Tag: Donald Trump

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Trump Twitter Rant: Sunday Edition

Donald Trump

Clearly, whatever the kids over at Fox News were chatting on this morning really put the screws to Donald Trump as he vented vociferously about fired FBI officials Andrew McCabe and James Comey on  Twitter.

First, Trump accused Comey of lying under oath to a Senate committee writing, “Wow, watch Comey lie under oath to Senator G when asked “have you ever been an anonymous source…or known someone else to be an anonymous source…?” He said strongly “never, no.” He lied as shown clearly on @foxandfriends.”

Then The Donald went after Andrew McCabe after reports that McCabe, like Comey, kept contemporaneous notes after every meeting with Trump.

See, that’s what FBI agents are trained to do so they can recall details more clearly should they need to in the future. But, alas, Trump doesn’t really grasp the concept of taking notes or being detail oriented.

Trump finally lied to his followers saying Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s team is full of Democrats out to get him: “Why does the Mueller team have 13 hardened Democrats, some big Crooked Hillary supporters, and Zero Republicans? Another Dem recently added…does anyone think this is fair? And yet, there is NO COLLUSION!”

Folks were quick to point out that Mueller is a longtime Republican. He was nominated by President George W. Bush for FBI director in 2001, and was appointed special counsel by Trump’s own pick to be deputy attorney general, Rod J. Rosenstein, who is also a Republican.

Of Mueller’s investigation team, seven of the 17 lawyers brought on by Mueller have donated to Democratic political candidates. But, you know, facts…

The Twitterverse, of course, responded:

And it was shortly thereafter that Trump’s team whisked him off to the golf course:

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James Comey’s Upcoming Book Surges In Sales After Trump’s Twitter Attack

James Comey

James Comey might be sending Donald Trump a ‘thank you’ note for attacking the former FBI director on Twitter Saturday morning.

In the midst of a weekend Twitter rant, the Trumpeter included Comey in a victory lap tweet after having fired former Deputy Director Andrew McCabe just hours before he could retire with full pension.

Trump wrote, “Andrew McCabe FIRED, a great day for the hard working men and women of the FBI – A great day for Democracy. Sanctimonious James Comey was his boss and made McCabe look like a choirboy. He knew all about the lies and corruption going on at the highest levels of the FBI!”

But watching from a distance was Comey, who in a rare move, cooly responded to the attack: “Mr. President, the American people will hear my story very soon. And they can judge for themselves who is honorable and who is not.”

Over the next 24 hours, pre-sales for Comey’s upcoming book, A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies and Leadership, surged from #15 to #2 on Amazon.

Click image to enlarge

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Trump’s Voter Profiling Firm “Harvested” Private Info From 50 Million Facebook Users Without Permission

Donald Trump

Donald Trump’s voter-profiling company Cambridge Analytica “harvested” the private information of over 50 million Facebook users without permission in hopes of influencing voter behavior.

From The New York Times:

The firm had secured a $15 million investment from Robert Mercer, the wealthy Republican donor, and wooed his political adviser, Stephen K. Bannon, with the promise of tools that could identify the personalities of American voters and influence their behavior. But it did not have the data to make its new products work.

So the firm harvested private information from the Facebook profiles of more than 50 million users without their permission, according to former Cambridge employees, associates and documents, making it one of the largest data leaks in the social network’s history.

The breach allowed the company to exploit the private social media activity of a huge swath of the American electorate, developing techniques that underpinned its work on President Trump’s campaign in 2016.

An examination by The New York Times and The Observer of London reveals how Cambridge Analytica’s drive to bring to market a potentially powerful new weapon put the firm — and wealthy conservative investors seeking to reshape politics — under scrutiny from investigators and lawmakers on both sides of the Atlantic.

Christopher Wylie, who helped found Cambridge and worked there until late 2014, said of its leaders: “Rules don’t matter for them. For them, this is a war, and it’s all fair.”

“They want to fight a culture war in America,” he added. “Cambridge Analytica was supposed to be the arsenal of weapons to fight that culture war.”

According to The Times, Cambridge paid a third party to lie to Facebook in order to acquire the data saying the information was to be used for “academic purposes.”

After knowing about the data breach for months, Facebook said last night it is suspending the account of Cambridge Analytica. I’m guessing the Times‘ article applied some pressure, no?

