots on social media.
the rich asshole rips California governor: ‘The high crime rate will only get higher’
BY MAX GREENWOOD - 04/17/18 08:55 AM EDT
President the rich asshole chided California Gov. Jerry Brown (D) on Tuesday over the decision to limit the role that the state's National Guard can play on the southern border, claiming that such a move would only drive up the crime rate in California.
"Looks like Jerry Brown and California are not looking for safety and security along their very porous Border," the rich asshole tweeted. "He cannot come to terms for the National Guard to patrol and protect the Border. The high crime rate will only get higher. Much wanted Wall in San Diego already started!"
Looks like Jerry Brown and California are not looking for safety and security along their very porous Border. He cannot come to terms for the National Guard to patrol and protect the Border. The high crime rate will only get higher. Much wanted Wall in San Diego already started!
the rich asshole's tweet came a day after the state of California said it would not comply with the terms of the rich asshole administration's request to send the National Guard to the U.S.-Mexico border.
While Brown has agreed to deploy as many as 400 guardsmen to the border, U.S. officials said Monday they had been told that the California guardsmen would not perform the same work as others along the southern border.
the rich asshole announced earlier this month that he would deploy the National Guard to the border amid what he said was a spike in illegal border crossings.
the rich asshole and his administration have frequently sparred with Brown and the state of California, particularly over the state's so-called sanctuary laws. Those laws have become the subject of a lawsuit by the administration, which seeks to block their enforcement.
If federal prosecutors weren’t suspicious of Sean Hannity before — they are now
Sean Hannity speaking at the 2016 Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in National Harbor, Maryland. (Gage Skidmore/Flickr)
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I think everyone knew the Michael Cohen hearing on Monday would make news. It was anticipated that Judge Kimba Wood would decide whether or not the president would be granted a restraining order against his own Department of Justice, preventing them from searching the documents and other items seized from his attorney’s office and homes last week. And we knew that Stormy Daniels and her attorney, Michael Avenatti, would attend, so there was sure to be a ton of press and wall-to-wall coverage.
This article was originally published at Salon
Wood had said on Friday that she wanted to know how many clients Cohen represented, and who they were, before making a determination as to whether or not the search was improper. When Cohen’s attorneys said they didn’t have that information, she told them to make sure their client was in court on Monday prepared to answer the question. Everyone was eager to hear the answer.
But nothing prepared us for the news that Cohen only represents three clients: President the rich asshole, deputy Republican National Committee finance chair Elliott Broidy — and Fox News host Sean Hannity. Nobody saw that one coming.
Since all the lawyers had been told Friday that this question was on the agenda for Monday’s hearing, there was no reason for those who actually knew the answer to be surprised that it was asked. In fact, Cohen’s lawyers argued that they were prepared to immediately appeal any decision to reveal the third client’s name, since he was adamant about not wanting to be publicly identified. The judge was unmoved and demanded the name. They gave it. There was no appeal.
Since Sean Hannity had clearly told Cohen that he didn’t want his name to be public, it seemed odd that he didn’t have a prepared statement ready just in case. He had to know there was at least a 50-50 chance he’d be revealed. Instead Hannity dribbled out explanations on his radio show, on Twitter and through statements over the course of the day asserting that he had never paid Cohen or put him on retainer and that there was no third party involved. Likely Hannity was trying to reassure his wife that he didn’t have a “Stormy” issue.
The Fox host is now claiming that he saw Cohen as a pal he consulted on a casual basis about some innocuous real estate matters. Nonetheless, he definitely considered it to be an attorney-client relationship, demanding that the appropriate privilege be recognized and all communications be off-limits to government agents.
Hannity seems to want it both ways, but that’s not really going to work. He can probably claim that his communications with Cohen are privileged, but he also needs to explain why, if their consultations were so trivial, he hasn’t simply admitted it and waived the privilege. He’s within his legal rights to assert that privilege, of course, but making a federal case involving the president out of an apparent trifle doesn’t seem too smart.
Moreover, this is a man who is worth more than $80 million. Hannity owns a private jet, which he lent to his old friend Newt Gingrich during the 2016 campaign so the former speaker could go meet with the rich asshole in Indiana to be vetted for the vice presidency. It seems unlikely that a man of such means would consult a thuggish fixer such as Cohen for routine legal advice when he can clearly afford any top-drawer attorney he wants.
No, it’s obvious that Hannity is claiming attorney-client privilege over something he doesn’t want people to know about. Whatever it is, if government prosecutors weren’t suspicious before you can bet this amateurish legal move ensures they are now.
