Tag: Donald Trump

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Trump Claims To Have Witnessed Horror & Devastation Of Harvey “Firsthand”

The above image, captioned “After witnessing first hand the horror & devastation caused by Hurricane Harvey, my heart goes out even more so to the great people of Texas,” was posted to Donald Trump’s Instagram account last night.

Of course, the fact is Trump did not witness “first hand” any devastation or horror caused by Hurricane Harvey because he didn’t visit any of the devastated areas during his hours long-visit to Texas yesterday.

Nor did he meet or console any of the victims of the flooding caused by the storm.

His press secretary was asked what he meant by “first hand,” and this was the response:

“He met with a number of state and local officials who are eating, sleeping, breathing the Harvey disaster. He talked extensively with the governor, who certainly is right in the midst of every bit of this, as well as the mayors from several of the local towns that were hit hardest. And detailed briefing information throughout the day yesterday talking to a lot of the people on the ground — that certainly is a firsthand account.”

Actually, being told information you haven’t experienced yourself is the very definition of a “second-hand account.”

And the Twitterverse jumped right in:

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Special Counsel Robert Mueller Teaming Up With NY Attorney General On Paul Manafort Investigation

Former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort

Politico is reporting tonight that Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s team of investigators into Russian interference in the 2016 election are collaborating with New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman on its investigation into former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort and his financial transactions.

The cooperation is the latest indication that the federal probe into President Donald Trump’s former campaign chairman is intensifying. It also could potentially provide Mueller with additional leverage to get Manafort to cooperate in the larger investigation into Trump’s campaign, as Trump does not have pardon power over state crimes.

The two teams have shared evidence and talked frequently in recent weeks about a potential case, these people said. One of the people familiar with progress on the case said both Mueller’s and Schneiderman’s teams have collected evidence on financial crimes, including potential money laundering.

Bolding is mine.

Many felt Trump’s pardon of Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio was a signal from Trump that he might pardon anyone caught up in the Special Counsel’s investigation.

State charges would certainly short-circuit Trump’s powers should Manafort’s situation grow dire.

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Fox News Poll: Trump Approval Rating Drops To Lowest Yet

In his worst showing yet, Donald Trump’s approval numbers in the latest Fox News Poll – FOX NEWS POLL!!! – have fallen to his lowest numbers in the poll since taking office.

Only 41% of those surveyed approve of the job Trump is doing as president while 55% disapprove.

And while Trump promised to be a “uniter” during the campaign, folks view him exactly the opposite as 56% feel he is “tearing the country apart.” Only 33% feel he is bringing the country together.

His handling of race relations shows a large weak spot for Trump as 56% believe Trump doesn’t respect racial minorities, and only 35% approved of his handling of the Charlottesville hate rally debacle.

More results over at Fox News.

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Pew Poll: 46% Of Republicans Have “Mixed Feelings” About Trump’s Conduct

A new poll from Pew Research Center shows 46% of Republicans and those who lean Republican have “mixed feelings” about Donald Trump’s conduct as president.

Also troubling – 19% of Republicans and those who lean Republican say they don’t approve of Trump’s conduct as commander-in-chief at all.

Overall, among those surveyed, 58% don’t like Trump’s conduct as prez.

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Humility, Thy Name Is Trump? “What A Crowd, What A Turnout”

Donald Trump admiring his crowd size in Texas 

Humility, humility, where for art thou, humility?

Via The Hill:

Visting parts of Texas affected by Hurricane Harvey, Donald Trump was in classic form noting the size of his crowd gathered to see him.

“What a crowd, what a turnout,” Trump said to a crowd of several hundred people surrounding a fire station, according to a White House pool report.

The president reportedly spoke from a ladder between two fire trucks.

“Thank you,” Trump said to cheers.

“We love you, you are special, we are here to take care of you,” Trump said. “It’s going well.”

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Special Counsel Focusing On How Much Trump Knew About Son’s Meeting With Russian Lawyer

Don Trump Jr. and father

Via HuffPost:

Special counsel Robert Mueller is reportedly questioning how much President Donald Trump knew about his son Donald Trump Jr.’s 2016 meeting with Kremlin-linked lawyers at Trump Tower and if the president sought to hide the purpose of that meeting, NBC reports.

