The same morning that Anthony Scaramucci is appointed as White House Communications Director, Sean Spicer resigns. Reports are that he vehemently opposed Scaramucci’s appointment. Trump offered Scaramucci the job at 10 a.m. Trump requested that Spicer stay on, but Spicer told Trump that he believed the appointment was a major mistake, according to a person with direct knowledge of the … Read More
The Constitutional Crisis Cloud
It’s been an insane few days for me personally (with work) and insane in the world of Trump. I wanted to write at some length about the bizarre Trump interview in the New York Times — and how he dissed his attorney general for recusing himself from the Russian collusion investigation and his veiled threats to Bob Mueller, the independent counsel … Read More
Person No 8 In The Trump Tower Meeting Is Identified
WaPo: An American-based employee of a Russian real estate company took part in a June 2016 Trump Tower meeting between a Russian lawyer and Donald Trump Jr., bringing to eight the number of known participants at the session that has emerged a key focus of the investigation of the Trump campaign’s interactions with Russian. Ike Kaveladze’s presence was confirmed by … Read More
Trumpcare Declared Dead But GOP Not Finished Screwing America
So this happened: My colleague @JerryMoran and I will not support the MTP to this version of BCRA #HealthcareBill — Mike Lee (@SenMikeLee) July 18, 2017 Republican senator from Kansas and his Republican colleague from Utah said “no” to the GOP plan to replace Obamacare. This comes even before the CBO had scored it, but it would have resulted in … Read More
Trump Hits Record Unpopularity — But Does It Matter?
Six months into the Trump presidency. An ABC/WaPo poll this weekend put Trump’s approval rating at 36%, an all-time low for any president since they started polling. It’s even lower than Nixon’s was when Nixon resigned. At 538, Harry Enten put this chart out: What astounds me is that there has been no crisis to cause it to go down. … Read More
So Much For Don Junior’s “Transparency”
Whatever position you take on the Trump-Russia Collusion Scandal, one thing is hard to argue with: the crisis management team at the White House is ineffective and probably non-existent. The first rule of crisis management is to avoid the drip-drip-drip of damaging evidence. Get out in front of the stories, explain everything — EVERYTHING — there is to explain and … Read More
Document Dump: Why Did The DOJ Settle A Case That Involved That Russian Lawyer
The Democrats in the House Judiciary Committee sent a letter to Attorney General Sessions regarding the DOJ settlement of fraud case THIS YEAR that handled by same Russian lawyer who met with Don Trump Jr. (and handled by the US Attorney who Trump summarily fired for now reason): Was the settlement a quid pro quo?
Where The Rubber Meets The Road
I guess it was bound to happen — the ultimate constitutional question: What happened when the top law enforcement agency refuses to comply with the courts? It has happened on the state level — with desegregation. The governors refused to comply with Brown v Board of Education. So the federal government was sent in, in the form of the US … Read More
Trump Participated In Lie To Media
The New York Times didn’t make this the headline today, but it should have: As Air Force One jetted back from Europe on Saturday, a small cadre of Mr. Trump’s advisers huddled in a cabin helping to craft a statement for the president’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., to give to The New York Times explaining why he met last … Read More
Trump-Russia Collusion: An Incomplete [For Now} Timeline
June 16th, 2015: Donald Trump announces his candidacy for President of the United States. Circa Summer 2015: The US government alleges that Russian hackers first gain access to DNC computer networks. Circa August 2015: Trump staff arranges first meeting between Trump and General Flynn, according to Flynn’s account in an August 2016 interview with The Washington Post. “I got a phone call … Read More
Collusion, Baby!
.@RealDonaldTrump since November: Russian collusion is a big fat hoax @DonaldJTrumpJr now: Yes, there was collusion – here are my emails — West Wing Reports (@WestWingReport) July 11, 2017 With a few days off for breathless recovery, the Trump-Russia collusion scandal has been a steady stream of bombshells. A bug one dropped yesterday: Donald Trump Jr (a minor player up … Read More
Is Trump Jr Guilty Of Being An Accessory After The Fact?
Here’s the argument: [View the story “Seth Abramson on Trump Jr’s “Accessory After The Fact”” on Storify]
List of Shifting Stories On Russia Meetings
With the revelation this weekend that Trump Jr met with Russians to get dirt on Hillary Clinton, things are starting to fray. For their insistence that there is nothing to the Russian collusion scandal, there does seem to be an odd history of people in this administration forgetting Russia meetings. Yeah, we need to keep these things in a list … Read More
The Time Chelsea Snarked Back
With so much else going on, this happened too: If all Ivanka did was hold the President’s seat at the G20 session for 20 minutes, no big deal. Of course, I don’t think anyone else is making a big deal of it either, except those (like Trump himself) who would rather have the topic be about anything OTHER than Russian … Read More