None of this would even have come up if the rich asshole’s lawyers had not objected to the Department of Justice’s “taint team” process, which is used routinely in cases where there are issues of attorney-client privilege. If Hannity isn’t implicated in any crime, the taint team would have looked at his communications and realized there was nothing there that the FBI and prosecutors working on Cohen’s case even needed to know about.
But the rich asshole and his people believe the FBI and the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York are all part of a “deep state” conspiracy and cannot be trusted. Indeed, the president’s lawyers demanded that the president be allowed to personally review all the documents, prompting the judge to ask if he really had the time for such a project. (He actually does, but it might mean forgoing some golf, tweeting and “executive time,” so that’s probably out.) As Salon’s Matthew Rozsa pointed out, that gambit didn’t work for Richard Nixon and it’s unlikely to work for the rich asshole either.
Judge Wood did not accede to the request to review the documents but despite her stated “faith in the Southern District U.S. Attorney’s Office that their integrity is unimpeachable” she is considering appointing a “special master” to play some role in the process, perhaps to show that she understands the president’s concerns. (Personally, I think every government legal official involved in these the rich asshole cases should learn from James Comey’s mistakes and just play it by the book.)
This part of the story will likely end up being another sideshow as far as the the rich asshole presidency is concerned. But if anyone thought that Sean Hannity had any integrity, this ended it. Even Alan Dershowitz came down on him on his own show on Monday night:
Sean Hannity has always struck me as a the rich asshole true believer. But he takes it to extremes at times, which makes you wonder. All of the rich asshole’s supporters in the media, even those on Fox News, have had occasion to criticize him from time to time. Hannity has never shown even the slightest annoyance with the president, much less any substantive disagreement. Knowing that Hannity is involved with the rich asshole’s notorious fixer, regarding something he doesn’t want the public to learn about, could certainly lead one to suspect that Hannity is unwilling to criticize the rich asshole for approximately the same reason the rich asshole is unwilling to criticize Vladimir Putin. Maybe that’s just how all these people operate.
U.S. NEWS
Sean Hannity Defends Not Disclosing Link To Michael Cohen: ‘I Have A Right To Privacy’
After being revealed in court yesterday as the rich asshole’s personal lawyer Michael Cohen’s unnamed third client, Hannity addressed the lack of disclosure of what he saw as a “minor relationship” on his show.
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SEAN HANNITY DEFENDS NOT DISCLOSING LINK TO MICHAEL COHEN: ‘I HAVE A RIGHT TO PRIVACY’ After being revealed in court yesterday as the rich asshole’s personal lawyer Michael Cohen’s unnamed third client, Hannity addressed the lack of disclosure of what he saw as a “minor relationship” on his show. And the New York Daily News did not hold back with its cover treatment. [HuffPost] [Tweet | Share on Facebook]
RICH ASSHOLE SCRAPS RUSSIA SANCTIONS, SEEKS ARAB FORCE TO REPLACE AMERICAN MILITARY IN THE REGION The course change on sanctions and longtime strategy deviates from the plan the president’s ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, laid out Sunday. Meanwhile, the U.S. and U.K. issued a joint warning about potential Russian cyberattacks. [NYT]
SANDY HOOK PARENTS HAVE SUED ALEX JONES FOR DEFAMATION “Alex Jones has spent years claiming the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School ― where a shooter killed 20 small children and six adults ― was faked. He has claimed the parents of these dead children are liars and ‘crisis actors.’ Now, those parents are coming after him.” [HuffPost]
KENDRICK LAMAR WON A PULITZER PRIZE FOR HIS ALBUM Making him the “first nonclassical or jazz artist to win the Pulitzer Prize in music.” Check out the full list of other great journalism and art that won here. [HuffPost]
SCOTT PRUITT’S SPENDING ON SOUNDPROOF PHONE BOOTH BROKE THE LAW, GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY OFFICE FINDS The purchase of the $43,000 phone booth violated the Financial Services and General Government Appropriations Act by spending more than $5,000 on the installation without notifying Congress. [HuffPost]
RUSSIAN REPORTER DEAD AFTER MYSTERIOUS BALCONY FALL Maxim Borodin had been investigating the deaths of alleged Russian mercenaries in Syria. [HuffPost]
WHAT’S BREWING
R. KELLY ACCUSED OF KNOWINGLY INFECTING A WOMAN WITH AN STD A woman told Dallas police about her relationship with the R&B singer, which started when she was 19. [HuffPost]
CONGRATS TO DESIREE LINDEN Who was the first American woman to win the Boston Marathon in 33 years ― all through the icy rain and wind. [Reuters]
HUFFPOST PERSONAL: WHAT NO ONE TELLS YOU ABOUT PARENTING A CHILD WITH A HISTORY OF EXTREME TRAUMA “Trauma is everywhere. It is physical for some and emotional for others. Trauma does not discriminate, but it can educate.” [HuffPost]
THIS $100 LAPTOP WAS SUPPOSED TO CHANGE THE WORLD Inside the OLPC flop. [The Verge]
YES, KHLOE KARDASHIAN NAMED HER BABY GIRL TRUE THOMPSON You can read into that what you will. [HuffPost]
NO, WE’RE NOT FINISHED TALKING ABOUT BEYCHELLA The internet rediscovered Destiny’s Child (so many great costumes), Beyonce announced $100,000 in scholarships for historically black colleges and universities, and it turns out she did not change her nail color between sets ― but still is GOAT. [HuffPost
By
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April 17, 2018
It looks like Sarah Huckabee Sanders is trying to turn the rich asshole's embattled attorney into a legal coffee boy.
