Category: trump

Senate Republicans saved Trump’s presidency. Now they’re ducking questions on his use of force

Posted on by Kerry Eleveld

A day after Donald Trump deployed police force against peaceful protesters outside the White House for a photo op, the cat's got GOP leader Sen. Mitch McConnell's tongue.

Asked Tuesday about Trump's threat of unleashing military force on American cities, McConnell dodged, declining to answer reporter questions as he exited the Senate floor.

McConnell was uniquely responsible for saving Trump's presidency, convincing his caucus to not only acquit Trump of impeachment charges but to do so without even hearing from witnesses at the show trial they staged. 

As law enforcement officer-turned-Congresswoman Val Demings wrote on Twitter Monday night: "When we impeached this president, we warned that he was a dictator in waiting. I believe now what I believed then: this president is a threat to our democracy, our families, and to us."

As I have noted before, McConnell and Senate Republicans are uniquely responsible for turning Trump into the monster he is today precisely because they have condoned every single one of his lawless actions, from colluding with Russia to enlisting Ukraine's help in stealing the upcoming election to blocking all congressional oversight.

Now Trump wants to use the U.S. troops to deploy military force against American citizens and they've got nothing to say?

Sen. John Cornyn of Texas went a step further, criticizing Joe Biden's speech Tuesday morning as a campaign stunt.

"What we expect from leaders is to try to unify us, not point the finger of blame," Cornyn told Fox News. Is he f-cking kidding? Trump has spent his entire presidency sowing division among Americans and blaming everyone in the world but himself for his unprecedented string of failures. 

A quick check of the Twitter feeds around 11:30 AM from Sens. Susan Collins, Cory Gardner, and Thom Tillis turns up zilch about any of the events Monday night or Trump's threat of force against American citizens.

Through their silence, Senate Republicans are complicit.

They are embracing the dictatorial tactics of Trump without saying a word, just like they have condoned every other lawless act Trump has committed since setting foot in the Oval Office.

They must be voted out because they clearly no longer support democracy.  

Vulnerable Senate Republicans have a ‘morbidly obese’ problem weighing them down: Trump

Posted on by Kerry Eleveld

It's suddenly occurring to vulnerable Senate Republicans that they're pretty much screwed after giving Donald Trump their seal of approval with an impeachment acquittal, and then watching him consign Americans to death and economic doom.

Colorado Sen. Cory Gardner, who some consider the walking dead at this point electorally, made a big, headline-grabbing show of urgency earlier this week to light a fire under the butts of his colleagues. 

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"It’s unfathomable that the Senate is set to go on recess without considering any additional #COVID19 assistance for the American people," Gardner wrote, keenly aware that House Democrats had already passed a giant relief bill. "Anyone who thinks now is the time to go on recess hasn’t been listening," he added, noting that Coloradans and Americans alike "are hurting."

Maine Sen. Susan Collins, also facing a tough reelection, joined Gardner in expressing her, shall we say, concern. "The fallout from the coronavirus is unprecedented," she tweeted, saying Congress had a "tremendous responsibility" to help mitigate the crisis. "We must not wait," she urged.

It was a notable break from the GOP caucus given that Trump had visited Capitol Hill just a day earlier to counsel unity among Senate Republicans and tell them to hang tough. So much for that—some of them are starting to sort of/kind of act like they want to save their own behinds. Good luck with that after every single one of them cast votes to saddle America with the leadership of Donald Trump.

But Trump and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell couldn't be moved. McConnell has repeatedly signified zero sense of urgency on bringing any more relief to struggling Americans. And Trump's right there with him. Whatever supposed unity Trump went to the Hill to pitch was really just his way of saying, Do what I need you to do—or else. 

That's why Gardner folded like a house of cards on his empty threat to block the Senate from recessing before they took meaningful action on helping the nearly 40 million Americans who have now filed for unemployment in the past couple of months. 

Cory Gardner�s threat to try to block next week�s recess has been resolved, per John Thune. Gardner had called on the Senate to move ahead with a recovery plan. Thune says Gardner and McConnell have talked about doing �some things down the road.� Senators leaving town for recess

— Manu Raju (@mkraju) May 21, 2020

Gardner told CNN's Manu Raju they were "close" on "PPP and some other things that will help Colorado," adding the he felt "good" about what they might be able to accomplish. Wow, was that ever an inspiring stand for the people. 

Anyway, vulnerable Senate Republicans are clearly on their own, but it's also clearly not important enough for any of them to grow a spine—just like when they cast their acquittal votes. 

Lawyer shuts down Fox News’ #Obamagate talking points in 60 seconds, leaving host speechless

Posted on by Walter Einenkel

The Trump administration—in hopes of both deflecting focus from their catastrophic handling of our country’s public health and economic well-being while creating some kind of faux scandal placing blame on former President Obama that they can connect to Democratic candidate Joe Biden—have begun something they are branding “Obamagate.” The basic premise is that then-President Barack Obama illegally created an FBI witch hunt to illegally wiretap and entrap Trump’s criminal national security adviser, Michael Flynn, in a crime. 

Lawyer Bradley Moss was brought on to discuss the legal ramifications of a possible Obamagate. Asking what Mr. Moss thought of all the “transcripts, the notes we found the week before. Texts all kinds of things that now are raising a lot of questions from people about the Flynn prosecution and the Russia investigation.” Arming himself with every Trump law team argument over the past three years, Moss launched into a 60 second shutdown of every stupid conservative talking point on Obamagate.

BRADLEY MOSS: Yeah, I'm sitting here trying to figure out what exactly constitutional deprivation was there? What is the crime that people think, you know, Barack Obama and Joe Biden are going to be  prosecuted under? To be clear—and this is using the words of President Trump and his lawyers for the last three years—any sitting president can get any classified information they want. According to Donald Trump, they can launch any investigation they want. They can tell the FBI to pursue only particular individuals. This is not me saying it. This is what Donald Trump's been saying for three years.

This was their argument during the Mueller probe. This was their argument during the impeachment investigation. That the president has this kind of authority. So what did we find out? That Barack Obama was aware about intelligence intercepts on the Russian ambassador when he was talking with General Flynn? That there had just been an attack on our election a couple months earlier? We were still dealing with the fallout of Russian election interference in 2016. There was a concern about a counterintelligence prom with Michael Flynn, and they had a discussion.

I'm shocked. I can't believe they had that conversation. What is the crime?

You know who was really shocked? Fox News, who quickly did what they do best: throw to a pillow commercial.

Host: Well, ah, we’re gonna have to leave it there.

Enjoy!

YouTube Video

Powerful former Lindsey Graham donor backs his Democratic opponent, questions Graham’s ‘character’

Posted on by Walter Einenkel

Sen. Lindsey Graham’s vociferous attacks on Donald Trump in the months and weeks and days leading up to Trump’s November 2016 victory were well covered. Sen. Graham’s subsequent change of heart concerning Trump has also been a depressing reminder that integrity in Washington, D.C. is easily bought. But one big-time donor—and former member of Graham’s presidential campaign finance team—is fed up with spineless Republican operatives.

Richard Wilkerson, former chairman and president of Michelin’s Greenville, South Carolina-based North America operations, is fed up with Sen. Graham. A couple of weeks ago, Wilkerson told local news outlets that he was going to support Graham’s challenger, Jaime Harrison, for South Carolina’s Senate. At the time he said he believed Harrison was the right choice for South Carolina. Wilkerson based this on work the two had done to get stronger environmental regulations implemented in the state. On Monday, however, Wilkerson elaborated on his change of allegiance, penning a scathing op-ed in the Greenville News that really laid bare how low his opinion of Sen. Graham has fallen.

Wilkerson explained that while he does not normally make a habit of discussing his political opinions publicly, the reaction to the news that he was supporting Harrison over Graham made him feel he needed to explain. Citing the various reactions to his support of Harrison—which ranged from positive to classic conservative misdirection attempts at boycotting Michelin tires—he said, “I suppose this person did not know that I retired eight years ago, but seems to want to punish the outstanding working people at the company I love.” Wilkerson writes that his decision was a heartfelt one and something he had been dealing with since Trump took office.

