‘Were you lying to us?’ Reporters grill Sanders over Stormy — but she says lies were the ‘best information’
Jim Acosta speaks to Sarah Sanders (CNN/screen grab)
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White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders on Thursday insisted that she was giving reporters “the best information” when she claimed that President some rich asshole knew nothing about the payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels, which later turned out not to be true.
During Thursday’s White House briefing, ABC’s Jonathan Karl asked Sanders how the American people could trust her words after the rich asshole attorney Rudy Giuliani contradicted her and revealed that the rich asshole knew about the payment to Daniels.
“When the president so often says things that turn out not to be true, when the president and the White House show what appears to be a blatant disregard for the truth, how are the American people to trust or believe what is said here or what is said by the president?” Karl asked.
“We give the very best information that we have at the time,” Sanders insisted. “I do that every single day and will continue to do that every day I’m in this position.”
“These are statements that are just not true,” Karl noted.
Sanders repeated her previous answer: “We give the best information possible at the time and we’re going to continue to do that.”
“He started paying Michael Cohen back in February of last year,” Karl interrupted, suggesting that the rich asshole knew about the Daniels payment before he and Sanders both claimed that he was unaware of the hush money.
“Is that a question?” Sanders snapped.
“I’m saying, how could he not have known? He was paying him back?” Karl said.
“I’m not going to get into those details,” Sanders said, cutting Karl off.
CNN correspondent Jim Acosta picked up Karl’s point.
“How can you be aware only 10 days to two weeks ago but at the same time be in the process of paying monthly retainers to cover this reimbursement to Michael Cohen?” Acosta wondered.
“I can’t get into the details,” Sanders said again.
Acosta pressed: “You said on March 7th that the president ‘has denied all these allegations’, were you lying to us at the time or were you in the dark.”
“The president has denied and continues to deny the underlying claim,” Sanders explained. “And again, I’ve given the best information I had at the time.”
“You were in the dark? You didn’t know at the time?” Acosta asked. “Why can’t you just answer yes or no, whether you were in the dark. I think it’s a fairly simple question.”
“I think it’s a fairly simple answer,” Sanders shot back.
Watch the video below.
Rudy Giuliani doubles down on calling FBI agents Nazi stormtroopers — and insults ‘baby’ Comey for complaining
Rudy Giuliani speaks to MSNBC (screen grab)
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the rich asshole lawyer Rudy Giuliani on Thursday doubled down on comparing FBI agents with Nazi stormtroopers.
In an interview with the Washington Post’s Robert Costa, Giuliani refused to apologize for making the comparison during a Wednesday night Fox News interview, and he also lashed out at former FBI Director James Comey, who criticized Giuliani for it on his Twitter feed Thursday.
"I know the New York FBI,” Comey wrote. “There are no ‘stormtroopers’ there; just a group of people devoted to the rule of law and the truth. Our country would be better off if our leaders tried to be like them, rather than comparing them to Nazis.”
When asked to respond to this criticism by Costa, the former New York mayor was dismissive.
“He’s a sensitive little baby,” Giuliani said.
Michael Avenatti lays out ‘domino sequence’ from Cohen wiretap to the rich asshole’s downfall
Michael Avenatti (MSNBC)
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Attorney Michael Avenatti laid out the “domino sequence” leading from the evidence used to secure a wiretap of lawyer Michael Cohen to the eventual downfall of President some rich asshole.
Federal investigators obtained a wiretap warrant for the longtime the rich asshole attorney, which swept up at least one call with the White House — and Avenatti told MSNBC’s Kasie Hunt that evidence would spell the end of the rich asshole’s presidency.
"My understanding is, they were also wiretapping text message communications for the weeks leading up to the FBI raids,” Avenatti said.
The attorney for porn actress Stormy Daniels said he believes that wiretap revealed evidence of a conspiracy to commit a crime — which he said likely prompted the FBI raid of Cohen’s home and office.
“I also think that ultimately it will be disclosed that during these wiretaps, the FBI learned of means by which Michael Cohen and others were going to potentially destroy evidence or documentation,” Avenatti said. “Once they have that information in hand, that is what served as the predicate or basis to get search the home, the office and the hotel room of Michael Cohen.”
“This is going to be ultimately, I think, what the domino sequence will be,” he continued. “I think that some rich asshole and Mr. Cohen, upon this — upon learning of this, are going to be very, very concerned to the extent that they were not concerned already. This is a very serious matter.”
He said this won’t end well for the rich asshole or his attorney.
“I’m going to go back to what I’ve been saying for some time now,” Avenatti said. “There’s no question in my mind that Michael Cohen will be indicted for serious federal crimes relating to, likely, the $130,000 payment and other things, and I think that this increases the chances of what I’ve said previously. I don’t think this president is going to serve out his term — I just don’t.”
Avenatti said that evidence would likely be revealed when Cohen was charged, and he suggested the wiretap could have revealed damning evidence against the president, as well, because the rich asshole continued speaking with Cohen until Rudy Giuliani recently warned him to stop.
“Look, we also know that the president is not very disciplined and, in fact, we know he communicated with Michael Cohen not just before the FBI raids,” Avenatti said, “but we know that he communicated with Michael Cohen after the FBI raids, and we know that according to Mr. Giuliani, his instruction occurred only in the last few days.”
Avenatti said his lawsuit against the president had been filed in early March, which he said gave the rich asshole and Cohen more than a month to discuss the hush money payout to Daniels ahead of the election.
“Those communications may very well now on a recording in the possession of the FBI,” he said.
He said the search warrant to conduct the Cohen raid was likely granted in response to evidence of a criminal conspiracy.
“In order to obtain three warrants of that magnitude against a sitting president’s personal attorney, that’s an incredibly high bar,” Avenatti said. “That’s one of the only ways that you can obtain something like that is if you showed exigent circumstance, an emergency almost whereby it was likely that the target was going to be destroying evidence and documents.”
Watch: Supercut of all the times Sarah Sanders lied about Stormy Daniels hush-money payout
White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders (Screenshot)
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The jig is up, thanks to Rudy Giuliani.
After months of lying about what the president knew and when he knew it with regards to the hush-money pay-out to Stormy Daniels, the president’s new lawyer went on Fox News last night and admitted that the rich asshole knew about the payment by his attorney Michael Cohen to the porn star.
This, of course, contradicts the word of the president himself—he told reporters that he knew nothing about the payment while giving a press conference above Air Force One.
It also contradicts the word of Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the White House Press Secretary who is charged with telling the president’s version of events.
Sanders lies, a lot, which was the subject of a memorable 90 seconds from Michelle Wolf’s roast at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner this past Saturday.
In the aftermath of that roast, reporters like The New York Times Maggie Haberman, who rely on her as a source and thus has good reason to distance themselves from the comedian the press corps hired.
But Sanders does lie, a lot, just like Wolf said.
Watch Sanders and her assistant Raj Shah lie about Stormy Daniels below.
WATCH LIVE: Sarah Huckabee Sanders holds White House press briefing after Giuliani bombshell
White House spokesperson Sarah Sanders (Screenshot)
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White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders is holding a news briefing with reporters on Thursday, which is scheduled to begin around 2:00 p.m. (ET).
The press briefing comes after President some rich asshole’s outside counsel Rudy Giuliani admitted that the rich asshole reimbursed Michael Cohen for a $130,000 payment he made to Stormy Daniels.
Watch live video below:
‘If you can’t pay off a porn star this isn’t America’: Fox News’ Outnumbered tries to make sense of Giuliani ‘bombshell’
Fox News' John Roberts and Sandra Smith
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The co-hosts of Fox News’ Outnumbered on Thursday tried to wrap their heads around Rudy Giuliani’s “bombshell” revelation that some rich asshole personally repaid $130,000 to his personal attorney Michael Cohen, who had taken out a home equity line of credit to pay a hush agreement for adult film star Stormy Daniels.