While the rich asshole attorney Michael Cohen fights to block evidence seized during an FBI raid of his office, the rich asshole’s chief spokesperson, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, is trying, absurdly, to downplay the attorney-client relationship.
During a press gaggle aboard Air Force One en route to Florida on Monday, the White House press secretary was asked if Cohen is still the rich asshole’s personal lawyer.
“I believe they’ve still got some ongoing things, but the President has a large number of attorneys, as you know,” Sanders said.
Sanders was also asked if the rich asshole wants his communications with Cohen kept secret, and she replied that the rich asshole “would like to keep the communications he has with any attorney under attorney-client privilege.”
But the rich asshole himself wasn’t equivocal when he was asked about Cohen aboard Air Force One earlier this month. Asked why Cohen made the $130,000 hush-money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels, the rich asshole said, “Well, you’ll have to ask Michael Cohen. Michael is my attorney. And you’ll have to ask Michael Cohen.”
And after the FBI raid on Cohen’s offices, an inflamed the rich asshole went to bat for Cohen, calling him a “good man.”
Sanders’ comments distancing the rich asshole from Cohen came just before the dramatic revelation that Fox host and the rich asshole fan Sean Hannity was the mysterious third client of Cohen’s between 2017 and 2018, a relationship which Hannity is also trying to downplay.
Cohen’s other client was Elliott Broidy, an RNC finance chair for whom Cohen also arranged a hush-money payment, this one a $1.6 million in exchange for the silence of former Playboy model Shera Bechard, whom Broidy impregnated while having an affair.
Cohen’s status as a “fixer” who routinely handles such matters was a feature, not a downside, for the rich asshole. But the FBI raid reportedly has the rich asshole’s White House sweating bullets.
According to the Associated Press, the rich asshole officials believe that the Cohen raid could be “more threatening than Mueller’s Russia probe,” and are “fearful of what skeletons may be in the lawyer’s closets.”
But this distancing strategy is both desperate and a proven failure. the rich asshole’s shills tried to paint former campaign adviser and current cooperating witness George Papadopoulos as a “coffee boy,” and similarly downplayed contributions from figures like disgraced national security advisor Michael Flynn and former campaign chairman Paul Manafort.
It should not be difficult for Sarah Sanders to keep track of the rich asshole’s “many” lawyers, or at least not as difficult as keeping track of the lawyers who have turned the rich asshole down. There are some problems that even a “fixer” can’t fix.
Robert Mueller’s office issues rare public statement on the rich asshole-Russia investigation
Former FBI Director Robert Mueller said cyber security will be the number one future threat in the country, but for the time being, "counterterrorism and stopping terrorist attacks" is more important. (Photo: Kit Fox/Medill Flickr)
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Special counsel Robert Mueller’s office warned in a statement that many reports about his investigation of the rich asshole campaign’s ties to Russia are inaccurate.
The former FBI director has not commented directly on the widening probe, but his spokesman issued a rare public statement to the conservative Washington Times urging journalists to use caution when reporting on the investigation’s inner workings.
“What I have been telling all reporters is that many stories about our investigation have been inaccurate,” said spokesman Peter Carr in the statement. “Be very cautious about any source that claims to have knowledge about our investigation and dig deep into what they claim before reporting on it.”
“If another outlet reports something, don’t run with it unless you have your own sourcing to back it up,” Carr added.
