RNC chair stammers after CNN asks ‘what’s been going on’ with Michael Cohen and the finance committee
Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel (CNN/Screenshot)
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GOP Chair Ronna McDaniel struggled to find the right words when asked “what’s been going on” with the Republican finance committee and if President some rich asshole’s attorney Michael Cohen is still a top member of the RNC’s finance leadership team.
On CNN she was asked what is going on with the RNC finance team. The finance chair, Steve Wynn, was forced to resign over dozens of allegations of sexual misconduct. Elliot Broidy was forced to resign after admitting to paying a Playboy Playmate $1.6 million and insisting she have an abortion after impregnating her. And Michael Cohen, a Deputy Finance Vice Chair, is now under serious criminal investigation.
“What does this all say about the culture at the RNC?” Alisyn Camerota asked McDaniel.
“Well… I think… you’re calling three cases – Elliot and Steve resigned,” McDaniel stuttered and stammered. “Obviously, the charges were troubling, we made sure to take swift action,’ she claimed. (Wynn did not step down immediately and McDaniel has steadfastly refused to return the millions he gave to the RNC and GOP candidates.)
White House lashes out at Comey after explosive interview
BY JORDAN FABIAN AND BRETT SAMUELS - 04/16/18 10:55 AM EDT
The White House on Monday renewed its attacks on James Comey after the former FBI director denounced President Trump during an explosive interview with ABC News.
Trump tweeted that Comey drafted an exoneration of Hillary Clinton“long before he talked to her” in the investigation into her use of a private email server as secretary of State. He also accused the “disgruntled” Comey of having “committed many crimes!”
Comey drafted the Crooked Hillary exoneration long before he talked to her (lied in Congress to Senator G), then based his decisions on her poll numbers. Disgruntled, he, McCabe, and the others, committed many crimes!
Trump has repeatedly accused Comey of lying to Congress during the former FBI director's dramatic testimony last year when he detailed meetings in which the president asked for his loyalty and requested that he take it easy on former national security adviser Michael Flynn.
In the interview that aired Sunday night, Comey refused to rule out the possibility the Russians could have information to blackmail Trump and said evidence exists that the president obstructed justice in the Russia investigation — all charges that have angered the president.
Trump only watched "bits and pieces" of the interview, which reinforced his belief that Comey has a "lack of credibility," according to White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders.
White House counselor Kellyanne Conway on Monday said the president believes Comey is spreading “revisionist history.”
“I saw a man last night very shaky and unsure to answer questions, not even under oath,” Conway said on CNN. “But we know that when Comey was under oath that he had a very difficult time telling the truth.”
She attacked Comey's tenure as FBI director, saying the organization was a “hot mess” under his leadership. Conway went on to label Comey and former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, who was fired last month, as “Clinton people.”
“Jim Comey loves to be in the center of power,” Conway said. “He loves to divert the spotlight to himself and be in the center of power. So the president is correcting the record.”
The president and his allies are seeking to discredit Comey, who told ABC News anchor George Stephanopoulos that Trump is “morally unfit” for office.
Comey also sought to rebut criticism of his handling of the Clinton email probe, including allegations he decided before the investigation concluded that the 2016 Democratic presidential nominee did not commit a crime.
“We had a very clear picture after nine or ten months of investigation of this case ... It looked like on the current course and speed, this is going to end without charges. And so what will we do? Smart people, competent people plan ahead,” Comey said.
The former FBI chief is embarking on a media tour to sell his tell-all memoir, “A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies, and Leadership,” which offers an inside view of key events in the Russia investigation.
Many of the events, including Comey’s private discussions with Trump, are of interest to special counsel Robert Mueller, who is examining whether the president obstructed the federal investigation into Moscow’s election interference.
Comey, who led the Russia probe before he was fired last May, did not rule out that Trump obstructed the probe.
Comey, who led the Russia probe before he was fired last May, did not rule out that Trump obstructed the probe.
“Possibly. I mean, it's certainly some evidence of obstruction of justice,” he said.
The book tour comes at a pivotal time in the probe, as Mueller has begun to zero in on members of Trump’s inner circle. The FBI last Monday raided the offices and residences of Trump's personal attorney Michael Cohen, in part due to a referral from Mueller’s team.
The events have consumed Trump’s attention over the past week, even as he debated a military response to a suspected chemical weapons attack in Syria and handled other weighty decisions.
The White House and its outside allies have launched a public relations effort to rebut Comey.
Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna Romney McDaniel said Monday the organization is working to get a “counternarrative” into the public as Comey continues on the media circuit.
“This is one man’s opinion, one man’s version,” she said on CNN. “The president pushes back on a lot of the things that James Comey asserts, and we’re here to put that narrative out there.”
--This report was updated at 12:29 p.m.
The internet roasts Kellyanne Conway for confessing Comey tipped election to Trump
White House senior advisor Kellyanne Conway (Photo: Screen capture)
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After two flailing, back-to-back interviews on Monday morning news shows, the internet completely unleashed on senior White House advisor Kellyanne Conway.
After her interview with “Good Morning America” co-host George Stephanopoulos, neo-conservative political analyst Bill Kristol noted one major point Conway seemed to slip up admitting.
“Kellyanne seems to say Trump wouldn’t have won without the Comey announcement 11 days out,” Kristol tweeted.
Whoa. Kellyanne seems to say Trump wouldn’t have won without the Comey announcement 11 days out. abcnews.go.com/Politics/kelly…
Meanwhile, former ethics director Walter Shaub had his own commentary about the questionable ethics of the senior counselor.
“Kellyanne Conway, with three ethics violations under your belt, please heed this warning: Don’t advocate for the President’s re-election campaign when you go on CNN after this next commercial break,” Shaub tweeted. “By now, hopefully you’ve heard of the Hatch Act.”
