Tag: Donald Trump

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Paul Manafort Resigns From Trump Campaign Over Undisclosed Russian Lobby Efforts

Paul Manafort

Well, we all saw this coming, didn’t we?

Paul Manafort, who basically replaced Donald Trump’s first campaign chief, Corey Lewandowski, has resigned from the Trump campaign after being replaced himself by Breitbart News head Stephen Bannon and Republican PR guru Kellyanne Conway.

Oh, plus that little matter of being implicated in multi-million dollar payments for lobbying on behalf of a pro-Russian Ukraine party without properly disclosing those payments.

All of these machinations come as Trump trails Democrat Hillary Clinton in virtually every national poll and in most vital swing states.

From the AP:

Eric Trump told Fox News Friday that Paul Manafort “did a great job with the delegates” ahead of the Republican National Convention last month, and that he resigned earlier Friday because Donald Trump didn’t want to be “distracted by whatever things Paul was dealing with.”

Manafort stepped down in the wake of a campaign shake-up, as well as revelations about his work for a pro-Russian political party in Ukraine.

The Associated Press reported Thursday that Manafort’s firm orchestrated a covert Washington lobbying operation on behalf of Ukraine’s then-ruling political party. Manafort and his deputy, Rick Gates, never disclosed their work as foreign agents, as required under federal law.

The Trumpster issued this statement:

“This morning Paul Manafort offered, and I accepted, his resignation from the campaign. I am very appreciative for his great work in helping to get us where we are today, and in particular his work guiding us through the delegate and convention process. Paul is a true professional and I wish him the greatest success.”

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Donald Trump Will “Absolutely” Release His Tax Returns

What is Donald Trump hiding in his tax returns?

The Hillary Clinton campaign is not letting up on Donald Trump’s refusal to release his tax returns even though every presidential candidate for the past four decades has.

The Trumpster says he can’t because he’s currently being audited. But the IRS says there’s no reason he can’t release those returns.

Reporters have asked him to release even his 2008 returns – which are not being audited – but the Trump campaign still dodges.

You have to wonder what it is that he’s hiding. The Clinton campaign’s newest ad asks that question and more.

“If I decide to run for office I’ll produce my tax returns — absolutely,” Trump says at the beginning of the ad, highlighting yet another of his now infamous flip-flops.

When ABC’s George Stephanopoulos asked, “What is your tax rate?” Trump responded, “It’s none of your business.”

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Trump Surrogate Michael Cohen Ridiculed On Twitter #SaysWho?

I was watching CNN this afternoon when this exchange happened. It was beyond cringe worthy.

Few moments encapsulate the Trump campaign like this does.

Besides Michael Cohen’s petulant tone and body language, his total faux-ignorance on the fact that his boy is flailing in the polls is worse than painful.

These 26 seconds are what everyone is talking about today. #sad

Via Politico:

In an interview on Wednesday afternoon, substitute CNN host Brianna Keilar asked Trump Organization Executive Vice President Michael Cohen about the hiring of campaign manager Kellyanne Conway and CEO Stephen Bannon, widely perceived as a shakeup intended to remedy the Republican nominee’s struggling campaign.

Cohen balked at the idea that the hires constituted any kind of shakeup and interrupted Keilar in the middle of a follow-up question when she said, “You say it is not a shakeup but you guys are down.”

“Says who?” said Cohen, whose job description also includes serving as Trump’s special counsel.

“Polls. Most of them. All of them?” an incredulous Keilar responded, sounding surprised that Cohen would refuse to even acknowledge the notion that Trump’s campaign had fallen behind that of Hillary Clinton.

“Says who?” Cohen asked again, to which Keilar replied, “Polls. I just told you. I answered your question.”

Unsatisfied, Cohen followed up: “OK, which polls?”

“All of them,” the CNN host said.

“OK,” Cohen said. “And your question is?”

In the vernacular of Donald Trump – #Sad #Loser

Just in cause you’d like a visual reminder, this is a screen capture from today’s Real Clear Politics list of recent national polls.

Please note all the blue annotations on the right signifying a Clinton lead. Click the image to enlarge.

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Ben Shapiro Trashes Donald Trump As “Turd Tornado”

Right-wing journalist Ben Shapiro described his former boss at Breitbart News, Steve Bannon, as a “turd tornado” upon hearing the news that Donald Trump had hired Bannon to head up his beleaguered presidential campaign.

Via Raw Story:

Shapiro, who left Breitbart after the website took a pro-Trump turn earlier this year, accused Bannon of turning “Breitbart into Trump Pravda for his own personal gain.”

“Steve is basically going to tell Trump to be more militant, to double down, to be more focused,” Shapiro explained to CNN’s Brianna Keilar on Wednesday. “It does demonstrate the Republican or Trump-media complex that Bannon has helped to create in direct contravention to what Andrew Breitbart once called the Democrat-media complex.”

“As you probably know, I think Donald Trump is a turd tornado, but I also know that he has no capacity whatsoever to control himself and be the sort of staid politician that so many people want him to be,” he continued. “So, telling him to double down is not necessarily terrible strategy. If he’s going to go down, he’s going to go down being Trump.”

“A what tornado?” Keilar asked.

“A turd tornado,” Shapiro repeated.

“What is that?” Keilar pressed, immediately wishing she hadn’t.

“Well, it’s like a Sharknado, except with poop,” Shapiro revealed.

“Okay, that’s not quite what I expected,” the CNN host admitted.

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Trouble Right Here In Trump City – Breitbart Exec Takes The Reins Of Trump Campaign In 2nd Shakeup

Stephen Bannon

Shakeups in political campaigns never mean things are going great.