The article goes on to say that Cambridge still has most or all of the private information.

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Trump Gloats Over Firing Former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe

With absolutely no attempt to hide his involvement, Donald Trump openly gloated about firing former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe on Twitter this morning.

“Andrew McCabe FIRED, a great day for the hard working men and women of the FBI,” wrote Trump. “A great day for Democracy. Sanctimonious James Comey was his boss and made McCabe look like a choirboy. He knew all about the lies and corruption going on at the highest levels of the FBI!”

Folks with a LOT of legal experience didn’t think this was such a good idea…

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Lawyer: Stormy Daniels Was Physically Intimidated To Stay Quiet About Alleged Trump Affair

During an interview with CNN’s Chris Cuomo this morning, Stormy Daniels’ lawyer Michael Avenatti shared that his client was physically intimidated to keep quiet about her alleged affair with Donald Trump.

From CNN:

The lawyer representing Stormy Daniels, the porn star suing President Donald Trump, claimed Friday that she has faced physical threats.

“My client was physically threatened to stay silent about what she knew about Donald Trump,” Michael Avenatti told CNN’s Chris Cuomo on “New Day.” He said more details would be forthcoming in Daniels’ upcoming interview on CBS’s “60 Minutes,” which is scheduled to air later this month.

“She’s going to be able to provide very specific details about what happened here,” Avenatti said.

He would not answer whether or not it was someone close to the President who threatened her, and later told CNN he couldn’t answer a question about whether he or Daniels filed a police report.

Daniels has been in the headlines for weeks now having come forward about an alleged affair she had with Trump in 2006 just months after his son Barron was born. She says she was paid $130,000 in “hush money” just days before the 2016 election.

Avenatti also shared Daniels’ interview with Anderson Cooper on 60 Minutes will air on March 25.

Additionally, Avenatti told Cuomo six more women have stepped up with similar claims about affairs with Trump.

Watch the interview below.

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Trump Administration Finally Sanctions Russian Hackers

After months of inaction, the Trump administration has begrudgingly imposed sanctions on Russian actors who worked to interfere in the 2016 presidential election.

From The Washington Post:

The Trump administration on Thursday imposed fresh sanctions on Russian government hackers and spy agencies to punish Moscow for interfering in the 2016 presidential election and for a cyberattack against Ukraine and other countries last year that officials have characterized as “the most destructive and costly” in history.

Sanctions also were imposed on individuals known as “trolls” and the Russian organizations — including the Internet Research Agency — that supported their efforts to undermine the election. Additionally, the administration alerted the public that Russia is targeting the U.S. energy grid with computer malware that could sabotage its systems.

Taken together, the moves represent the administration’s most aggressive actions to date against Russia for its incursions against the United States, though analysts say their impact is mostly symbolic and noted that a number of the individuals and groups had already been subject to sanctions.

Nonetheless, officials hope the actions will help deter tampering with this year’s midterm elections while signaling to Russia that Washington will not allow its attacks to go unchallenged.

Most political experts are saying these sanctions will not any effect on any of the actual power players in Russia.

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Special Counsel Subpoenas Trump Organization For All Documents Related To Russia

Get ready for Donald Trump’s head to explode as The New York Times has just reported Special Counsel Robert Mueller has subpoenaed all Russian related documents from the Trump Organization.

The special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, has subpoenaed the Trump Organization to turn over documents, including some related to Russia, according to two people briefed on the matter. The order is the first known time that the special counsel demanded documents directly related to President Trump’s businesses, bringing the investigation closer to the president.

The breadth of the subpoena was not clear, nor was it clear why Mr. Mueller issued it instead of simply asking for the documents from the company, an umbrella organization that oversees Mr. Trump’s business ventures. In the subpoena, delivered in recent weeks, Mr. Mueller ordered the Trump Organization to hand over all documents related to Russia and other topics he is investigating, the people said.

The subpoena is the latest indication that the investigation, which Mr. Trump’s lawyers once regularly assured him would be completed by now, will drag on for at least several more months. Word of the subpoena comes as Mr. Mueller appears to be broadening his investigation to examine the role foreign money may have played in funding Mr. Trump’s political activities. In recent weeks, Mr. Mueller’s investigators have questioned witnesses, including an adviser to the United Arab Emirates, about the flow of Emirati money into the United States.