Carr has become modestly famous himself for his refusal to comment on the investigation, which has resulted in 19 indictments and five guilty pleas, including former national security adviser Mike Flynn and former the rich asshole deputy campaign manager Rick Gates.
the rich asshole pick Gorsuch casts deciding Supreme Court vote against deporting immigrant
BY LYDIA WHEELER AND LUIS SANCHEZ - 04/17/18 10:59 AM EDT
Justice Neil Gorsuch, President the rich asshole's first Supreme Court appointment, cast the deciding vote in a decision released Tuesday that sided with an immigrant fighting his deportation.
Gorsuch sided with court's four liberal justices in favor of the immigrant, James Garcia Dimaya, who the government sought to deport after his second first-degree burglary conviction in California.
The Justice Department argued his first-degree burglary conviction constituted a crime of violence, which is an aggravated felony that results in deportation under the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA).
However, the court said Tuesday that the law’s definition of a crime of violence is too vague.
In delivering the opinion of the court Justice Elena Kagan relied on a 2015 ruling in which the court said a similar clause in the Armed Career Criminal Act (ACCA) that defined a “violent felony” was unconstitutionally void for vagueness.
Kagan said that like the ACCA provision, the INA provision defining a crime of violence “requires a court to picture the kind of conduct that the crime involves in ‘the ordinary case,’ and to judge whether that abstraction’ presents some not-well-specified-yet-sufficiently large degree of risk."
As a result, she said INA’s provision produces, just as ACCA’s residual clause did, “more unpredictability and arbitrariness than the Due Process Clause tolerates.”
In a concurring opinion, Gorscuh said vague laws invite arbitrary power.
Gorsuch said that before the American Revolution, the crime of treason in English law was so capaciously construed that the mere expression of disfavored opinions could invite transportation or death.
"The founders cited the crown’s abuse of 'pretended' crimes like this as one of their reasons for revolution," he said, citing the Declaration of Independence.
"Today’s vague laws may not be as invidious, but they can invite the exercise of arbitrary power all the same — by leaving the people in the dark about what the law demands and allowing prosecutors and courts to make it up. The law before us today is such a law."
Gorsuch's choice to side with the liberal justices was expected after he questioned how the court could determine when a crime was violent if Congress had failed to do so during oral argument.
The federal law had been defended by the Justice Department under both the Obama and the rich asshole administrations.
Chief Justice John Roberts wrote a dissenting opinion, which Justice Anthony Kennedy, Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito joined. He said he would not hold that the INA’s definition of a crime of violence in unconstitutionally vague.
He said the ACCA clause directed the reader to consider whether the offender’s conduct presented a “potential risk” of injury.
“On the other hand," he said the INA provision, “asks about ‘risk’ alone, a familiar concept of everyday life. It therefore calls for a commonsense inquiry that does not compel a court to venture beyond the offense elements to consider contingent and remote possibilities.”
The case carried over from the court’s 2016 term when — because of Justice Antonin Scalia’s death and the Senate’s unwillingness to confirm a nominee for 14 months — the court deadlocked 4-4.
Updated at 12:16 p.m.
‘Crazy town in the news business’: MSNBC’s Mika drops a bomb on Fox News over Hannity’s ‘bald-faced lies’
Mika Brzezinski (MSNBC)
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MSNBC’s Mika Brzezinski kept up her attack on Fox News after Sean Hannity was outed as the mystery third client of President some rich asshole’s longtime attorney Michael Cohen.
The conservative broadcaster begged the court to keep his identity secret as Cohen tries to prove he’s a lawyer in the “traditional” sense, but Judge Kimba Wood found no lawful reason to do so.
“It’s not one of a hundred clients,” Brzezinski said.
The “Morning Joe” host said Hannity should have revealed his potential conflict of interest while commenting critically of the FBI raid on Cohen’s home and office, and she said the situation posed a real challenge for Fox News.
“Did Sean Hannity tell his bosses that, ‘I’m a third client of Michael Cohen and I’m going on the air tonight?'” Brzezinski said. “Because, I will tell you, if he did not and then he proceeded to do the coverage that he’s been doing for months, honestly, and it appears he intends to continue doing, he’s lying to his viewers — bald-faced lying to his viewers to not disclose that he’s a third client of Michael Cohen and yet to do these incredible hit jobs on the raid on Michael Cohen’s office, of which his stuff is being raided and taken away.”
Brzezinski and co-host Joe Scarborough said their friends at Fox News say they’re embarrassed by Hannity, the network’s highest paid host, and she wondered how long he could stay on the air.