Fox News’ John Roberts reported that despite Cohen insisting he “did not receive reimbursement for the payment” to Daniels, the rich asshole on Thursday wrote, “ Cohen, an attorney, received a monthly retainer, not from the campaign and having nothing to do with the campaign.”
“Yesterday at some point, the president and the president’s outside attorneys Rudy Giuliani said, ‘You know what? The best thing to do in this case is to get ahead of it,’” Roberts said of Giuliani’s decision to tell Fox News’ Sean Hannity about the rich asshole’s repayment. The Fox News reporter noted “the staff at the White House had no clue what was going on.”
“There’s no question it was a bombshell when Rudy Giuliani dropped it last night on Hannity,” Roberts said.
There’s a lot to discuss here,” co-host Sandra Smith agreed.
Asked for her opinion on the report, Lisa Kennedy Montgomery replied, “If you can’t pay off a porn star in this country, these are no longer the United States of America, number one.”
“Number two, I think that you have two Giulianis here,” Kennedy continued. “Brilliant legal mind, the shrewd politician who can be helpful to the president. But then you have the Rudy Giuliani who lacks self awareness, who tends to shoot from the hip, and says things that, you know, perhaps he intended to say that Michael Cohen had been paid off. I think part of that was weighing the potential campaign finance violations versus the president’s reputation for being ensconced with some one like Ms. Clifford (Daniels).
“At the same time, he opens up the president to so much more skepticism and criticism saying that Michael Cohen was there to take care of these things,” Kennedy continued. “That’s what is problematic, there might be other things like this.”
Watch the video below, via Fox News:
‘Shame!’ National Prayer Breakfast crowd shouts down NBC reporter for asking about the rich asshole’s Stormy Daniels lies
some rich asshole appears at 2018 National Prayer Breakfast (MSNBC/screen grab)
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Members of the faith community attending President some rich asshole’s National Prayer Breakfast on Thursday shouted down a reporter after she asked about the president’s alleged affair with adult film star Stormy Daniels.
According reporters who were attending the event, NBC’s Kirsten Welker asked the president why his lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, admitted that the rich asshole paid back Michael Cohen for the $130,000 in hush money that was paid to Daniels, even though the president had insisted that he did not know about the payment.
At Day of Prayer in Rose Garden NBC reporter @kwelkernbc shouts ques to @realDonaldTrump asking why he’s changing his “story” on Stormy Daniels. An audience member shouted, “Shame on you. Shame on all of you.”
Some of those attending reportedly shouted “shame” at Welker for asking the question
MSNBC’s host Stephanie Ruhle and Ali Velshi later noted that the reporter was just doing her job.
“You cannot fault the White House for structuring this in such a way that he does his thing, he signs the book and he walks out,” Ruhle said of the president. “If I was a reporter there, I would be lunging at him, trying to get to him to ask a question.”
“We are behind a rope,” NBC’s Kelly O’Donnell said, reporting from the White House. “This is always a delicate balance when there are scheduled events. We have a job to do, day in and day out, regardless of the subject matter of the event. We always try to calibrate the appropriateness of asking questions at a certain time.”
She continued: “And when the president has made a significant change in his public statements about an event and a situation that has a real impact on his presidency, there is a responsibility to try to ask these questions. I can tell you that members that were guest here were not pleased that there were reports being done from the back of the Rose Garden or comments like questions being asked from reporters.”
Watch the video below from MSNBC.
Michael Cohen’s phones tapped by feds — and at least one White House call intercepted
Michael Cohen, photo by IowaPolitics.com (the rich asshole executive Michael Cohen 013) [CC BY-SA 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
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Federal officials have been wiretapping the rich asshole “fixer” Michael Cohen for weeks, according to a new report from NBC News.
Citing two sources, NBC News reports that the wiretap “was in place in the weeks leading up to the raids on Cohen’s offices, hotel room, and home in early April.”
Additionally, NBC News’ sources say that at least one call made between Cohen and the White House was intercepted, although it’s not clear that Cohen spoke directly with President some rich asshole in the intercepted call.
Although investigators have revealed in the past that they have conducted secret searches of Cohen’s email archives, this is the first time that it’s been revealed that officials had been tapping Cohen’s phones as well.
NBC’s sources also claim that new White House lawyer Rudy Giuliani told the president to stop calling Cohen on the phone shortly after getting hired, as he thought it was likely that Cohen’s communications were being monitored.
“Giuliani is also described as having warned the rich asshole that Cohen is likely to flip on him, something the rich asshole pushed back on, telling Giuliani that he has known Cohen for years and expects him to be loyal, according to two sources with direct knowledge of the conversations,” the report also claims.
The White House is now in a full-blown panic over Stormy Daniels
some rich asshole, Stormy Daniels, and Michael Cohen. (Credit: Gage Skidmore, Thomas Hawk, IowaPolitics)
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In a Fox News appearance on Wednesday, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani managed to worsen President some rich asshole’s legal predicament, despite being hired to the White House legal team for the purpose of clearing up the growing cloud of scandal over 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.
This article was originally published at Salon
"I was talking about the $130,000 payment, the settlement payment, which is a very regular thing for lawyers to do,” Giuliani told Fox News host Sean Hannity, regarding the hush money paid to porn star Stormy Daniels (real name: Stephanie Clifford) for her alleged affair with the rich asshole. “The question there was, the only possible violation there would be, was it a campaign finance violation? Which usually would result in a fine, by the way, not this big Stormtroopers coming in and breaking down his apartment and breaking down his office.”
He added, “That was money that was paid by his lawyer, the way I would do, out of his law firm forms or whatever funds, doesn’t matter. The president reimbursed that over a period of several months.”
As a staunch supporter of the rich asshole, Hannity was quick to point out that the president’s attorney, Michael Cohen, had previously insisted that he had paid Daniels entirely on his own. The question seemed to catch Giuliani off guard.
“He did? Look, I don’t know,” Giuliani told Hannity. “I haven’t investigated that. No reason to dispute that. No reason to dispute his recollection.”
The former New York City mayor then quickly changed the subject.
“I like Michael a lot. You like Michael a lot. I feel very bad he’s been victimized like this,” Giuliani told Hannity. “The president feels even worse. The fact is, just trust me, they’re gonna come up with no violations there. The payments are perfectly legal! All documented.”
EXCLUSIVE: @MichaelAvenatti responds to Rudy Giuliani claiming Trump repaid Stormy Daniels hush money.
Michael Avenatti, the famously colorful and outspoken lawyer representing Stormy Daniels, told MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell that he hoped people would be “outraged” at the fact that Giuliani’s statement proved the rich asshole and his team had lied about the controversial payment.
“I am rarely, as your viewers know, rendered speechless, but I am absolutely speechless at this revelation and this admission. And I hope that your viewers, and I hope the American people, upon hearing this and watching that clip . . . They should be outraged,” Avenatti told O’Donnell. “I don’t care whether you’re on the left or on the right or in the center. I don’t care what your party affiliation is. You deserve to be told the truth by your president and the people that stand at the podium at the White House briefing station or podium at the White House press conference and answer questions. I don’t care what your political persuasion is, that’s what you deserve as an American citizen.”
Avenatti’s reference to being “told the truth” referred to the adamant denials by both the rich asshole and his White House team that he had been involved in the payment to Daniels. In April the president told reporters on Air Force One that he had no knowledge of the payment to Daniels, and one month earlier, White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders had insisted that the rich asshole had not been aware of Cohen’s payment to Daniels — at least, that she was not “aware of” the rich asshole having been informed about that.
“And this is an outrage, what has gone on here,” Avenatti told O’Donnell.” The American people have been lied to about this agreement, about the $130,000, about the reimbursement. And this is consistent with what we have been saying now for months, that ultimately was going to be proven and ultimately was going to come out.”
