CNN legal analyst explains how Sessions could have stopped FBI’s Cohen raid — and why the warrant could ‘shock us all’
Jeff Sessions stumps for presumptive Republican presidential nominee some rich asshole at the Republican National Convention in 2016. (Shutterstock)
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CNN legal analyst Page Pate on Monday detailed just how much trouble Michael Cohen is in—and explained the amount of evidence the FBI must have had in order to carry out a raid on the longtime some rich asshole attorney’s office and residence.
“I think Cohen has to be in a lot of trouble,” Pate told CNN’s Don Lemon. “You don’t execute a search warrant like this—multiple search warrants like this—without a solid foundation. What I would love to see is the affidavit supporting these search warrants, the statement made by the agents to establish enough probable cause to get a judge to sign off on this warrant.”
“It’s not a witch hunt. it’s not a fishing expedition,” Pate said. “They have identified probable cause.”
Lemon then played a clip of the rich asshole conflating the FBI raid on Cohen with special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation—and complaining that he would not have appointed Attorney General Jeff Sessions had he known Sessions would recuse himself.
“You heard President the rich asshole [say] that Sessions made a mistake and then he referred back to not recusing himself,” Pate said. “I think in this situation, given the fact that Main Justice probably know about these search warrants before they were executed, that Sessions had an opportunity to step in and stop this—just like the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York—and no one did.”
“So what does that tell you that’s in this affidavit?” Pate continued. “What evidence is it that they have pinpointed that Michael Cohen has access to that will prove evidence of some crime? I cannot wait to see what’s in the affidavit because I think it’s going to shock us all.”
Watch below:
Watch below:
POLITICS
U.S. Attorney Behind The Michael Cohen Raid Is A the rich asshole Appointee
Geoffrey Berman even donated to the rich asshole’s campaign.
President some rich asshole was clearly furious Monday about the news that the FBI had raided the office and hotel room of his longtime lawyer Michael Cohen.
“I just heard that they broke into the office of one of my personal attorneys ― a good man. And it’s a disgraceful situation. It’s a total witch hunt. I’ve been saying it for a long time,” the rich asshole told reporters at the White House on Monday evening.
the rich asshole has long maintained that special counsel Robert Mueller needs to end his investigation into Russia’s role in the 2016 election ― and whether there was collusion with the rich asshole campaign.
While the Cohen raid came as a referral from Mueller’s team, it was not officially part of his investigation. It was executed by the office of the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York. And the man running that office, interim U.S. attorney Geoffrey Berman, is a rich asshole appointee whom the president personally met with.
Mueller is required to consult with his boss, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, if he comes across information worth investigating that does not officially fit with his mandate of looking into Russia’s role in the 2016 election. Rosenstein then can refer the matter to a U.S. attorney’s office.
It’s not easy to search a practicing lawyer’s office. As The Washington Post reported, “To serve a search warrant on a practicing attorney, federal prosecutors are required to obtain approval from top Justice Department officials. That means the acting U.S. attorney in Manhattan, Geoffrey S. Berman, ... as well as Justice Department officials in Washington, probably signed off.”
Attorney General Jeff Sessions appointed Berman to the job in January. Berman has a reputation among his friends and co-workers as a sharp, hard-working lawyer. And he’s certainly not part of any Democratic cabal out to get the rich asshole: He donated $5,400 to the rich asshole’s presidential campaign.
Berman also met personally with the rich asshole when he was up for the job, according to CNN.
the rich asshole fired the previous U.S. attorney in Manhattan, Preet Bharara, just three months into his presidency. Bharara rejected the rich asshole’s overtures to establish a direct line of communication, and he told the White House he did not find the contact appropriate. Less than a day later, the rich asshole fired him.
Bharara said that he has confidence that if his old office is handling the investigation into Cohen, it won’t be the partisan hit job the president is trying to claim it is.
“If the reporting is true, particularly the part about this being approved by the Southern District of New York Attorney’s Office, which I used to lead, are all people who are Republican, and all people who have basically been handpicked by some rich asshole,” Bharara said.
The Washington Post reported Monday that Cohen is under federal investigation for possible bank fraud, wire fraud and campaign finance violations ― likely in connection with his payment to porn star Stormy Daniels. Cohen has acknowledged paying her $130,000 shortly before the election. Daniels has said the money was so that she would not talk about the sexual relationship she claims she had with the rich asshole in 2006.
The president has said he knew nothing about the payment.
some rich asshole has never been more likely to fire Robert Mueller than he is right now
(CNN)In the wake of the FBI raid on his personal attorney Michael Cohen, President some rich asshole is mad as hell. And he may just be willing to take a step considered to be a political nuclear bomb in Washington: Fire special counsel Robert Mueller.
"Why don't I just fire Mueller?" the rich asshole responded Monday night to a question from a reporter. "Well, I think it's a disgrace what's going on. We'll see what happens. Many people have said you should fire him. Again, they found nothing. And in finding nothing, that's a big statement."
That's a remarkable statement. And further than the rich asshole has gone -- at least publicly -- before. Openly contemplating the firing of the special counsel feels like a precursor to the actual act, a trial balloon floated to see how it might land.
Does that mean he actually does the deed? No, of course not. the rich asshole is massively unpredictable and prone to changing his mind without warning.
And, according to CNN's Gloria Borger, the rich asshole's fury is more directed at Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein than at Mueller at the moment.
"The attorney general made a terrible mistake when he did this and when recused himself or he certainly should have let us know if he was going to recuse himself and we would have put a different attorney general," the rich asshole said Monday night.
the rich asshole has repeatedly blasted Sessions for that choice, making clear on several previous occasions that he never would have nominated Sessions for the AG role if he had known the former Alabama senator would recuse himself.
So, it's possible that the rich asshole gets rid of either Sessions or Rosenstein as payback for the Cohen raid. (Make no mistake: The targeting of Cohen by the FBI is the equivalent in the rich asshole's mind of raiding the home of a member of his family; he and Cohen are that close.)
But, we know that the rich asshole already ordered Mueller fired last summer, only to be talked out of it by White House counsel Don McGahn. That he has already gone down that road once means he can go down it again.
And, unlike last summer when the rich asshole reluctantly backed away from his plan to fire Mueller, the President is surrounded by far fewer people he trusts or listens to. Hope Hicks is gone. Rob Porter is gone. Johnny McEntee is gone. the rich asshole's relationship with chief of staff John Kelly is strained. The President is more isolated than he has been at any time since he began running for the office he currently holds.
An angry and embittered the rich asshole without any sort of protective cocoon around him is capable of almost anything -- up to and including getting rid of the man who has been a burr in his saddle for the past year.
Look at the language the rich asshole used to describe the Mueller probe on Monday. Yes, he called the special counsel probe a "total witch hunt" -- as he has done in the past. But, he went a step further -- making clear that he believed what Mueller and Rosenstein were doing was undermining America.