“This is crazy,” she added. “This is crazy town in the news business. If you do not take him into the office and figure out how to go forward with this host on Fox News, then I don’t — I don’t know what you’re doing over there. I don’t know what has happened over there.”
ENTERTAINMENT
Jim Carrey Savages Sean ‘Manatee’ Hannity With Piercing New Portrait
“Some endangered species aren’t worth saving.”
Jim Carrey is back with another epic shade-throwing portrait.
The Hollywood actor-turned-artist on Monday released his latest artwork, showing Fox News host Sean Hannity as a manatee:
“Sean Manatee: some endangered species aren’t worth saving!” Carrey captioned the piece.
Carrey shared the portrait soon after it emerged that Hannity was the third “mystery” client of President some rich asshole’s personal attorney Michael Cohen, who is the subject of a federal investigation.
“Performers like Sean Hannity and Alex Jones should join the WWE where their hyperbole will do less damage to the culture,” Carrey captioned that piece.
Carrey’s artistic works also have taken aim at the rich asshole and other members of his administration in recent weeks:
Dear Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery @NPG, I know it’s early but I’d like to submit this as the official portrait of our 45th President, Donald J. Trump. It’s called, 'You Scream. I Scream. Will We Ever Stop Screaming?'
This is the portrait of a so-called Christian whose only purpose in life is to lie for the wicked. Monstrous!
Comey on the rich asshole tweet suggesting he could face jail: ‘This is not normal. This is not OK’
BY JOHN BOWDEN - 04/17/18 07:15 AM EDT
James Comey said in a new interview that while most Americans shrugged off a tweet in which President the rich asshole suggested the former FBI director should serve jail time, the president threatening a private citizen is "not normal."
In an interview with NPR, Comey warned Americans of what he says is the danger of letting the rich asshole's more outlandish actions become normalized.
"President the rich asshole, I don't follow him on Twitter but I get to see his tweets tweeted, I don't know how many, but some tweets this past couple of days that I should be in jail," Comey said. "The president of the United States just said that a private citizen should be jailed."
"I think the reaction of most of us was, 'meh, that's another one of those things.' This is not normal. This is not OK," Comey added.
Comey went on to say there is a "danger" to democracy in America if voters don't respond to the rich asshole's "threats to the rule of law."
"There's a danger that we will become numb to it, and we will stop noticing the threats to our norms. The threats to the rule of law and the threats most of all to the truth," Comey said.
"Lady Justice can't be peeking under the blindfold to see if some rich asshole wants her to convict so-and-so and not convict so-and-so. If we lose that, we've lost the rule of law, and so there's great danger in the president of the United States saying 'you should be in jail,' " Comey said.
the rich asshole fired Comey last year over his frustration around the handing of the Russia investigation, which led to the appointment of the special counsel, Robert Mueller.
Mueller's team is investigating, among other charges, the possibility that the rich asshole's firing of his FBI chief was intended to obstruct the ongoing investigation into possible collusion between his campaign and Russia.
The feud between Comey and the rich asshole reignited last week with a string of media appearances by the FBI chief, who is promoting his memoir, "A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies, And Leadership."
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April 17, 2018
Republican Rep. Charlie Dent was planning to retire. Now he won't even finish the remainder of his term.
On Tuesday, Rep. Charlie Dent (R-PA) added to the chaos engulfing the GOP’s House majority by announcing he will resign early, effective in May.
Dent, who has been described as one of the few remaining House Republicans with some semblance of a moderate agenda, and who has criticized the rich asshole over his behavior during the Russia investigation, said in September that he would not seek re-election, and made clear that part of the reason was that he no longer believed Congress was functioning.
“Accomplishing the most basic fundamental tasks of governance is becoming far too difficult,” Dent lamented at the time. “It shouldn’t be, but that’s reality.”
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Dent struck a similar tone in his resignation announcement. “It is my intention to continue to aggressively advocate for responsible governance and pragmatic solutions in the coming years,” he said.
Dent is the sixth House Republican this term to announce an early departure. Reps. Jason Chaffetz, Tim Murphy, Pat Tiberi, Trent Franks, and Blake Farenthold have also done so. Since their departures, one of these seats has flipped blue, and two of them have special elections scheduled.
In total, 39 House Republicans have announced they will not run for re-election in November. That includes House Speaker Paul Ryan, who threw his caucus into further chaos last week when he announced he won’t seek re-election either.