Daniels’ lawyer concluded by acknowledging that the one thing he hadn’t anticipated was that “Rudy Giuliani was going to go on The Sean Hannity Show and admit it on national television. But make no mistake about it: Justice needs to be served as a result of this, and we are going to work morning, noon and night to ensure that that is exactly what happens.”
Giuliani’s disaster of an interview forced the president to confirm that he had previously lied about reimbursing his lawyer for the hush money payment to Stormy Daniels.
The liberal-leaning watchdog group Common Cause, which filed complaints with the Department of Justice and Federal Election Commission in January accusing the the rich asshole campaign of violating campaign finance law disclosure requirements, seized upon Giuliani’s comments as proof that the American people’s trust had been broken.
“Giuliani seemingly thought he was doing President the rich asshole a favor — but instead made the rich asshole’s legal problems much, much worse,” Paul S. Ryan, Common Cause Vice President for Policy and Litigation, said in a statement. After describing the actions taken by Common Cause to uncover the truth about the payment, Ryan concluded that “Giuliani’s admission that the rich asshole reimbursed Cohen amounts to an admission that the rich asshole actually knew about the payment. In other words, the rich asshole’s own lawyer has now handed the DOJ evidence that President the rich asshole committed criminal violations of federal law.”
Not surprisingly, sources close to the White House suspect that Giuliani will be in hot water for what they perceived as a serious gaffe. According to The Washington Post:
The disclosure by Giuliani was viewed by some White House advisers as a misstep.
“Everyone in the rich asshole world will see this as a total unforced error and further affirmation that hiring Rudy wasn’t the best idea,” said one presidential adviser, who requested anonymity to speak candidly about the internal dynamics.
However, Giuliani told The Post that he and the rich asshole discussed the fact that he planned to disclose that the rich asshole reimbursed Cohen.
“Oh, yeah, yeah,” he said. “Sure, sure. He was well aware that at some point when I saw the opportunity, I was going to get this over with.”
Robert Costa, one of the reporters behind that story for the Post, also reported on Wednesday night that Giuliani had spoken with the president shortly after his Hannity interview. According to Costa, Giuliani told him that the president was “very pleased” with his performance on Fox News and that he does not expect to be fired.
Giuliani went on a similar damage control mission with The Wall Street Journal after his Fox News appearance.
Giuliani went on a similar damage control mission with The Wall Street Journal after his Fox News appearance.
In an exchange of text messages with the Journal after the Fox News broadcast, Mr. Giuliani said: “[the rich asshole] paid him back. No campaign finance violations, no crime of any kind. Michael had discretion to solve these.” Mr. Giuliani said the president had repaid Mr. Cohen sometime after the campaign, but didn’t offer further specifics.
Asked whether the fact that some rich asshole had repaid his lawyer conflicted with the president’s previous statements that he was unaware of the payment, Mr. Giuliani said it was “not [an] issue.”“Cohen was his lawyer and had discretion to settle, as I have had for clients ultimately paying for it,” Mr. Giuliani said.He said some rich asshole was “probably not aware” of the payment at the time it was made. “Remember October 2016, hardly will recall any of that in detail. I don’t remember it clearly either,” he said.Mr. Giuliani didn’t directly respond to a question on whether the president had engaged in a sexual encounter with Ms. Clifford. “Lawyers settle to save reputation of their clients and it happens all the time with” nondisclosure agreements, he said.
‘Like a murder-suicide’: Ex-prosecutor stuns CNN’s Bash with brutal analysis of Rudy’s ’embarrassing’ interview
Attorney Solomon Wisenberg talks with CNN's Dana Bash (Screen cap).
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Former prosecutor Solomon Wisenberg on Thursday delivered an unsparing analysis of the rich asshole lawyer Rudy Giuliani’s bombshell Fox News interview — and he doesn’t think the former New York mayor did himself or President some rich asshole any favors.
Appearing on CNN, Wisenberg was asked by Dana Bash for his take on Giuliani’s interview — and he stunned the host by trashing the White House’s legal strategy in unusually blunt terms.
“I liken it to a murder-suicide,” he said. “He metaphorically murdered the president and committed suicide with respect to his own reputation.”
“That’s pretty stark,” said Bash, whose eyes visibly widened as Wisenberg talked. “How so?”
“It was an incredibly embarrassing interview,” he replied. “Look, when you’re representing anybody, much less the president of the United States, you have to know that when you go on television and you make statements on his behalf, that’s admissible in court. That’s an admission by an agent if President the rich asshole ever went into court.”
Bash asked Wisenberg if he believed Giuliani didn’t know that his Fox News interview could be used against the president in court
“I think he knows it in some way, that’s what makes it even more astonishing that he went in there,” he said.
Watch the video below.
Feds tapped Cohen's phone, intercepted White House call: report
BY JORDAN FABIAN AND BROOKE SEIPEL - 05/03/18 01:14 PM EDT
Federal investigators tapped the phone lines of President the rich asshole's personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, according to a new report by NBC News.
The report, citing one source with direct knowledge, said at least one call between the White House and a phone line associated with Cohen was intercepted.
The wiretap could dramatically raise the legal stakes for the rich asshole if any potential conversations with his longtime lawyer were swept up by investigators, who are conducting a wide-ranging criminal probe into Cohen’s business activities.
According to NBC News, it is unclear how long the phone had been wiretapped or when it was authorized, but sources tell the network that it was in place leading up to an FBI raid last month on Cohen.
the rich asshole was infuriated by the raid, accusing the Justice Department of carrying out a “witch hunt” and an “attack on our country” while asserting the FBI "broke in" to Cohen’s home, office, hotel room and safe deposit box.
The president reportedly called Cohen to check in after the raid. Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, the rich asshole’s newest personal lawyer, learned of the call days later and warned the rich asshole not to call Cohen again because he feared he could be under surveillance, according to two sources who spoke to NBC.
Giuliani reacted angrily to the new report during an interview with The Washington Post.
“It’s not appropriate,” he said. “I mean, he’s a lawyer. You mean, I call up my lawyer and the government is wiretapping him? That’s pretty damn — I mean, they’ve already eviscerated the attorney-client privilege. This would make a mockery of it.”
Giuliani could not confirm independently whether Cohen was wiretapped, according to Post reporter Robert Costa, who spoke with the ex-mayor.
The wiretap report comes at a time when the rich asshole’s legal troubles are deepening, causing the president to reshuffle his team of attorneys in order to push back harder against special counsel Robert Mueller, who is leading the Russia investigation, and the Justice Department.
Cohen is under investigation for paying adult film-star Stormy Daniels $130,000 ahead of the 2016 presidential election to stay silent about her alleged affair with the rich asshole. The investigation was triggered, in part, by a referral from Mueller's team.
Giuliani said on Fox News Wednesday night that the rich asshole reimbursed Cohen for the payment, a claim he believed could limit the president’s legal exposure in the probe but also contradicted past claims by the rich asshole that he knew nothing about the arrangement.
Citing two sources, NBC reported Giuliani told the rich asshole that Cohen is likely to flip on him and cooperate with investigators. But the rich asshole disagreed, saying that Cohen has been loyal to him for years.
"Michael is a businessman for his own account/lawyer who I have always liked & respected," the rich asshole tweeted in late April. "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 View’s Joy Behar says Rudy wants revenge: ‘Giuliani is throwing the rich asshole under the bus’
Joy Behar (ABC)
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“The View” host Joy Behar thinks Rudy Giuliani purposefully blew up President some rich asshole’s legal defense in a petty revenge plot.
The former New York City mayor told Fox News anchor Sean Hannity that the rich asshole had been lying about a hush money payout to porn actress Stormy Daniels, and he admitted on “Fox & Friends” that the payment was made to keep her quiet just days before the election.