Trump has previously said that a Mueller investigation into his businesses would cross a “red line.”

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Donald Trump Brags He Lied To Canadian Prime Minister About Trade

President Trump boasted at a private fundraiser in Missouri Wednesday of making up trade claims during a meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau before knowing whether they were true.

Quel surprise!

Discussing trade relations with the U.S. ally, Trump lied about running a trade deficit. The Donald told his audience last night, “I didn’t even know.”

From The Washington Post:

President Trump boasted in a fundraising speech Wednesday that he made up information in a meeting with the leader of a top U.S. ally, saying he insisted to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau that the United States runs a trade deficit with its neighbor to the north without knowing whether that was the case.

“Trudeau came to see me. He’s a good guy, Justin. He said, ‘No, no, we have no trade deficit with you, we have none. Donald, please,’ ” Trump said, mimicking Trudeau, according to audio of the private event in Missouri obtained by The Washington Post. “Nice guy, good-looking guy, comes in — ‘Donald, we have no trade deficit.’ He’s very proud because everybody else, you know, we’re getting killed.

“… So, he’s proud. I said, ‘Wrong, Justin, you do.’ I didn’t even know. … I had no idea. I just said, ‘You’re wrong.’ You know why? Because we’re so stupid. … And I thought they were smart. I said, ‘You’re wrong, Justin.’ He said, ‘Nope, we have no trade deficit.’ I said, ‘Well, in that case, I feel differently,’ I said, ‘but I don’t believe it.’ I sent one of our guys out, his guy, my guy, they went out, I said, ‘Check, because I can’t believe it.’

As the audio recording became news this morning, Trump took to Twitter to repeat that the U.S. has a trade deficit with Canada.

However, the Office of the United States Trade Representative reported in 2016 that the United States exported $12.5 billion more in goods and services than it imported from Canada, leading to a trade surplus, not a deficit.

Watch NBC News’ report below.

And nothing but the truth.A post shared by Pete Souza (@petesouza) on Mar 15, 2018 at 6:29am PDT

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Former Reality TV Host Prez Picks Current TV Host As Top Financial Advisor

President Donald Trump will name Larry Kudlow, CNBC TV host, as the next head of the White House National Economic Council, two sources familiar with the decision according to CNN.

Trump apparently offered Kudlow the job Tuesday night during a phone call and he accepted.

Kudlow will be Trump’s second top economic adviser after Gary Cohn, a former Goldman Sachs executive who held the position for a year, resigned earlier this month over disagreements regarding the President’s decision to impose tariffs on steel and aluminum imports.

Folks were quick to point out some choice facts about Kudlow:

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Report: Trump Adviser Roger Stone Bragged He Knew About WikiLeaks Hack In Advance

Roger Stone

Longtime Trump adviser Roger Stone has vehemently denied having any contact with WikiLeaks leader Julian Assange or prior notice of the document dumps by WikiLeaks that occurred during the 2016 presidential election.

Today, The Washington Post is reporting that Stone told two friends, Sam Nunberg and another associate, that he had learned from Julian Assange that Wikileaks had obtained emails that would torment the Clinton campaign months before the email hack was made public.

In the spring of 2016, longtime political operative Roger Stone had a phone conversation that would later seem prophetic, according to the person on the other end of the line.

Stone, an informal adviser to then-candidate Donald Trump, said he had learned from WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange that his organization had obtained emails that would torment senior Democrats such as John Podesta, then campaign chairman for Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.

The conversation occurred before it was publicly known that hackers had obtained the emails of Podesta and of the Democratic National Committee, documents that WikiLeaks released in late July and October. The U.S. intelligence community later concluded the hackers were working for Russia.

The person, who spoke to The Washington Post on the condition of anonymity because of the ongoing federal investigation into Russian campaign interference, is one of two Stone associates who say Stone claimed to have had contact with Assange in 2016.

The second, former Trump adviser Sam Nunberg, said in an interview Monday that Stone told him that he had met with Assange — a conversation Nunberg said investigators for special counsel Robert S. Mueller III recently asked him to describe.

Meanwhile, the Republican-led House Intelligence Committee announced it was closing it’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election just yesterday.

Hmm…