Tag: Donald Trump

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Transcript: Former Ambassador Told To ‘Praise’ Trump To Save Her Job

Donald Trump
The House impeachment investigators have released the transcripts of two witnesses who have testified in the ongoing impeachment inquiry. One of the transcripts involving testimony from former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch indicates she was told to ‘praise’ Donald Trump publicly in order to save her job. From NBC News:

Marie Yovanovitch, the ousted U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, told House impeachment investigators last month that U.S. Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland told her she should tweet out support or praise for President Donald Trump if she wanted to save her job, according to a transcript of her testimony made public Monday.

The three House committees leading the impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump released two transcripts of the behind-closed-doors interviews they have so far conducted as part of their investigation, as the probe moves to a more public phase.

Yovanovitch was interviewed by House investigators in October for more than nine hours and has emerged as a key figure in the investigation into Trump’s efforts to persuade Ukraine’s new government to commit publicly to investigate corruption and the president’s political opponents.

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Fox News Polls Shows Biden Leading Trump 12+

L-R Former Vice President Joe Biden, Donald Trump
The latest Fox News poll shows:

Biden performs best against Trump (51-39 percent) in hypothetical head-to-head matchups. He leads by 12 points, garners over 50 percent and keeps Trump below 40 percent.

In early October, Biden led by 10 (50-40 percent).

More Democrats (91 percent) back Biden than Republicans (86 percent) support Trump, and 88 percent of 2016 Trump voters would stick with him, while 91 percent of Clinton voters would support Biden.

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New Poll: 49 Percent Support Impeaching/Removing Trump From Office

The results of a new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll shows 49 percent of American voters support impeaching and removing Donald Trump from the presidency while 46 percent oppose. That’s an increase in support of impeachment by 6 points in a month, while the opposition has dropped 3 points. The poll also shows former Vice President Joe Biden would beat Trump in a hypothetical head-to-head matchup by 9 points. Sen. Elizabeth Warren would also trump the Trumpster by an 8 point margin. Meanwhile, the Donald’s approval/disapproval rating has pretty much remained in the same range: 45 percent give Trump a thumbs-up while a majority of 53 percent disapprove of the job he’s doing. When you dive into the details, though, 31 percent say they ‘strongly’ approve versus 45 percent who say they ‘strongly’ disapprove. Here are the full results of the poll.

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Trump Booed Bigly At UFC Match In NYC

Donald Trump has ordered US military forces to the Middle East following an Iranian attack on Saudi oil facilities

Donald Trump has ordered US military forces to the Middle East following an Iranian attack on Saudi oil facilities After being booed at Game 5 of the World Series last Sunday, you’d think Donald Trump might have thought twice about attending another public sporting event. But I’m guessing the Trumpster assumed he’d be in safe territory taking in an Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) match. However, when the president entered Madison Square Garden Saturday night he was greeted by a huge chorus of boos from the audience.

Joe Jervis, of JoeMyGod, was on the scene tweeting the ‘atmosphere:’

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Fail: People Are Sawing Through Trump’s Wall With $100 Power Tool

Donald Trump inspects his Mexican border 'wall' near San Diego (public domain)

Donald Trump inspects his Mexican border 'wall' near San Diego (public domain)
Donald Trump inspects his Mexican border ‘wall’ near San Diego (public domain)
“All the best walls!” From the Washington Post:

Smuggling gangs in Mexico have repeatedly sawed through new sections of President Trump’s border wall in recent months by using commercially available power tools, opening gaps large enough for people and drug loads to pass through, according to U.S. agents and officials with knowledge of the damage.

The breaches have been made using a popular cordless household tool known as a reciprocating saw that retails at hardware stores for as little as $100.

When fitted with specialized blades, the saws can slice through one of the barrier’s steel-and-concrete bollards in a matter of minutes, according to the agents, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the barrier-defeating techniques.

After cutting through the base of a single bollard, smugglers can push the steel out of the way, allowing an adult to fit through the gap. 

The barrier, which currently has cost taxpayers $10 billion price tag was one of Trump’s biggest promises made during the 2016 campaign. At recent campaign rallies, Trump has bragged about the wall describing it “virtually impenetrable” that border-crossers cannot get over, under or through.

