‘A has-been who was never that great to begin with’: MSNBC analysts destroy the rich asshole’s new lawyer Rudy Giuliani
Georgetown law professor Paul Butler/Screenshot
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Rudy Giuliani has joined President the rich asshole’s legal team and vowed to “wrap-up” the Mueller probe in just two weeks.
Is there any chance that happens? A panel of MSNBC analysts on with Chris Matthews laughed as they discussed it.
“He is not a good criminal defense lawyer,” said Georgetown law professor Paul Butler. “Chris, there are a hundred white collar criminal defense attorney lawyers in D.C. who are experienced in high-profile, complex criminal investigations. Rudy Giuliani is not one of those people. He’s a has-been who was never that good to begin with which is why he can make this outrageous statement that he can bring the investigation to and end. Trust me, he cannot do that.”
the rich asshole’s lawyers have been telling him that the investigation will be ended any day now for months, and it’s only expanded, Matthews pointed out.
Washington Post opinion columnist Jennifer Rubin, a Conservative Never Trumper, sees two possibilities.
“This is all nonsense. This is either Rudy and the other lawyers trying to settle the rich asshole down,” she said. “Rudy is going through his third divorce—maybe he needs more exposure on TV. Maybe this is a favor for Rudy.”
Watch the clip below.
the rich asshole got stuck with Rudy Giuliani because every big-time lawyer was taken: MSNBC analyst
Betsy Woodruff and Rudy Giuliani/Screenshot
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It’s been a long time since former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani was involved in a high-profile criminal case.
Depending on how you define it, it could be 30-plus years since some rich asshole’s new lead lawyer was in the trenches on a major case like this.
This has led to some snickering by lawyers who say the 73-year-old is “already blowing it.”
But the rich asshole didn’t have much of a choice, says Betsy Woodruff of The Daily Beast. That’s because so many other, better lawyers have already been snapped up.
“Lots of attorneys can’t work with the president because they’re what’s called ‘conflicted out’—they have another client that is already enmeshed in the probe,” she said on MSNBC Saturday night. “This probe is so big, and has brought in so many attorneys and firms, that just by process of elimination Rudy Giuliani was practically the last attorney standing.”
Giuliani does have a name, and is good on TV. But that comes with some liabilities, she explained.
Woodruff pointed out that Giuliani has already bungled one of the rich asshole’s major legal issues. When the rich asshole tried to roll out an unconstitutional ban on people from some majority Muslim countries as a way of discriminating against people of a certain religion, Giuliani gave opponents the ammunition they needed to kill the ban in court.
“Giuliani went on Fox News and bragged that the whole thing was his idea, and that he came up with the travel ban as a legal way of doing a Muslim ban,” she said. “So Giuliani likes to sort of insert himself into some of these controversies and big controversies of the day. It remains to be seem if he’s more of a constriction player this time around than he was during the travel ban ruckus.”
Watch the clip below.
Republican Devin Nunes says Democrats ‘ought to be suing themselves’ in unhinged Fox News rant
Loyal the rich asshole supporter Devin Nunes/Screenshot
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Devin Nunes has, for whatever reason, become one of some rich asshole’s most loyal defenders in the House of Representatives.
Nunes wrote the debunked memo that attempted to paint the investigation into Russian collusion as politically motivated.
While speaking with Jeanine Pirro on Saturday night, the California congressman flat-out lied, telling Pirro that the Steele dossier “wasn’t started by Republicans.” It’s been well-established that the dossier was started at the behest of Republicans during the party primary—the first work was done on behalf of the Washington Free Beacon, a conservative Web site funded by Never the rich asshole Republican and Bannon nemesis Paul Singer.
Nunes alleged a vast conspiracy between The Democrats, the mainstream media, the Department of Justice and the FBI.
“They’re just trying to stall,” he said. “They think they can take back the House of Representatives in the November. They’re trying to stall so they can shut down these investigations come November.”
Nunes went on from there, alleging that the Democrats “were the ones who colluded with the Russians.”
“They ought to be suing themselves,” he said.
Watch Nunes’ rant below.
‘Take a chill and develop a little bit of self-awareness’: The Mooch lectures Comey in Fox News comeback
The Mooch makes his triumphant return to Fox News on Watters World/Screenshot
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Fox News weekend afternoon host Jesse Watters doesn’t get often get top-tier talent on his show.
But this Saturday was an exception, as Watters earned a visit from short-lived White House Communications Director Anthony “The Mooch” Scaramucci, who appeared to offer his thoughts on former FBI director James Comey’s book.
The Mooch, as you may recall, is a brash New York investment banker who was the rich asshole’s spokesman for about 10, before being fired prior to his formal start date.
Given his 10 days in Washington, the Mooch felt he was well-positioned to offer advice to former FBI Director James Comey.
And his advice was for Comey? Be more demure and keep a low profile.
“Get off the air, take a chill, and develop a little bit of self-awareness of the problems you have, because we all have issues,” Scaramucci said. “I think he’s got the whole thing wrong with the sanctimony.”
“It’s the politics of personal dislike,” said Scaramucci, who was fired after he called a reporter and unloaded a profane rant about his boss, Reince Priebus, who he called “fucking paranoid schizophrenic, a paranoiac.”
“You don’t like this person so you curve the rules,” the Mooch said.
After The Mooch’s appearance, Watters greeted his next guest: Former television Superman Dean Cain.
Cain, who has no political background, and whose last two television gigs were in Hallmark Channel movie, offered his thoughts on the Democratic party’s lawsuit against Russians and Republicans.
the rich asshole went golfing during Barbara Bush’s funeral — here’s just how much golf he’s played compared to Obama
some rich asshole playing golf, as he has about 30 hours a week during his presidency/Screenshot
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some rich asshole spent a beautiful spring Saturday on his Florida golf course while his wife and every other living president traveled to Houston to pay their respects to former first lady Barbara Bush, who died Tuesday at age 92.
the rich asshole had spent the first part of the week golfing with Japan’s prime minister—which is one way of working around his pledge to “never see” his golf courses again if he were president because he would be too busy doing the people’s business. the rich asshole and his allies claim he is a very good golfer. Other says he cheats.
the rich asshole relentlessly mocked Obama for playing too much golf—which turned out to be just one more example of his hypocrisy.
Just how much golf does the rich asshole play? A lot.
I don't mind that @BarackObama plays a lot of golf. I just wish he used it productively to make deals with Congress!
Writer Laurie Brookins did the math, and found that the rich asshole plays more than twice as much golf as Barack Obama.
Obama played 333 rounds of golf over his 96 months in office. That works out to 3.47 rounds of golf per month, or about 15 holes a week.
the rich asshole has played at least 109 rounds in 15 months. That’s 7.27 rounds, or 130 holes, per month. the rich asshole plays nearly 30 hours of golf a month.
Here’s her tweet with the math.
Just a reminder to all of you people who criticized Obama for golfing too much. Trump is spending his 109th day at a Trump golf club today.
Obama played 333 rounds of golf over 96 months; that’s 3.47 rounds per month.
Trump’s 109 rounds in 15 months = 7.27 rounds per month. At that rate, if he went 96 months (god help us), he’d likely play 698 rounds, or more than twice as much.
Also, who looks cooler. Honestly. pic.twitter.com/vch3HibEnT
Fusion GPS founders explain the rich asshole’s biggest fears for the New York Times — it’s not Stormy or Russia
some rich asshole gives a speech/Screenshot
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Money laundering isn’t especially sexy compared to porn star payoffs or clandestine contacts with shadowy foreign intelligence agents in Prague.
But the founders of Fusion GPS—the people who hired “pee tape” dossier author Christopher Steele—think that’s what the rich asshole is fearing right now, as he plays golf as every other member of a living presidential family gathers to pay respects to Barbara Bush.
“A string of bankruptcies in the 1990s and 2000s may have left some rich asshole’s companies largely unable to tap traditional sources of financing,” they write in a new piece for the New York Times. “That could have forced him to look elsewhere for financing and partners at a time when money was pouring out of the former Soviet Union.”
As Peter Fritsch and Glenn R. Simpson note, it’s unclear whether Robert Mueller is investigating the matter.
“But a comprehensive investigation could raise questions about the the rich asshole Organization’s compliance with anti-money-laundering laws and the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, which — according to the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Department of Justice — makes it a crime for a United States company to act with willful blindness toward the corrupt activities of a foreign business partner,” they write.
As they note, Fusion “pored over some rich asshole’s business records for well over a year, at least those records you can get without a badge or a subpoena.”