“Things are really getting desperate at the White House if they brought out Kellyanne Conway,” noted former White House aide and CNN commentator Keith Boykin. “She’s already violated the Hatch Act twice for illegal political conduct, and she violated federal ethics laws when she promoted Ivanka Trump’s clothing line on national television.”
Things are really getting desperate at the White House if they brought out Kellyanne Conway. She's already violated the Hatch Act twice for illegal political conduct, and she violated federal ethics laws when she promoted Ivanka Trump's clothing line on national television. twitter.com/ABC/status/985…
You can see the rest of the poignant or humorous commentary below:
Kellyanne Conway, welcome to the resistance. twitter.com/atrupar/status…
Kellyanne Conway won’t answer when asked by @ChrisCuomo whether Rosenstein’s job is safe. “The president alone makes the personnel decisions.”
I can't make heads or tails of what @KellyannePolls is trying to say.
Is she really attacking Comey for...making Hillary lose? Is she saying Trump shouldn't have won? Her own management of his campaign didn't win the election, a freak event did?
Uh, wow. abcnews.go.com/Politics/kelly…
“The president is very confounded that this person is always able to divert the spotlight to him,” Kellyanne Conway. The lack of self-awareness here is, well, not stunning any more, but still amazing. wapo.st/2qCys7h?tid=ss…
Kellyanne Conway says Trump is "perplexed" that Comey is receiving so much attention...“The president is very confounded that this person is always able to divert the spotlight to him.” Mission Accomplished! wapo.st/2qCys7h?tid=ss…
Brought to you by the Queen of revisionism, diva of alternative facts, Kellyanne Conway. A woman who certainly never loves to be “in the center of power.”
Kellyanne Conway is a twisted news ghoul.
There is no logic in Kellyanne Conway Land, except the twisted variety.
Audience of one.
And Kellyanne Conway morally unfit to do interviews. She an complete idiot. It’s a stiff competition between her and Sarah Sanders. Two disgraceful individuals.
Kellyanne Conway is talking about someone ELSE engaging in revisionist history? Ah, that is rich.
Kellyanne Conway’s interview with @ChrisCuomo is sooo cringeworthy. Like nails on a chalkboard! Ugh @NewDay
#ICanAlwaysCountOn Kellyanne Conway to give me early morning agita
White House ‘eerily quiet’ as aides try to get Trump to focus on anything but Cohen raid: reporter
Shannon Pettypiece (MSNBC)
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Rod Rosenstein survived the weekend as deputy attorney general, but the White House hasn’t offered any assurances that he won’t be forced out by President Donald Trump.
Bloomberg News reporter Shannon Pettypiece told MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” that her White House sources have no idea whether Trump intends to fire Rosenstein, who’s overseeing the special counsel investigation, although the deputy attorney general has said he expects to be removed.
“People really say they don’t know, and that’s different than saying he’s safe,” Pettypiece said.
Trump is furious at Rosenstein, and Pettypiece said he has few defenders outside the Justice Department against attacks by the president and congressional Republicans.
“There’s no one saying he’s doing a good job, he’s a good man, he’s the best person in this position,” Pettypiece said. “So he doesn’t have that many allies right now, so I think that puts him at risk. When other people have gotten fired, I feel like I see if they don’t have protectors, you know, that’s when you see them on the way out. If they do have protectors, like Scott Pruitt, they seem to last longer and can weather a storm.”
Pettypiece said she’s surprised by the lack of reaction to former FBI director James Comey’s book and new legal difficulties Trump faces in the special counsel probe.
“It’s been eerily quiet here this morning,” she said. “I’ve tried to check in with some people and find out what’s going on, I haven’t heard back from anyone.”
The president tweeted an attack on Comey and his former deputy Andrew McCabe, but Pettypiece and co-host Mika Brzezinski agreed Trump may not have written it himself.
“I’ll question some of my sources on whether or not he actually wrote that tweet that was just sent out because the language and grammar seems to be a bit different than some of the ones he tweets,” Pettypiece said. “I know he doesn’t always write his own tweets.”
The reporter said that Trump was consumed with anger last week over the FBI raid on his attorney, Michael Cohen, and his aides were unable to get the president to focus on anything else.
“He was incredibly angry still about this Michael Cohen raid, as angry as some people had seen him,” Pettypiece said. “His advisors had been telling him-him to focus on Syria, he was in meetings nonstop on Syria, this week they have him focusing on Japan, trying to get his attention away from taking some sort of action at DOJ that his advisers think he could regret.”
The Hill’s Morning Report: Michael Cohen’s big day in court
BY JONATHAN EASLEY AND ALEXIS SIMENDINGER - 04/16/18 07:43 AM EDT
Welcome to The Hill's inaugural Morning Report, which is replacing The Hill's morning Tipsheet each weekday. This comprehensive morning email, reported by Jonathan Easley and Alexis Simendinger, briefs you on the most important developments in politics and what to look for in the days and weeks ahead…
...and what a week it’s lining up to be.
The backdrop of a commander in chief fresh off missile strikes in Syria, combined with investigations and collisions with law enforcement at home, has President Trump’s administration on an uncertain course.
- The president is sorely distracted by personal attorney Michael Cohen’s expected appearance in court today for the first time since the FBI raided his office, hotel room and personal residence. Cohen — Trump’s self-described “fixer” — is in legal jeopardy, raising questions about the president’s exposure and whether he will fire Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein in an effort to end special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe.
- Cohen’s court appearance will be a spectacle: Adult-film actress Stormy Daniels and her media-savvy attorney Michael Avenatti say they’ll be on hand. Allegations of infidelity against Trump enter a new stage: federal court and battles over FBI-seized evidence and attorney-client privilege.
