Tag: Donald Trump

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Donald Trump Signs Stimulus Bill, Wins Nothing With Delay

Donald Trump (screen capture)

Donald Trump signed the new stimulus package approved by a bipartisan Congress after days of delays
Donald Trump during ABC News Town Hall (screen capture)
UPDATE: After waiting days to sign the stimulus package passed in Congress by overwhelming margins and negotiated with Donald Trump’s Treasury Secretary as his stand-in, Trump finally signed off on the package. His delay may have cost Americans on unemployment $300 each in enhanced federal benefits, thank you very much. Politico rightfully ripped Trump a new one:

THAT’S IT? President DONALD TRUMP made all this noise about the Covid relief and government funding bill only to sign it and get nothing in return?

TRUMP got taken to the cleaners.

WHAT A BIZARRE, embarrassing episode for the president. He opposed a bill his administration negotiated. He had no discernible strategy and no hand to play — and it showed. He folded, and got nothing besides a few days of attention and chaos. People waiting for aid got a few days of frightening uncertainty.

ZIP. ZERO. ZILCH. If he was going to give up this easy, he should’ve just kept quiet and signed the bill. It would’ve been less embarrassing.

The Washington Post reports Donald Trump has signaled to aides he will sign the stimulus and spending bills passed by Congress potentially avoiding a crisis.

President Trump has indicated that he will sign the stimulus bill into law before Monday night’s deadline and avert a government shutdown, two people familiar with his plans said Sunday evening, a move that would release $900 billion in stimulus funds as soon as possible.

Trump’s new decision to sign the bill came less than a week after he demanded changes to it and had suggested he would refuse to sign it into law. On Tuesday, he referred to the bill as a “disgrace” but he signaled on Sunday he would sign it after all.

The government was set to shut down on Tuesday if Trump did not sign the bill into law. The spending package also included a new round of stimulus checks, unemployment aid, and small business assistance, among other things.

Folks close to Trump say it’s still not a done deal as the Donald has apparently changed his mind on signing the bill several times. The bipartisan bill that was negotiated with Trump’s Treasury Secretary, Steve Mnuchin, was overwhelmingly passed in both chambers of Congress. Trump threw an unexpected wrench into the deal when he suddenly demanded $2,000 checks (instead of $600) to be sent to all eligible Americans.

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Trump: Florida ‘Doing Well’ Without ‘Lockdowns’ As State Passes 21K Deaths From COVID

New York state is about to drop its face mask mandate as COVID-19 cases continue to drop in the Empire State.

Donald Trump tweeted today criticism about the pandemic situation in California adding that Florida is “open & doing well.” According to the Orlando Sentinel, Florida added 17,042 positive COVID-19 cases today bringing its total to 1,264,588 as the death toll from the virus has risen to 21,135. The Sunshine State has a population of around 21.5 million, which breaks down to one in 17 people in the state who have now tested positive for the virus. California has almost double the population (39.5 million) of Florida and has fewer cases per capita than Florida. Across the U.S., one in 18 have tested positive for the virus, and one in 98 globally. So, no – that’s not doing “well.”

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Donald Trump Continues Whining As Americans Face Losing Unemployment Benefits

Donald Trump plays golf and complains on Twitter as unemployment benefits for 14 million Americans expire today While approximately 14 million Americans are facing the expiration of their unemployment benefits today, Donald Trump is maintaining a full schedule of golf and griping about his failed reelection attempt. Trump surprised Congress by denouncing the recent COVID relief bill which was considered a done deal after being hammered out between House and Senate leaders alongside Trump’s own Treasury Secretary, Steve Mnuchin. After the passage of the stimulus package, which would extend unemployment benefits for those affected by the pandemic, Donald Trump threw a grenade into the negotiations demanding $2,000 payments to eligible Americans. Democrats say they are down for the increased checks, but Republicans have said that figure is dead on arrival in the Senate. Trump also wants legal protections for tech companies (like Twitter which has regularly tagged his tweets as ‘disinformation’) to be terminated so they can be sued. CBS News reported that the coronavirus relief and government spending bill was being flown to Florida Thursday evening for the president to sign — or veto — should he choose to do so. Amid his post-Christmas Twitter rant, Trump blamed Republicans for not fighting to overturn the results of the presidential election, as well as the “Justice” department and the FBI. The Donald also attacked the Supreme Court for refusing to take a look at “absolute proof” of “massive election fraud” that allegedly took place. Meanwhile, dozens of Team Trump lawsuits have failed in courts across the nation. Many of those challenges were ruled against by Republican-appointed judges, and even Trump appointees.

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Fox News Poll: 42% Say Trump ‘One Of The Worst Presidents’ In History

Donald Trump (image via Flickr/WhiteHouse – public domain)
A new poll from Fox News Channel (of all places!) does not reflect well on Donald Trump and his presidency. Some of the results of the new survey: • 55% of respondents say the U.S. is worse off now than four years ago compared with 32% who say things are better • A majority (52%) disapprove of the job Trump has done versus 47% who give the Donald a thumbs-up • Trump’s best marks come on his handling of the economy which 52% approve of, but he’s underwater when it comes to foreign policy, the pandemic, immigration or health care • 42% of those polled say Trump will be viewed as one of the worst presidents in the nation’s history, only 22% believe he’s one of the best
(graphic via Fox News)
Click over to Fox News for a full rundown of the results.