Specifically, Wilkerson began to wonder about Sen. Graham in relation to Donald Trump’s continuous attacks on then Sen. John McCain: “What is the character of a man who will not defend his best friend? If he won’t defend John McCain, why would I expect him to defend any of us in South Carolina?” Wilkerson highlighted Sen. Graham’s retreat into divisive politics, his support of the tax scam for the richest among us, and his most recent attacks on public safety: viciously fighting against a federal extension that would expand unemployment benefits to the growing tens of millions of Americans out of work due to the Republican mishandling of the COVID-19 pandemic. Wilkerson writes that he ended his support of Graham a couple of years ago, and wrote to the Senator telling him that “I no longer recognized him as the man I once supported.” 

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Sen. Graham has been facing this music for a couple of years now as time after time, he has failed every test of integrity and character that has come his way during this administration. Sen. Graham’s about face from the impeachment trial of former President Bill Clinton to the recent impeachment of Donald Trump was a never-ending stream of video clips exhibiting how flimsy Graham’s political “ideals” really are. His opponent, Harrison, has taken advantage of this hypocrisy in his campaign for Graham’s seat.

The political field is filled with all kinds of hypocrites. The pressure and speed with which someone will step all over their principles for power is a frequent topic of discussion on both sides of the political spectrum. In recent years, with the rise of Donald Trump to the top of the Grand Old Party, the degree to which Republicans have publicly compromised their previous positions and opinions has been staggering. While not surprising to those of us paying attention, it has been somewhat shocking to people who may not have realized how desperate for power so many people really are.

AG Barr’s Justice Department still trying to deep-six Mueller grand jury materials

Posted on by Kerry Eleveld

Attorney General Bill Barr's Justice Department is going to extraordinary lengths to block House Democrats from seeing the grand jury evidence from the Mueller probe. 

In a Thursday filing, the department's solicitor general urged the Supreme Court to halt a lower court order directing the department to turn over the grand jury materials to the House Judiciary Committee by May 11. The Justice Department argued for the opportunity to complete its appeal of the appeals court ruling to the Supreme Court.

“The government will suffer irreparable harm absent a stay. Once the government discloses the secret grand-jury records, their secrecy will irrevocably be lost,” Solicitor General Noel Francisco wrote. “That is particularly so when, as here, they are disclosed to a congressional committee and its staff.”

Red alert, red alert! Congress might learn the truth about all the stuff that has heretofore been hidden from the public. 

At issue for House Democrats is whether Trump lied in his written testimony to the Mueller team. House Democrats sought access to the information last year as they mulled impeaching Trump. 

Congress is not necessarily granted access to such materials, but a Nixon-era precedent was set when the courts ruled an impeachment investigation a "judicial proceeding." In the current case, both the federal court and the appeals court panel followed that precedent to rule in favor of House Democrats gaining access to the materials. 

Trump’s coronavirus cover-up continues, blocking two more key task force officials from testifying

Posted on by Kerry Eleveld

Donald Trump is denying House Democrats access to two more of his administration's top pandemic task force members. The White House is now prohibiting the head of the Department of Health and Human Services, Alex Azar, and the director of the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Seem Verma, from testifying before the House Energy and Commerce Committee, according to the Daily Beast.

Last week, the White House also prohibited one of its top coronavirus medical experts from testifying before the House—Dr. Anthony Fauci. But for the moment, Fauci is still scheduled to testify before a GOP-led panel in the Senate.

Laughably, Trump officials have justified the gag orders by saying testifying before Congress was too time-consuming for key pandemic response officials, as if Trump hasn't spent the past month squandering the time of those very same people as he prattled on day after day, peddling misinformation. Fauci even called the briefings "really draining" several weeks ago.