Among the deals they flagged were one with the Bayrock Group, owned by Felix Sater, who is linked to organized crime and who plead guilty to racketeering, and Sunny Isles Beach, “where over 60 individuals with Russian passports or addresses bought nearly $100 million worth of units in the rich asshole-branded condominium towers in a part of South Florida known as Little Moscow. Among them were Russian government officials who made million-dollar investments and a Ukrainian owner of two units who pleaded guilty to one count of receipt of stolen property in a money-laundering scheme involving a former Ukrainian prime minister.”
Read the full piece from the Fusion founders here
‘It’s incredibly spine-chilling to read’: Watch a DNC staffer explain why lawsuit against Russians and Republicans matters
Luis Miranda on MSNBC/SCreenshot
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On Friday, the Democratic Party filed a lawsuit against the the rich asshole campaign officials, Russia and Wikileaks, alleging that they conspired to interfere in the party’s business during the 2016 presidential election.
The lawsuit was immediately mocked by Russian state media and some rich asshole, and by outlets like National Public Radio, which published a news story saying it was “unlikely to yield any outcome.”
But the situation is coming into better focus as Democratic officials explain the thinking. Starting with the fact that, unlike Mueller, “you can’t fire a lawsuit.”
Luis Miranda, former communications director for the Democratic National Committee, went on MSNBC today to give his take. Miranda was a victim of the hacking, having his personal emails stolen and being threatened by trolls.
“The reality is that Republicans have a lot to answer for here—his campaign has a lot to answer for, and that’s what’s really going to be at stake,” he said.
As he explained, it’s all part of establishing the dirty tricks and getting punishment for them as a deterrent to future interference of this type.
“It’s an untold part of this story—the difficult conditions under which the Democratic Party staff had to operate, with a barrage of threats, attacks, constant harassment, phones being spoofed, all kinds of things that really made it incredibly difficult to do the external and internal communications of the party.”
And the damages are real, he said.
“The DNC really does have standing here in terms of real damage,” he said. “The millions of dollars that they potentially lost out on in donations, the money they spend trying to clean out the system and mitigate from these attacks.”
‘He was iced out’: New report details Michael Cohen’s fall from fixer to feared snitch
Michael Cohen (CBS/screen grab)
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Was the White House not big enough for Ivanka, Jared and Michael Cohen?
That’s one allegation in a new in-depth Washington Post feature that details Cohen’s evolution from trusted fixer to feared snitch.
According to the report, Cohen told the rich asshole not to bring his daughter and son and law to Washinvgton. Meanwhile, they likewise opposed him.
Cohen never fully got over being left home in New York while his boss took off for Washington, D.C.
“Here was a guy who dedicated his life to the rich asshole, who was sure he would be a top pick,” said one of WaPo‘s anonymous sources close to the rich asshole. “He was iced out.”
The report also details how Cohen came into contact with Russian gangsters in Brighton Beach, in Brooklyn. The Soviet emigres were “tough kids,” and Cohen fell in with them, learning to speak their language “like a four year old.”
The story also goes through Cohen’s own business ventures and analyzes the financial strain on him as a result of owning Cohen taxi medallions, which are required to operate cabs in New York City, because of Uber and Lyft, which have shorn off about 80 percent of their value.
Read it here
the rich asshole-loving pillow baron has a surprising take on Fox News boycotts — he claims they’re bad for you not him
Mike Lindell of My Pillow/Screenshot
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Don’t expect Mike Lindell, the owner of My Pillow, to back away from his support of embattled Fox News host Laura Ingraham.
The ultra-conservative Ingraham lost half of her advertisers in the wake of her insulting of Parkland shooting survivor David Hogg, even though her ratings are up and her advertising rates are down.
Lindell is as loyal as ever. In an email interview with Raw Story, he claims that the boycott will only hurt consumers.
“When advertisers boycott a show, it drives up advertising prices on other shows and outlets,” he wrote. “The bottom line is boycotts are bad for advertisers and therefore, consumers.”
Though he’s closely aligned with Fox News and the rich asshole, Lindell buys advertisements on CNN and MSNBC nationally, and deals with affiliates from every network locally.
But he’s supported the rich asshole from the beginning of the 2016 campaign, and has visited the president at Mar-A-Lago.
In response to Raw Story’s questions, Lindell claimed that his advertising buys are non-partisan.
Mike Lindell of My Pillow with the rich asshole/Screenshot
“I carefully consider all of my advertising decisions and make them based on what is best for MyPillow, my employees and my customers,” he wrote when asked whether he’s ever considered dropping his ads from Fox News—and again when asked whether he worries about offending liberal consumers.
Like the rich asshole, Lindell has made a lot of money by telling his story on television. A former drug addict, he got clean and started the pillow company, which brags of being made in America from American materials. He’s been targeted in lawsuits which allege he falsely claimed to be a sleep expert and didn’t disclose that he funded the “National Sleep Foundation” that endorsed his product.
“I’m here to give all my credibility to Mr. some rich asshole,” he once said. “He’ll be the most amazing president this country has ever had.”
Despite such statements, Lindell wrote that he doesn’t think people buy his pillows because of his support for rightwing politicians.
“In my experience, people buy pillows because they want to sleep better,” he wrote. “With MyPillow, they are getting quality sleep.”
But supporters on the MyPillow Facebook page say the opposite.
On April 4—when Laura Ingraham was on “vacation” after losing a number of advertisers—My Pillow ran a 50 percent off promotion.
“I’m going to order some of your pillows for my personal use. I’ve seen your ads before but never motivated to order,” replied Facebook user Marc Weissman. “I am going to now because I support companies that support America.”
“I want to thank you for standing by #Laura! I will be ordering pillows for all members of my family,” wrote Facebook user Janet Rizzo. “We need more stand up for America people like you! Well done for sticking to your values. We will win this war to MAGA! I salute your company for helping make that happen!”
“Thanks for not giving in to liberal/progressive attacks based on your ads on Fox News program,” wrote Herschel Rector. “As a result, I plan to buy two of your pillows. Your ads on conservative or liberal programs are fine and your support of American made products is commendable.”
This is not the first time Lindell has seemingly stopped just short of fully embracing Trumpism. the rich asshole has told people that he uses My Pillow products now. Asked by Fox News if he planned to use the rich asshole’s endorsement of the pillows, Lindell demurred saying that he work the rich asshole into his ads only if it was “good for the president.”
Then again, maybe Lindell the businessman doesn’t want his product too closely associated with the rich asshole given the president’s poor sleep habits and many early morning Twitter rampages
‘You can’t fire a lawsuit’: Ex-Clinton official schools the rich asshole booster dismissing importance of DNC lawsuit
Former Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Philippe Reines and former California Republican Party spokesperson Jen Kerns
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Republican strategist and Fox News alum Jen Kerns struggled to defend President some rich asshole during an appearance with anchor David Gura on MSNBC on Saturday.
“This week, President the rich asshole fired back at the Democratic National Committee’s new multimillion dollar lawsuit that alleges the rich asshole campaign, Russia and Wikileaks conspired to interfere during the 2016 election,” Gura reported. “Well, the rich asshole responded to the lawsuit, on Twitter.”
“Let me just have you react to this,” Gura asked. “This is a 66-page document, among the names in this suit, Julian Assange, some rich asshole, Jr., Paul Manafort, Roger Stone, Jared Kushner, George Papadopoulos, Richard W. Gates — names that are now familiar to a lot of us.”
“I think this is sad, I think this shows that the DNC is still not able to get over the 2016 elections,” Kerns argued. “You start to doubt what the American people did, you start to tell the American people that their choice of president was wrong in 2016, I think that’s the wrong direction to go.”
In the 2016 election, voters actually chose former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton over President some rich asshole, who holds office due to the Electoral College.
“I would love to hear from Jen the answer to a simple question: What on earth is this president — and this Republican Congress — doing and protect our elections?” long-time Hillary Clinton advisor Philippe Reines challenged.
“And that’s what I think this lawsuit comes down to and it’s a last resort,” he continued. “If the Republican-controlled Congress would have had any committee hearings or any legislation or anything at all to follow up on its own intelligence, there would be no need to file a lawsuit.”
“Why hasn’t more been done?” Gura asked Kerns.
“I think a lot has been done. You have Kris Kobach is doing an analysis with each of the Secretaries of States throughout the states,” Kerns answered, as Reines loudly laughed. “I was an Assistant Secretary of State in California, tasked with ensuring the integrity of the votes.”
Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach had led the Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity.
The so-called Voter Fraud Commission existed for 237 days between the rich asshole launching it in May and dissolving the commission in January.