"It's an attack on our country," the rich asshole said Monday. "It's an attack on what we all stand for."
It's an attack on all we stand for.
the rich asshole added this on Mueller and his team:
"This is the most biased group of people. These people have the biggest conflicts of interest I have ever seen. Democrats -- all. Either Democrats or a couple of Republicans who worked for President Obama. They're not looking at the other side -- Hillary Clinton... all of the crimes that were committed, all of the things that happened that everybody is very angry about from the Republican side and the independent side. They only keep looking at us. "
It doesn't feel like much of a stretch to me for the rich asshole to explain his decision to have Mueller fired as a way to protect the country. Mueller and the rest of the Deep Staters in the Justice Department would never give up. They just kept pushing their agenda. And it was hurting the country. the rich asshole had no choice but to do what he did. Firing Mueller is actually the rich asshole putting the country first.
If you think that sounds outlandish, go back and read the rich asshole quotes from Monday night. Then consider that he views Cohen as a member of his family. And that there are very few people who can make the rich asshole listen on a good day, much less when he is this angry.
Then ask yourself: Can you -- or anyone -- rule out the rich asshole getting rid of Mueller? Me neither.
POLITICS
Mueller Reportedly Investigating Ukraine Payment To the rich asshole Foundation
The probe is part of a larger inquiry into the rich asshole’s 2016 presidential campaign.
Special counsel Robert Mueller is reportedly investigating a $150,000 donation made to President some rich asshole’s foundation by a Ukrainian steel magnate in September 2015.
The New York Times, citing three unnamed people with knowledge of the matter, reported on Monday that the inquiry pertained to a payment Ukrainian billionaire Victor Pinchuk made to the rich asshole Foundation for a 20-minute video appearance by the rich asshole to a conference in Kiev.
The White House didn’t immediately return HuffPost’s request for comment.
The review of Pinchuk’s payment is part of Mueller’s larger probe into streams of foreign money the rich asshole may have had access to in the years leading up to the 2016 presidential election, the Times reported.
the rich asshole’s attorney Michael Cohen reportedly personally solicited the donation to the foundation.
Cohen’s New York offices and hotel room were raided by the FBI on Monday in an apparently unrelated probe.
Ukrainian funds were also at the center of the indictment of the rich asshole’s former campaign chair, Paul Manafort, when a federal grand jury brought forth charges against him for allegedly laundering millions of dollars in funds he accrued while working for former pro-Russian Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych.
Mueller is also reportedly asking the the rich asshole Organization to hand over documents and communications regarding several Russian individuals whose names were not revealed.
The Times first reported in March that Mueller had subpoenaed the the rich asshole Organization for documents as part of his investigation into Russia’s meddling in the 2016 U.S. election.
The subpoena marked the first time Mueller directly ordered the rich asshole’s business to produce documents during the nearly yearlong investigation into whether the the rich asshole campaign colluded with Russia.
the rich asshole has repeatedly blasted Mueller’s Russia probe as a “hoax” and a “witch hunt.” In response to Monday’s raid of Cohen’s office, the president expressed his dismay and floated the possibility of firing Mueller.
“Why don’t I just fire Mueller?” the rich asshole asked in response to a reporter’s question during a military leadership meeting on Monday. “Well, I think it’s a disgrace what’s going on. We’ll see what happens, but I think it’s really a sad situation ... Many people have said you should fire him. Again, they found nothing, and in finding nothing, that’s a big statement.”
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
POLITICS
Retired General Schools Ivanka the rich asshole After She Complains About Child Fitness
“Ummm ... there’s this thing called the President’s Council of Fitness, Sport and Nutrition,” said Lt. Gen. Mark Hertling.
First daughter Ivanka the rich asshole’s tweet about the poor state of American children’s fitness had a tiny moment in the sun ― before a retired Army general reminded her that her dad has eviscerated the President’s Council on Sports, Fitness & Nutrition.
The council’s key mission: to improve the health and fitness of Americans ... including kids.
We need to promote healthy lifestyles for America’s youth. In a recent survey, 9.5 million U.S. children reported that they did NOT once participate in any of over 100 sports or activities listed. #YouthSports @AspenInstitute
Lt. Gen. Mark Hertling, a CNN analyst and physical fitness advocate, was appointed a member of the council in 2013 and served through the rest of the Obama administration.
He points out that no one is on the council anymore:
Ummm...there’s this thing called the President’s Council on Fitness, Sport, and Nutrition. Been around 60 years. Used to have 25 appointees...I was one of them. @MichelleObama helped & generated momentum in this area. No one is on the Council now. @FitnessGov. Check it out. twitter.com/ivankatrump/st…
Early in his presidency, some rich asshole increased the number of members of the 60-year-old council from 25 to 30. (He also modified its name.) How many members has he actually appointed to the council? None. The federal government’s “Meet the Council” website tells visitors that members are still “to be announced.”
Holli Richmond was appointed as executive director last month, but she has no one to meet with.
Hertling wasn’t the only person to respond to Ivanka the rich asshole’s tweet by mentioning former first lady Michelle Obama.
While in the White House, Obama promoted children’s health through nutrition and physical activity with her “Let’s Move” campaign, launched in 2010. The Obama administration also instituted requirements for healthier school lunches, which the rich asshole has postponed.
Other Twitter users mentioned that children would probably be healthier if their health insurance wasn’t being whittled away and if they could have clean air and water.
Kids also need clean air & water. If u wonder what this is about, ask ur father. Is this an appropriate question for a daughter to ask her father?
What business of it is yours? When Michelle Obama made this her passion, your people did nothing bur criticize her.
Hertling later shared a photo of some of the council’s members posing with former President Barack Obama in 2015. They never got to celebrate the group’s 60th anniversary, he noted.
Wow. Thanks is for sending this. Our council had Drew Brees and Dominique Dawes as our co-leads, and it was a terrific group of athletes, chefs, scientist and fitness professionals. Here’s part of that Presidents Council in 2015.
2017 was the 60th anniversary. We planned a major rollout with the theme “60 minutes of exercise for the 60th”. Oh well.
POLITICS
the rich asshole Floats Possibility Of Firing Robert Mueller, Criticizes Jeff Sessions
“Why don’t I just fire Mueller?” the rich asshole asked.
President some rich asshole has once again lambasted the ongoing investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election and chastised Attorney General Jeff Sessions for recusing himself from the probe.
the rich asshole appeared to directly float the idea of firing special counsel Robert Mueller at the start of his military leadership meeting on Monday, calling the special counsel’s investigation a “disgrace” and defending his firing of former FBI Director James Comey as the “right thing” to do.
