Trump Rants Over Seized Cohen Recordings

Donald Trump angrily tweets about his own lawyer recording their private conversations.

The breaking news late yesterday afternoon was Michael Cohen, Donald Trump’s longtime ‘fixer,’ had recorded his conversation with the Trumpster planning a hush money payment to former Playboy model Karen MacDougal about their alleged 10 month affair shortly after Melania Trump had given birth to their son, Barron.

Trump, who is said to be ‘livid’ over the revelation, took to Twitter this morning to vent, saying, “Inconceivable that the government would break into a lawyer’s office (early in the morning) – almost unheard of. Even more inconceivable that a lawyer would tape a client – totally unheard of & perhaps illegal. The good news is that your favorite President did nothing wrong!”

Obviously, the Donald is playing fast and loose with the truth here.

The government didn’t ‘break’ into anywhere. There are established procedures for searching an attorney’s office and the Justice Department followed them including getting a legal search warrant from a judge.

Also, New York state – where Trump and Cohen lived and worked in 2016 – is a “one-party” consent state, which means a person can legally record or monitor a conversation with the consent of one party to the conversation.

Speaking of “secret recordings,” remember when Trump hinted he might have some of his own?

The one thing Trump is right about is that it is very unusual for an attorney to record his own conversations with clients.

You have to wonder why Cohen felt the need to do so two months before the election?

Unless he knew he might need that recording at some point in the future…?

p.s. Trump is NOT the country’s ‘favorite president.’ He lost the popular vote by three million votes and his approval rating average according to RealClearPolitics is 43%.

ABC News’ Nightline Profiles The Fab Randy Rainbow

Yassssss!

ABC News’ Nightline has profiled the fab Randy Rainbow for his incredible, parody work satirizing the current national nightmare happening in the White House.

And well deserved.

I’ve featured Randy so many times here on The Randy Report I doubt I could get an accurate number.

His clever, witty lyrics and editing have been a major bright spot during these past 18 months since a smaller-than-usual inauguration took place.

Congrats, Randy!

Watch below.

Why Andrew Rannells Told @MonetXChange To “Sashay Away!”

Andrew Rannells explains to Seth Meyers why he told RuPaul's Drag Race contestant Monet X Change to 'sashay away!"
Andrew Rannells

Andrew Rannells (Girls, Book of Mormon), currently starring in the acclaimed Broadway revival of The Boys in the Band, sat down last night on The Late Show with Seth Meyers this week and his recent judging appearance on a special Broadway-themed episode of RuPaul’s Drag Race came up.

Rannells clearly enjoyed his guest spot on RPDR, especially the lighting: “The best lighting ever on that show – I look like a fetus!”

Rannells shared that after the queens had done their final walks, Monet X Change gave a “very sweet” speech about getting tickets to see Rannells’ wonderful performance in Spring Awakening on Broadway (Rannells never appeared in Spring Awakening).

Monet also gushed about seeing Rannells delivering snacks and goodies to kids outside the theater, waiting in line to see Spring Awakening. (Repeat – Rannells never appeared in Spring Awakening).

“He finished the whole speech, and then I said, ‘that’s Jonathan Groff!’” quipped Rannells.

“And then he said, ‘No, no, no, I meant Book of Mormon,’ and I said, too late! Sashay away!”

In all fairness, it’s worth noting that Rannells has replaced the handsome Mr. Groff in roles on Broadway (Hamilton), and they both exude boyish, charming personalities.

But, Monet got it wrong.

Just goes to show you a queen can be fierce in or out of drag.

Watch the interview below where Rannells also chats on getting a phone call from Kristin Chenoweth out of the blue and the upcoming midnight Actors Fund charity performance of The Boys in the Band.

DC Police Officer’s ‘Stop & Frisk’ Turns Into Body Cavity Search

Did this police officer go too far in searching a citizen during a 'stop and frisk' in Washington DC?

 Picture this: It’s September 2017, you’re hanging with buds outdoors, planning your upcoming birthday celebration when suddenly you find yourself the subject of an invasive stop and frisk.

Invasive as in ‘body cavity search’ invasive.

That’s apparently what happened to M.B. Cottingham, a 39-year-old man, in the Bellevue neighborhood of Washington, D.C. last fall.

According to the New York Post, Nottingham and his buddies were chilling when up rolled two police cars. More than a couple police officers approached the group and inquired as to whether they were carrying any weapons.

This is where it gets down in the underbrush on the way to Poughkeepise.

Cottingham alleges, and there’s video tape, that Metropolitan Police Department Officer Sean Lojacono violated Cottingham’s 4th Amendment rights regarding unreasonable searches and seizures.

Nottingham openly admitted having a legal amount of marijuana on him, but Lojacono took things farther. He went for the ’search and seizure’ according to ACLU staff attorney Scott Michelman, who is representing Cottingham.