- Meanwhile, former FBI Director James Comey’s “A Higher Loyalty” hits bookshelves on Tuesday. Comey dished in a vicious hourlong interview with George Stephanopoulos last night in which he accused the president of obstruction of justice, congenital lying, and said he is “morally unfit” to be president. He promises to be an inescapable Trump critic for weeks on television and on his book tour.
On Syria:
- Trump was emboldened by the Western attack he ordered, which the Pentagon said destroyed chemical weapons targets and left no civilian casualties. But questions about how the United States and allies would respond shifted to a new debate...
Missiles to what end?
- Trump’s stalwart conservative supporters fear the U.S. is being drawn into war.
- There appears to be no appetite on Capitol Hill for the U.S. to intervene further.
- Syrian President Bashar Assad remains in power and still engaged in a seven-year-old civil war using conventional weapons.
- Divisions between the U.S. and Russia have deepened, and U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley says additional sanctions will be unveiled today. Same with Iran; Trump has given every sign of eventually tearing up the Obama-era nuclear deal.
- The foreign policy establishment, while generally supportive of the strikes, is unnerved by what some perceive as a volatile and unpredictable commander in chief.
An email to us from retired U.S. Army Col. Larry Wilkerson, the former chief of staff to former Secretary of State Colin Powell: “I fear greatly that there is much more of this sort of thing to come.”
Trump leaves Washington today for a two-day rendezvous with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at the president’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida. North Korea and trade are on the docket…
LEADING THE DAY
COMEY’S COMEUPPANCE? — 850,000 copies of “A Higher Loyalty” will go on sale on Tuesday...the book is No.1 on Amazon...a series of dishy interviews follow last night’s “20/20” opus…
But Comey’s media blitz — detailed here by The Hill’s Joe Concha — won’t be a cakewalk. The former FBI director has racked up an impressive list of enemies in the past two years:
- The White House and the Republican National Committee have launched a coordinated effort to discredit Comey as a liar and a craven opportunist.
- The Clintonistas are still furious at Comey for his handling of the email server investigation, and baffled by admissions in his book that the 2016 presidential polls figured in his thinking of the FBI’s probe.
- Comey is publicly at odds with his past boss, former Attorney General Loretta Lynch, and his former top deputy, Andrew McCabe, over the Clinton investigation.
- The Justice Department inspector general is putting the final touches on the definitive report on the Clinton investigation. It’s expected to be critical of Comey.
The Washington Post’s front-page review of Comey’s book was unflinching. From Carlos Lozada:
“When Comey cops to petty misdeeds … the self-criticism — and self-regard — is almost comical … when the stakes rise, self-examination diminishes.”
And Comey is being rapped for wielding petty, personal insults about the president he clearly loathes.
Former FBI Assistant Director Ron Hosko tells us:
“It’s unseemly. Look — when you’re in a mud-slinging fight, you have mud on you. Is that where he wants to put himself? This will drive book sales, but what is the takeaway for those who once thought highly of James Comey? Will they think this is an honest man telling a straight story? Or does it look like revenge on steroids?”
Comey has mocked Trump’s hair, skin and hand-size. Trump has called the former FBI director a “slimeball” who belongs in jail. We learned little new from last night’s highly-anticipated ABC News interview about what the FBI might have passed along to the special counsel, although Comey said there is evidence of obstruction of justice and that it’s “possible” the Russians have something on Trump.
Read The Hill’s Jordan Fabian: Comey pulls no punches with Trump… https://bit.ly/2EOLEuV ...and The Hill’s Niall Stanage has five takeaways.... https://bit.ly/2EMJyeZ
SYRIA, WHAT NOW? "We are confident we have crippled Syria's chemical weapons program," U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haleysaid over the weekend. What worries military and foreign policy analysts is evidence that Bashar Assad remains undeterred in a civil war heading toward its eighth year, bolstered by support from Russia and Iran.
An email to us from Greg Thielmann, the former top intelligence official at the State Department: “The attack was explicitly designed not to try to reverse the trajectory of Syria's civil war, which is clearly moving in Assad's direction.”
- Today, deteriorating U.S. relations with Russia will be strained anew with new Trump administration economic sanctions designed to punish Moscow, Haley announced Sunday. “The international community will not allow chemical weapons to come back into our everyday life,” she vowed. “Russia was covering this up, all that has got to stop.”
- Despite Trump’s expressed eagerness to pull U.S. forces out of Syria in the near term after battling the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, the military will remain there for now, Haley said.
- French President Emmanuel Macron, who will be at the White House on April 24, told French television that France “convinced” Trump to keep U.S. forces in Syria for the long term and to limit military strikes to chemical weapons facilities. (Trump spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders pushed back Sunday night: “The U.S. mission has not changed -- the president has been clear that he wants U.S. forces to come home as quickly as possible.")
- Many in Congress want the administration to clarify its rationale for continued U.S. involvement in Syria, consult with lawmakers about its avowed “sustained campaign” to deter the use of chemical weapons, and explain the West’s comparative tolerance for Assad’s deadly use of conventional weapons against civilians, including children.
Logically, if Assad’s civil war is today unbridled, and his government repeatedly finds ways to deploy chemical and nerve agents to shore up its weakened military might, a new U.S. commitment with allies for a “sustained campaign” to deter chemical weapons is an about-face for Trump’s stated goal of leaving the Middle East’s problems to others.
TRUMP’S COHEN MESS: Judge Kimba Wood has ordered Cohen to make his first appearance in a New York courtroom today, after photographs of Trump’s attorney at an outdoor cigar gathering during his first hearing circulated last week.