“Why don’t I just fire Mueller?” the rich asshole asked in response to a reporter’s question. “Well, I think it’s a disgrace what’s going on. We’ll see what happens, but I think it’s really a sad situation ... Many people have said you should fire him. Again, they found nothing, and in finding nothing, that’s a big statement.”
the rich asshole’s comments came shortly after the FBI reportedly raided the office and hotel room of his personal attorney, Michael Cohen, on Monday afternoon. Agents seized documents relating to a $130,000 payment to Stormy Daniels, the adult film star, as well as emails, tax records and business documents, according to The New York Times.
Cohen’s attorney told the outlet a search warrant was issued after a referral from Mueller, but wasn’t directly related to his investigation.
“The decision by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in New York to conduct their investigation using search warrants is completely inappropriate and unnecessary,” the lawyer, Stephen Ryan, told NBC in a statement. “It resulted in the unnecessary seizure of protected attorney client communications between a lawyer and his clients.”
The president responded with fury after the raid, calling Mueller’s investigation a “total witch hunt” and a “disgraceful situation” in Monday’s meeting.
the rich asshole also slammed Sessions for his decision to recuse himself from the Russia investigation last year.
“The attorney general made a terrible mistake when he did this ... he certainly should have let us know if he was going to recuse himself, and we would have put a different attorney general in,” the president said. “So he made what I consider to be a very terrible mistake for the country.”
the rich asshole has repeatedly stated he wouldn’t have appointed Sessions if he knew he wouldn’t oversee the Russia investigation and has routinely said the action directly led Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein to appoint a special counsel.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) issued a stark warning to the rich asshole in a series of tweets late Monday.
“If [the president] is thinking of using the FBI raid to fire Special Counsel Mueller or otherwise interfere with the chain of command in the Russia probe, we Democrats have one simple message for him: don’t,” Schumer wrote. “Mueller, a Republican, has uncovered a deep & detailed pattern of Russian interference in our elections that led to indictments & guilty pleas. It also led to the the rich asshole admin itself leveling sanctions against Russian individuals, proof that it’s not a so-called ‘witch-hunt.’”
The investigation is critical to the health of our democracy, and must be allowed to continue.
POLITICS
the rich asshole Responds To FBI Raid Of Lawyer Michael Cohen’s Office
The FBI raided Cohen’s office on Monday to reportedly investigate records related to the attorney’s payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels.
President some rich asshole responded to reports that the FBI raided the office of his personal attorney, Michael Cohen, on Monday afternoon.
“So I just heard that they broke into the office of one of my personal attorneys, a good man, and it’s a disgraceful situation,” he said at the start of a military leadership meeting. “It’s a total witch-hunt. I’ve been saying it for a long time.”
Multiple outlets reported on Monday that investigators were searching Cohen’s office and his room at a Loews Regency Hotel, both in New York City. Among the documents the agents were reportedly examining were records related to a payment the attorney made to former adult film star Stormy Daniels, whose legal name is Stephanie Clifford.
Cohen acknowledged in February that he paid Clifford $130,000 in 2016, though he did not offer an explanation for the payment. The Wall Street Journal reported in January that Clifford had an affair with the rich asshole in 2006, and that Cohen paid the actress just before the 2016 election in exchange for signing a nondisclosure agreement and to refrain from speaking publicly about the matter.
Cohen has maintained that the rich asshole was unaware of the arrangement.
The White House has denied the affair. the rich asshole told reporters on Thursday that he never knew about Cohen’s payment, which has drawn scrutiny over the possibility that it could have violated campaign finance laws.
Reports surfaced in March that special counsel Robert Mueller was examining documents pertaining to incidents involving Cohen. Stephen Ryan, Cohen’s lawyer, confirmed to the Times on Monday that the search warrant for the FBI raid stemmed from a referral by Mueller, though it reportedly was not directly related to the ongoing investigation into Russian election interference.
the rich asshole has repeatedly called Mueller’s Russia probe a “hoax” and a “witch hunt,” leading to speculation over whether the president would consider firing the special counsel or otherwise halting the investigation.
On Monday, the president again blasted Mueller’s investigation as “a disgrace” and called the FBI raid of Cohen’s office “a whole new level of unfairness.”
When asked at a military leadership meeting whether he would fire Mueller, the rich asshole responded: “We’ll see what happens ... Many people have said you should fire him.”
This story has been updated with the rich asshole’s comments on Monday about Mueller.
POLITICS
If the rich asshole Bombs Syria, He’ll Be Doing It Without Congress’ Authorization
Republican and Democratic lawmakers say the president must go through them before taking any military action.
WASHINGTON ― President some rich asshole said on Monday he is not ruling out missile strikes against the government of President Bashar al-Assad in response to a suspected chemical weapons attack in Syria.
If he does take military action, he’ll be doing so without constitutionally required approval by Congress.
It’s Congress’ job to authorize any sustained U.S. military action. The problem is that lawmakers have been largely ignoring this mandate since 2001, when they passed a sweeping authorization for use of military force, or AUMF, allowing President George W. Bush to attack anyone connected to al Qaeda, anywhere, at any time.
That AUMF never expired. For years, President Barack Obama stretched its limits by arguing it allowed him to take military action against the Islamic State, since the terror group is an offshoot of al Qaeda. Now, the rich asshole is in a position where he can use the Iraq War-era authorization to bomb Syria, if he can make the case that Islamic State or al Qaeda targets are there.
The prospect of the rich asshole unilaterally taking military action is troubling to some lawmakers, in both parties, who say that it’s time to finally get rid of the 2001 AUMF and pass a new one with more narrowly tailored limits on scope, duration and costs of military action. They say the old AUMF is effectively a blank check for endless war.
“The use of chemical weapons absolutely requires a response from the United States,” Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) said in a statement. “But if that response is going to include military force, the president of the United States should come to Congress and ask for authorization before military force is used.”
“President the rich asshole has to come to Congress for approval if he wants to take further U.S. military action,” Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) said in a statement. “A year since the administration’s last airstrikes in Syria, we know there is a secret memo that details how the rich asshole administration views its power to take military action without consulting Congress. It’s past time for the administration to share its Syria strategy with the public and release that memo before it’s used to justify more airstrikes or new wars.”
Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) tweeted about it, too.
If President Trump is considering military action in Syria, he needs to come to Congress first. Congress, not the White House, is responsible for debating and authorizing war. Speaker Ryan needs to allow us to have this debate before this conflict escalates any further. twitter.com/nytimes/status…
A mix of rank-and-file lawmakers has been urging party leaders for years to get moving on a new AUMF, but nothing has happened. Most members of Congress simply don’t want to take a tough vote on authorizing war.
The constitutionality of using the 2001 AUMF for military action against the Assad government is questionable. But the rich asshole already did it in April 2017, when he launched 59 missiles at a Syrian airbase in what was the first direct military strike by the U.S. against Assad’s regime. That response was spurred by Assad gassing his own people, which is not connected to the Islamic State.
