This tweet is funny, but true — in the sense that we don’t really have a dispute of the facts. Over the weekend, Trump basically admitted what his personal lawyer said: that Trump urged the president of Ukraine to dig up what he believed would be damaging information about one of his leading Democratic challengers, former vice president Joe Biden. … Read More
“Your Damn Right I Ordered The Code Red!” [With Updates]
The Washington Post and The New York Times posted stories within one minute of each other last night reporting that the conversation that caught the ear of an intelligence whistleblower was between Trump and the Ukrainians. WaPo’s posted at 8:04 p.m. and NYT’s at 8:05 p.m. Now I have to go back and give tags to all the whistleblower posts … Read More
Whistleblower Issue Blows Up Bigly [With Updates]
I’ve been pointing to it the last couple days. Last night, we learned a little about what the whistleblower complaint discussed. The whistleblower complaint filed on Aug. 12 by an official in the U.S. intelligence community involves President Trump’s communications with a foreign leader, two former U.S. officials familiar with the matter told The Washington Post yesterday. During the interaction, Trump made a … Read More
Mysterious Whistleblower Complaint Points To Serious Shenanigans
The whistleblower thing I mentioned yesterday gets weirder. This story is about to get a whole lot more media scrutiny, because it involves secretive back-channel maneuvering, a possible threat to national security and potential lawbreaking at the highest levels of the Trump administration, possibly at the direction of President Trump himself — all with a whole lot of cloak-and-dagger intrigue … Read More
Chaotic Lewandowsky Hearing Ends With Artful Cross-Examination
Jennifer Rubin explains Corey Lewandowski sneered and dodged and raised phony privileges when questioned by members of the House Judiciary Committee on Tuesday. He did, however, make a fatal error (fatal to President Trump, that is) when he repeatedly said the White House had instructed him not to answer questions. After the hearing, Chairman Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) told CNN: “Article 3 of Nixon’s … Read More
Lewandowski Testifies
Why is he relevant? Because according to the Mueller Report, Trump instructed Lewandowski to tell then Attorney General Jeff Sessions to unrecuse himself. Lewandowski did not deliver that message. But a White House letter sent out a couple days ago directed him not to testify to anything beyond the Mueller Report, because of executive privilege. The obvious problem is that … Read More
What’s This? No Seriously, What’s This?
This is a confusing and bizarre story but I think it may be one of those escalations that could wind up being an important moment. Talking Points Memo lays out the story: What’s there to hide? That’s what a congressional panel investigating a potentially urgent whistleblower complaint from the intelligence community wants to know. On Friday, House Intelligence Committee chair … Read More
Manhattan DA Subpoenas Trump’s Income Tax Returns
NY Times: State prosecutors in Manhattan have subpoenaed President Trump’s accounting firm to demand eight years of his personal and corporate tax returns, according to several people with knowledge of the matter. The subpoena opens a new front in a wide-ranging effort to obtain copies of the president’s tax returns, which Mr. Trump initially said he would make public during the 2016 campaign … Read More
Our Next Conflict In The Middle East?
Two oil fields in Saudi Arabia were attacked on Saturday. In short, A drone strike was said to have knocked out half of the Saudis’ daily oil production. The Houthi rebel group in Yemen assumed responsibility, but many were doubtful. Trump, exhibiting an embarrassing toadie-ism, tweeted: Saudi Arabia oil supply was attacked. There is reason to believe that we know … Read More
Kavanaugh Barely Vetted By FBI
As Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh prepares for his second year on the Supreme Court, new reporting has detailed how the limits ordered by the White House and Senate Republicans last year constrained the FBI investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct when he was a college freshman. The FBI was informed of allegations that Kavanaugh, while drunk during his freshman year … Read More
Breaking: Emoluments Lawsuit Is Back, Baby
This emoluments-clause lawsuit against Trump — claiming he violates the Constitution by doing business with foreign governments — was dead. Now, it’s alive again, thanks to the Second Circuit. UPDATE: Hey, a bonus! Seth Rich lawsuit against Fox News also revived on appeal!
Dem Debate: The Top Ten — A Wrapup
I did not the see the ABC Democratic Debate last night, so I have no original impressions. It was billed as a matchup between Biden and Warren, which struck me as a bit unfair to the others. But this seems to be a good substantive summary: The top 10 Democratic presidential candidates sparred on health care, criminal justice, gun control, … Read More
The NC GOP Lies And Cheats
Since June, Republicans in the North Carolina House have been searching for the votes necessary to override Democratic Governor Roy Cooper’s veto of the state’s budget. Republicans hold 65 of the chambers 120 seats but need the backing of two-thirds of state representatives for a veto override. The Republicans failed to attract the necessary support. So they decided to cheat. … Read More
White House Chief Of Staff Gave The Order To Override Weather [UPDATE: TRUMP Ordered It]
NY Times: The White House was directly involved in pressing a federal scientific agency to repudiate the weather forecasters who contradicted President Trump’s claim that Hurricane Dorian would probably strike Alabama, according to several people familiar with the events. Mick Mulvaney, the acting White House chief of staff, told Wilbur Ross, the commerce secretary, to have the National Oceanic and … Read More
9/11 Commemoration: Trump Edition
While speaking at the Pentagon on the anniversary of 9/11, President Trump brings up his canceled peace talks with Taliban leaders at Camp David. And Rudy’s 9/11 tribute is a tribute to fascism: Classy, as always. 🤮 https://t.co/4gMH4cOBao — Daily Trix (@DailyTrix) September 11, 2019 No one can desecrate hallowed ground like Trump. At the Pentagon 9/11 memorial, doing a … Read More