Stormy Daniels’s presence will ensure a circus-like atmosphere but the stakes for Trump and his personal attorney could not be higher. Few people are closer to the president personally or professionally than Cohen — and the FBI’s investigation is sweeping:
- Prosecutors say Cohen has been under investigation for months. (Bloomberg)
- The FBI seized phones, computers, detailed personal records and a safety deposit box. (The New York Times)
- The FBI is investigating potential bank fraud and wire fraud pertaining to Cohen’s personal business dealings, although no charges have been filed. (The Washington Post)
- Cohen’s payments to women who claim to have had affairs with Trump are under review as potential campaign finance violations.
Trump’s other lawyers late Sunday asked the court, out of “fairness,” to allow the president to review the FBI-seized documents for attorney-client privilege before investigators proceed, according to reporting by The Washington Post.
Cohen’s lawyers tried the same thing. Prosecutors shredded that defense in a Friday court filing, saying that:
- Cohen has been “performing little to no legal work” for anyone.
- There are zero emails exchanged between Cohen and Trump.
- The “overwhelming majority of evidence seized" relates to Cohen’s private business dealings.
But Trump still has a lot of exposure here. The president phoned Cohen on Friday, and the White House is worried about reports that the feds may have seized taped conversations between the two.
The Hill’s Alexander Bolton: Prosecutors could be looking to turn Cohen on Trump…
The New Yorker’s Adam Davidson caught Washington’s attention over the weekend, writing that the Cohen saga represents the end stage of the Trump presidency.
There’s another take too, laid out here by Carl M. Cannon, writing for California’s The Orange County Register, in which he argues the FBI raid has crossed a line into prosecutorial abuse.
That view is shared by Trump, who spent the weekend tweeting about it.
BARBARA BUSH IN “FAILING HEALTH”: Former first lady Barbara Bush, 92, has declined medical intervention to prolong her life. Former President George H.W. Bush is 93 and also in delicate health.
IN FOCUS/SHARP TAKES
➔ Trump to meet Tuesday and Wednesday with Japan’s prime minister about North Korea, trade, and China, according to administration officials. Trump invited Shinzo Abe to Mar-a-Lago to confer about North Korea’s nuclear arms threat and a possible meeting in May or June between the president and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
➔ House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) wants to tame unease among his GOP colleagues following his announcement last week that he’s leaving Congress next year, but his druthers may not sway his conference.
Throwing his weight behind House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) as his preferred eventual successor, the Wisconsin lawmaker, during an NBC News interview broadcast Sunday, said the current “intact leadership team” is best, and he said he intends to remain Speaker through January.
Not so fast, say some House Republicans, who doubt the lame-duck Ryan remains in the top job the rest of the year. “I think there's a lot of goodwill for Paul Ryan, but I don't know if there's so much goodwill that they'll let him stay as Speaker,” Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas), the former Energy and Commerce Committee chairman who is retiring this year, tells The Hill’sScott Wong. The Hill’s Juliegrace Brufke reports how the House is plotting a way forward amid jockeying for Ryan’s job. https://bit.ly/2HEofPV
From the Sunday shows: Ryan told NBC’s “Meet the Press” there’s nothing the GOP-controlled Congress could have done to avoid trillion-dollar deficits. That’s not something you would have heard Ryan say a decade ago...
➔ Mueller protection legislation: Nearly 80 percent of House Democrats have signed on to Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee’s (D-Texas) bill that seeks to prevent the firing of Robert Mueller. The measure picked up 16 co-sponsors last week. No Republican has co-sponsored the House legislation.
Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) says Trump will not sign any such measure, but she believes it’s important to publicly express support for the Mueller probe. "Having the conversation in Congress helps send a very strong message that we do not want Mr. Mueller's investigation interfered with in any way," she told ABC News.
Reporting by The Hill’s Jordain Carney: Partisan tensions rise as Mueller bill delayed...
More from The Hill’s Amie Parnes: Potential 2020 presidential candidates say it’s grounds for impeachment if Trump fires Mueller. https://bit.ly/2vi09Yx
White House press secretary Sanders said Sunday on ABC’s “This Week”that she’s “not aware of any plans” to fire Mueller or Rosenstein, but added: “We do have some real concerns with some of the activities and some of the scope that the investigation has gone.”
➔ White House turnstile: National security adviser John Bolton is not done recasting his White House team. From The Hill’s Jordan Fabian and Katie Bo Williams…
Also: Jon Lerner, tapped as a top national security adviser to Vice President Pence on Friday, stepped down from that role on Sunday following internal White House deliberations about his 2016 preference among GOP candidates running for president. Lerner will return to his job as senior aide to Ambassador Haley (Reuters).
OPINION
Mom is Running for Office, by Susan Chira, commentary with The New York Timeshttps://nyti.ms/2EO4j9S
Comey’s Last Stand for the Deep State, by Mark Penn, opinion contributor with The Hillhttps://bit.ly/2JINT6F
WHERE AND WHEN
The Senate convenes at 3 p.m. The House meets at 2 p.m. for legislative business; votes scheduled after 6:30 p.m.
President Trump departs this morning for Florida. He hosts a small business roundtable about tax cuts in Hialeah. He’ll be interviewed by WLTV Channel 23 Univision, then fly to Palm Beach this afternoon and arrive at Mar-a-Lago, where he and First Lady Melania Trump plan to host Prime Minister Abe and his wife Tuesday and Wednesday.
Vice President Pence will be in Colorado to deliver remarks at the 34th Space Symposium.
ELSEWHERE
THE CLOSER
And finally… lending new meaning to walking a high wire, and because it’s Monday, we all need some inspiration to traverse another crazy week…. Watch this two-minute video, courtesy of National Geographic. Two bold highliners attached a 1,400-foot nylon slackline between two frozen waterfalls in the French Alps and performed acrobatics on the line, more than 500 feet above the ground in the frigid air. “You obviously get scared because you don’t know what is happening,” one of the French daredevils explained. Bien sûr.