Trump has denied knowing about the matter until it was revealed by The New York Times. The president did, however, help draft his son’s statement to the press in response to reports about the meeting, according to The Washington Post.

“Even if Trump is not charged with a crime as a result of the statement, it could be useful to Mueller’s team to show Trump’s conduct to a jury that may be considering other charges,” an unnamed source told NBC.

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Trump Under Fire For Promoting $40 Campaign Hat During Hurricane Harvey

I remember when I saw the photo of Donald Trump wearing that silly red hat during his Hurricane Harvey teleconference wondering, “Why is he wearing that hat?”

Now we know.

The Trumpster is coming under fire for promoting a $40 campaign hat on sale at his website while tending to Hurricane Harvey.

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) has raised questions as well as Trump’s former head of the Office of Government Ethics (OGE), Walter Shaub.

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Rep. Duncan Hunter On Trump: “He’s An Asshole, But He’s Our Asshole”

Rep. Duncan Hunter says Donald Trump "is an asshole, but he's our asshole"

The old phrase “With friends like these, who needs enemies?” comes to mind here.

One of Donald Trump’s earliest supporters in Congress, Rep. Duncan Hunter, one of Donald Trump’s first allies in Congress, used colorful language in touting the president as their champion at a Riverside County Young Republicans meeting in a Murrieta sports bar.

“He’s just like he is on TV,” Hunter, R-Alpine, told the group. “He’s an asshole, but he’s our asshole.”

According to the San Diego Union Tribune, Hunter’s chief of staff did not respond to emails for comment. His voice mailbox was filled and could not accept more messages.

I can’t imagine why…

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Trump Asked If Russia Is Security Threat: “I Consider Many Countries As A Security Threat”

During a press conference with the president of Finland, Donald Trump was asked if he considers Russia to be a security threat.

His answer: “Well, I consider many countries as a security threat.”

He. Just. Can’t. Say. It.

During the same press conference, Trump was asked why he pardoned former Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio during Hurricane Harvey.

“I assumed the ratings would be higher,” he replied.

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Trump Lawyer Emailed Kremlin Directly For Help On Business Deal

For a year, Donald Trump has repeatedly denied having “nothing to do with Russia.”

Here’s just one sample of his denials:

But it turns out the Trumpster actually signed a “letter of intent” to build a “Trump Tower Moscow” four months into his presidential campaign.

From ABC News:

The involvement of then-candidate Trump in a proposed Russian development deal contradicts repeated statements Trump made during the campaign, including telling ABC News Chief Anchor George Stephanopoulos that his business had “no relationship to Russia whatsoever.”

The disclosure from Cohen, who has described himself as Trump’s personal lawyer, came as Cohen’s attorney gave congressional investigators scores of documents and emails from the campaign, including several pertaining to the Moscow development idea.

“Certain documents in the production reference a proposal for ‘Trump Tower Moscow,’ which contemplated a private real estate development in Russia,” Cohen’s statement says. “The decision to pursue the proposal initially, and later to abandon it, was unrelated to the Donald J. Trump for President Campaign.”

In a separate statement texted to ABC News, Cohen added that “the Trump Moscow proposal was simply one of many development opportunities that the Trump Organization considered and ultimately rejected.”

Cohen specifically says in his statement that Trump was told three times about the Moscow proposal.

“To the best of my knowledge, Mr. Trump was never in contact with anyone about this proposal other than me on three occasions, including signing a non-binding letter of intent in 2015,” his statement says.

Also found in the emails was a message from Trump associate Felix Sater to Cohen boasting of his ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“I will get Putin on this program and we will get Donald elected,” Sater wrote in an email. “Buddy, our boy can become president of the USA and we can engineer it. I will get all of Putins team to buy in on this, I will manage this process.”

Click image to enlarge

Taking a trip on the way-back machine, we find this tweet from Cohen last December that doesn’t seem to have aged well: