The Senate Intelligence Committee has concluded that Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee were behind the leak of private text messages between the Senate panel’s top Democrat and a Russian-connected lawyer, according to two congressional officials briefed on the matter. Senator Richard M. Burr of North Carolina, the committee’s Republican chairman, and Senator Mark Warner of Virginia, the top Democrat, … Read More
The Wild West Of The West Wing
It is the first day of March 2018. I wrote a lot of posts yesterday, and I didn’t even it HALF of the things going on. The breaking news that would be major scandals in any other White House. It was insane. Here’s what happened JUST YESTERDAY: Hope Hicks — without question, the aide (family aside) with whom Trump is closest … Read More
Breaking: Hope Hicks Resigning
NYT: Hope Hicks, the White House communications director and one of President Trump’s longest-serving advisers, said Wednesday that she was resigning. Ms. Hicks, 29, a former model who joined Mr. Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign without any experience in politics, became known as one of the few aides who understood his personality and style and could challenge the president to change … Read More
FEMA Is A Boy’s Club?
This won’t make headlines, but it concerns me because it relates to a governmental body that I consider important. FEMA flourished under the Obama years — it has been less than stellar so far during the Trump Administration, especially its (non)handling of Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria. And now this: Two top public-affairs officers of the Federal Emergency Management Agency … Read More
Trump And Sessions Play Tennis
Why is A.G. Jeff Sessions asking the Inspector General to investigate potentially massive FISA abuse. Will take forever, has no prosecutorial power and already late with reports on Comey etc. Isn’t the I.G. an Obama guy? Why not use Justice Department lawyers? DISGRACEFUL! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 28, 2018 AG Sessions releases statement: “As long as I am … Read More
Breaking: Before, During And After The Election, Wikileaks Corresponded With Stone, Trump’s Confidante
If what The Atlantic is reporting is true, we have a connection between Trump and Russia. Trump——-friends with Roger Stone—-> tweeted to Wikileaks/Assange —-> received emails stole by Russia Here’s the story: On March 17, 2017, WikiLeaks tweeted that it had never communicated with Roger Stone, a longtime confidante and informal adviser to President Donald Trump. In his interview with the House Intelligence Committee … Read More
Man Connected To L’Affaire Russe Goes Underground And A Foreign Escort Lands In Thai Jail
Hmmmm. Joseph Mifsud, the professor who allegedly told former Trump campaign aide George Papadopoulos that Russia had obtained leaked emails related to Hillary Clinton, has completely vanished — and even his fiancee can’t find him. BuzzFeed News reporter Alberto Nardelli this month traveled to Ukraine in search of Mifsud, who has not been seen since being caught up in special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe … Read More
Kushner Can’t See The Secret Stuff
Politico has the story: Presidential son-in-law and adviser Jared Kushner has had his security clearance downgraded — a move that will prevent him from viewing many of the sensitive documents to which he once had unfettered access. Kushner is not alone. All White House aides working on the highest-level interim clearances — at the Top Secret/SCI-level — were informed in … Read More
Trump Spent An Hour This Morning Watching Sunday Morning News Shows And Tweeting Angrily
Nervous much? The WITCH HUNT one is my favorite. It’s just so raw. Maybe he’s unhinged, or maybe it’s a distraction from this, reported by CNN’s White House correspondent: Trump appears to be backing away from his support for 21 year age limit for assault weapons purchases, sources tell us tonight. — Jim Acosta (@Acosta) February 27, 2018 Anyway, it’s … Read More
Belated Post: Oh Look — The Democratic Response To The Nunes Memo
A few weeks after the Nunes memo, the Democrats on the House Intel have finally been allowed to release their response memo. It eviscerates the Nunes memo of course, and is heavily sourced, although much of the sources lie in classified documents. It also questions, as it should, the motives of Devin Nunes. Here is the memo: The President was … Read More
Washington State Governor Calls Out Trump On His Stupid Armed Teachers Idea (and Tweeting)
President and Armchair Warrior Trump writes a script of what he THINKS — without talking to experts or the people effected. He gets taken down, and he doesn’t like it (arms folded) Armchair Warrior, you ask… Why yes. Trump: I would have run into the school with no weapon https://t.co/UZadMQzY34 pic.twitter.com/Jp6BBmA7TV — Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) February 26, 2018
Superseding Manafort/Gates Indictment
Mueller’s team just dropped, literally minutes ago, its superseding indictment on Manafort and Gates. You can just look at the cover page to see who is indicted for what. 32 counts, mostly dealing with financial transactions and bank fraud and tax fraud (money laundering, basically) all before Manafort was Trump campaign manager. I did a search for “Trump” — his … Read More
Gun Debate Continues
Last night’s “town hall” on CNN was riveting. The students asked better questions than the adults, and I’m not the only one to note that they would not allow the responder to filibuster or waiver. For example, student Emma Gonzalez asked NRA spokeswoman Dana Loesch, “Do you believe that it should be harder to obtain the semi-automatic and – – … Read More
Trump Attacks His Own AG In Russia Tweet This Morning
Say what? (In a now-deleted tweet, he misspelled “Sessions”, and wrote “Session”) It looks like Trump is reviving his offensive on Mr. Sessions, whom he once called “beleaguered,” and continued his days-long Twitter comments on the ongoing special counsel’s investigation into Russian meddling. The idea that Obama didn’t do something about meddling is, once again, ridiculous. While some former Obama administration officials have said they could … Read More
Sarah Sanders Press Conference – 2/20/2018
Her first press conference since the shooting — Sarah Sanders is reading her statement about the Parkland massacre like it’s a book report she really doesn’t want to deliver. — Matt Novak (@paleofuture) February 20, 2018 “It’s very clear that Russia meddled in the election. It’s also very clear it didn’t have an impact in the election,” Sarah Sanders says … Read More