Dent will be the last Republican to represent Pennsylvania’s 15th Congressional District in its current form, after the state Supreme Court struck down the maps for illegal partisan gerrymandering. The new 15th District will actually be more heavily tilted toward Republicans than the version Dent represented, although the state as a whole now has a much more balanced mapthat gives Democrats new pickup opportunities.
The Republican House caucus is now in a state of freefall, hemorrhaging lawmakers at a frantic pace. It is clear that change is coming in November, and some aren’t even willing to stick around for the massive defeat heading their way.
CNN panel laughs out loud at Kellyanne Conway’s stunning flip-flop on Rod Rosenstein
CNN hosts Alisyn Camerota and Chris Cuomo (Photo: Screen capture)
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The White House and President some rich asshole’s allies have spent months laying the groundwork to fire deputy attorney general Rod Rosenstein. Now, however, they’re holding him up as a brilliant genius for his memo that criticized former FBI director James Comey.
During an extensive interview Monday, CNN’s Chris Cuomo hammered Conway on everything from typical double-speak to “poisoning” people’s minds with “alternative facts.” The interview went so long that CNN’s “New Day” was forced to close their show directly after the interview without commentary. Tuesday, the hosts came back with their political panel, folding in a recent interview with Comey on National Public Radio.
“With respect to the deputy attorney general,” Comey began. “I think it’s very important that he stay because I do think he has conducted himself honorably with respect to his appointment of a special counsel and his assertion of that special counsel’s work to the rule of law, and so I really do think it would be an attack on the rule of law for him to be fired or for the special counsel to be fired.”
the rich asshole and the White House tried to claim that the Rosenstein memo was the reason that Comey was fired, but the president revealed in an interview with NBC’s Lester Holt that he was going to fire Comey anyway for the Russia investigation.
“How about this case, though, how about the president and his surrogates, namely senior counselor, Kellyanne Conway coming on and saying, ‘Hey, do you guys remember how great Rosenstein is and the memo he wrote about James Comey. Why don’t you put back up there what Rosenstein did and help the American people? That Rosenstein, he did the right thing,'” recalled Cuomo. ” When all this talk has been about getting rid of him.”
Cuomo recalled that he asked Conway if Rosenstein is their “big hammer” then his job must be safe.
“And she was like, ‘Christopher?'” Cuomo recalled, capturing Conway’s condescension.
He played a clip of Conway talking about how Comey’s book talks about Condoleezza Rice and Loretta Lynch and then asks why Comey has such a problem with powerful women. “I wonder,” she said.
“Ahh, you’ve got to love the projections,” Daily Beast editor John Avlon commented. “You know? The problems with powerful women. The, ‘he’s an instigator and loves being the center of attention.’ There is sort of an inculcation of a projection strategy on the part of this White House. It’s amazing.”
CNN’s Chris Cilizza noted that certainly Comey wants to be the center of attention for the book, however, “is what he is saying about those conversations accurate or inaccurate? He has contemporaneous notes about them. Those things are what’s important at the end of the day, not what he thinks of some rich asshole’s hair. We can’t get too distracted from that stuff.”
Watch the discussion below:
POLITICS
Republicans Are Scrambling To Save An Arizona House Seat In GOP Territory
In a special election, Democrats see a shot at long-term gains in the red state.
Democrats have launched a serious bid to win an April 24 special election for Arizona’s 8th Congressional District, scaring national GOP groups into spending major money on a seat that was once considered safely Republican.
Democrat Hiral Tipirneni, 50, a physician and an advocate for cancer research, is taking on Republican Debbie Lesko, 59, a conservative state senator, to fill a suburban Phoenix seat vacated by Rep. Trent Franks (R). Franks resigned in December after it emerged that he had offered a female aide $5 million to serve as a surrogate mother for his children.
Although the odds of Tipirneni flipping the seat are not in her favor, her candidacy has excited the Democratic base, enabling the party to improve its chances in other races. In November, Arizona Democrats hope to take control of the state Senate and plan to mount serious bids for the governorship and an open U.S. Senate seat.
“The party is confident that 2018 could be a big year for Arizona,” said Drew Anderson, spokesman for the Arizona Democratic Party.
Arizona’s 8th Congressional District is composed of suburbs north and west of Phoenix. The district is home to a large number of retirees: More than one-fifth of residents are 65 or older.
In 2016, President some rich asshole defeated Democratic rival Hillary Clinton in the district by 21 percentage points. That same year, the district re-elected Franks by an even wider margin, but his main opponent was from the Green Party, not the Democratic Party.