“Before President the rich asshole even considers taking the United States down a path of unilateral military action, the American people need answers. What does this administration hope to accomplish? What’s the end game?” asked Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.). “Are we moving from fighting ISIS to fighting Assad outright? Or are we withdrawing our troops and airpower from the region? In the space of a few days, the president has said both.”
the rich asshole said Monday that he’ll make his decision in the next 24 to 48 hours on how he plans to the latest suspected use of chemical weapons by Assad, which reportedly killed at least 49 people in a Damascus suburb.
“Nothing’s off the table,” the rich asshole told reporters.
POLITICS
Bolton Arrives At White House, And National Security Staff Start Leaving
A top National Security Council staffer may have been the first to go in an effort to plug leaks there.
WASHINGTON ― John Bolton began his first day as President some rich asshole’s third national security adviser ahead of schedule after a top aide to Bolton’s predecessor departed over the weekend in an apparent crackdown on suspected “leakers.”
National Security Council spokesman Michael Anton announced his exit for a lecturing and writing job at a small Christian college on Sunday, a day before Bolton started as head of the council.
Bolton insisted on the departure in a lunch meeting last week with the rich asshole’s previous national security adviser, Army Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster, according to a Republican close to the White House. Other changes are likely to follow, the source said, with Bolton expected to purge staff in order to bring in others more loyal to him, as well as to carry out a top priority for the rich asshole: ridding the NSC of those suspected of “leaking” information to the news media.
Anton, the source added, was the likeliest source of one of the most humiliating leaks for the rich asshole in recent weeks: the disclosure to The Washington Post that the rich asshole had specifically been warned, in all capital letters, “DO NOT CONGRATULATE” Vladimir Putin on securing another term as Russia’s president. That warning came prior to a phone call with the Russian leader following an election that was widely criticized as illegitimate. the rich asshole congratulated him anyway.
Anton could not be reached for comment. Queries to his White House email address and phone number went unanswered.
The White House disputed the idea that Anton’s departure was a condition of Bolton taking the job or even that Bolton had wanted him gone by the time he began his job on Monday.
A White House official who spoke on the condition of anonymity said Anton’s resignation was based on a “reasonable” assumption that Bolton would want to bring in his own team at the NSC. Anton, the official said, had been looking for a new job for some months, starting about the time the rich asshole began making clear that he was unhappy with McMaster.
The official even more emphatically denied that Anton leaked the now-infamous “DO NOT CONGRATULATE” instruction, calling that allegation “definitely not true.”
Bolton, 69, is now the third national security adviser to serve under the rich asshole since the president took office 15 months ago. The first, retired Army Gen. Michael Flynn, left after a month because of his lies to federal investigators in the Russia probe. He has since pleaded guilty.
McMaster, who plans to retire from the Army this summer, lasted a year, but his traditional foreign policy views that included a hard line against Russian expansionism clashed with the rich asshole’s more Putin-friendly approach.
Bolton last served in government as United Nations ambassador under President George W. Bush. A veteran of the State and Justice departments, Bolton became known for his readiness to undermine co-workers who disagreed with his interventionist foreign policy views. The animosity was such that fellow State Department officials testified against Bolton at his confirmation hearing for the ambassadorship. Bolton did not win Senate confirmation and took the job in a recess appointment.
Bolton had been considered for a rich asshole administration position during the transition, but ultimately did not join then. One of the reasons, reportedly, was that the rich asshole did not like Bolton’s large, bushy mustache. But in the past year, Bolton has been among the loudest pro-the rich asshole voices on Fox News, which the rich asshole frequently watches and on which he bases many of his policy views.
Anton also worked in the George W. Bush administration, but later came to view some of Bush’s foreign policy efforts ― such as the invasion and occupation of Iraq ― as misguided failures. He became an anonymous but vocal the rich asshole supporter during the 2016 campaign, famously writing in one essay that supporting Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton was akin to playing Russian roulette with a semiautomatic, while supporting the rich asshole offered the country at least a small chance of survival.
POLITICS
FBI Raids Office Of the rich asshole Lawyer Michael Cohen
Cohen’s lawyer called the search “completely inappropriate and unnecessary.”
The FBI raided the office of President some rich asshole’s personal attorney Michael Cohen on Monday.
The New York Times reported that investigators are examining records related to a payment Cohen made to adult film star Stormy Daniels, whose legal name is Stephanie Clifford, in addition to other unspecified topics.
As part of the raid, agents also reportedly stormed Cohen’s room at the Loews Regency on Park Avenue, where he’d been staying. Agents spent “several hours” combing through the hotel room, per Vanity Fair.
Cohen’s lawyer, Stephen Ryan, confirmed to the Times that the search warrant for the raid originated from a referral by special counsel Robert Mueller. It reportedly isn’t directly related to Mueller’s investigation into Russian election interference, however.
“The decision by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in New York to conduct their investigation using search warrants is completely inappropriate and unnecessary,” Ryan said in a statement to NBC.
“It resulted in the unnecessary seizure of protected attorney client communications between a lawyer and his clients,” he added. “These government tactics are also wrong because Mr. Cohen has cooperated completely with all government entities, including providing thousands of non-privileged documents to the Congress and sitting for depositions under oath.”
U.S. Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who has been overseeing Mueller’s investigation because Attorney General Jeff Sessions recused himself, approved of having a team other than Mueller’s carry out the action, Bloomberg reports.
The White House has declined to comment to HuffPost. Cohen did not respond to requests for comment. However, the rich asshole called the raid a “disgraceful situation” on Monday afternoon.
Sources familiar with the investigation told The Washington Post that Cohen is being investigated specifically for bank fraud and possible campaign finance violations.
Cohen said he paid Daniels $130,000 days before the 2016 election, reportedly in exchange for signing a nondisclosure agreement preventing her from speaking publicly about her alleged affair with the rich asshole in 2006. The White House has denied the affair. Last week, the rich asshole said he was unaware of the payment, which has drawn particular scrutiny because it could be seen as a violation of campaign finance laws.
Cohen has been a fiercely loyal adviser to the president. Last September, he told Vanity Fair he’d “take a bullet” for the rich asshole, viewing his role as “the guy who protects the president and the family.”
S.V. Dáte contributed reporting.
This story has been updated with the rich asshole’s response to the FBI raid.
Advertisers Flee After Sinclair Personality Threatens To Sodomize Parkland Survivor (IMAGES)
Conservative host Jamie Allman, whose station runs on the St. Louis ABC affiliate network owned by Sinclair broadcasting, threatened to anally rape Parkland shooting survivor David Hogg with a hot poker, then he locked down his Twitter account. But, that Twitter account was reported and may not be active at the moment, however, his business account is still active.
Thank you @Twitter for locking #JamieAllman @971FMTalk radio host acct after his vile assault threats against @davidhogg111 & other #STL students.