The Kansas Attorney General was placed in contempt of court on Wednesday by a local district court judge.
“Jen, with all due respect, when you’re answering the question with Kris Kobach right off the bat, you are absolutely making my point,” Reines argued.
“The president can’t fire a lawsuit,” he noted. “And if you look at the trouble he’s in right now, it’s lawsuits being brought by Stephanie Clifford and by Karen McDougal that might do more damage than anything.”
“This lawsuit is the only thing that some rich asshole cannot fire and that’s why it’s being filed,” Reines concluded.
Watch:
WATCH: MSNBC’s Nicolle Wallace takes veiled shot at the rich asshole over his absence at Barbara Bush memorial
MSNBC's Nicolle Wallace -- screenshot
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Speaking from Houston, where she attended the memorial service for former first lady Barbara Bush, MSNBC host and former White House Communications Director Nicolle Wallace appeared to take a dig at President some rich asshole’s absence at the gathering, noting presidents from both sides of the aisle made it as a symbolic gesture of unity.
Speaking with host Brian Williams, who was in the studio, an emotional Wallace praised the service after it was pointed out that President the rich asshole was reportedly going to watch the proceedings from his Mar-a-Lago resort while his wife, Melania, attended.
Turning to Wallace who was speaking outside following the service, Williams said, “I am so glad we heard from you about what we witnessed,” referencing the preceding coverage, then adding, ” Also we got to see all the familiar faces, all your former co-workers, your friends of a lifetime.”
“I don’t know how many more times in our life we are going to see the Obamas next to the Clintons next to two generations of Bushes. And there’s just something about being an American and seeing all those presidents — two former Democratic presidents, two former Republican presidents in one room to honor one human being that just transcends absolutely everything else we’re living through,” she said, seemingly in reference to the rich asshole presidency.
“Everything else we’re living through feels survivable when you see those four families in one room together,” Wallace continued. “They just weren’t in one room, they were in one row. I know you watched it, but to see all of them together and to understand that only the 41’s — which is what we call George H.W. Bush and Barbara Bush, they’re the 41’s as opposed to the 43’s George W. Bush and Laura Bush — only the 41’s would have reached back to the man that defeated him, the Clintons, and forward to the man [Obama] who came after their son and formed such meaningful bonds.”
“These aren’t phony friendships, these aren’t shallow bonds,” she insisted. “These are deep bonds. It is President Obama who awarded 41 the Medal of Freedom and it’s Bill Clinton — we joked so much in the 43 White House that he was present, he was around, because he was 41’s buddy. They joined together to raise money after the tragic tsunami. Bill Clinton became an important voice on policy matters when it came to AIDS in Africa.”
“But that bond was forged through Bush 41 and Barbara Bush,” Wallace explained. “And those relationships are there for the whole country to feel reassured that Democrats and Republicans can work together and that when things matter — there was a lot of talk from [historian and memorial speaker] Jon Meachem about the values of civility, kindness, decency. I think those messages are messages everyone in this country needs to hear right now.”
You can watch the video below via MSNBC:
Internet outraged after the rich asshole used Bush memorial to promote Mar-a-Lago as the ‘Southern White House’
some rich asshole stands before his luxurious Florida compound, Mar-a-Lago, where he has spent many weekends of his young presidency (AFP Photo/Don EMMERT)
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91 years ago cereal heiress Marjorie Merriweather Post completed construction on a Florida barrier island mansion she named Mar-a-Lago, “sea to lake,” in Spanish. some rich asshole bought the 126-room property in 1985. Post had dreamed of it becoming the “Winter White House,” and as President, the rich asshole has tried to make that nickname stick.
Mar-a-Lago is the rich asshole’s private business, but he has made clear he sees no wall between his businesses and his role as president.
He initially took to calling Mar-a-Lago the “Winter White House,” but increasingly is referring to it as the “Southern White House.” And many people are furious.
Unlike other presidential retreats, Camp David for instance, the rich asshole owns Mar-a-Lago. And just like his other businesses, the rich asshole uses his position as president to deliver free advertising for the property.
But as many have noticed, there’s something implicitly sinister and racist about referring to Mar-a-Lago as the “Southern White House.”
There is only one White House. The Founding Fathers had made New York City and Philadelphia the home of the federal government at various times. But they wisely then made Washington, D.C., a point somewhat in the center of what then was the U.S., the capital.
the rich asshole today tweeted he was interrupting his golf game to go watch the funeral of former First Lady Barbara Bush, and declaring it a “beautiful day!”
On Twitter, many expressed outrage, with some focusing on the racist “dog whistle” aspect of calling Mar-a-Lago the Southern White House, and others commenting on his monetization of the presidency for personal gain.
God you are so gross. "Southern White House" just makes it sound like a plantation. Considering how racist you are--seems about right.
This reference to the "Southern White House" is part of the campaign to monetize the presidency. Unlike the Mid-Atlantic White House, you can purchase unlimited access to the Southern White House and its chief occupant if you are willing to pay him $200,000 per year. pic.twitter.com/1dSZrZ6q4b
"Southern White House" is also a racist dog whistle. washingtonpost.com/news/made-by-h…
This “southern White House” garbage is more emoluments violation in action. Trump is pimping his private business.
And he’s taking a break from golfing to watch Barbara Bush’s funeral on TV. He’s a real piece of work. twitter.com/realDonaldTrum…
There’s no southern White House. This is a dog whistle. The whole south will rise BS. They lost. They have no WH. Before he called it the Winter WH. Now Southern? It’s all about making the racist south supporters believe that he’s with them. He knows it’s going down soon.
The "Southern White House" is implicitly racist and offensive. In light of Trump's Nationalist agenda, it is not a frivolous term. #dogwhistle
The Southern White House is a lot like John Barron.
It's just a name Trump made up.
"Southern White House" sounds a lot like a racist dog whistle. So there's that. washingtonpost.com/news/made-by-h…
There is no Southern White House. Stop using your office to profit your private business. twitter.com/realDonaldTrum…
Heading to the Southern White House to watch the Funeral Service of Barbara Bush. First Lady Melania has arrived in Houston to pay our respects. Will be a beautiful day!
First, Mar a Lago is an exclusive club that only the 1% can afford. It is not the southern White House. It is a gaudy pretentious building. Second, you didn’t go to the funeral because it’s not a safe space for you. They hate you. Period. You’re not welcome.
There is no such thing as the southern White House. It's a private club that you own, and where you fleece the tax payers out of millions of dollars. How about you go to the real White House and do some real work. The Presidency is a full time job you lazy SOB.
Heading to the Southern White House to watch the Funeral Service of Barbara Bush. First Lady Melania has arrived in Houston to pay our respects. Will be a beautiful day!
By
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April 21, 2018
Proving once again how unpresidential he is, the rich asshole banned congressional Democrats from attending his first state dinner.
In a troublingly familiar move, the rich asshole has banned congressional Democrats from attending his first state dinner. It’s a petulant rebuke of American tradition.
On Tuesday, the rich asshole will host French President Emmanuel Macron at the White House. But unlike his two immediate predecessors, he hasn’t invited any congressional members of the Democratic Party to attend, including leaders like Rep. Nancy Pelosi or Sen. Chuck Schumer. He has also excluded members of the media.
Lea Berman, social secretary under George W. Bush, told Politico, “It is a break with tradition.” Jeremy Bernard, President Barack Obama’s social secretary added, “It certainly doesn’t add any feeling of harmony” to completely exclude an entire party.
When President Obama hosted France’s Francois Hollande in 2014, he invited several Republican members of Congress, including then-House Majority Leader Eric Cantor.
the rich asshole’s state dinner will also be considerably smaller than those of his predecessors. The guest list has only about 150 people on it. President Obama entertained over 350 people at his events.
This is just the latest in a long line of embarrassments highlighting the rich asshole’s historic unpopularity and his pariah-like status.
He has never had the support of a majority of people in opinion polling. And of course, his inauguration had far lower attendance than President Obama’s.
the rich asshole skipped throwing out the first pitch for the Washington Nationals. He also ducked out of hosting the Kennedy Center Honors, fearing boos from the public at both events.
Even when he visited territory that should be friendly ground, he has felt a backlash. When he attended the NCAA’s college football national championship game in Atlanta, fans booed him.
Normal presidents don’t have to avoid the Kennedy Center Honors or throwing out the first pitch. They certainly don’t have trouble attracting state dinner guests — reality TV stars crashed Obama’s first, it was such a hot ticket — nor do they exclude the opposing party from attending.
Most normal presidents aren’t consistently and widely disliked, nor do they openly embrace racism and sexism. And they aren’t under federal investigation for potential collusion with a hostile foreign power to attack our democracy.