But when Trump was asked Tuesday about the task force gag order, he made clear the move was explicitly political, calling House Democrats "Trump haters."

Just like with impeachment, the default position for the White House now is that everyone on the coronavirus task force must seek permission from White House chief of staff Mark Meadows to testify. In other words, every request by House Democrats is a complete nonstarter.

But the difference now is that Trump is blocking the public from getting information that's literally a matter of life and death. House Democrats have said the hearings are effort to gather information that can help them craft legislation in response to the ongoing public health crisis.

“The fact is that we need to allocate resources for this,” said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. “In order to do that, any appropriations bill must begin in the House. And we have to have the information to act upon.”

Secretary Azar has not provided public testimony on the pandemic for nearly two months. Verma, who runs the government's two most expansive healthcare programs, hasn't given public testimony since the crisis began. 

Top Democrats urge Justice Department internal watchdog to investigate AG William Barr

Posted on by Kerry Eleveld

Two top Democrats are urging the Justice Department's internal watchdogs to investigate slanderous remarks made by Attorney General William Barr about the intelligence community official who elevated the whistleblower complaint regarding Donald Trump.

Appearing on Fox News on April 9, Barr said Trump had done "the right thing" when he fired former intelligence investigator general Michael Atkinson, suggesting that Atkinson had exceeded his mandate as IG by exploring "anything" and then reporting it back to Congress. But in a letter to two Justice Department officials, the Democratic chairs of the House Intelligence and Judiciary Committees said Barr had "blatantly mischaracterized" Atkinson's conduct.

"Mr. Barr’s remarks followed the President’s admission on April 4 that he fired Mr. Atkinson in retaliation for Mr. Atkinson’s handling—in accordance with the law—of the whistleblower complaint," Reps. Adam Schiff and Jerry Nadler wrote. "Mr. Barr’s misleading remarks appear to have been aimed at justifying the President’s retaliatory decision to fire Mr. Atkinson."

Barr claimed that Atkinson had "ignored" Department of Justice (DOJ) guidance that he was "obliged to follow" regarding how to handle the whistleblower complaint, a total distortion intended to gaslight Americans about what transpired. In actuality, Atkinson had no legal or professional obligation to defer to the Justice Department, which had conveniently and perplexingly declined to investigate whether Trump broke any laws in his call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. 

"To the contrary, Mr. Atkinson faithfully discharged his legal obligations as an independent and impartial Inspector General in accordance with federal law,” Schiff and Nadler wrote to Justice Department inspector general Michael Horowitz.

Schiff and Nadler further said that Barr had not only misrepresented the matter, he also sought to obscure the fact that DOJ and the White House had improperly coordinated their efforts in order to "keep Congress in the dark about the existence of the complaint." 

"The role of Attorney General Barr and other senior DOJ officials, in coordination with the White House, in attempting to prevent the whistleblower complaint from reaching Congress — as required by law — warrants your attention," they wrote, referring to the complaint that sparked Trump’s impeachment trial.

The two added that Barr's remarks represent a "disturbing pattern of misrepresenting facts" about the conduct of other government officials, including his purposeful misrepresentation of the conclusions of Robert Mueller's Russia probe.

"Indeed, a federal judge recently examined Mr. Barr’s 'lack of candor' and concluded that Mr. Barr 'distorted the findings in the Mueller Report,' which 'cause[d] the Court to seriously question whether Attorney General Barr made a calculated attempt to influence public discourse about the Mueller Report in favor of President Trump.'"

The message reinforced points made in a similar letter sent to the Justice Department last week by Democratic Sens. Dianne Feinstein of California and Mark Warner of Virginia. It's hard to know whether DOJ inspector general Michael Horowitz will take up an investigation into Barr, but Horowitz has previously touted Atkinson's "integrity, professionalism, and commitment to the rule of law and independent oversight."