Such hate against kids is wrong.@NewtownAction @Indivisible_STL @ProgWomen
Allman tweeted last week that he was “getting ready to ram a hot poker up David Hogg’s ass tomorrow,” and added: “Busy working. Preparing.”
Allman is learning that consequences are a thing. A boycott effort ensued and so far, three advertisers have cut ties with the conservative host: Ruth’s Chris Steak House franchisee, the Gellman Team, and PALM Health.
This is a most unfortunate situation and what has taken place is contrary to PALM Health's core values. We have contacted the radio station not only to voice our concern, but we have also stopped advertising on Jamie Allman's show.
I insist @RuthsChris pull your ads on #AllmanInTheMorning @971FMTalk. He has attacked Parkland FL & Parkway Schools STL students in obscene vulgar social media remarks. STOP being complicit. @ProgWomen
Thanks @staceynewman for bringing this to our attention. Upon further investigation, our franchise partner has stopped its advertising. Thank you again for your concern.
People, your voices work!@TheGellmanTeam has responded to the cruel attacks on kids by #JamieAllman on @971FMTalk. Pulling their $$$.
Great work, @drewmanshow @ProgWomen
Sign Petition here to remove more companies - bit.ly/2Eq3J23
As the Riverfront Times notes, Allman supporters launched the hashtag #IstandwithJamieAllman to defend the conservative host.
After throwing his support behind Allman, this little feller who claims to have a media agency locked his account down.
A ‘good guy’ does not threaten to sodomize a teenager.
Former Speaker of the Missouri House Tim Jones (R) — who, as the RFT reports, also hosts a radio show on 97.1 — defended Allman.
He dared to stand up to David Hoog. And for our Second Amendment. Snowflake @staceynewman has decided to try to therefore weaponize all her leftwing liberal gun grabbers against him. #2A twitter.com/magathemaga1/s…
Jones’s advertisers should be contacted, too. Conservatives, you can quit calling yourselves ‘pro-life’ now, kthxbye.
Image via screen capture.
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April 9, 2018
If Laura Ingraham thought the storm over her crude attack on Parkland student David Hogg had blown over because she hid out for a week, she was flat wrong.
Fox News commentator Laura Ingraham is set to return to the airwaves Monday night after a week in hiding. But just hours before showtime, another advertiser has dropped her cold over her hateful attack on a Parkland shooting survivor.
According to The Wrap, Allstate announced in an internal memo to employees that it is pulling sponsorship from Ingraham’s program.
“Laura Ingraham’s comments about David Hogg were inconsistent with our values. Allstate believes in youth empowerment and last year helped 5 million youth find their voices and take action to make the world better,” the insurance company wrote.
Ingraham has faced a sustained wave of sponsorship withdrawals following her vindictive attack on Parkland teen David Hogg. She crassly mocked Hogg for not getting into his top college choices.
Allstate joins a stunningly long list of companies that have since shunned Ingraham’s program. Nutrish, TripAdvisor, Wayfair, Expedia, Nestlé, Hulu, Stitch Fix, Johnson & Johnson, the Atlantis Resort, Jenny Craig, Office Depot, Liberty Mutual, Ruby Tuesday, Principal Investment, Miracle Ear, Honda, Subaru, and Ace Hardware have all confirmed they will no longer advertise on the show.
Ingraham issued a feeble half-apology to Hogg a day after attacking him. She claimed to offer it “in the spirit of Holy Week.” But Hogg wasn’t having it.
“She’s only apologizing after a third of her advertisers pulled out,” Hogg said on CNN. “I think it’s important that we stand together as both corporate and civic Americans to take action against these people and show them that they cannot push us around, especially when all we’re trying to do here is save lives.”
Fox News has — all too predictably — stood by Ingraham. “We cannot and will not allow voices to be censored by agenda-driven intimidation efforts,” the network said.
But Allstate’s departure, just hours before Ingraham is back on the air, shows that Fox’s grandstanding holds little sway. And the network will continue to take a financial hit as long as it condones such toxic rhetoric.
POLITICS
Texas Senate Candidate Beto O’Rourke Says He’s Seen Enough Evidence To Impeach the rich asshole
But the Democrat wants to wait for the conclusion of the Russia probe first.
Rep. Beto O’Rourke (D-Texas), who is mounting a longshot bid against Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) in this fall’s midterm election, says he’s already seen enough evidence to support the impeachment of President some rich asshole.
“The answer is yes,” O’Rourke told a Texas radio host Monday, when asked whether he saw enough evidence to impeach the rich asshole. “Because I want to be straight with you. I’ve seen an attempt, no matter how ham-handed, to collude with a foreign government in our national election. I’ve seen an effort to obstruct justice in the investigation of what happened in the 2016 election.”
But the Democratic congressman, who has shattered state fundraising records in his campaign to oust the conservative incumbent, quickly added that the opening of impeachment proceedings against the president ought to wait for the conclusion of the Russia probe led by special counsel Robert Mueller.
“Impeachment as I understand it is tantamount to an indictment,” O’Rourke said. “It says that this should be decided by the Senate. As a prospective senator, we must await all the facts, all the truth, all the information forthcoming from the Bob Mueller investigation. The most important thing to me is to safeguard the independence and the integrity of the Mueller investigation.”
O’Rourke also said that enough Republicans must be on board with impeachment.
“Impeachment doesn’t make any sense right now, until you have reached the point that the facts are so compelling that a Republican colleague, it may be [Texas GOP Rep.] Jodey Arrington, it may be someone else, is able to come before their constituents and explain how they voted to impeach the president of their own party,” he said. “We are not there yet. So I’m going to stay focused on the issues that we can make a difference on right now. And we’ll leave this until we get the conclusion of that investigation.”
While few Democrats have gone so far as to call for the rich asshole’s impeachment, Republican leaders have begun warning that the rich asshole could face immediate impeachment proceedings if they lose the House in November, according to The New York Times. The tactic is reportedly meant to galvanize complacent GOP voters ahead of what is shaping up to be an extremely tough cycle.
David Axelrod, a former senior adviser to Barack Obama, urged Democrats “NOT commit to impeachment unless & until there’s a demonstrable case for one.”
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 “normaiize” impeachment as a political tool, it will be another hammer blow to our democracy.nyti.ms/2GHbmqL
This story has been updated to include more quotes from O’Rourke’s interview.
‘Keep your pants on!’ CNN segment goes off-the-rails after ‘the rich asshole apologist’ calls Russia probe a ‘sham investigation’
CNN's Don Lemon. Charles Blow, Ana Navarro and Steve Cortes
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A CNN panel on Monday devolved into chaos after Steve Cortes, a member of some rich asshole’s Hispanic Advisory Council, melted down over the FBI’s raid of Michael Cohen, calling special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia probe a “sham investigation” that’s “trying to usurp the power of the presidency.”