As you can see on the video from the incident, Lojacono goes beyond the ‘pat down’ and gets his hands (and maybe his thumbs) all up in Cottingham’s business.

From The New York Post:

“He stuck his finger in my crack, man,” Cottingham said to his friends during the search, video shows. “Don’t do that, man … I don’t have nothing.”

Cottingham then followed the officer’s instructions to squat down to allow the search to continue, but the officer continued prodding far beyond the standard scope of a pat-down, according to ACLU officials, jamming his fingers into the man’s buttocks and anus and grabbing his scrotum.

“Stop fingering me though, bruh,” Cottingham told Lojacano. “You fingering my a–, man.”

“I’m outside your pants, bro,” the officer replied. “Relax.”

“Don’t sit here and finger my a— like that, like I’m not a man,” Cottingham said.

Michelman says the video clearly shows a “violation of [Cottingham’s] constitutional rights and basic dignity.”

“When a routine frisk turns into a search this invasive, the officer is not pursuing a legitimate law enforcement purpose but simply degrading someone and asserting his own power,” Michelman said in a statement to the press.

Apparently, Metropolitan Police Department chief, Peter Newsham, noted during a DC Council hearing last week that he has seen the video and considers the officer’s ’touching’ inappropriate.

The NY Post goes on to say that Cottingham says he has ‘discomfort in his genital area,’ as well as ‘ongoing anxiety, depression and fear of being in public.’

“I’ve never been so humiliated in my life,” Cottingham told the NY Post. “It’s bad enough that members of my community are stopped and frisked by the police all the time. I’ve been frisked many times and even beaten by police. But this officer treated me like I’m not even a human being.”

Roseanne Barr Shrieks “I Thought The Bitch Was White!”

Roseanne Barr appears to be rather unhinged as she shrieks at a producer about her deleted tweet regarding Valerie Jarrett. "I thought the bitch was white!"
Roseanne Barr loses it

In an odd, unsettling clip, Roseanne Barr is shown to be distressed and agitated.

The comedienne references her since-deleted tweet in which she likened Jarrett, a black former advisor to Barack Obama, to an “ape.”

“I’m trying to talk about Iran! I’m trying to talk about Valerie Jarrett about the Iran deal. That’s what my tweet was about,” Barr shrieks.

“I thought the bitch was white!” she said with more intensity. “Goddamnit, I thought the bitch was white. Fuck!”

This is something. Watch below.

Earlier this month, Barr had announced she would sit for a TV interview to explain her side of the story behind the unraveling of her hit sitcom after making racist tweets about former Obama adviser Valerie Jarrett.

A day later, she reversed herself: “After a lot of thought, I decided that I won’t be doing any TV interviews, too stressful & untrustworthy 4 me & my fans. I’m going to film it myself & post it on my youtube channel in the next week-the entire explanation of what happened & why! I love you all-sign up & get ready.”

Michael Cohen Recorded Trump ‘Hush Money’ Conversation

Former ‘fixer’ for Donald Trump – Michael Cohen

From The New York Times:

President Trump’s longtime lawyer, Michael D. Cohen, secretly recorded a conversation with Mr. Trump two months before the presidential election in which they discussed payments to a former Playboy model who said she had an affair with Mr. Trump, according to lawyers and others familiar with the recording.

The F.B.I. seized the recording this year during a raid on Mr. Cohen’s office. The Justice Department is investigating Mr. Cohen’s involvement in paying women to tamp down embarrassing news stories about Mr. Trump ahead of the 2016 election. Prosecutors want to know whether that violated federal campaign finance laws, and any conversation with Mr. Trump about those payments would be of keen interest to them.

The recording’s existence further draws Mr. Trump into questions about tactics he and his associates used to keep aspects of his personal and business life a secret. And it highlights the potential legal and political danger that Mr. Cohen represents to Mr. Trump.

Once the keeper of many of Mr. Trump’s secrets, Mr. Cohen is now seen as increasingly willing to consider cooperating with prosecutors.

You’ll recall the White House ferociously denied that Donald Trump knew ANYTHING about the payments to Karen McDougal, who says she began a nearly yearlong affair with the Trumpster in 2006, shortly after Melania Trump gave birth to their son, Barron.

According to CNN’s Dana Bash and Gloria Borger, Trump is privately livid about the revelation:

From Stormy Daniels’ attorney, Michael Avenatti:

Daily Dance: Finola Hughes As ‘Victoria’ In CATS

Finola Hughes as ‘Victoria’ in CATS

In honor of the passing of Dame Gillian Lynne, whose choreography graced two of the biggest musical theatre blockbusters of all time, Cats and The Phantom of the Opera, I share this lovely moment from the early 80s when Andrew Lloyd Webber shared a bit of Cats on a talk show as the musical launched in the West End.