****
Suggestions? Tips? Intriguing pix to share from around D.C. and the Capitol? We want to hear from you! Jonathan Easley jeasley@thehill.com and Alexis Simendinger asimendinger@thehill.com
Kellyanne Conway angrily erupts at CNN’s Chris Cuomo as he grills her over Trump’s hateful obsession with Comey
CNN's Chris Cuomo vs. White House counselor to the president Kellyanne Conway (Photo: Screen capture)
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In a Monday interview with CNN’s Chris Cuomo, senior White House advisor Kellyanne Conway went down in flames.
Parroting GOP talking points that James Comey “loves being around power,” marking the second time she’d used the phrase in an interview Monday. Conway then pivoted to allege former deputy FBI director Andrew McCabe was some kind of Democrat, which Cuomo had to cut in to correct.
“I find it interesting that you and the president call that a lie,” Cuomo also pointed out the claim that lead intelligence staff, including McCabe were Democrats. It is a fact that has been disproven.
“I saw it last night and thought, ‘This guy swung an election? I don’t think so,'” Conway said, mocking Democrats who complained about Comey hurting Clinton’s election.
“Well he wound up hurting her,” Cuomo said.
“No he didn’t!” Conway said.
“What!?” Cuomo exclaimed.
Conway then began talking over Cuomo and then alleging he was interrupting her. “You’re trying to go viral,” Conway claimed of Cuomo’s statements.
“You’re the one who goes viral,” Cuomo said of Conway’s statements in interviews.
Conway then blasted Comey for not coming to New York to meet with Trump before their January meeting.
“What he did, by no measure hurt Hillary Clinton,” Conway tried to claim. The two then devolved into a battle about relitigating the 2016 election, with Conway hurling accusations.
Cuomo played a clip of Comey noting Trump has an inability to denounce Russian President Vladimir Putin while the president’s colleagues and allies are being investigated for questionable interactions
“No, it’s taken you a long time to prove Russian collusion,” Conway said pointing to Cuomo.
“It’s not my job,” the journalist said.
Conway then tried to claim that the FBI officials at the top of the agency were all Democrats out to help Hillary Clinton. Cuomo cut in to question that they supported her so much they announced twice she was under investigation by FBI, including once just weeks prior to the election.
“I haven’t asked you anything about that — it’s like you’re having a different conversation,” Cuomo noted of the things Conway was saying in reply to his questions.
Conway went on to trash Comey for going into the gutter for a second time in the morning, by talking about the size of Trump’s hands.
When Cuomo asked if she can guarantee that Rod Rosenstein’s job is safe. Conway seemed angry at the question and implied that no person ever knows their job is safe. She specifically cited Cuomo himself and his own job security, which he said his producer was saying in his ear he was safe.
“You want this to be about something other than what the whole day is about here,” Conway alleged. “Which is whether or not the president has complied with an investigation that your network and others have alleged would lead to evidence of collusion with Russia.
“We’ve never said anything like that, Kellyanne,” Cuomo cut in. “Why do you try and poison people’s minds like that, Kellyanne. That’s not helpful. We need common ground not division. Don’t poison people.”
“No kidding, so let’s be honest,” she clapped back. “How much air time did you give to Russian collusion last year?”
“I hope it’s a lot, I hope it’s a real lot,” Cuomo said back while Conway rambled over him. “Because it really matters, because they’re still trying to tear us asunder and they are being effective at it and they’re still doing it. And the president has been slow to respond. You guys don’t even have a real plan for how to combat it because the president conflates his own personal prospects — you won’t even tell me that he won’t make a move on the special counsel.”
“No, I won’t say that,” Conway said.
“No, you won’t say it, that’s the point!” Cuomo shot back.
“Excuse me,” Conway cut in. “He makes all of the personnel decisions around her and you know it.”
“Oh, I know,” Cuomo cut in.
Conway then alleged that if Comey was so concerned about Russian collusion that he would have spoken to Trump months prior to their January 2017 meeting.
Cuomo noted that staff generally come when called to a president-election who hasn’t taken office yet. Conway tried to spread further conspiracy theories that everyone working in intelligence supported Hillary Clinton, which Cuomo said was more of the so-called “deep state” conspiracy theories that the White House spent a week pushing.
“We don’t know any of that,” Cuomo said. “This is like the secret club stuff that you guys were pushing for about a week and a half. There’s this secret agency that meets on the outside. It’s not helpful. Not helpful.”
“He said the president’s tie was too long,” Conway cut to. It devolved into absurdity from there.
Watch the insanity below:
Part 1:
Part 2:
Part 3:
The real threat to Trump is unfolding in a courtroom — thanks to Stormy Daniels
Donald Trump, Stormy Daniels, and Michael Cohen. (Credit: Gage Skidmore, Thomas Hawk, IowaPolitics)
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The weekend started off with a bang and ended with a whimper. In concert with U.S. allies, President Trump ordered a missile strike against Syria on Friday night, in retaliation for the apparent chemical attack on civilians in Douma earlier in the week. The precision strike was limited to some weapons facilities and so far there are no reports of deaths on the ground, which is likely because the U.S. warned Russia and the Syrians in advance. Trump had tweeted to the world that he was planning to launch missile strikes so it’s not as if anyone was surprised. (This is a good thing, although it certainly calls his “Pearl Harbor doctrine” into question.)
This article was originally published at Salon
By Saturday night, Trump was tweeting out “Mission Accomplished,” with no apparent sense of irony whatsoever.
The White House made sure that it was widely reported that Trump really wanted to teach Russia a lesson and had pushed hard for a major bombing campaign but was talked out of it by his Pentagon chief. Everyone is now supposed to believe that Trump is chomping at the bit to be tougher on Russia than even Jim “Mad Dog” Mattis, but in the end Trump bowed to the defense secretary’s advice because he’s always restrained when he needs to be. (If you believe any of that I’ve got some Trump steaks to sell you.)