Trump seeks new scapegoat for deaths caused by his fixation on reopening America by May 1

Posted on by Kerry Eleveld

Donald Trump's COVID-19 response has proven to be an unmitigated failure with fresh reporting rendering it ever worse by the day. Trump and the Senate Republicans who voted to keep him in charge to lead America to slaughter are as desperate as ever to lay the blame for Trump's debacle at someone else's feet. In rapid succession, they've pointed the fingers at Democrats, impeachment, governors, and are presently trashing the World Health Organization (WHO) because, they say, it failed to contain and isolate the coronavirus in China. In other words, Trump is particularly pissy because WHO didn't do his No. 1 job for him—protecting Americans. Never mind the fact that WHO actually doesn't have the authority or mandate to go into a country and take over a health response.

But even amid Republicans' orchestrated bid to pin the blame elsewhere for his past failures, Trump can't wait to reopen America for business, even if it comes at the expense of more American lives. So as Trump fixates on jumpstarting the economy again by May 1, his team of ghouls is working feverishly to get broad buy-in so Trump won't be stuck holding the body bag if coronavirus cases spike again, according to the Washington Post.

The question isn't really if or even when anymore, it's moved to how. “He desperately wants to reopen as much as possible on May 1,” one former official briefed on the matter told the Post. “He’s been that way from the beginning, and he has not wavered. He seems determined to do it."

So in order to build in a "shield" of shared responsibility in case Trump’s plan goes horribly wrong, the Post writes that Trump's advisers "are trying to mobilize business executives, economists and other prominent figures to buy into the eventual White House plan, so that if it does not work, the blame can be shared broadly." In other words, Trump's aides want to make sure Trump has scapegoats at the ready.

Just to be clear, the main driver of Trump's urgency to reopen isn't about easing the financial pain that so many Americans are experiencing right now. Trump's chief goal and obsession is goosing his own reelection bid. That's why lives are really no object to him. Trump has chosen May 1 as his target date because he's antsy, not because any public health officials have told him that's a reasonable timeframe to begin easing social distancing restrictions.

And if you're wondering what the rush is, many presidential strategists say that, generally speaking, voters' perceptions of the economy for the upcoming election are typically baked in by the end of the second quarter. If that holds true this cycle (and who really knows?), Trump would need the economy to start humming again in the next couple months since it's really the only reelection rationale he has provided to voters who aren't outright racists and white supremacists. 

Anyway, the West Wing is trying to recruit the U.S. Chamber of Commerce to provide a "national return to work plan," aka Operation Scapegoat. So expect to a see a huge push from the White House and conservative groups like FreedomWorks and the Heritage Foundation to get America back to work, or to "Save Our Country," as they have nicknamed the White House working group. Sounds just as foolproof as all Trump’s schemes. 

Republicans have a message for Trump: Shut. Up.

Posted on by Kerry Eleveld

Donald Trump may think his coronavirus briefings are going swimmingly, but Republican lawmakers who could very well pay a price for Trump's dreadful incompetence on the pandemic are clearly desperate to muzzle him. So they did what everyone does when they can't get Trump's attention privately, they went to the press in hopes that he might get the hint.

Here's what several GOP lawmakers told The New York Times:

South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, up in 2020, encouraged Trump to turn the briefings into "a once-a-week show" (i.e. less is more) West Virginia Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, up in 2020, said the briefings were "going off the rails a little bit" and recommended that Trump "let the health professionals guide where we’re going to go” Indiana Rep. Susan Brooks, who isn't seeking reelection, was even more blunt: “they’re going on too long”

Even the Wall Street Journal editorial board is desperate for Trump to take a seat. "The President’s outbursts against his political critics are also notably off key at this moment. This isn’t impeachment, and COVID-19 isn’t shifty Schiff. It’s a once-a-century threat to American life and livelihood," the board wrote Thursday.

GOP lawmakers and aides alike are encouraging Trump to move away from his lie-laden coronavirus briefings that sometimes drag on for two hours and start focusing on the country's looming economic recession. Trump's internal campaign polling has shown exactly what public polling is showing: he's losing the PR battle and his tragically self-involved briefings are clearly a part of the problem. 