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Trump’s HHS Department To Allow LGBTQ Discrimination Due To ‘Religious Beliefs’

President Trump and Vice President Pence (image via Flickr/White House – public domain)
As we begin National Adoption Month, the Trump administration has proposed a change in regulations aimed at allowing tax-payer funded adoption agencies to refuse to place children with LGBTQ families due to religious objections. The new policy, proposed by the Department of Health and Human Services, would reverse an Obama-era rule that prohibited organizations with contracts with the federal government, including adoption agencies, from discriminating based on sexual orientation. By removing sexual orientation and gender identity from the current list of factors that violate the HHS rules, religious-based adoption, and foster care agencies would be able to accept federal taxpayer money while treating same-sex marriages differently from opposite-sex marriages. Earlier this year, the Trump administration issued a waiver that permits adoption agencies in South Carolina to receive tax dollars while refusing to follow the current non-discrimination policies. The proposed change would go further, however, allowing all recipients of HHS grants to turn away LGBTQ people under the guise of ‘religious freedom.’ Homeless youth shelters, HIV and STI prevention programs, opioid programs, substance-use recovery programs and more would all be allowed to discriminate based on sexual orientation or gender identity. LGBTQ advocacy groups were outraged at the news. Julie Kruse of Family Equality issued a statement that read, in part, “The American public overwhelmingly opposes allowing taxpayer-funded adoption and foster care agencies to turn away qualified parents simply because they are in a same-sex relationship.” “Children should never be denied the opportunity to join a stable, loving family – even if that means the family is LGBTQ,” said Sarah Kate Ellis, President and CEO of GLAAD. “Research has shown LGBTQ families provide the same kind of love, protection, and support as other families and no child should be denied that kind of environment.” “The Trump Administration has once again demonstrated how they prefer to prioritize the gross work of anti-LGBTQ activists over the safety and well-being of our children,” she added. From Mara Keisling, executive director of the National Center for Transgender Equality:

“This rule is an abuse of taxpayer dollars in the name of empowering hatred and bigotry towards society’s most vulnerable members. Stigma and prejudice are fueling a public health crisis among transgender people across the country, one that manifests itself as suicide, addiction, intimate partner violence, and HIV. Enabling providers of life-saving services to worsen these crises by rejecting transgender people is a moral crime and a severe abdication of HHS’s mission to preserve public health.”

More from Lambda Legal and the Human Rights Campaign’s Charlotte Clymer:

Anti-LGBTQ Christian conservatives, however, were thrilled. Tony Perkins, of the anti-LGBTQ Family Research Council, announced, “Thanks to President Trump, charities will be free to care for needy children and operate according to their religious beliefs and the reality that children do best in a home with a married mom and dad.”

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White House Rants – The House Impeachment Resolution Is ‘Illegitimate’

Donald Trump
After House Democrats released language for a resolution on proceeding with the ongoing impeachment inquiry into Donald Trump’s communications with the president of Ukraine, the White House issued this statement – the equivalent of a written meltdown:

The resolution put forward by Speaker Pelosi confirms that House Democrats’ impeachment has been an illegitimate sham from the start as it lacked any proper authorization by a House vote.

It continues this scam by allowing Chairman Schiff, who repeatedly lies to the American people, to hold a new round of hearings, still without any due process for the President.

The White House is barred from participating at all, until after Chairman Schiff conducts two rounds of one-sided hearings to generate a biased report for the Judiciary Committee. Even then, the White House’s rights remain undefined, unclear, and uncertain – because those rules still haven’t been written.

This resolution does nothing to change the fundamental fact that House Democrats refuse to provide basic due process rights to the Administration.

The White House has said for weeks the inquiry was ‘illegitimate’ without a vote by the full House, which is not required by the U.S. Constitution. Now they’re getting one.