So take the news that Stephen Bannon, executive chairman of Breitbart News LLC, becoming the new Trump campaign chief executive as a red flag.

We’ve heard rumblings that Trump’s crew couldn’t reign the Trumpster in, and we’ve also read numerous reports of the Donald resisting his approach to the campaign trail singing the classic, “I gotta be me.”

Cue the new team.

From the New York Times:

Stephen Bannon, the executive chairman of Breitbart News LLC, will become the Republican campaign’s chief executive, and Kellyanne Conway, a senior adviser and pollster for Mr. Trump and his running mate, Gov. Mike Pence of Indiana, will become the campaign manager.

Paul Manafort, the campaign chairman, will retain his title. But the staffing change, hammered out on Sunday and set to be formally announced Wednesday morning, was seen by some as a demotion for Mr. Manafort.

Conway told reporters Wednesday morning that the moves weren’t so much a “shakeup” as they are an “expansion” for this phase of the general election.

In related news, more stories continue to dog Paul Manafort about his financial connections and payments of unreported millions to Washington lobbying firms.

Donald Trump’s campaign chairman helped a pro-Russian governing party in Ukraine secretly route at least $2.2 million in payments to two prominent Washington lobbying firms in 2012, and did so in a way that effectively obscured the foreign political party’s efforts to influence U.S. policy.

The revelation, provided to The Associated Press by people directly knowledgeable about the effort, comes at a time when Trump has faced criticism for his friendly overtures to Russian President Vladimir Putin. It also casts new light on the business practices of campaign chairman Paul Manafort.

Under federal law, U.S. lobbyists must declare publicly if they represent foreign leaders or their political parties and provide detailed reports about their actions to the Justice Department. A violation is a felony and can result in up to five years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000.

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Donald Trump: “I Don’t Wanna Pivot”

Remember when the American electorate was told over and over that Donald Trump would “pivot” from primary “beast” mode into general election mode to be able to attract moderates and independents?

Yeah, no surprise to learn that ain’t gonna happen.

Trump told Wisconsin news station WKBT-TV in a Tuesday live interview, “I don’t wanna change. Everybody talks about, ‘Oh well, you’re gonna pivot, you’re gonna’ — I don’t wanna pivot. I mean, you have to be you. If you start pivoting, you’re not being honest with people.”

That being said, Trump still points to his “yuuge” crowds as proof that he’s doing well in the general election even as polls show him tanking.

The Trumpster told Fox News reporter John Roberts, “I actually think I’m doing good. I have the biggest crowds,” Trump said. “You’re there, you see them. Nobody’s ever had crowds like this, they say. Somebody actually reported it the other day.”

Ego, ego, ego…

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Fired Fox News Chairman Roger Ailes Advising Donald Trump For Presidential Debates

Roger Ailes

As Republican Donald Trump finds himself sinking lower and lower in the polls when it comes to the support of women, suddenly it occurs to him – “I know, I’ll have Roger Ailes coach me in advance of the coming presidential debates!”

Brilliant!

I mean, who better than the guy who was recently forced out at Fox News as for multiple charges of sexual harassment? His approval rating among women is even lower that the Donald’s!

Absolutely 3-D chess playing, expert political gamesmanship there. I’m telling you that.

From the New York Times:

Mr. Ailes is aiding Mr. Trump’s team as it turns its attention to the first debate with Hillary Clinton, the Democratic nominee, on Sept. 26 at Hofstra University on Long Island, according to four people briefed on the move, who insisted on anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter.

Two of them said that Mr. Ailes’s role could extend beyond the debates, which Mr. Trump’s advisers see as crucial to vaulting him back into strong contention for the presidency after a series of self-inflicted wounds that have eroded his standing in public opinion polls.

It was not clear when Mr. Ailes began helping the campaign. He resigned his post at Fox News on July 21 amid an investigation into allegations of sexual harassment by former female employees that occurred after a lawsuit by the former anchor Gretchen Carlson.

The Trump campaign denies Ailes’ involvement in any capacity.

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Trump Campaign’s Paul Manafort Listed In Ukraine Ledgers As Receiving Millions

So, here’s a question: if Hillary Clinton’s campaign manager was found to be accepting millions from Russian and Ukraine election officials, would the Trump campaign go wild about that?

Well, funny thing is – it’s actually the reverse. The name of Paul Manafort, campaign chairman for the Trump campaign, reportedly appears in handwritten ledgers which detail a series of payments including $12.7 million to Manafort.

From CNN:

The investigation is looking into “shadow accounting” and potentially illegal payments made by Yanukovich to Manafort and other Ukrainian election officials, according to Ukraine’s National Anti-Corruption.

The announcement of the investigation follows a report published late Sunday by The New York Times, which first revealed that Ukrainian investigators had found Manafort’s name included in an off-the-books, handwritten ledger detailing a series of secret payments — among them, a $12.7 million payout to Manafort.

In a statement released Sunday evening, Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook said, “On the eve of what the Trump campaign has billed as a major foreign policy speech, we have learned of more troubling connections between Donald Trump’s team and pro-Kremlin elements in Ukraine.”

Predictably, Manafort denies the reports.

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Hillary Clinton Leads Donald Trump By 30 Points In New York State

According to Donald Trump, he will be competitive in the general election against Hillary Clinton in their shared home state of New York.

The facts are bearing out a different narrative.

The latest Siena poll shows the former Secretary of State running ahead of Trump 57% vs 27%.

In a four way race, Clinton still holds an impressive 25 point lead.