And now, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is out. To show you how ineffective this White House is, there isn’t a straight story about when/how this occurred. The news reported Tillerson found out due to a tweet, according to Steve Goldstein, undersecretary for public diplomacy: Rex Tillerson found out he was fired by President Trump’s tweet on Tuesday morning, according … Read More
Moments From Sec of Education Betsy Devos’ Crash-And-Burn Interview On 60 Minutes
Sec. of Education Betsy DeVos struggles to answer fairly basic questions on school performance on 60 Minutes pic.twitter.com/lFVq3USwUW — Axios (@axios) March 12, 2018 Will Secretary DeVos scrap Obama-era “guidance on how to identify, avoid, and remedy discriminatory discipline”? “We’re studying it carefully,” the secretary tells 60 Minutes. pic.twitter.com/RiQKyenMQB — 60 Minutes (@60Minutes) March 11, 2018 Reactions: MAGA people are … Read More
Stormy Daniels Offers to Return Payment to End Deal for Her Silence
This is cute and clever. Stormy Daniels, the porn star who says she had an affair with President Trump, offered to return $130,000 she received from Mr. Trump’s personal lawyer in 2016 for agreeing not to discuss the alleged relationship. In exchange, the actress (aka Stephanie Clifford) seeks an end to her deal to keep quiet about what she says was … Read More
Breaking: Shots Fired At Yountvile (Napa Valley, California) Veterans’ Home; Hostages Taken
Here we go again: The time of those tweets (2:18 pm, 2:16 pm, and 2:04 pm) are EST (my time), but it is 3 hours earlier in California where this is taking place. Here are the early details: YOUNTVILLE (KRON) – The Veterans Home of California Yountville is on lock down Friday morning after reports of an active shooter who is holding 3 … Read More
Trump’s Lawyer Used Trump.Org Emails To Negotiate Payment To Porn Star
NBC: President Donald Trump’s personal attorney used his Trump Organization email while arranging to transfer money into an account at a Manhattan bank before he wired $130,000 to adult film star Stormy Daniels to buy her silence. The lawyer, Michael Cohen, also regularly used the same email account during 2016 negotiations with the actress — whose legal name is Stephanie … Read More
Trump To Meet With N. Korean Dictator Kim Jong-un
Flashback: I told Rex Tillerson, our wonderful Secretary of State, that he is wasting his time trying to negotiate with Little Rocket Man… — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 1, 2017 Flashforward to present The White House didn’t make the announcement. It was made by the South Korean envoys on the White House driveway (this Administration really can’t do PR … Read More
This is torn from the blog of John Bambenek, a security analyst and Republican candidate for Illinois State Senate, about his conversations with Guccifer 2.0 (G2). The post is entitled MY CONVERSATIONS WITH GUCCIFER 2.0 & THE SURPRISING ELECTION INFLUENCE OPERATIONS. As attention turns to threats facing 2018’s midterm elections, we’re learning hard lessons from what went down in 2016. (Plus, … Read More
Trump Talks To Witnesses Who Talked To Mueller
For a man unconcerned about Russia collusion, Trump seems very concerned. This reminds me of Nixon, who just COULD NOT keep Watergate off his mind and meddled in it to the point that he became part of it. New York Times tells us: The special counsel in the Russia investigation has learned of two conversations in recent months in which … Read More
A New Russia Collusion Angle: George Nader
Last night the New York Times reported that George Nader, a Lebanese-American businessman who advises Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan of the United Arab Emirates, is cooperating with the Mueller investigation and gave testimony last week to a grand jury. The reason why this is significant is that Nader was actually present at two meetings that could be key in proving that … Read More
Mueller’s Legal Theory
I am uploading this essay by Ben Wittes and Emma Kohse on where Mueller is going with his latest indictment. Briefly, he has taken the abstract word “collusion” — a word Trump and others use, but is legally meaningless to Mueller and other legal eagles — and pinned several statutes to it, most notably 18 U.S.C. §371, the conspiracy statute. It applies … Read More
The Porn Star Sues The President
Wow. The first thing that jumps out at me is this: if you’re going to contest a nondisclosure agreement in court, you should be filing with the court under seal so the NDA isn’t breached unless/until the plaintiff—the person subject to the NDA—prevails in court. Avenatti (Stormy Daniel’s lawyer) didn’t do this and I am sure it was intentional. Because … Read More
This Week’s Resignation: Gary Cohn
The sad story: Serve Donald Trump at your own risk. Being a top aide in his administration doesn’t usually work out well. Some former advisers, like Michael Flynn, are in legal trouble. Others, like Sean Spicer and Anthony Scaramucci, became laughing stocks. Still others have tarnished once-sterling reputations. Gary Cohn falls into the last category. Before working for Trump, Cohn had an … Read More
OK Then
I'm deleting a tweet from yesterday in which I joked about possible Trump nicknames for Sam Nunberg. He told Charlie Gasparino today that he'd been drinking and will seek treatment. Everyone should root for Sam's sobriety. This transcends politics and legal situations. Full stop. — David Martosko (@dmartosko) March 6, 2018
Unauthorized Use Of Presidential Seal Is Illegal
In recent weeks, the Trump Organization has ordered the manufacture of new tee markers for golf courses that are emblazoned with the seal of the president of the United States. Under federal law, the seal’s use is permitted only for official government business. Misuse can be a crime under 18 U.S. Code § 713. Past administrations have policed usage vigilantly. … Read More
Sam Nunberg, Former Trump Aide, Becomes Unhinged On Live TV
This just happened and I didn’t see it, so I’m pulling it together. Apparently Katy Tur of MSNBC was talking to Sam Nunberg, former campaign adviser to Trump. Nunberg just got a subpoena from Mueller. Nunberg lost it. Here’s some video released by MSNBC: Watch: Ex-Trump campaign aide Sam Nunberg says he’s refusing comply with Mueller subpoena: “I’m not going … Read More