Despite the Syrian strike, with all its Pentagon-provided, video-game footage of fire and fury, the White House couldn’t black out the news of the forthcoming book by James Comey or the astonishing story unfolding around Trump’s personal lawyer and former Trump Organization executive Michael Cohen. When I say the weekend ended with a whimper, I’m referring to Trump’s petulant, puerile Twitter rant on Sunday:
Trump is obviously sincerely agitated about James Comey’s book, but his unhinged tweets are also part of a coordinated response by the Republican Party and are therefore to be expected. What’s more interesting is the fact that he tweeted about the FBI raid on Cohen’s office, commenting for only the second time since his overwrought TV appearance with the joint chiefs on the day it happened. He was obviously watching his unofficial adviser Alan Dershowitz opine on television when he tweeted this:
I’m going to go out on a limb and guess that only the lawyers who have engaged in criminal conspiracies with him are nervous.
While Trump was ordering airstrikes on Syria last Friday it’s fair to assume he had one eye peeled on TV. There were reports from the federal courtroom where Cohen’s lawyers were protesting the searches and to everyone’s surprise, Trump had his own lawyers in the courtroom arguing — you guessed it! — that the warrants served on Cohen by federal prosecutors violated attorney-client privilege. Judge Kimba Wood was reportedly miffed that Cohen was not available in the courtroom to answer questions that his lawyers couldn’t.
Where was Cohen, anyway? Well, he was hanging around with his pals on the street, smoking cigars. I’m not kidding. This brilliant satire about Cohen’s day by Josh Marshall of Talking Points Memo says it all:
By
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April 16, 2018
Trump's re-election campaign means even small donors have a chance to line his pockets, or contribute to his steep legal fees — intentionally or not.
Is this a presidency or a financial fraud scheme? With Trump’s re-election campaign, it’s getting harder to tell.
Two new revelations about Trump’s 2016 election campaign and his 2020 re-election effort, which Trump launched right after he took office, confirm that the self-dealing has been endless.
“President Donald Trump’s U.S. businesses have received at least $15.1 million in revenue from political groups and federal agencies since 2015,” McClatchy reported on Monday. “But it was Trump’s campaign itself that spent the biggest chunk by far — about 90 percent, or $13.4 million.”
Trump’s hotels and resorts, as well as his office buildings, have been among the biggest beneficiaries as Republicans, and now government agencies, rush to line Trump’s pockets.
But didn’t political groups always spend lavishly at Trump properties? They did not. “By comparison, in 2013 and 2014, political spending at his properties was less than $20,000,” McClatchy reports.
So far, Trump has visited one of his properties, usually in Florida, New Jersey and Virginia, on nearly 140 days, which means the Secret Service, National Security Council, and the Defense Department, among others, are spending a ton of money to coincide with Trump’s travels.
Note that an earlier analysis of campaign spending by Trump in 2016 found that $1 out of every $10 donated to his campaign found its way into his bank account. And now the complete integration of Trump with the Republican Party may exponentially increase the size of the slush fund.
As for Trump’s 2020 re-election, instead of taking in millions in supporter donations and using the money on, you know, typical re-election activities, a large portion of the donations are being used to pay Trump’s legal fees.
In fact, more than 20 percent of the re-election committee’s expenditures during the first quarter of 2018 were used to pay Trump’s attorneys.
“The biggest share of legal payments in the first quarter of this year — about $348,000 — went to Jones Day, a law firm representing the campaign in the investigations by special counsel Robert S. Mueller III and several congressional committees into Russian interference in the 2016 election,” the Washington Post reports. To date, Trump has spent $4 million on legal fees.
A large portion of Trump’s campaign money come from small donors/ During the first quarter of 2018, 61 percent of the contributions to his campaign came from small donors who gave $200 or less.
If only there were a report to tell how many of Trump’s supporters wanted their re-election donations to go to white-shoe attorneys in Washington, D.C., desperately trying to dig Trump out of trouble.
‘Kellyanne, I have to stop you there’: Conway gets busted on live TV making bogus claims about Comey firing
George Stephanopoulos and Kellyanne Conway (Photo: Screen capture)
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In a Monday appearance on “Good Morning America,” senior White House aide Kellyanne Conway whined when ABC News host George Stephanopoulos grilled her about some of the claims made by former FBI Director James Comey in their Sunday interview.
She began with GOP talking points about President Donald Trump firing the former director for good reasons. However, she lamented that his commentary about Trump’s appearance and hand size was “really gutter.”
Conway also confessed that Comey likely “swung an election” when he announced the FBI would reopen the Clinton investigation, which hadn’t been closed to begin with.
“He’s an admitted leaker,” Conway claimed, parroting Trump. Former White House ethics director Walter Shaub, however, noted that it was elected Republicans in Congress who first “leaked” the investigation about Clinton.
Over and over, the co-host hammered Conway’s “alternative facts” and finally demanded to know if “the president have any evidence to back up his side of the story.”
Conway then tried to claim that during his Senate testimony, Comey confessed that Trump never asked him to drop the investigation into former national security advisors Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn.
“Kellyanne, I have to stop you there,” Stephanopoulos cut in. “Because that’s not correct either.” He noted that Comey testified that no one at the Justice Department asked him to stop the investigation. He made no comment about Trump. “He was not asked about the president” by senators.
Comey “loved being in the proximity of power,” Conway claimed as a justification for her attacks.
Watch the full interview below:
POLITICS
Billionaire GOP Donor: I’m Using My Tax-Cut Money To Help Elect Democrats
“For the good of the country, the Democrats must take back one or both houses of Congress.”