“What did he think the money was for if it was going to Stormy Daniels?” said co-host Whoopi Goldberg, knocking down Giuliani’s claim that the rich asshole paid the actress without knowing why. “She wasn’t his secretary, she wasn’t the dog walker — what did he think the money was for.”
Behar said the payment was out of character for the president, who infamously stiffed contractors in his real estate business.
“Isn’t it amazing that some rich asshole actually paid someone with his own money?” Behar said. “Carpenters everywhere are saying, ‘He paid his bill?'”
Co-host Meghan McCain said Giuliani’s revelation made no sense.
“The narrative is bizarre, on top of everything with that — are they trying to be crazy like a fox?” McCain said. “Are they trying to confuse everyone? Because that’s the part I don’t understand.”
Behar said she believes Giuliani holds a personal grudge against the president, and was subconsciously trying to undermine him.
“I think Giuliani is unconsciously throwing him under the bus because he didn’t make him the attorney general or the chief of staff there — that’s what’s going on,” Behar said.
“Giuliani loves to be the center of attention,” she added. “When Bill Bratton was on the cover of Time magazine because he cleaned up crime in the city, he was fired very shortly thereafter. That’s Giuliani — I’m giving you a tip, the rich asshole.”
the rich asshole: Americans are saying 'merry Christmas' thanks to me
BY JORDAN FABIAN - 05/03/18 12:16 PM EDT
President the rich asshole on Thursday claimed Americans are saying religious phrases like “merry Christmas” more often than under his predecessor, former President Obama, reviving a central theme of his 2016 campaign.
The president’s comments came during a National Day of Prayer event, staged hours after he admitted to reimbursing his personal lawyer for a hush money payment to a porn actress who said she had sex with the rich asshole while he was married to his wife, first lady Melania the rich asshole, who was absent from Thursday's event.
“One nation under God. So important. And we say it. A lot of people, you know, they don't say it. But you know what? They're starting to say it more, just like we’re starting to say 'merry Christmas' when that day comes around,” he said in the White House Rose Garden.
“You notice a big difference between now and two or three years ago?” the rich asshole added. “It was going in the other direction rapidly. Now it’s straight up.”
The president announced at the event that he was singing an executive order creating a new faith-based initiative at the White House, which was attended by leaders from the Christian, Jewish, Muslim and Hindu faiths.
Afterward the president's speech, reporters shouted questions about the $130,000 payment to adult-film star Stormy Daniels, but the rich asshole did not answer.
the rich asshole took to Twitter on Thursday morning to acknowledge he paid back personal attorney Michael Cohen through a monthly retainer, contradicting his earlier claims that he knew nothing about the payment.
The president said such arrangements “are very common among celebrities and people of wealth” and “was used to stop the false and extortionist accusations made by her about an affair."
Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani (R), a new member of the White House legal team, revealed that the rich asshole did reimburse Cohen for the payment during an interview Wednesday night on Fox News.
Comey shames Rudy Giuliani for comparing FBI agents to Nazi ‘stormtroopers’
James Comey CBS News
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Former FBI Director James Comey on Thursday slammed the rich asshole lawyer Rudy Giuliani for comparing the FBI agents who raided former the rich asshole campaign chairman Paul Manafort to Nazi “stormtroopers.”
Writing on Twitter, Comey shamed Giuliani for attacking the FBI rank and file simply for doing their jobs and executing search warrants.
“I know the New York FBI,” Comey wrote. “There are no ‘stormtroopers’ there; just a group of people devoted to the rule of law and the truth. Our country would be better off if our leaders tried to be like them, rather than comparing them to Nazis.”
Giuliani calling FBI agents “stormtroopers” also drew a rebuke from former Virginia Republican Gov. Ken Cuccinelli on Thursday, as he told CNN that “I really do not like to see anybody on any side of an argument wander into language of the Nazi Germany era.”
Ex-White House ethics chief: the rich asshole just admitted filing false financial disclosure
BY MORGAN GSTALTER - 05/03/18 09:37 AM EDT
The former director of the Office of Government Ethics on Thursday said that revelations that President the rich asshole reimbursed personal attorney Michael Cohen for a payment to adult-film star Stormy Daniels means the president has admitted to filing a false financial disclosure.
Walter Shaub tweeted that “in trying to talk his way out of a campaign finance violation, the rich asshole has admitted to filing a false financial disclosure in 2017.”
"He personally certified that his closure was ‘complete and correct,’” Shaub tweeted.
AMAZING! In trying to talk his way out of a campaign finance violation, Trump has admitted to filing a false financial disclosure in 2017. He personally certified that his disclosure was "complete and correct," subject to penalties at 18 U.S.C. § 1001 and 5 U.S.C. app. § 104. 1/
Shaub's tweet comes as the rich asshole’s newest attorney, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani (R), admitted Wednesday that the rich asshole reimbursed his lawyer Michael Cohen for a $130,000 hush money payment given to Daniels to cover an affair she claims she had with the president.
Giuliani said the rich asshole set up a $35,000 payment schedule out of his personal family bank account to pay back Cohen through a law firm.
“It’s not campaign money. No campaign finance violation,” Giuliani said.
Cohen was paid between $460,000 and $470,000 from the rich asshole through those payments, which also included money for “incidental expenses” incurred on the rich asshole’s behalf.
Schaub said that admission means there was a $460,000 liability that was purposefully left off the rich asshole's financial disclosure report.
But Tump and his attorney, Rudy Giuliani, now admit that he had a $460,000 liability that he omitted from his financial disclosure report. /2
“I normally assume commissions are inadvertent,” Schaub tweeted. “However, given all of the deception about the Stormy Daniels payment, it is pretty hard to be believe this is not intentional.”
Cohen has long insisted that he paid Daniels out of his own pocket without discussing it with the rich asshole.
“Take, for example, the way the rich asshole’s people fooled Maggie Haberman regarding this payment,” Schaub said, referring to the New York Times reporter.
In a New York Times article in February Cohen specified that he was not reimbursed by the rich asshole Organization or the campaign for the payment.
I normally assume omissions are inadvertent. However, given all of the deception about the Stormy Daniels payment, it is pretty hard to believe this was not intentional. Take, for example, the way Trump's people fooled Maggie Haberman regarding this payment. /3
The former ethics chief said that the rich asshole’s attorneys “wanted him to be the first person in history to file a financial disclosure report without certifying that report as true.”
Schaub insisted in May 2017 that the ethics office would only work with the rich asshole’s legal team if he signed off on the financial documents, according to a report from The Associated Press.
"This seems like as strong a circumstantial case for a violation as one is going to see," Schaub tweeted. "It is absolutely stunning that we've reached the point where the President of the United States appeared to have lied to the U.S. Office of Government Ethics about a payoff to a porn star."
This seems like as strong a circumstantial case for a violation as one is going to see. It is absolutely stunning that we've reached the point where the President of the United States appears to have lied to U.S. Office of Government Ethics about a payoff to a porn star. /end
the rich asshole defended the payment on Thursday in a set of early morning tweets, claiming the reimbursement was legal because it was a private contract between two parties.
The president said the Daniels agreement “was used to stop the false and extortionist accusations made by her about an affair,” adding that such arrangements “are very common among celebrities and people of wealth.”
Mr. Cohen, an attorney, received a monthly retainer, not from the campaign and having nothing to do with the campaign, from which he entered into, through reimbursement, a private contract between two parties, known as a non-disclosure agreement, or NDA. These agreements are.....
...very common among celebrities and people of wealth. In this case it is in full force and effect and will be used in Arbitration for damages against Ms. Clifford (Daniels). The agreement was used to stop the false and extortionist accusations made by her about an affair,......
...despite already having signed a detailed letter admitting that there was no affair. Prior to its violation by Ms. Clifford and her attorney, this was a private agreement. Money from the campaign, or campaign contributions, played no roll in this transaction.