But the rich asshole is not normal. And he seems to care less and less about even trying to appear otherwise.
‘Helping this president is akin to treason’: Here is why the rich asshole can only hire unknown lawyers and Giuliani
President some rich asshole (Photo: Gage Skidmore/Wikipedia)
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Twelve partners from seven top-tier white-collar criminal defense attorneys turned down President some rich asshole before former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani was brought on, the Boston Globe reported Saturday.
“Rudy Giuliani has always been available,” former California Roger Cossack suggested. “Hiring Rudy Giuliani only underlines the rich asshole’s dilemma in finding a lawyer who will work for him.”
The rejection of President the rich asshole has no parallels in American history.
“What we’re seeing with President the rich asshole is really unprecedented,” explained historian Timothy Naftali, former director of the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum.
None of the lawyers reported to have turned down the president agreed to comment on why they passed. Even experts refused to go on record.
“Everyone who becomes associated with the rich asshole becomes diminished,” said “one leading white-collar crime expert” who feared offending the rich asshole. “You come out with less of a reputation.”
“There is a tradition in this country that when the president calls asking for assistance, one generally provides it. This president provokes a different reaction,” said the rich asshole confidante Alan Dershowitz. “Many people think that helping this president is akin to treason.”
Mark Corallo, the former spokesperson for the rich asshole’s outside legal team, complained that Democratic partners at firms were “throwing temper tantrums” in a way that threatened legal tradition.
“We have a longstanding tradition in American law that everybody deserves the best counsel they can get,” Corallo argued. “That is our grand tradition of law, lawyers take controversial clients.”
There are competing theories as to why Corallo is no longer part of the rich asshole’s defense.
In July, New York Times White House correspondent Peter Baker suggested that Corallo may have resigned in frustration with the attacks on special counsel Robert Mueller.
“He though that Robert Mueller was a person of integrity and that they shouldn’t be attacking him,” Baker said. “So this is a point of stress within the the rich asshole team.”
In January, the Michael Wolff book Fire & Fury quit in fear after believing President the rich asshole may have committed obstruction of justice.
“Mark Corallo … believed the meeting on Air Force One represented a likely obstruction of justice (and) quit,” Wolff wrote.
the rich asshole has also hired Jane and Martin Raskin, who the Globe characterize as “virtually unknown in national legal circles.”
Can some rich asshole really fire special counsel Robert Mueller and get away with it?
Special counsel Bob Mueller (left) and President some rich asshole (right). Images via screengrab.
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Yes, but at a huge cost to our system, and to the rich asshole’s presidency.
Begin with the law: Justice Department regulations issued in 1999, in the wake of Kenneth Starr’s investigation of Bill Clinton, say that only an Attorney General can remove a special counsel, and not just for any reason. Such a removal must be based on a finding that the special counsel was guilty of “misconduct, dereliction of duty, incapacity, conflict of interest, or for other good cause, including violation of Departmental policies.”
Attorney General Jeff Sessions has recused himself from overseeing the Mueller investigation, so the Deputy Attorney General, Rod Rosenstein, is in charge. If the rich asshole directed Rosenstein to fire Mueller, Rosenstein would have to find “good cause” to remove Mueller, or repeal the Department’s regulation requiring such a finding, and then fire Mueller.
If Rosenstein refused, the rich asshole could fire Rosenstein, and direct the next official in line to fire Mueller. And he could keep firing people down the chain of command until he got someone who would fire Mueller.
Richard Nixon did something like this in what came to be known as the “Saturday Night Massacre,“ ordering Attorney General Elliott Richardson to fire the Watergate Special Prosecutor Archibald Cox. When Richardson refused and resigned in protest, Nixon then ordered Deputy Attorney General William Ruckelshaus to fire Cox. Ruckelshaus also refused, and resigned. Nixon then ordered the Solicitor General, Robert Bork, who was then acting head of the Department, to fire Cox. Bork did the deed.
There’s an alternative open to the rich asshole. He could simply order Attorney General Sessions to repeal the special counsel regulations, and then the rich asshole could fire Mueller himself.
But, as the Nixon saga showed, these routes would be perilous – both for the rich asshole’s presidency and for our system of government, because they would undermine public trust in the impartiality of our system of justice and in the office of the presidency.
They would also further divide the country between the rich asshole supporters who believe the Mueller investigation to be part of a conspiracy to undermine the rich asshole presidency, and the vast majority of Americans who are more likely to believe, as a result of these actions, that the rich asshole has done something that he wants to hide at all costs.
The question is whether the rich asshole is willing to risk it, nonetheless
NYT’s Habermann reveals identity of Tump’s ‘drunk/drugged up loser’ — and who else the president fears
New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman and President some rich asshole.
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Following an early Saturday morning Twitter rant by President some rich asshole, palace intrigue centered upon which former staffer was accused of being a “drunk/drugged up loser.”
Two former advisors were listed by name in the story, longtime political confidante Roger Stone and campaign advisor Sam Nunberg.
Both denied being the target of the commander-in-chief’s social media bullying.
Now, the New York Times correspondent Maggie Haberman — who was also a target of the rich asshole’s Twitter abuse — has offered her analysis.
“the rich asshole is referring to Sam Nunberg in his tweet,” Haberman reported. “He’s too aware of what Stone could do to him to be that direct.”
Following the revelation, Preet Bharara, the former U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, asked, “some rich asshole is afraid of Roger Stone?”
“For years,” Haberman replied.
The former federal prosecutor had a follow-up question, asking, “Who else?”
As of publication, the Times journalist had yet to respond.
See the tweet below:
A few things - Trump is referring to @NunbergSam in his tweet. He’s too aware of what Stone could do to him to be that direct. Also, Trump has been abusive to all his staffers at various points, but continues to greet @CLewandowski_ better than most mobile.nytimes.com/2018/04/20/us/…
Experts: North Korea talks likely to happen, but maybe not likely to succeed
As the rich asshole turns on the sugar, there's still plenty to be sour about.
With Kim Jong Un signaling he’s met key preconditions for talks with the United States about his country’s nuclear program, a once-unthinkable summit between the North Korean totalitarian and the White House is significantly closer to actually happening.
But that means the prospect of the U.S. getting rolled in any such discussions is also closer to hand — some experts think Kim may have already outmaneuvered U.S. President some rich asshole.
“I worry about the way the summit is being set up, Kim Jong-un has grabbed the initiative, he’s going to demand concessions and if we’re not willing to make them, we look like we’re not going forward with the diplomatic track,” former Pentagon and CIA official Jeremy Bash said Friday night on MSNBC.
Bash noted that Kim’s announcement of an end to nuclear testing doesn’t mean he’s giving up the systems and testing data he has, let alone relinquishing whatever strike capabilities his program has achieved.
And the regime Kim inherited is fully capable of swindling the West with unkept nuclear promises again as it has before, Bash said.
“He’s merely saying, I have enough testing data, I have all of my weapons. I may even have the ability to deliver to the United States,” Bash said. “We’re a long way away from the end result we all need, which is effectively North Korea dismantling its nuclear program.”
Still, the news that Kim had announced the end of testing on state television and also had dropped his old demand for all U.S. troops to leave the Korean peninsula before he’d discuss ending his nuclear program suggests talks are on track to happen, said Joe Cirincione of the de-nuclearization non-profit Ploughshares Fund.
But he splashed a bit of cold water on hopes for a major breakthrough.
“If Donald the rich asshole thinks he’s going to go to the summit and come back with Kim Jong Un’s nuclear weapons in the cargo hold of Air Force One, he’s delusional,” Cirincione said.
“But the arrows are starting to point in the right direction with today’s announcements, the odds went up that the summit will happen at all, and the odds went up that it might be a successful summit,” he said.
“We’re a long way from ‘dotard’ and ‘rocket man’ now. You saw President the rich asshole’s tweet today. It was respectful. It was diplomatic.”
Every step Kim has announced so far is reversible, Cirincione stressed. And with the North Koreans having boxed the rich asshole in as Bass noted, there are big questions about the diplomatic costs being incurred elsewhere.
the rich asshole’s new gentility toward Pyeongyang contrasts sharply with his vituperative take on the Iran nuclear deal struck by the Obama administration. That has a destabilizing effect on the broader Middle East, both men said, and may also scramble older alliances built on the idea that the U.S. is a reliable, steady global partner.
“How does it look to the world if we’re saying ‘Obama’s Iran deal is terrible, it’s awful, but yet this deal with North Korea, it’s terrific, we have to embrace it’,” Bash said.