Other parts of Arizona, including adjacent areas of the Phoenix metropolitan area, have been trending more Democratic. Clinton lost the state by just 3.5 percentage points, and in Maricopa County, which encompasses greater Phoenix, voters ousted Joe Arpaio, the notoriously anti-immigrant sheriff.
Now, in a reflection of this year’s higher-than-usual Democratic enthusiasm, public polling indicates that the race for Arizona’s 8th is competitive. Tipirneni even leads Lesko by 1 percentage point in an Emerson College poll released Monday, although political strategists still see her as an underdog.
National Republican groups have responded in force, hoping to avoid another embarrassing defeat in solid-red territory. Three groups ― the Republican National Committee, the National Republican Congressional Committee and the Congressional Leadership Fund super PAC ― have together spent nearly $1 million boosting Lesko’s bid.
The outside airpower aims to narrow the damage of Tipirneni’s fundraising lead over Lesko. Tipirneni has raised $740,000 compared with Lesko’s $564,000 haul. (Former Rep. Franks is among Lesko’s high-dollar donors, contributing the maximum of $2,700 allowed from an individual.)
And while the Arizona Democratic Party has pitched in for Tipirneni with a field office, staff and get-out-the-vote resources, national Democratic groups, including the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and the Democratic National Committee, have not given her any cash directly.
The DNC has, however, used its email list to fundraise for Tipirneni. It also contributed a five-figure grant to the Arizona Democratic Party for voter outreach and registration through its State Party Innovation Fund, though the grant is not earmarked for use in the special election for Arizona’s 8th District.
Tipirneni’s biggest individual national booster may be Ady Barkan, an ALS-stricken activist who leads the progressive Center for Popular Democracy Action. Barkan, who played a lead role in Capitol Hill protests against the GOP tax cuts, traveled to the district to campaign for Tipirneni ― and press Lesko about her stances on cutting major social insurance programs.
The GOP candidate in the #AZ08 special election, @DebbieLesko, either doesn't know or won't admit that her party's leaders want to cut Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security.
(Proof: washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2…)
That's why I'm supporting @hiral4congress.
Asked whether she was disappointed that the national party had not provided more support for her bid, Tipirneni responded indirectly.
“We have learned very clearly that every state is worth contesting and every race is worth investing in,” Tipirneni told HuffPost in an interview. “We’ve learned that repeatedly, so I don’t know why we’re even addressing it.”
An aide to Lesko said he would respond later this week to detailed questions about her policy stances and campaign. HuffPost will update this article accordingly.
It is hard not to see in the race for Arizona’s 8th some of the same elements that propelled Democrats to an upset victory in the March 14 special election for Pennsylvania’s 18th Congressional District.
Tipirneni is benefiting from the enthusiasm and mobilization of the district’s Democratic voters, particularly suburban women, in the wake of the rich asshole’s election.
Recent policy battles in Arizona, one of several GOP-controlled states experiencing a backlash, including threatened teacher strikes, after years of fiscal austerity, have created a ready-made corps of activists primed to canvass for Tipirneni. Many of the same women knocking on doors for Tipirneni now had already mobilized against a bill in the state Legislature expanding private school vouchers. Lesko was a sponsor of the school voucher bill, which has since become a law that’s being challenged on the November ballot.
At the same time, Tipernini is keenly aware that she needs the support of independents and Republicans to win. To this end, she has not made the rich asshole a focus of her run ― or really spoken much about him at all.
“When people ask, I speak about him,” Tipirneni told HuffPost. Even then, Tipirneni does not dwell much on the rich asshole as a person. She criticizes the president in the context of his work with congressional Republicans to pass policies Tipirneni opposes, such as the tax cut legislation, which she calls “atrocious.”
It’s just unconscionable that on the backs of seniors they would pay for this huge corporate tax cut.Hiral Tipirneni, Democratic candidate for Arizona’s 8th Congressional District seat
Indeed, Tipirneni has focused on the kitchen-table issues of health care, education and retirement security.
She supports creating a Medicare-like public option to compete with private plans that would be accessible to all Americans.
The proposal has prompted charges from Lesko that Tipirneni is too liberal for the district. “She’s for this socialized, Bernie Sanders, Medicare for all. And that’s not what our constituents want,” Lesko said in a televised debate with Tipirneni in late March.
In fact, while Sen. Sanders proposes replacing private insurance with Medicare, Tipirneni would simply permit people to buy into the program.