Seth Klarman, the billionaire CEO of the Baupost Group who the Economist once dubbed “The Oracle of Boston,” called out Republicans for failing to keep President Donald Trump in check.
“The Republicans in Congress have failed to hold the president accountable and have abandoned their historic beliefs and values,” Klarman told the Boston Globe. “For the good of the country, the Democrats must take back one or both houses of Congress.”
Klarman, an independent who donated more than $7 million to GOP candidates during the presidency of Barack Obama, has now cut checks to Democrats in 56 House races and 22 Senate elections, the newspaper reported.
“I received a tax cut I neither need nor want. I’m choosing to invest it to fight the administration’s flawed policies and to elect Democrats to the Senate and House of Representatives,” Klarman said.
Klarman also donated $2 million to nonprofits backing core Democratic issues, including gun control and the environment, the Globe reported.
While Klarman contributed far more to Republicans in 2016, he actually backed Hillary Clinton in the presidential race, calling Trump “completely unqualified for the highest office in the land,” according to Reuters.
His views have not changed since the election.
Last year, Klarman described Trump as a “threat to democracy,” per audio obtained by New York magazine. He also warned against Trump’s protectionist agenda in a letter to his investors, saying such policies “not only don’t work, they actually leave society worse off,” The New York Times reported.
In the same letter, he sounded the alarm about the Trump-backed tax cuts that were ultimately enacted by the Republican-led Congress.
“The Trump tax cuts could drive government deficits considerably higher,” Klarman wrote, noting that cuts in 2001 under President George W. Bush “fueled income inequality while triggering huge federal budget deficits.”
Now, he’s putting his money where his mouth is, donating his own proceeds from those cuts to work against the Republicans who enacted them.
Trump accuses James Comey and Andrew McCabe of ‘many crimes’ in flailing morning tweet
Donald Trump during CNN debate (Photo: Screen capture via video)
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President Donald Trump had a tumultuous weekend after launching an attack on Syria Friday night. He continued that Monday morning with his continued attack on former FBI Director James Comey, who is on his book tour.
“Comey drafted the Crooked Hillary exoneration long before he talked to her (lied in Congress to Senator G), then based his decisions on her poll numbers,” Trump began Monday tweeting. “Disgruntled, he, McCabe, and the others, committed many crimes!”
In a Saturday morning Twitterstorm, Trump battled detractors after claiming victory in Syria with a throwback phrase made famous by former President George W. Bush. “Mission Accomplished!” Trump exclaimed Saturday morning about Syria, where American troops are still on the ground. Bush declared “Mission Accomplished” and 15 years later, American troops are still in Iraq.
Trump then took his attacks to former FBI Director James Comey, whose first interview about his new book aired Sunday.
“Slippery James Comey, a man who always ends up badly and out of whack (he is not smart!), will go down as the WORST FBI Director in history, by far!” Trump tweeted Sunday.
Dems see Mueller firing as a red line on impeachment
BY AMIE PARNES - 04/16/18 06:00 AM EDT
Democrats considered potential presidential candidates say if President Trump fires special counsel Robert Mueller, it would be grounds for impeachment.
The would-be candidates, who have been careful in their comments about the politically thorny issue, have now begun to qualify on what grounds they would push for impeachment.
And they are signaling that terminating Mueller is a red line.
At a town hall in Sacramento last week, Sen. Kamala Harris (Calif.) said a firing of the special counsel would be an impeachable offense.
“I can't see how it wouldn't be,” she told constituents.
Harris repeated the sentiment again in Washington this week, saying firing Mueller would “certainly yield impeachment hearings.”
Across the country, when Sen. Elizabeth Warren (Mass.) was asked about impeaching Trump at a town hall meeting in her home state of Massachusetts last week, she also turned to Mueller.
“Right now, I believe it is absolutely critical that the special counsel, Mueller, be allowed to complete his investigation in full with no interference from anyone,” Warren said.
On Friday, Warren took to Twitter to urge Democrats in the Senate to pass a bipartisan bill “to ensure that Mueller can complete a full, independent investigation.”
“Let’s send a loud, clear message that no one is above the law — not even the President of the United States,” she wrote.
An aide to Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) also drew the line at Mueller’s firing.
Gillibrand believes that Mueller “needs to be allowed to do his job without interference from the White House,” the aide said, adding that she backs the bipartisan legislation meant to offer some protection for the special counsel.
“When the investigation is complete, Congress will need to do its job based on the facts,” the aide said.
Offices to a few possible Democratic contenders in 2020, including Sens. Bernie Sanders (Vt.), and Amy Klobuchar (Minn.) and Cory Booker (D-N.J.), did not respond to a request for comment.
In December, Sanders (I-Vt.), who ran as a Democrat during the 2016 presidential election, urged Democrats not to “jump the gun” when it comes to impeachment. Sanders said Democrats should wait for the Mueller investigation to be completed before they decide how to move forward on impeachment.
“I think there is a process that has to be followed,” Sanders said on NBC’s Meet the Press. “I think Mr. Mueller is doing a very good job on this investigation. If Mueller brings forth the clear evidence that there was collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russians, I think you have grounds for impeachment.”
An aide to Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) said he had not weighed in on the matter.
The remarks from Harris, Warren and Gillibrand could put pressure on Democratic leaders in Congress on the issue of impeachment.
Democratic leaders have been careful to not talk up the issue, worrying it could backfire ahead of midterm elections in which the party is growing more and more confident that it could win the House majority.
Doing so would immediately make impeachment more possible, as Democrats would only need a majority vote in the House. In the Senate, a two-thirds vote is necessary for conviction, which would be a higher bar.
Republicans are telling voters that Democrats are getting ready to impeach Trump, partly to energize the GOP base ahead of the election. They see the argument as an effective one to bring voters to the polls.