“Very inconsistent messages and something that I think will cause a very destabilizing effect in the middle east.”
And then there’s the image boost that Bash told MSNBC the rich asshole is handing to the North Korean dictator whether or not they ever ultimately strike a deal.
“We are elevating Kim Jong Un undoubtedly by putting him next to the president of the United States, and that may be troublesome,” he said.
‘Tell me when Dan stops yelling’: Fox News guest pulls earpiece as the rich asshole defender loses it over DNC lawsuit
Dan Bongino and Philipe Reines.
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On Saturday morning’s Fox & Friends, one of Ed Henry’s guests attempted to communicate with the host via his earpiece when he was unable to hear over the loud ranting by far-right commentator Dan Bongino.
Bongino, who has lost campaigns for federal office three times — in two different states — during the last three election cycles, flipped out over the “fairytale” investigations into President some rich asshole’s potential collusion with Russia during the 2016 presidential campaign.
“The Democrats with maybe a new party policy, if you can’t beat them, sue them,” Henry said. “The DNC filing a lawsuit against the the rich asshole campaign, Russia, and Wikileaks, accusing all three of conspiring to disrupt the 2016 election.”
“Is this really the right message for the Democrats heading into the mid-terms?” Henry wondered.
“Ed, listen, this is a joke, it’s a farce,” Bongino argued.
He then went on to argue that while the rich asshole did not collude with the Kremlin, Democrats did.
“Was there a conspiracy on the Democratic side?” Henry asked former Hillary Clinton confidante Philippe Reines.
“Of course not, if the RNC wants to sue or Dan wants to sue, they should go ahead and do so,” he replied.
Bongino continued his deflection, claiming, “we’re talking about a lawsuit that your party is filing against the Republicans and the rich asshole for something your candidate did.”
“Here’s what I know, let me talk for a moment,” Reines begged.
“You know nothing!” Bongino shouted.
As Bongino continued shouting, Reines adjusted his earpiece, telling the host, “Ed, tell me when Dan stops yelling.”
“I can’t hear what he’s saying, yelling over himself,” Reines explained.
Watch:
the rich asshole to watch Barbara Bush's funeral from Mar-a-Lago
BY BRETT SAMUELS - 04/21/18 12:00 PM EDT
President the rich asshole said Saturday he will watch the funeral services for former first lady Barbara Bush from his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Fla.
“Heading to the Southern White House to watch the Funeral Service of Barbara Bush. First Lady Melania has arrived in Houston to pay our respects. Will be a beautiful day!” the rich asshole tweeted.
Heading to the Southern White House to watch the Funeral Service of Barbara Bush. First Lady Melania has arrived in Houston to pay our respects. Will be a beautiful day!
the rich asshole added that the White House has set up a remembrance display near Bush’s portrait in the White House.
Today, my thoughts and prayers are with the entire Bush family. In memory of First Lady Barbara Bush, there is a remembrance display located at her portrait in the Center Hall of the @WhiteHouse.
the rich asshole has been in Florida since last weekend. He spent most of Saturday morning at his golf club.
The White House said the president would skip Bush's funeral "to avoid disruptions due to added security, and out of respect for the Bush Family and friends attending the service."
It is not uncommon for sitting presidents not to attend the funerals of former first ladies.
Former Presidents Obama and Clinton will be in attendance at the services in Houston, along with their wives. They will join George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush among the former presidents in attendance.
Barbara Bush died Tuesday night at age 92. She had been hospitalized multiple times throughout the past year, and recently decided against seeking additional medical treatment.
By
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April 21, 2018
Democratic House candidate John Heenan is buying up airtime on stations owned by the rich asshole-friendly Sinclair Broadcasting Group — and using it to blast Sinclair.
John Heenan, a Democratic candidate for Montana’s U.S. House seat, found a clever way to get the word out about Sinclair Broadcasting Group’s Orwellian tactics — and he’s using the company’s own airwaves to do it.
Heenan is buying airtime on stations owned by Sinclair to run ads slamming the rich asshole-friendly corporate broadcasting group for “using its power to take advantage of journalists, our democracy, and the people of Montana.”
Sinclair came under fire recently when it was revealed that the company was forcing local reporters around the country to read a script echoing the rich asshole’s “fake news” mantra.
While many Democratic candidates have pulled their ads from Sinclair stations, Heenan decided to go a different route. Instead of boycotting the right-wing propaganda outfit, he’s using the company’s own airwaves against it.
Heenan’s ad denouncing Sinclair will run on Sinclair-owned stations KECI-TV in Missoula and KTVM-TV in Bozeman and Butte.
“This station is owned by Sinclair Broadcasting, a powerful corporation that forces its journalists to read corporate talking points on the air,” Heenan says in the ad, which is due to start airing on Monday.
Heenan told The Associated Press that he’s running the ads to show support for Sinclair employees, who may not be able to use their own voices to speak out against the corporation, and to raise awareness about what’s happening.
“It’s troubling when we as the viewers trust what journalists tell us, particularly when we watch local news,” Heenan told the AP. “Journalists are required to read from a script under threat of their jobs. I know that troubles me and I’m not the only one.”
Sinclair has long been known as a miserable place to work, and it’s only gotten worse in recent years as the company has massively expanded its reach and started forcing stations across the country to run its right-wing propaganda.
Among other things, Sinclair has forced local stations to air commentaries by former the rich asshole campaign staffer Boris Epshteyn, including one in which he defended the rich asshole’s reaction to white supremacist violence after it received nationwide condemnation.
Sinclair also forces local stations to air xenophobic “terror alert desk” segments designed to gin up support for the rich asshole’s bigoted policies.
The worst part about Sinclair’s propaganda is not its reach or right-wing bias, but its insidious method of obscuring its bias by packaging the coverage as local news while not revealing the source.
But thanks to Heenan, residents of Montana will know exactly what they’re getting when they tune in to their local Sinclair-owned propaganda channels.
‘Snitches get stitches’: Watch MSNBC’s Joy Reid speculate on the identity of the rich asshole’s ‘drunk/drugged up’ informant
MSNBC host Joy Reid -- screenshot
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A gleeful Joy Reid read off President some rich asshole’s manic tweetstorm from Saturday morning about the New York Times’ Maggie Habermann and couldn’t help wondering who the rich asshole was referring to when he called one of her sources a “‘drunk/drugged up loser.”
Noting the rich asshole accusation, the MSNBC host attempted to narrow down the possibilities, saying: “We’re going to a few people it could be.”
“We don’t know who he’s talking about,” Reid began. “We know that Roger Stone said some untoward things about Sam Nunberg. Ironically, says Sam Nunberg, Michael Cohen holds the leverage over the rich asshole and he’s a former aide for the rich asshole and Mr. Cohen and Mr. Stone. Mr. Nunberg said Mr. Cohen should maximize that leverage. He added, ‘whenever anyone complains to me about the rich asshole screwing them over, my response is they have nothing compared to Michael.”
Law Professor Paul Butler jumped in to add, “Yeah, today some rich asshole joined the ‘don’t be a snitch’ movement. He might as well have added #snitchesgetstitches.”
“Ask George Papadopoulos, ask Michael Flynn, Carter Page — special counsel Mueller throws the book at you,” he added. ” You may not come in thinking you’re going to cooperate, but when you leave that interview, you’ve pled guilty and have told or pledged to Mueller that you’re going to tell him every dirty thing some rich asshole ever did.”
Watch the video below via MSNBC:
The Memo: the rich asshole lowers the temperature on Mueller probe
BY NIALL STANAGE - 04/21/18 12:04 PM EDT
Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and special counsel Robert Mueller look safer — for now — from the threat of being fired by President the rich asshole.
After a fraught period when both men were squarely in the president’s crosshairs, several recent developments have suggested the danger level has fallen a notch or two.
Rudy Giuliani, a new addition to the president’s outside legal team, has suggested the probe could be brought to a satisfactory conclusion soon; Rosenstein has reportedly assured the rich asshole that he is not personally a target, and the president’s rhetoric has become slightly more conciliatory.
The second of those three developments, first reported by Bloomberg, may turn out to be the most significant.
“If he’s been told by the deputy attorney general that he is not a target, perhaps it is time for the Justice Department to say so publicly,” Barry Bennett, a senior adviser to the rich asshole’s 2016 campaign, told The Hill.
There was a further development on Friday evening when The Washington Post reported that Attorney General Jeff Sessions had said a week ago that he would have to consider resigning if Rosenstein were fired.