Cortes was reacting to the rich asshole’s anti-FBI rant, which followed reports that Mueller referred Cohen to federal investigators, prompting a raid on the longtime the rich asshole attorney’s residence and office.
“This is an outrage!” Cortes claimed. “What were we promised by the Mueller probe? We were promised Russia. And what do we end up with here? Sex and a tawdry tale from 12 years ago, far from when some rich asshole ever thought of being in office.”
“Can I stop you there?” CNN’ Don Lemon asked, noting the raid on Cohen’s office is separate from the Russia investigation.
“That’s disingenuous, Don, let’s be honest,” Cortes said. “Your show and this network for months and months have screamed, ‘Russia, Russia, Russia!’ Guess what? There’s nothing there that connects to President the rich asshole.”
Asked how he knows there’s nothing there, Cortes argued “20 lawyers, biased lawyers who hate the president” have used “tens of millions of dollars” and the full investigatory power of the United States government” and still haven’t found anything.
Lemon noted that many of the people running the Russia investigation are Republicans who “were hand-picked by the president of the United States,” prompting Cohen to retort, “being a Republican hardly means you’re in favor of President the rich asshole.”
“They’re Republicans who can’t stand the president, and by the way, I think the Republicans sadly are as complicit in what’s going on now in terms of these swamp tactics as the Democrats are,” Cortes complained. “Let me just be very blunt. The president needs to fire [Attorney General] Jeff Sessions. He needs to fire [deputy Attorney General Rod] Rosenstein. He needs to fire Mueller.”
“This is a sham investigation!” Cortes continued. “This is his own Justice Department trying to usurp the power of the presidency.”
Cortes then claimed the special counsel is creating a “witch hunt atmosphere that’s really, in many ways, reminiscent of what we see in dictatorships,” arguing Mueller is guided by a desire to “impeach the president of the United States.”
“Let’s just be honest,” Cortes said. “That is the end goal here. That is the goal of the Washington swamp. It’s the goal of the media, is to impeach the president.”
“That’s quite a tale you weave there,” Lemon replied.
“It’s quite a tale and it happens to be the truth,” Cotes said. “It’s why the president needs to take action.”
“Are we done now?” political commentator Ana Navarro asked sarcastically. “I’m one of those true Republicans that can’t stand this president because he has hijacked the Republican party, and he has hijacked democracy. That being said, frankly, Don, the rich asshole apologist on this panel has sidetracked so much, I kind of forgot what your original question was.”
Navarro said it’s “appropriate” for Cohen to be investigated because “one of the things that distinguishes us from many other countries is that in this country, nobody, not the president of the United States or his minions or his personal lawyer or whomever, is above the law.”
“I actually marvel at the fact that some rich asshole has gotten as far as he has gotten with his limited intellectual curiosity, vocabulary of about a four-year-old, and the worst damn lawyer that any of us have ever seen,” Navarro said. “[Cohen] couldn’t even get an NDA executed.”
“You’ve been demeaning the president in this manner for so long,” Cortes complained, before Navarro called him out for controlling the segment and not allowing fellow panelist Charles Blow to speak.
“You really do talk a lot,” Navarro said. “You talk and talk and talk.”
Blow began to speak about the “hoops” the FBI would have had to “jump through” in order for the rich asshole’s “witch hunt” narrative to be true, but Cortes immediately jumped in.
“It’s a lot of hoops, but Don, I want to know, what happened to Russia?” Cortes asked. “Where did Russia go?”
“Why are you talking, why does he keep talking?” Blow asked. “He’s been talking this whole time.”
“Why are you talking, why does he keep talking?” Blow asked. “He’s been talking this whole time.”
“Tell the rich asshole not to meet up with porn stars while he’s married, and drop his trousers and let her spank him with a magazine if he doesn’t want to get caught up in that!” Blow replied. “It’s very easy to keep your pants on. Keep your pants on!”
Watch below:
POLITICS
Federal Ethics Chief Asks EPA To Address ‘Concerns’ Over Scott Pruitt
“The success of our government depends on maintaining the trust of the people we serve,” David Apol wrote.
The federal government’s top ethics official says it’s time for the Environmental Protection Agency to address “extremely concerning” reports regarding EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt’s potential ethics violations.
David Apol, acting director of the Office of Government Ethics, called on Kevin Minoli, the EPA’s top ethics official, to investigate three areas of concern involving Pruitt’s living arrangements, use of taxpayer dollars and staffing decisions, according to a letter first obtained by The New York Times.
“The success of our government depends on maintaining the trust of the people we serve,” Apol wrote in the letter, which was sent to the EPA on Monday, according to the Times.
Apol continued: “The American public needs to have confidence that ethics violations, as well as the appearance of ethics violations, are investigated and appropriately addressed.”
In his letter, Apol brought up reports that Pruitt lived in a Capitol Hill townhouse last year co-owned by the wife of prominent energy lobbyist J. Steven Hart, whose firm represents several fossil fuels companies.
Apol also raised concerns about Pruitt’s use of taxpayer dollars for travel, security and some of his employees’ salaries. Pruitt’s frequent and expensive trips to and from his home state of Oklahoma were the subject of an EPA inspector general probe last year. Pruitt’s also been scrutinized over his security detail, which includes roughly 20 full-time, round-the-clock security guards ― three times as many as his predecessor had.
The EPA should also investigate whether employees were “reassigned or demoted” for challenging Pruitt’s potentially unethical behavior, Apol wrote. The Times reported last month that at least five EPA officials were “reassigned or demoted, or requested new jobs” after raising questions about Pruitt’s “spending and management.”
“If true, it is hard to imagine any action that could more effectively undermine an agency’s integrity than punishing or marginalizing employees who strive to ensure compliance with the laws and regulations that safeguard that integrity,” Apol wrote in his letter to the EPA
Neither Minoli nor a representative for the EPA immediately replied to HuffPost’s request for comment about the letter.
The Office of Government Ethics does not have the authority to discipline Pruitt, the Times noted, though the agency can request that President some rich asshole punish a federal official found to be in violation of ethics rules.
Pruitt has come under fire for at least 23 ethics issues, and the White House announced Friday that it would conduct a review of Pruitt’s conduct. But the rich asshole has defended his EPA head, tweeting Friday that Pruitt was “doing a great job.”
Democratic lawmakers and a handful of Republicans, including Reps. Carlos Curbelo (R-Fla.) and Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.), have called on Pruitt to resign in the wake of his ethics scandals.
On Monday, Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) requested a federal investigation into whether two top Pruitt aides’ raises violated multiple federal laws.
MSNBC’s Maddow marvels at the ‘incredibly specific steps’ required to green-light FBI’s raid on Cohen
MSNBC host Rachel Maddow (left) squints to read an excerpt from the US Attorney's manual held by NBC reporter Tom Winter (right). Image via screengrab.