“If Democrats gain control of the House in November, I have no doubt they will begin impeachment proceedings,” said Republican strategist Alice Stewart. “They want nothing more than to see President Trump removed from office.”
But Stewart said Democrats are clearly walking a fine line as to not appear overtly political.
“The problem with telegraphing it early is that it shows swing voters that Democrats can’t be trusted to govern or rise about the dysfunction,” she said.
In December, about four-dozen Democrats voted to take up a resolution by Rep. Al Green (D-Texas) to impeach Trump but it was shot down by a 364-58 vote.
Tom Steyer, the Democratic activist and billionaire, has spent approximately $40 million on ads pushing for impeachment.
Democratic leaders, however, have consistently resisted the efforts.
“It doesn’t do us any favors to be out there pushing for impeachment,” said one Democratic strategist. “It’s more helpful for the Mueller investigation to play out and then we can take it from there based on the findings.”
In a tweet earlier this week, David Axelrod, who served as chief strategist to former President Obama, echoed a similar sentiment. “Dems should NOT commit to impeachment unless & until there’s a demonstrable case for one. It is not just a matter of politics. It’s a matter of principle. If we normalize impeachment as a political tool, it will be another hammer blow to our Democracy.”
In an interview with CNN's Anderson Cooper on Thursday night, Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) said Democrats in general should not run on the idea of impeaching Trump.
“It would not be the right thing to do,” Nadler said.
Stewart said she attended the small National Republican Campaign Committee dinner where Chairman Steve Stivers (R-Ohio) addressed the threat of impeachment against Trump, as reported this week by the New York Times.
“I agree with his statement that this issue fires up the party base and is beneficial for us to remind voters of this through the midterms,” she said.
POLITICS
Kellyanne Conway Fumes Over James Comey’s Tell-All Interview
The White House counselor blasted the former FBI director for not discussing his concerns “under oath.” But he did last year.
White House counselor Kellyanne Conway ripped into former FBI Director James Comey on Monday after his tell-all interview with ABC News.
Conway, during an appearance on ABC’s “Good Morning America,” slammed Comey for not coming forward sooner to discuss his concerns “under oath” regarding Trump and Russa’s interference in the 2016 presidential election.
“If he really felt like he was saving the country rather than selling books, why did he wait until an interview with you not under oath and selling a book not under oath?” Conway asked Stephanopoulos, whose highly anticipated interview with Comey aired Sunday night.
Stephanopoulos quickly pointed out that Comey had already done just that.
“Well, he actually answered a lot of those questions under oath before the Senate Judiciary Committee last year,” Stephanopoulos told Conway.
FULL INTERVIEW: "I spoke to the President before the interview..." Counselor to the President Kellyanne Conway one-on-one with @GStephanopoulos: abcn.ws/2IX5eHD
Conway, undeterred, continued to rant against Comey and the allegations in his new book A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies, And Leadership, set to be released on Tuesday.
Comey “loved being alone in the Oval Office. He wanted a piece of it,” Conway said. “This is somebody who’s not under oath in interviews and writing a book. And this is somebody who’s given a revisionist version of history. The president hardly knew the man.”
Conway also appeared to suggest Comey’s handling of the Hillary Clinton email probe “swung” the 2016 presidential election in Trump’s favor. She later tweeted that she was just joking.
Comey “swung and miss,” Conway tweeted. “I was putting to bed that he was even capable of such a thing. Add sarcasm and stir.”
This misleading headline should include an eye roll and question mark. Point I made on 3 shows is that we are supposed to believe THIS guy swung an election? I don't think so. Kellyanne Conway slams Comey: 'This guy swung an election' - ABC News abcnews.go.com/Politics/kelly…
Trump raged against Comey before and after the interview, tweeting Monday that the former FBI director “committed many crimes.”
Comey, in the interview, said Trump is a liar who “talks about and treats women like they’re pieces of meat” and may have obstructed justice.
“I don’t think he’s medically unfit to be president,” Comey told Stephanopoulos. “I think he’s morally unfit to be president.”
This article has been updated to include Conway’s tweet explaining that her comment that Comey swung the 2016 election was meant as sarcasm.
MSNBC’s Mika flabbergasted by the numerous ‘shady’ allegations against the rich asshole’s ‘fixer’ Michael Cohen
Mika Brzezinski (MSNBC)
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President some rich asshole’s longtime attorney Michael Cohen is due in court Monday, and MSNBC’s Mika Brzezinski was stunned at the breadth of the accusations against the lawyer.
Cohen, who the “Morning Joe” co-host described as “the president’s fixer,” was expected to appear in Manhattan federal court to seek an order limiting prosecutors’ ability to review documents and recordings seized last week in FBI raids on his home and office.
“You’re going to have Michael Cohen, who the judge last week basically said, ‘You can’t do this through your lawyer, you have to come in,’ Stormy Daniels will come in, Stormy’s lawyer will be there, and almost certainly, not guaranteed but there’s a high likelihood that Michael Cohen has to take the Fifth (Amendment) in that courtroom,” said MSNBC analyst John Heilemann. “I think the sight of the president’s personal lawyer pleading the Fifth will make this clear, this is not messing around.”
The president has complained that the FBI raid violated his and Cohen’s legal rights, and the rich asshole’s attorneys have asked the court to let them decide which documents prosecutors can review.
“The possible dimension here and the consequences of why the president is so nervous, is that Michael Cohen is also the gatekeeper to a lot of the rich asshole business secrets,” said NBC News reporter Heidi Przybyla. “When you tick down the list of shady things that ranges from everything from working with a money launderer close to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard to the fact that the rich asshole Taj Mahal was fined for money laundering violations.”
Brzezinski was flabbergasted by the allegations.
“Wow,” she said, as the segment ended.
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