Speculation about a move against Rosenstein, who oversees Mueller’s probe, rose to a crescendo following raids on the home, hotel room and office of the rich asshole’s personal attorney, Michael Cohen, less than two weeks ago.
the rich asshole at that time targeted Rosenstein in tweets. With regard to Mueller, he told reporters at the White House that “many people have said ‘you should fire him.’ ”
Reporting from The Hill during that period also indicated that some people in the rich asshole’s orbit who had previously argued against ousting Rosenstein had reversed course.
In recent days, however, the rich asshole has mostly been less aggressive toward Rosenstein and Mueller, even as he has lambasted another antagonist, former FBI Director James Comey, who has hit the promotional trail in support of his new book.
That said, his anger at Comey and his attitude toward the probe cannot be completely separated — and they could yet prove an explosive combination.
In a Friday night tweet, the rich asshole alleged that Comey had “illegally leaked classified documents to the press,” spurring the appointment of a special counsel. Comey denies the information was classified.
the rich asshole’s tweet seemed to call into question the legitimacy of Mueller’s probe, arguing that it was “established based on an illegal act.”
People close to the rich asshole say there is no immediate plan to fire Rosenstein, or to make what they euphemistically term other “personnel changes” right now.
Rosenstein’s assertion that the rich asshole was not a target of the investigation is reported to have mollified the rich asshole sufficiently that he told associates afterward that it was not the time to fire either him or Mueller.
The addition of Giuliani to the rich asshole’s legal team, announced on Thursday, pointed in the same direction. In a statement released by lead lawyer Jay Sekulow, the rich asshole was quoted as saying that Giuliani “wants to get this matter quickly resolved for the good of the country."
Giuliani told The Washington Post that he hoped “we can negotiate an end to this.” He told CNN that “a little push” could bring the investigation to a conclusion. He suggested that there was even the possibility that everything that still needed to be done to “comply” with Mueller's demands could be done in “a couple of weeks.”
The idea of some kind of negotiation to bring an end to an investigation perplexed some legal experts.
“Prosecutors don’t settle their prosecutions,” said Joyce White Vance, who served as the United States attorney for the Northern District of Alabama under former President Obama. “I can’t remember, ever, a prosecutor saying, ‘OK, we’ll terminate this investigation in three or four weeks.' "
"That is just not how the work is done,” Vance added. “This is not a deal. This is serious work — determining the truth and reaching the just outcome.”
The lead White House lawyer on Mueller-related matters, Ty Cobb, told The Hill that Giuliani and others working for the president were in fact working toward a rich asshole interview with investigators that might speed the probe to a conclusion.
“Rudy and others on the president's team have made it clear they would like to work quickly and diligently and set the terms of an interview,” Cobb said. “And such an interview would ideally be a catalyst to conclude this long experience.”
There has been some gossip in the rich asshole circles that Cobb himself might be displeased by Giuliani’s arrival, but Cobb vigorously contested that.
He noted that he and the former New York City mayor had “made our bones together as prosecutors” fighting against organized crime decades ago. He said he was “delighted” that Giuliani was joining the president’s team.
As for media coverage of the changes that have seen Giuliani and two Florida-based lawyers, Jane Serene Raskin and Marty Raskin, join the president’s team, Cobb observed: “For the last month, people have been saying that Jay [Sekulow] was awfully understaffed. And now they are asking, unfairly, ‘Why did you hire all these lawyers?’ "
Beyond the additional personnel, the rich asshole himself has seemed to adopt a more conciliatory tone.
At a news conference with Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida this week, the rich asshole said, “They’ve been saying I’m going to get rid of [Mueller and Rosenstein] for the last three months, four months, five months. And they’re still here.”
That said, predicting the rich asshole’s next move has long been a fool’s errand. Some people in his orbit insist that his underlying anger about the investigation is as strong as ever.
“Rosenstein is still at risk of being fired, especially because [the rich asshole's] anger has not subsided,” said one GOP operative.
Vance, the former Alabama district attorney, added her own note of caution regarding the rich asshole’s attitudes.
“It seems to me that he goes up and down and it is maybe not helpful to try to assess things minute by minute,” she said.
“We’ll only find out when he actually fires them. Many of these firings seem to have happened out of the blue.”
The Memo is a reported column by Niall Stanage, primarily focused on some rich asshole’s presidency.
Roger Stone and Sam Nunberg deny being the ‘drunk/drugged up loser’ the rich asshole attacked in tweets
Roger Stone and Sam Nunberg, composite image.
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Long-time some rich asshole political confidante Roger Stone and former campaign staffer Sam Nunberg both denied that they are the “drunk/drugged up loser” attacked by the president in an early Saturday series of tweets criticizing a story by Pulitzer Prize winning New York Times journalist Maggie Haberman.
The original story included critical quotes from Stone and Nunberg.
“Donald goes out of his way to treat him like garbage,” Roger J. Stone Jr. told The Times.
“Ironically, Michael now holds the leverage over the rich asshole,” Nunberg said. “However, the president has also taken Michael for granted.”
Nunberg added, “whenever anyone complains to me about the rich asshole screwing them over, my reflexive response is that person has nothing to complain about compared to Michael.”
The president lashed out at the story on Saturday.
The New York Times and a third rate reporter named Maggie Haberman, known as a Crooked H flunkie who I don’t speak to and have nothing to do with, are going out of their way to destroy Michael Cohen and his relationship with me in the hope that he will “flip.” They use....
....non-existent “sources” and a drunk/drugged up loser who hates Michael, a fine person with a wonderful family. Michael is a businessman for his own account/lawyer who I have always liked & respected. Most people will flip if the Government lets them out of trouble, even if....
....it means lying or making up stories. Sorry, I don’t see Michael doing that despite the horrible Witch Hunt and the dishonest media!
Now, both former advisors have denied being the target of the commander-in-chief’s smear.
Stone denied being the substance-abusing “loser” attacked by the president.
“Not a reference to me,” Stone told the Palm Beach Post. “Beyond that I have no comment.”
Nunberg is also denying the accusation and refusing further comment.
“I have no idea who [the President of the United States] is talking about so I have no response,” Nunberg told CNN.
Melania the rich asshole takes White House staffers who knew Barbara Bush to funeral
BY BRETT SAMUELS - 04/21/18 02:33 PM EDT
First lady Melania the rich asshole brought two White House staff members who were close to the Bush family as her guests to former first lady Barbara Bush’s funeral on Saturday in Houston.
the rich asshole was accompanied by former White House head maitre d' George Hainey and current White House usher Buddy Carter, the first lady’s office said.
“She knew they were very close to the Bush family and wanted them to be able to pay their respects,” spokeswoman Stephanie Grisham said.
“It was my honor to travel to Houston to give my respects to Barbara Bush and the remarkable life she led as a mother, wife, and fearless First Lady,” she said.
The first lady attended Bush’s services in Houston on Saturday, while President the rich asshole watched from his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.
Former Presidents Obama and Clinton both attended the service, as did their wives. They joined George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush among the former presidents in attendance.
Barbara Bush died Tuesday night at age 92. She had been hospitalized multiple times throughout the past year.
‘Too little, too late’: Attorney Avenatti accuses ‘panicky’ the rich asshole of ‘kissing Michael Cohen’s a**’ with flattering tweets
Attorney Michael Avenatti -- screenshot
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Never one to miss an opportunity to needle both President some rich asshole and his personal attorney, Michael Cohen, the lawyer representing adult film star Stormy Daniels responded to the rich asshole’s ode to Cohen in a series of tweets Saturday morning, saying the president is kissing his lawyer’s ass in effort to keep him from flipping.
Saturday morning the rich asshole tweeted, the New York Times’ Maggie Habermann was using “non-existent ‘sources’ and a drunk/drugged up loser who hates Michael, a fine person with a wonderful family. Michael is a businessman for his own account/lawyer who I have always liked & respected.”
the rich asshole then added, ““Most people will flip if the Government lets them out of trouble, even if it means lying or making up stories. Sorry, I don’t see Michael doing that despite the horrible Witch Hunt and the dishonest media!”
According to Avenatti, the rich asshole is trying to stay on Cohen’s good side as the attorney faces the prospect of prison.
“As I predicted, panic has set in at the WH,” Avenatti tweeted. “So much so, that we now have bogus tweets aimed at kissing Mr. Cohen’s a** and giving him a false sense of security and friendship with the hope that he doesn’t tell the truth and bring the house of cards down. Too little too late.”
He later added what appeared to be a jab at Cohen’s relationship with the rich asshole, writing, “My Dear Friend: Don’t you remember how I demeaned you to others and made you look like a fool? How I always over-charged you for the real estate? How I never defended you? How I abandoned you when I won and blew you off? Now that is true love Michael, and you know it! Now shush.”