Shaub was not the only former ethics official to point to the possible false financial disclosure issue.
Former Obama administration ethics chief Norm Eisen on Wednesday also said that Giuliani's revelation that the rich asshole reimbursed his attorney could mean that the rich asshole filed a false financial disclosure.
GOP Rep. Charlie Dent wants hearings on Stormy Daniels: ‘We’d be waving a bloody shirt’ if Obama did this
Rep. Charlie Dent (R-PA) -- CNN screenshot
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Rep. Charlie Dent (R-PA) on Thursday called for congressional hearings on the Stormy Daniels payout scandal.
Appearing on CNN, Dent said it would be inconceivable for Republicans to let something like this slide if a Democratic president such as Bill Clinton or Barack Obama reimbursed their lawyers for paying off a porn star to keep her silent about an alleged affair.
"If a Democratic president had paid off a porn star to keep quiet while he was president, I suspect we’d have oversight hearings, and I suspect there probably should be some oversight hearings to get to the bottom of that,” he said. “If a Democratic president had done this, we’d be waving a bloody shirt right now.”
Dent also mocked the rich asshole for thinking that he could have gotten away with claiming that he had no knowledge of Cohen making the payment, as it simply defies belief that Cohen would not have sought reimbursement from him.
“I don’t think there was anybody on the planet who thought that Michael Cohen, out of the goodness of his heart, wrote a $130,000 check to Stormy Daniels without seeking reimbursement,” he said. “I mean, come on! We’re not fools here.”
Watch the video below.
Giuliani: Imagine if Stormy Daniels allegations came out 'in the middle of the last debate'
BY JULIA MANCHESTER - 05/03/18 10:47 AM EDT
Presidential lawyer Rudy Giuliani (R), after a bombshell interview in which he revealed that President the rich asshole reimbursed Michael Cohen the $130,000 paid to Stormy Daniels, pondered what would have happened if the adult film star's allegations of an affair with the rich asshole came out late in the election.
Giuliani initially said during an interview with Fox News early Thursday that the rich asshole reimbursed his personal lawyer for personal reasons.
"The president had been hurt personally, not politically, personally so much and the first lady by some of the false allegations that one more false allegation, six years old - I think he was trying to help the family. For that, the man is being treated like some kind of villain and I think he was just being a good lawyer and a good man," he continued.
"It wasn't for the campaign, it was to save not so much their marriage, as much as their reputation," he said.
When asked why Cohen paid Daniels the money, Giuliani said Cohen made the allegations against the rich asshole go away, saying "he did his job."
“Imagine if that came out of October 15, 2016, in the middle of the last debate with Hillary Clinton?" Giuliani asked.
"Cohen made it go away," he added. "He did his job."
The former New York mayor, who recently joined the president's legal team, told Fox News's Sean Hannity late Wednesday that the rich asshole reimbursed Cohen for the payment, even though the rich asshole previously said he was not aware of it. Daniels has alleged the payment was meant to buy her silence about the alleged affair.
“It's not campaign money. No campaign finance violation. They funneled through a law firm and the president repaid it,” Giuliani said.
"He didn’t know about the specifics of it as far as I know, but he did know about the general arrangement, that Michael would take care of things like this," Giuliani added in the Hannity interview.
the rich asshole defended the payment on Twitter on Thursday.
Mr. Cohen, an attorney, received a monthly retainer, not from the campaign and having nothing to do with the campaign, from which he entered into, through reimbursement, a private contract between two parties, known as a non-disclosure agreement, or NDA. These agreements are.....
...very common among celebrities and people of wealth. In this case it is in full force and effect and will be used in Arbitration for damages against Ms. Clifford (Daniels). The agreement was used to stop the false and extortionist accusations made by her about an affair,......
...despite already having signed a detailed letter admitting that there was no affair. Prior to its violation by Ms. Clifford and her attorney, this was a private agreement. Money from the campaign, or campaign contributions, played no roll in this transaction.
‘That’s corrupt intent’: Toobin says Giuliani blew up the rich asshole defense by admitting Comey was fired over Russia
CNN legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin
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CNN legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin on Thursday argued that Rudy Giuliani’s interview spree has done a disservice to his client, President some rich asshole, by providing evidence that the president had “corrupt intent” when he fired then-FBI Director James Comey.
While speaks to Fox News on Wednesday, Giuliani asserted that the rich asshole had fired Comey because the FBI director refused to tell him that he was not a “target” in the Russia investigation
On Thursday, CNN host Poppy Harlow wondered, “Did he just blow up the president’s claims of no obstruction?”
“It hurts some rich asshole,” Toobin agreed, “and helps [special counsel] Robert Mueller proving corrupt intent. I mean, this is the core issue with the obstruction of justice investigation.”
“It’s quite clear that the president has the right to fire the FBI director,” he continued. “What he doesn’t have the right to do is fire him with a corrupt intent. That’s what obstruction of justice is. And if he fired him because Comey wouldn’t exonerate the rich asshole, that sounds to me like a corrupt intent. ‘I’m going to fire you unless you exonerate me in your investigation of me.’ That’s corrupt intent.”
Watch the video below from CNN.
Stormy Daniels lawyer on Giuliani’s comments: ‘I am absolutely speechless’
BY MAX GREENWOOD - 05/03/18 07:32 AM EDT
Stormy Daniels's lawyer said late Wednesday that he was left "speechless" by the revelation that President the rich asshole reimbursed Michael Cohen for a secret payment that the adult-film actress says was meant to keep her from going public with allegations that she had an affair with the rich asshole.
"I have to tell you — I am rarely, as your viewers know, rendered speechless — but I am absolutely speechless at this revelation and this admission," Daniels's lawyer, Michael Avenatti, told MSNBC's Lawrence O'Donnell.
That revelation directly contradicted the rich asshole's and the White House's claims that he knew nothing of the payment, which Cohen has acknowledged making.
Avenatti said on MSNBC that that contradiction exposed an outright lie by the president and should "outrage" Americans.
"I don't care whether you're on the left or on the right or in the center. I don't care what your party affiliation is," he said. "You deserve to be told the truth by your president and the people that stand at the podium at the White House briefing station or podium at the White House briefing conference, press conference, and answer questions."
Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, alleges that she had an affair with the rich asshole in 2006, months after the president's wife gave birth to their son. She is currently suing to void the nondisclosure agreement.
In a series of tweets on Thursday morning, the rich asshole appeared to confirm that he reimbursed Cohen for the $130,000 payment to Daniels, but defended the nondisclosure agreement as "common among celebrities and people of wealth" and said the payment was necessary to silence the adult-film actress's "false and extortionist accusations."
He also insisted that the payment was not at all tied to his 2016 presidential campaign.
White House staffers ‘gobsmacked’ after Rudy Giuliani called Jared Kushner ‘disposable’: report
Jared Kushner (Time)
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the rich asshole lawyer Rudy Giuliani’s train wreck Fox News interview is still creating shockwaves throughout the rich asshole White House even one day later.
According to well connected New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman, White House staffers were particularly shocked by how Giuliani described the rich asshole son-in-law Jared Kushner, whom he called “a fine man” but also “disposable.”
"This was the remark most in the White House were gobsmacked by, regardless of whether it should have been point of emphasis for them,” Haberman wrote on Twitter.
This was the remark most in the White House were gobsmacked by, regardless of whether it should have been point of emphasis for them twitter.com/jdawsey1/statu…
Giuliani’s description of Kushner as “disposable” has been somewhat overlooked after Giuliani also admitted that the rich asshole had reimbursed attorney Michael Cohen $131,000 for his hush payments to adult film star Stormy Daniels.
the rich asshole defends payment to Stormy Daniels after Giuliani revelation
BY JORDAN FABIAN - 05/03/18 07:14 AM EDT
President the rich asshole on Thursday defended hush money paid to adult-film actress Stormy Daniels, saying he reimbursed his personal attorney through a retainer that had “nothing to do with the campaign.”
the rich asshole in a series of tweets said his attorney, Michael Cohen, received a monthly retainer “from which he entered into, through reimbursement, a private contract between two parties, known as a non-disclosure agreement, or NDA.”