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MSNBC host Rachel Maddow and NBC investigative reporter Tom Winter on Monday night marveled at how little fanfare went into the FBI’s raid of the rich asshole attorney Michael Cohen’s office at 30 Rockefeller Center in Manhattan — and how much paperwork prosecutors had to file to make it happen.
Holding a four-page portion of the U.S. Attorney‘s manual, Winter drove home how difficult it is for the bureau to raid a lawyer while upholding attorney-client privilege.
Here's some of the US Attorney Manual's Guidance for searches of subject attorneys. Note that even subpoenaing an attorney's client files, much less executing a search warrant, requires the Criminal Division AAG's approval. justice.gov/usam/usam-9-13…
“They’ve got to get all sorts of approval, all sorts of sign-offs, to be able to do this,” Winter said before elaborating on the sensitive handling of the information following its seizure.
The reporter went on to describe the creation of an “entirely separate team” tasked with analyzing the information. When and if the seized information is introduced as evidence, he said, the people on the team “can’t be aware of any communications that occurred as it related to attorney-client privilege.”
Watch below, via MSNBC:
POLITICS
Republicans Giving Up House Seats At A Rate Not Seen In Decades
More Republicans are departing “than any year since at least 1952,” according to an elections observer.
WASHINGTON ― Republican House members are leaving Congress at the fastest pace in modern history, according to elections data compiled by Daily Kos.
So far, 37 House Republicans have announced they are retiring, running for another office or resigning outright. Such an exodus usually precedes the beginning of every primary season, but this year is shaping up to break records.
“This is more Republican retirements than any year since at least 1952 (and possibly much earlier than that),” Daily Kos Elections editor Daniel Donner tweeted last week.
By contrast, the comparable number for House Democrats totals 18.
Victories in several local and state races across the country ― most recently in a Wisconsin state Supreme Court race ― have given Democrats more momentum for a potential blue wave in November’s midterm elections.
“I think the Republicans are in deep trouble in the House and the Senate as well,” Republican pollster Frank Luntz said Sunday on Fox News. “If the election were held today, frankly, I think Republicans would lose both.”
The head of a super PAC aligned with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) went even further on Monday, telling The Washington Post that GOP donors should steer their finances to efforts to save the Senate because the House may already be lost.
Republicans hold 237 House seats, Democrats 193, with 5 vacant. Republicans control the Senate by a narrow margin, 51-49, but most of the chamber’s seats on the ballot this year are held by Democrats, giving the GOP a better chance of keeping its majority.
In another sign of enthusiasm among Democrats, 1,415 party members have filed to seek House seats in primaries ahead of the fall elections, far surpassing the 934 Republican candidates, according to The New York Times. Notably, the number for the Democrats is also higher than the number of Republican candidates who ran for the House in 2010, when a conservative wave handed the GOP a sweeping majority in the chamber.
The prospect of a blue wave in November has alarmed President some rich asshole, who has taken to warning his supporters about what might happen in the midterms.
“We cannot be complacent,” the rich asshole said in a speech late last month.
The White House is reportedly working with congressional Republicans to tee up votes on several immigration measures and a balanced budget amendment. The proposals may not pass Congress, but the votes on them could give the GOP issues that it can use to criticize Democrats.
‘Leave Mueller alone’: GOP’s Joe Walsh begs the rich asshole to ‘turn off Fox News’ and ignore advice to fire special counsel
Former Rep. Joe Walsh (R-IL). Image via screengrab.
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Conservative commentator and former Illinois congressman Joe Walsh on Monday implored President some rich asshole not to listen to Fox Business host Lou Dobbs and fire anyone from the Justice Department over the FBI raid of his attorney Michael Cohen.
“If the rich asshole fires Robert Mueller, his Presidency would be over,” Walsh tweeted. “I know the rich asshole is really angry tonight, but no man is above the law.
“The irony,” he mused, is that “today’s raid probably has nothing to do with Robert Mueller or the Russia investigation.”
After noting that the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York — the man who authorized the raid — is backed by the White House, Walsh then moved on to Dobbs’ call for the president to fire Mueller, Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Deputy AG Rod Rosenstein.
“The absolute, without a doubt, 100% guaranteed worst thing the rich asshole could do right now is listen to @LouDobbs & all his other sycophants at @FoxNews, and fire Bob Mueller,” Walsh wrote. “The best thing the rich asshole could do right now is turn off Fox News.”
The absolute, without a doubt, 100% guaranteed worst thing Trump could do right now is listen to @LouDobbs & all his other sycophants at @FoxNews, and fire Bob Mueller.
The best thing Trump could do right now is turn off Fox News. mediaite.com/tv/fox-busines…
“President the rich asshole,” he concluded, “please leave Jeff Sessions alone. Leave Rod Rosenstein alone. Leave Robert Mueller alone. Leave the investigation alone. Do your job as President.”
POLITICS
the rich asshole Condemns ‘Sick’ Syria Disaster Yet Slams The Door On Countless Refugees
The U.S. has resettled only 44 Syrian refugees since October.
A reported chemical attack this weekend has once again thrust into view the Syrian government’s continued assault on civilians. But while President some rich asshole has condemned the attack, he’s the one responsible for denying a safe haven in the United States to the Syrian refugees most in need.
Ahead of a Cabinet meeting on Monday, the rich asshole used the word “atrocious” to describe the attack near Damascus that left at least 49 people dead, and said his administration will be making a decision on how to respond within the next 24 to 48 hours.
“If it’s the Russians, if it’s Syria, if it’s Iran, if it’s all of them together, we’ll figure it out,” he said, referring to parties he believes may have had a role in the attack. “We cannot allow atrocities like that. ... Everybody’s going to pay a price.”
A similar chemical attack one year ago similarly incensed the rich asshole, prompting him to order a military strike against Syrian President Bashar Assad’s regime.
His outrage doesn’t erase the fact that more than 5.6 million Syrians are now registered as refugees. The vast majority are languishing in camps or informal settlements in neighboring countries like Turkey, where more than 3.5 million Syrian refugees are living, and Lebanon, which hosts almost 1 million.
The U.S. has historically been the global leader in legal pathways to refugee resettlement. Atrocities in Syria prompted President Barack Obama during his last year in office to increase the U.S. refugee resettlement cap from 70,000 per fiscal year to 110,000.
Although the rich asshole’s latest iteration of a travel ban is still under court review, he capped the refugee resettlement quota at 45,000 in October, the lowest in U.S. history. So far this year, the U.S. has resettled 10,876 refugees, according to State Department data. Only 44 of them are Syrian. At this time last year, four times as many refugees had been resettled, 5,935 of whom were Syrian.