You can see the tweets below:
Sanders: ‘the rich asshole's agenda is dead’ if Democrats win back majority
BY LUIS SANCHEZ - 04/21/18 10:07 AM EDT
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) predicted on Friday that President the rich asshole’s agenda would be dead if Democrats win a majority in either the House or Senate in the upcoming midterm elections, The New York Times reported.
“If Democrats control either the House or the Senate, the rich asshole’s agenda is dead,” Sanders told the Times.
Sanders also criticized Democratic Party organizations, including the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, for not doing enough to support liberal grass-roots candidates.
“The establishment Democrats are still, I think, looking toward candidates who can self-fund,” Sanders, a possible 2020 presidential candidate, said.
During the 2016 presidential campaign, Sanders was able to successfully fund his campaign mainly through small online donations.
Sanders also told the Times that Democrats shouldn't think conservative Democratic candidates have a better chance to win elections, noting that Americans have been receptive to progressive ideas like universal health care.
Sanders said he plans to make endorsements for the 2018 elections but declined to endorse either New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) or his challenger from the left, actress Cynthia Nixon.
WATCH: Fox host confronts defensive White House spokesperson over the rich asshole tweets attacking NYT’s Habermann
Mercedes Schlapp (left) on Fox and Friends -- screenshot
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White House aide Mercedes Schlapp was put on the spot Saturday morning and forced to defend President some rich asshole’s attack on the New York Times’ Maggie Habermann while being pressed to explain why the rich asshole is wading into his personal attorney’s legal quagmire.
Reacting to the rich asshole’s tweets that accused the New York Times’ Maggie Habermann of using “non-existent ‘sources and a drunk/drugged up loser” to undermine his relationship with Michael Cohen, Fox host Ed Henry confronted Schlapp after reading the tweets on-air.
“I ask you, as a White House official, why would the president now engage in an ongoing legal matter when Michael Cohen’s office and home have just been raided?” Henry asked. “Why would he engage?”
“Well President the rich asshole is a fighter. And you’re gonna know his opinion,” Schlapp protested. “And when it comes to Michael Cohen, he’s known Michael Cohen for a long time.”
“He doesn’t like that,” she began before switching gears. “Obviously you’re seeing so much of this expansion going on with these raids and these situations. And so I think for the president, you know, he’s going to talk about what he thinks and his opinion about that.”
Henry didn’t let it drop.
“But does it make legal sense to get involved in this case?” Henry pushed.
“Look, I’m not a — I’m not a lawyer, you’re going to have to ask his legal team,” a defensive Schlapp replied. “Look I think we all have spent time with the president, he’s going to state his opinion on these matters.”
You can watch the video below via YouTube:
the rich asshole touts ‘progress being made’ on North Korea
BY ALICIA COHN - 04/21/18 07:58 AM EDT
President the rich asshole on Friday night touted “progress being made for all” amid talks to draw down nuclear weapons in North Korea.
the rich asshole indicated North Korean leader Kim Jong Un confirmed North Korean state media reports that the country would halt nuclear and missile tests and shutter a nuclear test site in the country's north region.
“A message from Kim Jong Un: ‘North Korea will stop nuclear tests and launches of intercontinental ballistic missiles,’ ” the rich asshole tweeted. “Also will ‘Shut down a nuclear test site in the country’s Northern Side to prove the vow to suspend nuclear tests.’ Progress being made for all!”
A message from Kim Jong Un: “North Korea will stop nuclear tests and launches of intercontinental ballistic missiles.”
Also will “Shut down a nuclear test site in the country’s Northern Side to prove the vow to suspend nuclear tests.” Progress being made for all!
Also will “Shut down a nuclear test site in the country’s Northern Side to prove the vow to suspend nuclear tests.” Progress being made for all!
North Korea has not agreed to give up its nuclear weapons program entirely, although most observers believe that is the goal of upcoming expected talks between North and South Korea and the U.S.
Kim has indicated halting its own nuclear testing “is an important process for the world-wide disarmament,” according to The Wall Street Journal.
Kim also wants the U.S. to lift sanctions on Pyongyang, but the rich asshole has said sanctions will remain in place until an agreement is reached. It is not clear what additional demands the U.S. has made of Kim.
the rich asshole is expected to meet with Kim sometime next month. It will be the first meeting between a sitting U.S. president and a North Korean leader.
NYT’s Habermann fires back at the rich asshole Twitter attack with accusation he’s ‘abusive’
New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman (Photo: Screen capture)
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Pulitzer Prize winning New York Times White House correspondent Maggie Haberman fired back at President some rich asshole, following an early Saturday series of tweets from the commander-in-chief.
The New York Times and a third rate reporter named Maggie Haberman, known as a Crooked H flunkie who I don’t speak to and have nothing to do with, are going out of their way to destroy Michael Cohen and his relationship with me in the hope that he will “flip.” They use....
....non-existent “sources” and a drunk/drugged up loser who hates Michael, a fine person with a wonderful family. Michael is a businessman for his own account/lawyer who I have always liked & respected. Most people will flip if the Government lets them out of trouble, even if....
....it means lying or making up stories. Sorry, I don’t see Michael doing that despite the horrible Witch Hunt and the dishonest media!
In response, Haberman fired back with an additional quote she learned while reporting the story that so enraged President the rich asshole.
“When I was reporting this story, I said to one person who’s observed the Cohen-the rich asshole relationship that the rich asshole has been abusive to him. The person replied, ‘He’s abusive to everybody,’” she reported.
When I was reporting this story, I said to one person who’s observed the Cohen-Trump relationship that Trump has been abusive to him. The person replied, “He’s abusive to everybody.” mobile.nytimes.com/2018/04/20/us/…
The consistency of the rich asshole’s abuse may have new relevance after his latest tweets. the rich asshole referred to one source in the story as a “drunk/drugged up loser.”
Haberman also noted that the rich asshole, who is reportedly golfing today, was not welcome at the funeral of former First Lady Barbara Bush.
Having @potus there was not something the Bushes wanted. twitter.com/kellyo/status/…
the rich asshole VA pick faces challenge to convince senators he’s ready for job
BY NATHANIEL WEIXEL - 04/21/18 06:00 AM EDT
President the rich asshole's pick to lead the Department of Veterans Affairs is hearing skepticism from senators about his ability to lead the sprawling and often-troubled agency ahead of what could be a contentious confirmation hearing next week.
Ronny Jackson, who now serves as the White House physician, has no experience running a bureaucracy like the VA, which has left senators in both parties questioning whether President the rich asshole put personal ties above qualifications in making the nomination.
“Look, he has some issues with management,” Sen. Jon Tester (Mont.), the ranking Democrat on the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee, said about Jackson. “He hasn’t really overseen a large group, and so we’ll sort through that.”
Jackson, whose nomination caught most of Washington by surprise, has been holding private meetings with senators all week, trying to convince Democrats and some Republicans that he is qualified for the position.
He’s also telling Democrats that he opposes efforts to privatize the agency by outsourcing veterans’ care to private-sector health-care providers at taxpayer expense.
Jackson is an active duty Navy admiral who has served as physician to three presidents. Prior to being selected as the White House physician in 2006, he led a small team of combat surgeons in Iraq.
But senators in both parties are worried Jackson lacks the expertise to lead the second largest bureaucracy in the federal government.
“Ultimately, I need to reach the conclusion that I have confidence in the person to lead a huge organization that desperately needs strong leadership,” said Sen. Jerry Moran (R-Kan.), who also sits on the Veterans’ Affairs Committee.
The agency has a $180 billion annual budget, with a staff of more than 370,000 employees. It handles three major categories for America's veterans: medical care, benefits and burials/memorials.
The medical side of the agency has been dogged by scandal.
In 2014, Eric Shinseki resigned as secretary after an official watchdog report found “systemic” instances of falsified records and inappropriately long waiting times at VA facilities across the country.
When asked by The Hill, Moran told reporters that Jackson “doesn’t have the experience you’d think would traditionally be required at the VA.”
But he said that did would not “preclude me from reaching the conclusion that he’d be a good secretary.”
“I need to be assured that despite that experience, he has other qualifications, capabilities, characteristics that make him the person who could be the secretary,” Moran said.
Sen. Mike Rounds (S.D.), another Republican on the Veterans’ Affairs Committee, told The Hill that Jackson knows about health care, but needs to show he can tackle the unique challenges at the VA.