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Bill Barr Trolls Trump In Final Press Conference

Attorney General Bill Barr (image via Flickr/WhiteHouse – public domain)
For a guy who couldn’t stand up enough for Donald Trump, Bill Barr had no problem clapping back at the Donald during his last press conference as Attorney General. In the wake of reports that the Trumpster is mulling over declaring martial law and seizing voting machines, calling for a special counsel to investigate Joe Biden’s son, Hunter; and deflecting blame from Russia for the recent cyber attacks on multiple federal agencies, Barr now publicly disagrees with Trump on: Voter fraud: “I see no basis now for seizing machines by the federal government. … If I thought a special counsel at this stage was the right tool and was inappropriate, I would name one. But I haven’t and I’m not going to.” The recent SolarWinds cyber hack: “From the information that I have, I agree with Secretary Pompeo’s assessment. It certainly appears to be the Russians, but I’m not going to discuss it beyond that.” Hunter Biden: “I think to the extent that there is an investigation, I think that it’s being handled responsibly and professionally, currently within the department. And to this point, I have not seen a reason to appoint a special counsel. And I have no plan to do so before I leave.”

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Romney: Trump Has ‘A Blind Spot When It Comes To Russia’

Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT) didn’t tiptoe around his thoughts on how Donald Trump is handling his final days in the White House. Asked about Trump’s response to recent cyber-attacks on government and major corporations this week – attributed to Russia – the 2012 Republican presidential candidate told CNN’s Jake Tapper Trump has “a blind spot when it comes to Russia and so you can expect that that’s the response he would have.” Romney also said that “it’s sad in a lot of respects” how the Donald is “casting about” railing about his reelection loss when he could be taking a victory lap with the rollout of the coronavirus vaccines.

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Trump Lawyer Files Lawsuit ‘Under Plenty Of Perjury’

Lin Wood (image: public domain/White House)
With a crack legal team like this, it really is hard to believe Donald Trump’s lawyers have lost dozens and dozens and dozens of times in their attempts to rewrite the presidential election. #SarcasmIntended Attorney L. Lin Wood, who continues to keep the legal community in a stitch with his typos and misstatements, filed a pro se lawsuit in Georgia federal court on Friday with what we all hope is a typo. Prior to his signature on the last page of the filing is the following verification section: “Pursuant to 28 U.S.C. §1746, I declare and verify under plenty of perjury that the facts contained in the foregoing Verified Complaint for Declaratory and Injunctive Relief are true and correct.” Bolding is mine. The language is Wood’s.

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Advisers Concerned As Trump Considers Acting On Conspiracy Theories

Donald Trump speaks at the White House (photo: public domain)
According to a report by the New York Times, high-level Trump advisers are becoming concerned that Donald Trump has begun giving serious consideration to acting on wild conspiracy theories regarding his failed reelection bid. At a White House meeting on Friday, Trump reportedly discussed making Sidney Powell a special counsel investigating voter fraud, according to two people briefed on the discussion. You’ll recall Powell worked on behalf of Trump’s campaign team pushing a series of conspiracy theories about a Venezuelan plot to rig voting machines in the United States and more. Senior advisers, including Rudy Giuliani and White House counsel, Pat A. Cipollone, were not keen on the ideas being presented. Powell found herself being pushed out of Trump’s legal team recently after she floated wild claims about Dominion Voting Systems machines, which were used in some states, somehow being connected to a Venezuelan plot to control the election. Also in the mix is former national security adviser Michael Flynn’s wild talk of Trump invoking martial law and ordering the military to “rerun” the election. And then there’s Giuliani’s scheme to have the Department of Homeland Security seize possession of voting machines as part of a push to overturn the results of the election. But Giuliani was informed Homeland Security does not have the authority to do such a thing. Read more at the NY Times. Axios reporter Jonathan Swan says that after years of covering the Trump administration, he “can’t recall hearing more intense concern from senior officials who are actually Trump people.”

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Trump Breaks Silence, Defends Russia From Cyber Hacking, Lies About Election Loss (Again)

Donald Trump in the Oval Office (image: public domain)
After days of silence, while the U.S. continued to battle with daily COVID-19 deaths exceeding 3,000 per day and the news of a massive cyber spy campaign against the country, Donald Trump finally emerged from his solitude to downplay any role Russia might have had in the attack. The intrusions into federal agencies reportedly included the State Department, the Treasury, Homeland Security, Energy and Commerce Departments, as well the National Institutes of Health. Even though Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told conservative pundit Mark Levin on Friday that Moscow is responsible for the computer hacks – “This was a very significant effort, and I think it’s the case that now we can say pretty clearly that it was the Russians that engaged in this activity” – Trump continues to defend Russia and its leader, President Vladimir Putin. Trump tweeted this morning that he has been “fully briefed” on the incident (I’d hope so) and deflected responsibility from Russia by suggesting “it may be China.” Tagging Pompeo, Trump tamped down concerns writing, “The Cyber Hack is far greater in the Fake News Media than in actuality. I have been fully briefed and everything is well under control.” He then careened back to his baseless claims that he won the presidential election (he didn’t) by suggesting cyber hackers might have “hit on our ridiculous voting machines during the election.” Factcheck: Trump’s own cyber experts at the Department of Homeland Security have guaranteed no voting apparatus was infiltrated during the election.

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Axios: Trump Could Issue ‘Wave Of Pardons’ Today

Donald Trump (photo: public domain)
Axios reports there could be a flurry of presidential pardons issued today by Donald Trump.

Trump has been considering pardons for friends and allies, as Axios reported, interrupting conversations with associates to spontaneously suggest he add them to his pardon list. He already pardoned his former national security advisor Michael Flynn.

Sen. Rand Paul called on Trump to pardon Edward Snowden in an article for The Federalist on Thursday. A source with direct knowledge of the planning said they did not expect Trump to follow through with a Snowden pardon.

Trump’s former campaign chairman Paul Manafort and WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange are said to be in the mix for consideration.