For soap opera fans, yes, that’s General Hospital’s Finola Hughes dancing the role of the white cat, ‘Victoria.’

Regular readers know that I was an actor and dancer for many years on Broadway and in national touring companies, and my first big break was as ‘the magical Mr. Mistoffelees’ in a new national touring company of Cats back in the mid-80s.

I smile thinking about my ‘Victoria,’ the now-super successful Broadway choreographer JoAnn Hunter (School of Rock, Disaster!, On a Clear Day). I watched JoAnn do this every night for hundreds of performances as the very next moment after her solo ended I made my entrance to ‘break the spell.’

Good times. Thank you, Gillian Lynne.

Watch below.

Trump Reverses Course (Again) On Putin Proposal

Donald Trump (L) and Russian President Putin (R)

During the Donald Trump/Vladimir Putin press conference on Monday, Trump praised Putin’s ‘offer’ to allow Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s team to travel to Russia to ‘observe’ interrogations of the 12 indicted Russian military officers as ‘incredible.’

In exchange, however, Putin wants to question Americans including our former Ambassador to Russia who was critical of the Russian president.

Danger Will Robinson, danger.

Via Politico:

Trump called the idea an “incredible offer” during the news conference. And on Wednesday, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said that the president would “meet with his team” on Putin’s proposal, setting off a Russia-related backlash against the Trump administration for the third straight day.

By Thursday, as the Senate prepared to formally rebuke Trump, the White House reversed course.

“It is a proposal that was made in sincerity by President Putin, but President Trump disagrees with it,” Sanders said in a statement. “Hopefully President Putin will have the 12 identified Russians come to the United States to prove their innocence or guilt.”

The Senate voted 98-0 for a resolution denouncing the idea that we would hand over our foreign diplomats, past or present, to Russian agents for interrogation.

By the way, a new poll by SurveyMonkey shows 79% of Republicans approve of how Trump handled the Monday press conference.

Compare that with 91% of Democrats who disapproved and 62% of Independents who disapproved.

Overall, the numbers fell pretty much in line with Trump’s usually polling – 58% disapproved and 40% approved.

News Round-Up: July 19, 2018

Some news items you might have missed:

• For a little #TBT – I apologize I don’t know where the photo above came from, but it always makes me stop and smile.

• Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, becomes the latest city to ban the harmful practice of so-called “conversion therapy” on LGBTQ minors.

• Same-sex couples will now be able to marry in their home parish even if their local bishop has moral objections to gay marriage, Episcopal Church leaders decided last Friday.

• California Gov. Jerry Brown has signed a bill into law officially recognizing June as LGBT Pride Month. California is the first state in the U.S. to legislate such a statute.

• Transgender people in Puerto Rico can now change their birth certificates to accurately reflects their gender.

• Russian singer Emin recently trolled the world with his new music video which utilizes lookalikes for Donald Trump, Kim Jong Un, Hillary Clinton, Stormy Daniels, Mark Zuckerberg, Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner.

You may recall it was Emin’s music publicist, Rob Goldstone, who set up the June 2016 Trump Tower meeting between a Russian government attorney and Donald Trump Jr.

You do the math.

The Russian calls his video “a satire on the news of the past 12 months.” It looks to me like the Russians are laughing at the U.S.

Barry Humphries (AKA Dame Edna) Is Anti-Trans And Pro-Trump

(image via Twitter)

In a new interview with The Spectator, Barry Humphries, whose most famous incarnation is as the over-the-top drag persona, “Dame Edna Everage,” surprises by revealing he is anti-transgender people and praises Donald Trump for ‘stirring up politics.’

This from a man who became famous performing in drag.

In London to perform a three-week residency at the Barbican, Barry Humphries’ Weimar Cabaret, Humphries told journalist Lloyd Evans that he feels the issue of transgender rights to be ‘terrible rat-baggery.’

He refers to transgenderism as ‘a fashion’ asking, “How many kinds of lavatory can you have?”

“And it’s pretty evil when it’s preached to children by crazy teachers,” he added.

Humphries also called out the anger he aroused when he referred to gender confirmation surgery as “mutilation.”

In a 2016 interview with The Telegraph, Humphries agreed with derisive comments about “men who believe that they are women and have themselves castrated”.

“They had their genitalia chopped off and tucked in and whatever they had to do,” said the 84-year-old. “And that aroused a lot of indignation — probably among the people who’d spent a lot of money having it done.”

Humphries tried to soften his position by adding, “But I don’t think I’m right to pontificate – I’m really an actor.”

On another topic, Evans asks if Humphries’ favorite onstage character, the sexist diplomat Sir Les Patterson, has been co-opted by Donald Trump.

“Has the President stolen your act?” asks Evans.

“No, I don’t think so,” replies Humphries. “I’m grateful to Trump for stirring up politics. And I won’t be joining any marches against him.”

(h/t The Spectator)