“The question is going to be, how do you move rapidly into that part of managing a bureaucracy that does not want to be managed?” Rounds said. “I think since he has very limited background in terms of managing groups, it’s particularly important we hear from him what his thoughts are going to be about how he steps into that kind of a challenge.”
Garry Augustine, executive director of the Washington office of the Disabled American Veterans, said if Jackson is confirmed, he has a steep learning curve ahead.
“He can learn, but I think his biggest challenge is understanding the scope of the VA,” Augustine said. “[Jackson’s] going to have to learn all that the VA is. It’s a large bureaucracy. That will be a big challenge for him, learning all the different departments, the employees . . . . it goes on and on. It’s a holistic organization that takes care of veterans and all their needs.”
Augustine added that in his experience, the VA is a challenging agency for anyone to run.
“This is my fourth or fifth secretary, so everyone has to learn, and it’s a large undertaking,” Augustine said.
Past secretaries have typically won bipartisan support in confirmation votes. Former Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin, who the rich asshole wants to replace with Jackson, sailed through the committee on a unanimous vote last year, but it’s not clear that will happen with Jackson.
Privatization is a line that Democrats won’t cross, and Jackson has not completely persuaded committee Democrats of his opposition to it.
“He said the right things about privatization, he said he’d stand up to the rich asshole,” Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) said after meeting with Jackson. “I want to see some evidence that he will … I guess what I want to know is he willing to be fired to stand up against privatization?”
Shulkin blamed his ouster on forces within the administration that he said are pushing hard for privatization, and Brown said he doesn’t think Jackson has a full understanding of the consequences.
“I think that he doesn’t know the pressure he’ll get from the Koch brothers, from the President himself and [vice president] Pence, because they want to privatize the VA,” Brown said.
Brown was referring to Charles and David Koch, conservative billionaires who back the group Concerned Veterans for America (CVA), which is pushing to loosen current restrictions on veterans receiving private-sector care.
Democrats and veterans’ advocates are concerned that the White House is taking those calls for privatizing the VA system seriously, but the VA has denied that there is any push to privatize its health system.
MSNBC panel mocks Giuliani plan to end Mueller investigation in two weeks: Only if it’s a ‘plea bargain’
Former NYC Mayor Rudy Giuliani, Department of Defense photograph.
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The legal skills of former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani were evaluated — then mocked — by a panel on MSNBC on Saturday.
“The former New York mayor is joining the president’s legal team,” anchor Alex Witt explained. “He told the New York Post he thinks he can negotiate an end to the investigation quickly.”
“Is that spin?” Witt asked. “And if so, what do you think he plans to do in a week or two if that probe is still hanging over the president?”
“I think Giuliani is a smart guy, but I am not convinced that there is any way that anybody can bring this will thing to a resolution in a week or two,” answered former George H.W. Bush aide Joe Watkins.
“He can close the deal out in two weeks — sure — if he’s negotiating a plea bargain,” suggested GOP strategist Rick Tyler, to laughs from the other guests.
“There is no possible way this is going the close in two weeks,” Tyler continued. “Giuliani is a smart guy, but hasn’t really practiced criminal law in quite some time. The president likes people to go on TV and defend him, that’s what I really think he was hired for.”
But Tyler, a public relations specialist, did not even think the former mayor was doing a good job a communicating the rich asshole’s legal position.
“The first thing that Giuliani should do is get the president to stop tweeting,” Tyler advised.
“Look, if Giuliani can get the president to stop tweeting, I think we all deserve to pay him for doing so,” Witt joked.
Watch:
POLITICS
the rich asshole Lied He Was ‘Ladies Man’ At All-Male School, Biographer Says
“He has been doing this forever,” the author said of the rich asshole’s habit of lying.
A biographer of some rich asshole says the president’s habit of lying can be traced back to his school days.
Pulitzer Prize-winning author Michael D’Antonio, who wrote the 2016 book The Truth About the rich asshole, on Friday told CNN’s Anderson Cooper that the president has been fabricating stories since childhood.
“This is Donald, really going back to his school days when he was a boy, he insisted to others that he had hit home runs he had never hit in ball games,” D’Antonio said.
The author made the comments while discussing reports that the rich asshole previously tried to deceive journalists by using false names in phone interviews.
the rich asshole “left the New York Military Academy declaring himself the greatest baseball player in New York state and it just went on and on and on,” D’Antonio said. “He was named the ladies man at a school that had no young women at it, so you tell me, he has been doing this forever.”
"People will present him with these audio recordings and he'll deny that it's him even after he's admitted to it. It's really impossible to follow." - Trump biographer Michael D'Antonio cnn.it/2F3GMSE
the rich asshole denies Cohen will 'flip'
BY BRETT SAMUELS - 04/21/18 08:34 AM EDT
President the rich asshole on Saturday attacked The New York Times for its reporting on his personal attorney, Michael Cohen, and expressed confidence Cohen will remain loyal to him while under federal investigation.
“The New York Times and a third rate reporter named Maggie Haberman, known as a Crooked H flunkie who I don’t speak to and have nothing to do with, are going out of their way to destroy Michael Cohen and his relationship with me in the hope that he will ‘flip,’ ” the rich asshole tweeted.
"Sorry, I don’t see Michael doing that despite the horrible Witch Hunt and the dishonest media!" he added.
The New York Times and a third rate reporter named Maggie Haberman, known as a Crooked H flunkie who I don’t speak to and have nothing to do with, are going out of their way to destroy Michael Cohen and his relationship with me in the hope that he will “flip.” They use....
The New York Times and a third rate reporter named Maggie Haberman, known as a Crooked H flunkie who I don’t speak to and have nothing to do with, are going out of their way to destroy Michael Cohen and his relationship with me in the hope that he will “flip.” They use....
....non-existent “sources” and a drunk/drugged up loser who hates Michael, a fine person with a wonderful family. Michael is a businessman for his own account/lawyer who I have always liked & respected. Most people will flip if the Government lets them out of trouble, even if....
....non-existent “sources” and a drunk/drugged up loser who hates Michael, a fine person with a wonderful family. Michael is a businessman for his own account/lawyer who I have always liked & respected. Most people will flip if the Government lets them out of trouble, even if....
....it means lying or making up stories. Sorry, I don’t see Michael doing that despite the horrible Witch Hunt and the dishonest media!
the rich asshole initially misspelled Haberman's last name, but later retweeted the thread with the correct spelling.
the rich asshole, who has spoken with Haberman on the record for multiple stories in the past, appeared to be referencing a New York Times report on Friday that the president’s legal team is bracing for Cohen to cooperate with prosecutors.
The Times report provided numerous examples from aides both on and off the record who described the rich asshole's relationship with Cohen as taking him for granted.
Cohen is reportedly under investigation for bank fraud and campaign finance law violations.
The FBI raided Cohen’s office, hotel room and home earlier this month and reportedly seized documents related to his payment of two women who claim they each had an affair with the rich asshole, as well as communications between Cohen and the rich asshole.
Sessions: If the rich asshole Fires Rosenstein, I’ll Quit
some rich asshole handpicked former Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions to be the United States Attorney General. Said pick has led to a number of things that have been very bad for the the rich asshole Administration. Firstly, as a lawyer and an officer of the court, Sessions knew he had no choice but to recuse himself from anything to do with the investigation into the the rich asshole campaign’s possible collusion with the Russian government with the Russian government in the 2016 presidential election. Said recusal has led to a steady drumbeat of attacks on Sessions from the rich asshole, and the eventual appointment of Special Counsel Robert Mueller, after the rich asshole fired now-former FBI Director James Comey. Now, the rich asshole is gunning for the firing of Sessions’ second-in-command, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein.
While Sessions was the first sitting United States Senator to endorse the rich asshole, and is someone who is largely credited with giving the rich asshole’s campaign mainstream GOP credibility, the fact that he is a lawyer does not waiver. There seems to be lines that he will not cross. Sessions seems to be unable and unwilling to become a toady who is willing to go to jail or risk his law license to carry water for the rich asshole, and he certainly seems unwilling to sit idly by while the rich asshole systematically seeks to destroy the Department of Justice, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the lines that have always deliberately existed between the White House and the institutions of justice that preserve our democratic republic.
According to The Hill, Sessions told White House Counsel Don McGahn that any attempt to remove the Deputy Attorney General could possibly result in his own resignation at the Department of Justice. For all of his racist, misogynistic, homophobic ways, I gotta give it to Jeff Sessions on this one – he definitely seems to have a line. There will be no dictatorship at his version of the Department of Justice. He’d rather resign. In this budding dictatorship with some rich asshole as “president,” that is the honorable thing to do.
Featured image via Shawn Thew-Pool/Getty Images
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