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News Round-Up: October 29, 2019

My hubby, Michael Caprio, posing with just SOME of Olivia Newton-John’s gold albums
Some news items you might have missed: • Olivia Newton-John: My hubby, publicist Michael Caprio, is in Los Angeles this week with his client Olivia Newton-John, who will be auctioning off much of her memorabilia this weekend at Julien’s Auctions with proceeds going to the Olivia Newton-John Cancer Wellness & Research Center. Above are just some of her gold and platinum records that will be available. And yes, the famous leather jacket and pants from the finale of GREASE are up on the block as well. #GotAMillion? • People: Queer Eye’s Karamo Brown, who was booted this week from Dancing with the Stars, says he’s “proud” of former White House press secretary Sean Spicer (who’s still in the hunt for the trophy) and feels like he’s connected with Spicer about LGBTQ issues. • Back To Stonewall: Self-loathing gays plan to lobby Congress AGAINST passage of The Equality Act. #smh • KIT212: If you happen to be appreciative of rugby butt, Kenneth has just the thing for you (below). More at the link.
James Tadasco (via kenneth-in-the-212)
• AP Fact Check: Donald Trump told reporters that he tried to warn people about Osama bin Laden in a book he ‘wrote’ in 2000 before the terrorist directed the attack on the World Trade Center on 9/11. Trouble is the Donald barely mentioned bin Laden and there was no “warning.” #WeCanReadDonald • Journal Express: What is up with these ‘gender reveal’ events getting violent? A woman in Iowa was killed by flying debris due to an explosion that came as part of a gender reveal celebration Saturday. • Jimmy Kimmel Live: When Barack Obama went on TV to announce they killed Bin Laden, he spoke for nine and a half minutes. Trump yesterday, when he announced they killed Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, did for 48 minutes. So, for further comparison, we thought it might be fun to mash-up Trump’s speech about al-Baghdadi with Obama’s on Bin Laden.

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First Witness To Ukraine Call To Testify In Impeachment Inquiry Today

Donald Trump (image via Flickr/WhiteHouse – public domain)
From the New York Times:

A White House national security official who is a decorated Iraq war veteran plans to tell House impeachment investigators on Tuesday that he heard President Trump appeal to Ukraine’s president to investigate one of his leading political rivals, a request the aide considered so damaging to American interests that he reported it to a superior.

Lt. Col. Alexander S. Vindman of the Army, the top Ukraine expert on the National Security Council, twice registered internal objections about how Mr. Trump and his inner circle were treating Ukraine, out of what he called a “sense of duty,” he plans to tell the inquiry, according to a draft of his opening statement obtained by The New York Times.

He will be the first White House official to testify who listened in on the July 25 telephone call between Mr. Trump and President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine that is at the center of the impeachment inquiry, in which Mr. Trump asked Mr. Zelensky to investigate former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr.

In another article, the Times notes that Colonel Vindman has a master’s degree from Harvard in Russian, Eastern Europe, and Central Asian Studies. He has served in the United States’ embassies in Kyiv, Ukraine, and in Moscow, and was the officer specializing in Russia for the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff before joining the National Security Council in 2018. He earned a Purple Heart in Iraq, had a master’s degree from Harvard, and now works at the White House across the hall from his equally accomplished twin brother. However, since he was brought to the United States as a 3-year-old child from Ukraine, right-leaning news outlets and social media have already begun a smear campaign against him calling Vindman some kind of Ukraine double agent/spy. Trump himself tweeted that Vindman is a ‘Never Trumper,’ for which there is no evidence or proof.

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Boos & Chants Of ‘Lock Him Up’ Greet Donald Trump At World Series

Donald Trump attends game 5 of the World Series (screen capture)
Donald Trump attended the 5th game of the World Series in Washington, D.C. but as Peter Baker of the New York Times writes, “For Trump, there was no joy in Mudville.”

In his first appearance at a Major League Baseball game since taking office, Mr. Trump was not invited to throw the first pitch when he showed up Sunday night at Game 5 between the Washington Nationals and the Houston Astros. Instead, when he was shown on the stadium’s large screen, the crowd booed robustly and began chanting, “Lock him up!” In the upper decks, fans held up a giant “Impeach Trump!” banner.

Mr. Trump entered the stadium to no fanfare around 8 p.m., just minutes before the opening pitch. Fans who happened to see him booed. He was not introduced to the crowd until after the third inning when he was shown on the screen during the portion of the game when the crowd is asked to cheer for military veterans.

Juxtaposing his introduction with that of the popular veterans did nothing to prevent the crowd from expressing its view of the president. Mr. Trump, who rarely exposes himself to hostile crowds, stood, smiled gamely and clapped as the fans booed loudly.

Needless to say, the Donald left before the game was over.

More from the Twitterverse:

p.s. Trump brought no good luck with him as the Nationals lost to the Houston Astros 7-1. Astros are now one game away from winning the World Series for the second time in three years.