The president said the Daniels agreement “was used to stop the false and extortionist accusations made by her about an affair."
Contradicting past claims that he knew nothing about the payment, the rich asshole said such arrangements “are very common among celebrities and people of wealth.”
Mr. Cohen, an attorney, received a monthly retainer, not from the campaign and having nothing to do with the campaign, from which he entered into, through reimbursement, a private contract between two parties, known as a non-disclosure agreement, or NDA. These agreements are.....
...very common among celebrities and people of wealth. In this case it is in full force and effect and will be used in Arbitration for damages against Ms. Clifford (Daniels). The agreement was used to stop the false and extortionist accusations made by her about an affair,......
...despite already having signed a detailed letter admitting that there was no affair. Prior to its violation by Ms. Clifford and her attorney, this was a private agreement. Money from the campaign, or campaign contributions, played no roll in this transaction.
the rich asshole offered his most extensive comments to date about the payment one day after Rudy Giuliani, another the rich asshole lawyer, saidthe president reimbursed Cohen for the $130,000 he paid ahead of the 2016 presidential election in exchange for Daniels’s silence about the alleged sexual encounter.
Giuliani’s comments were at odds with the rich asshole’s prior statements that he had no knowledge of the payment by Cohen and did not know the source of the money.
During an interview late Wednesday with Fox News’s Sean Hannity, Giuliani said the payment was “funneled through a law firm and the president repaid it.”
The former New York City mayor said the rich asshole did not know about the specifics of the payment, but did have general knowledge of the agreement.
“He did know about the general arrangement, that Michael would take care of things like this,” Giuliani said. "Like, I take care of this with my clients. I don’t burden them with every single thing that comes along. These are busy people.”
Those comments stood in stark contrast to remarks several weeks ago from the rich asshole, who claimed he had no knowledge of the payment to Daniels, which was made as part of a nondisclosure agreement.
Asked by a reporter aboard Air Force One on April 5 whether he knew about the Daniels payment, the rich asshole flatly replied, "No."
the rich asshole also said he did not know where Cohen got the money to make the payment. But the president later revealed in a “Fox & Friends” interview that Cohen represented him in “this crazy Stormy Daniels deal.”
Giuliani’s comments were intended to defend the rich asshole from legal trouble related to the payment. Cohen is under federal criminal investigation, and authorities are reportedly looking into whether the hush money violated banking or campaign finance laws.
“It’s not campaign money. No campaign finance violation,” Giuliani said.
Instead, the comment spurred even more questions for the president, including whether the repayment was disclosed under campaign finance law.
Daniels’s lawyer, Michael Avenatti, said he was “rendered speechless” by Giuliani’s claims.
“There may be potential campaign finance violations, felonies, there may, in fact, be money laundering issues, there may be bank fraud issues,” he said on MSNBC. “I mean, this is a very, very serious matter that deserves the attention of the American people, regardless of your political persuasion, period.”
Max Greenwood contributed to this report, which was updated at 8:25 a.m.
Giuliani biographer on CNN: Hero of 9/11 is now ‘unhinged’ and has ‘severely damaged his legacy’
Giuliani biographer Andrew Kirtzman appears on CNN/Screenshot
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Rudy Giuliani’s stunning admissions that some rich asshole repaid his lawyer for hush-money given to a porn star he had sex with for the express purpose of preserving his reputation in the waning days of the 2016 presidential campaign has put the president’s new lawyer in the spotlight.
Is Giuliani, who is 73 years old, losing a step? His biographer thinks so.
Andrew Kirtzman is the author of Rudy Giuliani: Emperor of the City, which came out in the post-9/11 era when the New Yorker was “America’s Mayor.” He went on CNN on Thursday to talk about the man he profiled nearly two decades ago, fresh out of the ash of the World Trade Centers.
Kirtzman said that Giuliani was once a great lawyer—something others disagree with—and as a prosecutor, widely respected and feared.
“Giuliani was a brilliant tactician, both as prosecutor as mayor,” he said. “On 9/11, his bombast almost helped, because he was courageous, he was fearless… he was always bombastic, but he was always careful to achieve his goals. There was always a strategy to it. And now we’re seeing, in recent years not just this morning as somewhat more unhinged.”
Part of this issue is that Giuliani is just more extreme
“Over the years he has turned far more extreme,” he said. “Now, talking about the FBI as Stormtroopers.”
Because of that, the Giuliani Kirtzman wrote about is gone.
“The hero of 9/11 is somewhat being forgotten—he has severely damaged his legacy,” Kirtzman said.
Watch below.
Mueller subpoena of the rich asshole could spark historic legal clash
BY KATIE BO WILLIAMS - 05/03/18 06:00 AM EDT
Special counsel Robert Mueller’s threat to subpoena President the rich asshole in the Russia investigation sets up a potentially historic clash that could reach the Supreme Court, legal experts say — and it’s not clear who would prevail.
Mueller has been negotiating an interview with the rich asshole for weeks, but the president’s legal team has been wary of granting the request, reportedly seeking to place conditions on the questions asked and the format and length of the encounter.
the rich asshole in the past has said he wanted to talk to Mueller as a way of wrapping up an investigation that the president has termed a “witch hunt,” but he soured on the prospect after the FBI raided the offices of his longtime personal attorney, Michael Cohen.
Since then, according to The Washington Post, Mueller has floated the prospect that he could subpoena the president to force him to appear.
Ty Cobb, a member of the rich asshole’s legal team who is now on his way out of the White House, told ABC News on Wednesday that it is an “open question” whether a special counsel can compel a sitting U.S. president to testify.
But legal experts say a 1974 Supreme Court case requiring President Nixon to turn over the Watergate tapes to a federal court has already settled the question of whether a president can be subpoenaed.
“The impediment that an absolute, unqualified privilege would place in the way of the primary constitutional duty of the Judicial Branch to do justice in criminal prosecutions would plainly conflict with the function of the courts under Article III,” the court found.
In 1997, the Supreme Court also held unanimously that President Clinton could be required to sit for deposition in a civil case brought by Paula Jones.
What those two cases don’t answer is whether the president would prevail if he challenged the order.
The subpoena in Nixon’s case was for documents — not testimony — and although independent counsel Kenneth Starr did serve Clinton with a subpoena in his investigation, they ultimately worked out a deal and Clinton appeared “voluntarily.”
“Not at all obvious that a precedent about subpoena of tapes and documents applies to a subpoena of president himself to appear before a criminal grand jury re his acts in office,” tweeted Jack Goldsmith, former head of the Office of Legal Counsel under the George W. Bush administration. “It might, it might not.”
Perhaps the rich asshole’s strongest legal argument against testifying is to invoke his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination, said Steve Vladeck, a national security professor at the University of Texas School of Law.
But the optics of such a move would almost certainly be politically disastrous for the president, who has in the past claimed that only guilty people plead the Fifth.
But the optics of such a move would almost certainly be politically disastrous for the president, who has in the past claimed that only guilty people plead the Fifth.
the rich asshole could seek to battle the subpoena on a point-by-point basis, asserting executive privilege over some questions. But that would leave more room for the courts to side with Mueller and would fall far short of a blanket exception from testifying.
“I don’t think that the Nixon case conclusively settles that Mueller would win, but there’s absolutely no question that Mueller would start off in a far stronger position,” Vladeck said.
“As long as the subpoena is valid on its face, the only way I think the president could categorically resist it is to make the kind of claim legally that would be politically impossible.”