Tens of thousands of refugees are already stuck in the resettlement pipeline awaiting an answer from the U.S. government, refugee resettlement agencies have estimated. The administration’s decision in January to impose stricter vetting measures, which will likely slow down processing time, doesn’t help.
“They don’t really have other options for safety,” said Jen Smyers, the director of policy and advocacy for Church World Service’s immigration and refugee program.
This story has been updated to include the rich asshole’s comments on Monday.
Pro-the rich asshole anchor resigns after threatening to ‘ram a hot poker’ into the ‘ass’ of Parkland survivor David Hogg
Sinclair anchor Jamie Allman on his former set. Image via Twitter.
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An anchor at a Sinclair-owned ABC affiliate in St. Louis has resigned from his jobamid the fallout from a social media post where he threatened to sexually assault Parkland survivor David Hogg with “a hot poker.”
The Washington Post reported Monday evening that KDNL anchor Jamie Allman resigned following an advertiser boycott after a March 26 tweet where he said he was “hanging out getting ready to ram a hot poker up David Hogg’s ass tomorrow.”
@GetSpectrum please stop advertising on the Jamie Allman show. What he said about David Hogg is disgusting
Allman’s since-deleted tweet, the Post noted, is reflective of his pro-the rich asshole political stance espoused on his TV and radio shows and “appears to fit into the conservative-inflected programming for which Sinclair has become known” since a video of the company’s broadcasters reading a script about “fake news” went viral last week.
The anchor’s comments came amid a conservative backlash against Hogg, who is taking on the gun lobby in the wake of the Valentine’s Day mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.
POLITICS
Details Hazy On ‘Death Threats’ Against EPA’s Scott Pruitt
One supposed threat was a postcard calling Pruitt “ignorant.”
President some rich asshole cites “death threats” to justify the $3 million round-the-clock security detail for Environmental Protection Agency head Scott Pruitt, who cites his own security to justify lavish spending on first-class air travel.
But details about any threats to Pruitt are sparse. One supposed threat that was investigated was a postcard to Pruitt with the message: “You ignorant fuck,” according to EPA records. Authorities also investigated two protesters who interrupted a speech by Pruitt.
The EPA said there were “zero records” about death threats in reply to BuzzFeed investigative reporter Jason Leopold’s request for all information.
The Washington Post sought records under the Freedom of Information Act late last year, asking for “copies of all emails, letters, voicemails and other communication in which Administrator Pruitt was threatened with violence or which were otherwise considered to be threatening to the administrator.” The EPA’s answer, dated early December, was “undetermined,” with “no records released.”
The Associated Press reported last week that its “nationwide search of federal and state court records ... found no case where anyone has been arrested or charged with threatening Pruitt.” The EPA did not respond to AP’s request Friday to provide details of “any specific threats or arrests.”
The EPA official in charge of investigating threats ― assistant inspector general for investigations Patrick Sullivan ― would not specify the number of threats that had been logged against Pruitt. But he said in a September interview with E&E News that there were more investigations into threats against Pruitt than for either of his two immediate predecessors.
“I can tell you there’s more than three” investigations, Sullivan said. “That’s for sure.”
Officials launched an investigation after a postcard was sent to Pruitt saying: “You are evil incarnite.”
Sullivan told CNN in November there were “four to five times” more threats against Pruitt than his immediate predecessor, but refused to elaborate.
The EPA requested that Pruitt’s security detail be beefed up soon after he took office. Some $3 million has now been spent on Pruitt’s 20-man round-the-clock protection. In addition, Pruitt’s aides often cite security to justify huge first-class airfare expenses.
The spending is part of a long series of ethical problems plaguing the EPA chief.
Here are some alleged threats against Pruitt that were investigated, according to reports:
― The EPA inspector general in March 2017 investigated a postcard sent to the EPA that said: “Get out while you still can, Scott,” “You ignorant fuck,” and “You are evil incarnate,” according to a report obtained by E&E. EPA investigators discussed the message with the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force. But they couldn’t identify the author and concluded the message “lacked a clear threat.”
― Another postcard included “an implied threat that contained obscene language,” Sullivan told E&E. “It was not a direct threat.” The U.S. attorney’s office declined to prosecute, and the writer of the message apologized when contacted by federal officials, said Sullivan.
― “Threatening tweets” against Pruitt and Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) were investigated in April 2017. The writer told investigators he wrote the “flippant comments” while drinking and watching “The Rachel Maddow Show,” and had no intention of hurting anyone. He apologized, and a U.S. attorney’s office declined to press charges.
― The EPA launched a criminal probe in April 2017 into two female protesters who interrupted a speech by Pruitt. Officials submitted information for misdemeanor charges, but no action was taken.
― The head of the EPA’s Office of Criminal Enforcement told Politico in February that Pruitt’s safety was threatened when people yelled obscenities at him.
Sullivan said investigations had been launched into 40 threats against EPA “personnel and facilities” in 2017, according to E&E. He told NBC a month later the number was 70 investigations.
Three investigations were launched into threats against Pruitt’s predecessor, Gina McCarthy, but none against President Barack Obama’s first EPA chief, Lisa Jackson, according to records. One letter to McCarthy threatened: “We will hurt you and your family.” Sullivan used a version of the same quote as an example of a threat to Pruitt in his interview with CNN.
Fox News reported Friday that Pruitt has received an “unprecedented” number of death threats.
“According to EPA’s assistant inspector general, Scott Pruitt has faced an unprecedented amount of death threats against him and his family,” Fox quoted EPA spokesman Jahan Wilcox as saying. Wilcox’s statement “included a list of several published reports about such incidents,” Fox reported, without providing details.
Neither Wilcox nor other EPA representatives immediately responded to HuffPost’s requests for threat details.
Mueller probing Ukrainian billionaire’s 2015 payment to the rich asshole Organization solicited by Michael Cohen
Special counsel Robert Mueller on CNN (screen capture)
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Special counsel Robert Mueller is probing a $150,000 payment to the some rich asshole Foundation, made by a Ukranian billionaire in September 2015 in exchange for a 20-minute video appearance by the rich asshole.
the rich asshole’s attorney, Michael Cohen—whose office and residence were raided on Monday—“solicited the payment,” the New York Times reports.
Marcus Owens, the former head of the IRS Tax Exempt and Government Entities Division, called the payment “curious,” noting “it comes during a campaign and is from a foreigner and looks like an effort to buy influence.”
Earlier this year, Mueller subpoenaed the rich asshole Organization for documents relating to the donation, made by Ukranian steel magnate Victor Pinchuk. Mueller also solicited “an array of records about business with foreign nationals” from the president’s eponymous organization.
According to the Times, the line of inquiry is part of a broader look at foreign money flowing through the rich asshole and his associates.
The news comes after the rich asshole on Monday dismissed Mueller’s investigation as “disgraceful,” a “witch hunt” and “an attack on our country.”
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