It looked for a moment like he was reconsidering this campaign promise to leave the Paris Accord on climate change, but no. In a few minutes, Trump will announce from the Rose Garden that the US is out. Celebratory mood in the White House Rose Garden for Paris announcement. A jazz band is playing. pic.twitter.com/Ohm5EYJNnT — Jonathan Swan (@jonathanvswan) June … Read More
CREW and The Emoluments Case
Back in January, I wrote about a lawsuit brought against Donald Trump, filed by the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) which sought a declaratory judgment that Donald Trump, having not divested himself of his hotels in DC, is in violations of the Emoluments Clause of the US Constitution. As I wrote back then, one of the problems for … Read More
The “Unmasking” Diversion
Over at Fox News, they use the word “unmasking” a lot. To me, it looks like they haven’t realized it is a common practice in the intelligence community. They just use the word a lot so that their low-information viewers will think it is bad. “Unmasking”, of course, is the process whereby a redacted name of an American citizen is … Read More
To These Guys Everything Is A Partisan Conspiracy Against Their Perfect Great Idea
To these guys everything is a partisan, somebody else to blame conspiracy against their perfect, great idea: It’s become the knee-jerk reaction for Republicans, in light of an ugly Congressional Budget Office analysis of their Obamacare repeal bill, to point the finger at the non-partisan research agency instead. Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney took it a step further … Read More
And Then The Laughter Stopped
Yeah, we all had fun last night…. But then came the sobering news this morning…. President Trump will pull the United States out of the Paris climate change agreement, according to several reports Wednesday. Axios first reported that Trump is working with a group led by Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) chief Scott Pruitt on the exact mechanism of pulling out before … Read More
Jared And The Russian Backchannel – It Happened, Didn’t Happen, But He Didn’t Do It, But So What If He Did?
On Friday, The Washington Post reported that Jared Kushner sought to create a secret line of communication between Donald Trump’s transition team and the Kremlin during a meeting with Russian diplomats in December. On Saturday, national security adviser H.R. McMaster said at a news conference that he “would not be concerned” about such an arrangement and added that “we have back-channel … Read More
Congressional Investigation Committees Go for Trump’s Personal Lawyer, Michael Cohen
President Donald Trump’s personal attorney, Michael Cohen, has received requests for information from the Senate and House intelligence committees as part of their probes into Russian interference in the U.S. election. The request ;letters were the same ones sent to former Trump aides Carter Page, Roger Stone, Paul Manafort, Mike Flynn and others. Those letters sought information about Russian contacts, … Read More
The Smoking Gun?
Another bombshell from the New York Times. If this is true, Trump not only revealed classified information to Russians, but he also admitted to firing Comey because of the investigation: WASHINGTON — President Trump told Russian officials in the Oval Office this month that firing the F.B.I. director, James B. Comey, had relieved “great pressure” on him, according to a … Read More
Hmmmmmm… RED FLAG!
Interesting: President Donald Trump’s attorneys originally wanted him to submit an updated financial disclosure without certifying the information as true. In correspondence with the Office of Government Ethics, attorney Sheri Dillon said she saw no need for Trump to sign his 2016 personal financial disclosure because he is filing voluntarily this year. But OGE director Walter Shaub said his office … Read More
Document Dump: Appointing Mueller
From my reading, Mueller’s “jurisdiction” would include any and all allegations of obstruction of justice.
Trump Is Delusional About How He Got Here
Boy, does WaPo get this right or what? This comes from The Plum Line about how Trump has no idea what just hit him: Trump unleashed two tweets Thursday morning responding to the news of the appointment, which was made by Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein after days of deafening criticism. Trump claimed: “With all of the illegal acts that … Read More
Here’s A Good Place For Mueller To Start
Reuters is reporting that former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn and other Trump campaign advisers “were in contact with Russian officials and others with Kremlin ties in at least 18 calls and emails during the last seven months of the 2016 presidential race.” That news stands in contrast to what Trump transition team chair-turned-Vice President Mike Pence said in January, when … Read More
Day 118. Hot Mess
1/ Rod Rosenstein appointed former FBI Director Bob Mueller to oversee the investigation of Russian interference in election. Mueller will take command of the prosecutors and FBI agents who are working on the far reaching Russia investigation. Trump said that he expects the probe will find no collusion between his 2016 White House campaign and foreign countries, calling the Russia … Read More