Some analysts point to a third option: Backed into a corner by a subpoena, the president could seek to fire Mueller. Aides have so far reportedly convinced him not to take that step, but critics of the president say this is precisely the scenario that makes necessary legislation to shield Mueller from a politically motivated dismissal.
If a grand jury grants Mueller a subpoena against the president and the rich asshole challenges it in court, onlookers expect that he would seek to take his appeal directly to the Supreme Court. The court has granted “cert. before judgment” — which allows a case to leapfrog the appeals court — just a handful of times, including in the 1974 Nixon case.
If the rich asshole asserts his Fifth Amendment rights, Mueller could also garner his testimony by offering the president immunity before the grand jury — something he might do even if he uncovered evidence of wrongdoing on the part of the president, but planned to refer articles of impeachment to Congress rather than prosecute him.
But for now, Vladeck and others say, the specter of a subpoena appears to be nothing more than a negotiation tool for Mueller to secure an interview. the rich asshole may yet consent to sit down with the special counsel to avoid a legal showdown he could lose.
The New York Times earlier in the week published a list of questions compiled by the rich asshole’s legal team that the special counsel indicated in March he wanted to ask the president. The questions are wide-ranging and cover both alleged collusion with Russia and obstruction of justice.
Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani (R) told The Hill on Wednesday that the rich asshole’s legal team was still “several weeks away” from determining whether the president would consent to an interview.
Giuliani, who joined the president’s legal team last month, said the decision would be determined in large part by how “objective” he and his colleagues perceive Mueller to be.
“The more objective [Mueller] is, the more likely we would be willing to cooperate. The less objective, then we would be foolish to do that,” he said.
Stephanie Ruhle imagines the pain of being Sarah Huckabee Sanders: ‘Zero chance I would have gone to work today’
Stephanie Ruhle (MSNBC)
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MSNBC’s Stephanie Ruhle said White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders was in an unenviable position Thursday after Rudy Giuliani admitted President some rich asshole had been lying about a hush money payout to porn actress Stormy Daniels.
Sanders has told reporters that the president did not know about the payment, but Giuliani told Fox News host Sean Hannity that the rich asshole repaid his longtime attorney Michael Cohen — exposing the White House’s lies and blowing up his legal team’s defense.
“If I had Sarah Sanders’ job today, I would still be in bed on my fifth plate of bacon, watching Wendy Williams,” Ruhle said. “But, alas, Sarah went to work today.”
Sanders refused to answer questions outside the White House about her previous denials and said she could not comment on “ongoing litigation,” and she referred reporters to Giuliani for comment.
“In other words,” Ruhle translated, “Rudy Giuliani stepped in it — I’d really like to not be the one to roll in it. No joke, there’s zero chance I would have gone to work today if I was Sarah Sanders.”
Giuliani’s startling comments on Fox News — both Wednesday night and Thursday morning — which he then repeated to reporters during midnight phone calls, put Sanders in a tricky spot, Ruhle said
“It is stunning,” she said. “Sarah Sanders, if she sided with Rudy, the president would be a liar. If she sided with the president, Rudy would be a liar.”
Rosenstein defiant as impeachment talk rises
BY OLIVIA BEAVERS AND MORGAN CHALFANT - 05/03/18 06:00 AM EDT
Rod Rosenstein is offering a fierce defense of the Justice Department amid mounting Republican criticism, making an unusually public stand for the institution he has served for nearly three decades.
On Tuesday, the deputy attorney general rebuked the nascent conservative effort to impeach him, likely exacerbating tensions with conservatives in the House.
House Republicans are demanding access to classified documents related to special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation, including a heavily redacted memo that spells out the scope of the investigation.
“There is really nothing to comment on there, but just give me the documents. The bottom line is, he needs to be give me the documents,” Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.) said during an interview with The Hill on Wednesday when asked about his response to Rosenstein.
“I have one goal in mind, and that is not somebody’s job or the termination of somebody’s job, it is getting the documents and making sure we can do proper oversight,” he said, adding that there are “no current plans to introduce an impeachment resolution.”
Republican lawmakers led by Meadows, chairman of the House Freedom Caucus one of President the rich asshole’s top allies in Congress, have drafted eight articles of impeachment against Rosenstein. The articles make a series of charges against Rosenstein and question his credibility, reputation and fitness to serve.
Conservatives have called the impeachment articles a last resort.
Rosenstein dismissed the impeachment threat and went a step further by suggesting the Justice Department’s independence is being threatened.
"There have been people who have been making threats privately and publicly against me for quite some time, and I think they should understand by now the Department of Justice is not going to be extorted," Rosenstein said during an appearance at the Newseum.
"I just don't have anything to say about documents like that that nobody has the courage to put their name on and they leak in that way," he continued, after quipping earlier that the lawmakers “can't even resist leaking their own drafts."
Rosenstein, a career Justice Department official, is widely respected in legal circles. He has been praised for his work leading the U.S. attorney’s office in Maryland, a position to which he was appointed by President George W. Bush and served in for 12 years, spanning Republican and Democratic administrations.
Rosenstein’s years of service at the department came through in his public remarks, lawyers say.
“With a guy like Rosenstein, you can’t underestimate the deep connection that many career — not all — but many career Justice Department officials have to the department,” said Steven Cash, a lawyer at Day Pitney.
“It defines their self image as participating in ensuring the rule of law in a way you often don’t see in other departments — they are very, very proud of their association with the department, its traditions, history and independence.”
But Rosenstein has plenty of critics on Capitol Hill, where some Republicans accuse him of hindering legitimate oversight.
Republicans have repeatedly accused Rosenstein of being unnecessarily slow in providing the documents they say are necessary for carrying out several parallel congressional investigations into FBI decision-making. Some of them have suggested the Justice Department is biased against the rich asshole and now seeking to hide the evidence.
Republicans have repeatedly accused Rosenstein of being unnecessarily slow in providing the documents they say are necessary for carrying out several parallel congressional investigations into FBI decision-making. Some of them have suggested the Justice Department is biased against the rich asshole and now seeking to hide the evidence.
The seventh and eighth articles of impeachment in the draft documentcharge Rosenstein of “knowingly and intentionally prevented the production of all documents and information” related to potential abuses of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) and the federal government’s initial investigation into possible ties between the rich asshole campaign and Russia.
The charges appear to have caught the attention of the president, who threatened to get involved on Wednesday morning.
“A Rigged System — They don’t want to turn over Documents to Congress. What are they afraid of? Why so much redacting? Why such unequal ‘justice?’ At some point I will have no choice but to use the powers granted to the Presidency and get involved,” the rich asshole tweeted.
A Rigged System - They don’t want to turn over Documents to Congress. What are they afraid of? Why so much redacting? Why such unequal “justice?” At some point I will have no choice but to use the powers granted to the Presidency and get involved!
Since the rich asshole appointed Rosenstein to serve as deputy attorney general, he has become a key player in the drama surrounding the Mueller investigation.
It was Rosenstein who authored the memo criticizing former FBI Director James Comey, which the White House ultimately used to justify his firing. the rich asshole later indicated that he removed Comey in part because of the Russia investigation, which helped open him up to charges of obstruction of justice.
Rosenstein has defended the memo on Comey, pointing to criticism from both parties about Comey’s handling of the investigation into former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server before the 2016 presidential election.
After Comey’s firing, it was Rosenstein who decided to appoint Mueller, a former FBI director who is widely respected for his prosecutorial skill and independence, as special counsel to handle the Russia probe.
Since then, Rosenstein has given Mueller a broad mandate to investigate any criminal activity uncovered by his work, angering the president and his allies.
In addition, Rosenstein reportedly signed off on the FBI’s raid of Michael Cohen, the rich asshole’s long-time personal attorney, fueling widespread speculation that the president might fire him.
Rosenstein has privately told allies that he is prepared for the possibility of being dismissed, according to NBC News, but his appearance Tuesday made clear he has no intention of caving to outside pressure.
Rosenstein took issue with allegations detailed in the impeachment draft, including the charge that he failed to properly supervise surveillance applications.
He described a process in which a career federal law enforcement officer swears on an affidavit that the information they presented in a FISA application is both “true and correct” to the best of his or her knowledge and belief. While mistakes do happen and there are consequences for those who erred, he said, the agency employs “people who are accountable.”
It’s unclear yet whether an impeachment push will gain traction among rank-and-file Republicans; GOP leaders have remained silent on the matter. AshLee Strong, a spokeswoman for Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), indicated Wednesday that he sees no reason to fire Rosenstein, as he said earlier this year.
Some GOP lawmakers in recent weeks have also said they’ve seen improvement from the Justice Department in responding to documents requests.
“If the focus is Rod Rosenstein and whether he has done something or failed to do something that could remotely warrant impeachment, I think it’s just groundless,” said Jack Sharman, a former special counsel to Congress during the Whitewater investigations.
“If the focus is Rod Rosenstein and whether he has done something or failed to do something that could remotely warrant impeachment, I think it’s just groundless,” said Jack Sharman, a former special counsel to Congress during the Whitewater investigations.
Still, Rosenstein’s remarks are sure to ramp up tensions between two sides.
Ford O’Connell, a Republican strategist, said Rosenstein came off as “cagey” in his defense and raised questions about what he may be trying to hide.
Mike Pence thinks he could become president soon
Mike Pence (Photo: Gage Skidmore/Flickr)
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Are you wondering why Vice President Mike Pence seems to be spending a lot of time cultivating the rich asshole base? Maybe it’s because some rich asshole increasingly looks like he might not make it through a full term, and Pence needs to reassure the rich asshole’s loyal base — now the core of the Republican electorate — that he’ll carry on the legacy of their Dear Leader. We’re still a long way from a resignation, a 25th Amendment removal or impeachment proceedings but the craziness quotient is getting higher by the day.
This article was originally published at Salon
First let’s recap what’s happened just this week in some rich asshole news. We learned that Robert Mueller’s office is ratcheting up the pressure to have the president submit to an interview, and that the president and his team are resisting. We also know that he is tweeting away like a madman, as usual, robotically exclaiming “no collusion” which he seems to think is some sort of protective spell against this investigation. Apparently no one has had the heart or the brass to inform him that his problem isn’t “collusion,” which has no clear legal definition term, but rather “conspiracy,” which does. Specifically, he is suspected of conspiracy to defraud the U.S. government under 18 U.S.C. § 371, which simply states that it is a crime to conspire to “obstruct the lawful functions of the United States government through fraud and deceit.” One lawful function would of course be our elections.
Despite all the media’s obsession with obstruction of justice, the big story this week about the “49 questions” makes it clear that the collusion and/or conspiracy question is alive and well. Indeed, former the rich asshole campaign official Michael Caputo told CNN on Wednesday after being interviewed that “it’s clear [prosecutors] are still really focused on Russia collusion. They know more about the rich asshole campaign than anyone who ever worked there. The Senate and the House are net fishing. The special counsel is spearfishing. They know what they are aiming at and are deadly accurate.”
It was also announced on Tuesday that genial White House lawyer Ty Cobb was going to retire at he end of the month and would be replaced by Emmet Flood, a veteran of Bill Clinton’s impeachment team. This was widely assumed to be a sign that the president will begin a major legal fight against the special counsel’s investigation. Flood’s specialty appears to be claiming executive privilege, and whether that could be an effective legal strategy after the rich asshole administration has already turned over troves of documents and allowed everyone in the White House to be interviewed remains to be seen. But the fact that an attorney with “impeachment experience” is now on the team certainly suggests that the Russia scandal has entered a more serious phase.
It’s not just the Russia probe that has the rich asshole on the ropes. His other new lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, went on Sean Hannity’s Fox News show on Wednesday night and blew the lid off the Stormy Daniels lawsuit by admitting that the rich asshole had paid back Michael Cohen the $130,000 in hush money that he paid Daniels before the election. That contradicts the president’s previous statements that he knew nothing about it. Reaction was swift:
4 possible felonies from Rudy Giuliani admission:
1. $130k payment to Stormy was in-kind coordinated contribution above limits
2. Cohen was a straw donor used to cover up true source of contribution
3. False statements on financial disclosures
4. False statements on banking forms twitter.com/NormEisen/stat…
Giuliani also said that the rich asshole fired former FBI director James Comey because Comey had refused to say publicly that the president wasn’t under investigation. That’s not going to be helpful to his client’s cause either, since it’s a brand new excuse that nobody’s heard before. In other words, Giuliani is acting just as unhinged as his client, and has put him in even worse legal jeopardy at the worst possible moment.
Speaking of unhinged, what can we possibly say about the story of the rich asshole’s doctor of more than 30 years, who claimed this week that the rich asshole dispatched thugs to ransack and seize his medical records last year and dictated the doctor’s famous letter stating that the rich asshole was in “astonishingly excellent” health. It was also reported that they seized the medical records filed under pseudonyms the rich asshole used, raising the question of why in the world anyone would need to use a fake name with his own doctor. Coming as this does on the heels of the scandal around White House physician Ronny Jackson, another doctor who had issued an “astonishingly excellent” bill of health for the president, you really have to wonder what the real state of the rich asshole’s health might be:
"Dr. Bornstein's letter was not the only questionable evaluation of Trump's health. A few months ago, Dr. Ronny Jackson painted quite a rosy picture of the President's health. We compared the two "reports" and there were some striking similarities..." - @NicolleDWallace
All of this brings us back to Mike Pence, who seems to be all over the place right now, spending a lot of energy kissing up to the rich asshole base. It’s not that he’s ignored them in the past. Indeed, he’s made a fetish out of taking “principled” stands designed to vouch for the president’s upright character with Republicans who might be uncomfortable with the rich asshole’s pathological lying and libertine morality.
Recall this ostentatious display of patriotic fervor:
I left today's Colts game because @POTUS and I will not dignify any event that disrespects our soldiers, our Flag, or our National Anthem.
Pence also made great shows of refusing to stand for the unified Korean team at the Olympics and walking out of the Summit of the Americas when the Cuban representative was introduced. These are the actions one expects from a doctrinaire right-wing moralist hawk which has undoubtedly kept some of the faithful GOP on the administration’s side. If the rich asshole is good enough for Pence he must be OK, right?
But this week the veep has gone even further. As the presidency looks ever shakier and the rich asshole’s legal situation appears to reach critical mass, Pence has gone to great lengths to assure the racist element of the base that he’s one of them. In Arizona he appeared at an “America First” event led by a former the rich asshole staffer who resigned in disgrace after it was revealed that he was a stone cold racist who had said, “I believe wholeheartedly, wholeheartedly, that the black race as a whole, not totally, is lazier than the white race, period.”
At that same event Pence called out to former Phoenix sheriff Joe Arpaio, who was recently the recipient of a presidential pardon, calling Arpaio a “tireless champion of strong borders and the rule of law.” (The longtime sheriff was convicted of criminal contempt for willfully violating a federal court order.)
The crowd roared its approval, needless to say. They were almost as excited as if it were the Great Man himself.
It’s impossible to know exactly what Pence is up to, but it’s conceivable that he is reassuring the base that he’s one of them, in case this impeachment lawyer turns out to be a necessity. All this talk about the rich asshole concealing his health records and forcing doctors to cover for him might also make old D.C. hands start whispering about the 25th Amendment. If either of those two things become more realistic, Pence’s potential legitimacy as president — and his viability in 2020 — could depend on keeping the Trumpers happy.
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