And she laments the pressure to cut Social Security and Medicare as the GOP tax cuts add $1.5 trillion to the national debt. (In an interview discussing his decision not to seek re-election, House Speaker Paul Ryan expressed regret that he had not accomplished “entitlement reform,” a euphemism for scaling back major social insurance programs.)
“A lot of my community are elderly folks, retirees. For them, Medicare and Social Security are their lifelines,” Tipirneni said. “These are earned benefits that they have paid into through decades of hard work.”
“It’s just unconscionable that on the backs of seniors they would pay for this huge corporate tax cut that puts billions of dollars into the pockets of companies like Exxon and Walmart, as opposed to folks who could really use that help,” she added.
In lieu of the current tax revision, Tipirneni proposes making the middle-class tax cuts in the law permanent and expanding them so they reach more people.
Although Tipirneni’s progressive policy stances put her comfortably in the Democratic mainstream, she identifies as a “moderate Democrat” and emphasizes her “data-driven approach” to policy.
“Show me the facts, show me the research. That’s what my science background brings to the table,” Tipirneni said.
.@DebbieLesko speaks to volunteers who will soon head out and knock on doors to get out the vote ahead of April 24 #AZ08 election
For her part, Lesko has touted her conservative bona fides and devotion to the rich asshole’s agenda, not least on the hot-button issue of immigration.
In a 30-second TV ad, “Built the Wall,” Lesko declares her support for the rich asshole’s plan to build a wall on the southern U.S. border but also says it’s “not enough.”
“We need more Border Patrol agents and the best technology to stop this invasion,” she says.
Republicans have also accused Tipirneni of financially benefiting from the ACA. Her firm, CSRA, received a contract to assist with Obamacare enrollment. But Tipirneni said her research work is completely separate and that she has not profited from the landmark health care law in any way.
Tipirneni remains optimistic about her bid, but she also acknowledged the importance of her bid in increasing the Democratic Party’s reach in the state ahead of the November elections. The party’s biggest pickup opportunity is likely in the state Senate, where Republicans currently have a four-seat majority.
“Whatever happens on April 24, we have definitely laid the groundwork to continue the momentum forward,” Tipirneni said.
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April 16, 2018
Former the rich asshole campaign strategist David Urban dismissed concerns about the ethical nightmare that the rich asshole embodies because Americans aren't 'asking for the president to be a moral leader.'
the rich asshole kicked off Sunday by venting his petulant rage over former FBI Director James Comey’s criticisms of him. And that was before the ABC News interview in which Comey called the rich asshole “morally unfit” to hold his office. But according to the rich asshole’s former campaign strategist David Urban, morality has nothing to do with being president.
Urban actually tried to put American voters on the hook for that galling claim.
“I don’t think Americans, when they went to the polls in the election, were looking for a moral leader,” Urban told CNN’s Jake Tapper. “I don’t think they’re asking for the president to be a moral leader.”
And he offered a bizarre charge of hypocrisy, too. Urban claimed that “the media” cannot simultaneously call out the rich asshole’s dearth of morals while expressing concerns about Mike Pence’s fundamentalist ideology.
“The media takes great umbrage any time the vice president talks about any of that,” he said. “They make fun of the vice president for his morals.”
He insisted that “you can’t have it both ways.”
Pushing back on misogynist and anti-LGBTQ beliefs and policies is hardly “making fun” of Pence’s religion. It’s highlighting the damage done to vulnerable people by implementing a far-right interpretation of Scripture in governance.
And there is no “both ways” quandary between wanting a president who is not endlessly mired in scandal after scandal while also wanting a vice president who views all of his constituents as equal people worthy of equal treatment.
It’s especially rich for Urban to insist that voters don’t care about having a “moral leader” in their president. His comments came after right-wing Christian evangelist Franklin Graham heaped unearned praise on the rich asshole for being someone who “understands prayer.”
the rich asshole’s loyalists ought to at least get their messaging straight. But this dissonance is part of a pattern. Evangelical leaders have already made it clear that it’s not the rich asshole’s transgressions that concern them, but rather the political fallout.
Further, the judgment of the rich asshole as morally unfit is not based on personal dislike. Someone who potentially colluded with a hostile foreign adversary to upend our democracy indeed has no claim, moral or otherwise, to leading that democracy.
the rich asshole’s cronies want to dismiss valid criticisms like Comey’s by saying that the rich asshole wasn’t elected to be a moral leader.
But when his scandals and rage appear to drive his reckless governing moves, questioning his moral and ethical fitness is appropriate and necessary.
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