But Republicans pushing Trump to focus on the economy should be careful what they wish for. There's an entire conservative brigade at Fox News and within Trump’s own White House that is clamoring for Trump to reopen for business as soon as possible, regardless of what the scientists are saying. And what the scientists are saying at the departments of Homeland Security and Health and Human Services about reopening too soon is very bad, according to new projections obtained by the Times. Lifting social distancing and stay-at-home orders after just 30 days will “lead to a dramatic infection spike this summer and death tolls that would rival doing nothing.”

Replacing a daily coronavirus briefing with a daily recession briefing isn't likely to go any better, especially if Trump’s impatience to jumpstart the economy comes at the price of a major resurgence of the virus. The only real solution to avoid the electoral liabilities of being led by an incoherent narcissist in a moment when incompetence means the difference between life and death is to muzzle him completely. Good luck with that. Trump’s too desperate for the attention to cede the stage, even when’s he’s creating an epic disaster. 

Trump’s new press secretary on Feb. 25: ‘We will not see diseases like the coronavirus come here’

Posted on by Walter Einenkel

On Tuesday the White House announced that scam artist phantom Stephanie Grisham was out as press secretary. Vapid right-wing talking head Kayleigh McEnany was announced as the new White House lying machine. While Grisham decided to be mysteriously invisible during her time as the White House’s main liaison to the media, McEnany has a more boisterous personality with a more storied history of spewing lies and wrongheaded predictions. For example, here she is on Fox News with now-fired Trish Regan on Feb. 25 of this year. What’s she predicting? That Trump will stop the spread of COVID-19 by way of a travel ban on China? Yes. Let’s hear about it, Kayleigh!

KAYLEIGH MCENANY: This president will always put America first. He will always protect American citizens. We will not see diseases like the coronavirus come here. We will not see terrorism come here, and isn't it refreshing when contrasting it with the awful presidency of President Obama.

You can even watch her saying it!

On the same day Larry Kudlow said coronavirus was �contained� on Feb. 25th, Trump�s campaign spox made an even more bold claim. �We will not see diseases like the coronavirus come here..and isn't it refreshing when contrasting it with the awful presidency of President Obama." pic.twitter.com/O0DDH3Rvkw

— andrew kaczynskiðÂ�¤Â� (@KFILE) April 4, 2020

McEnany has been auditioning for this part for some time now, as has virtually everyone who appears regularly on state misinformation channel Fox News. She’s checked all of requisite boxes of fealty, like saying impeachment proceedings—and in fact any criticism of Donald Trump—amounted to participating in a coup d’etat of our government. 

McEnany began her right-wing career speaking on CNN as a talking head, but quickly found that running into even the most modest of pushback on her talking points led to her stressing out and blinking strangely, as can be seen in this clip from a couple of years ago.

YouTube Video

McEnany has done all the things one expects. She’s called the Mueller report an “exoneration” of Donald Trump; she’s done the softball interviews of truly awful Trump cabinet members like Betsy DeVos; and she’s tweeted out real through-the-looking-glass misinformation, like this:

BIG NEWS from President @realDonaldTrump�s Chinese Virus task force briefing! Dr. Birx shared that 40% of the country now have "EXTRAORDINARY LOW NUMBERS" of cases�� 19 of 50 states have less than 200 cases!

— Kayleigh McEnany (@kayleighmcenany) March 26, 2020

But what may have finally gotten Kayleigh the job is her loud, fact-free, and enthusiastic delivery of conservative talking points with seemingly no shame whatsoever. But let’s never forget McEnany’s humble, racist, beginnings.

The new White House press secretary, ladies and gentlemen pic.twitter.com/y3m9YAPtAr

— Brandon Friedman (@BFriedmanDC) April 7, 2020

Tuesday, Apr 7, 2020 · 7:44:15 PM +00:00 · Walter Einenkel

This quote from Grisham, given to Axios before she was officially replaced, is worth adding here: “Sounds like more palace intrigue to me, but I’ve also been in quarantine. If true, how ironic that the press secretary would hear about being replaced in the press.”