Tag: Donald Trump

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WaPo: Trump Told Russian Officials He Was ‘Unconcerned’ With 2016 Election Interference

And the shoes continue to drop…

Three former White House officials tell the Washington Post that Donald Trump assured senior Russian officials in a 2017 Oval Office meeting that he was ‘unconcerned’ with Russia’s interference in the 2016 election.

President Trump told two senior Russian officials in a 2017 Oval Office meeting that he was unconcerned about Moscow’s interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election because the United States did the same in other countries, an assertion that prompted alarmed White House officials to limit access to the remarks to an unusually small number of people, according to three former officials with knowledge of the matter.

The comments, which have not been previously reported, were part of a now-infamous meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak, in which Trump revealed highly classified information that exposed a source of intelligence on the Islamic State. He also said during the meeting that firing FBI Director James B. Comey the previous day had relieved “great pressure” on him.

A memorandum summarizing the meeting was limited to a few officials with the highest security clearances in an attempt to keep the president’s comments from being disclosed publicly, according to the former officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive matters.

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Stormy Daniels Gets $450K Settlement For Ohio Arrest

Former Donald Trump paramour Stormy Daniels has agreed to accept a $450K settlement from the city of Columbus, Ohio, related to an arrest at a strip club by pro-Trump cops in 2018.

From the New York Post:

Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, agreed to drop all of her claims in a civil suit against Columbus related to her arrest at Sirens Gentlemen’s Club in July 2018, her lawyer, Chase Mallory said in a message Friday.

Daniels, who was paid hush money to keep quiet about a sexual encounter she had with President Trump prior to the 2016 election, accused the police officers who arrested her that night of planning the bust to protect the president.

Mallory said Friday that she could have gotten a higher payout — but she accepted the amount after the police officers in the case were disciplined for the arrest.

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Trump’s Special Envoy To Ukraine Resigns Amid Scandal

Former special envoy to Ukraine Kurt Volker (screen capture)
Donald Trump’s special envoy for Ukraine, Kurt Volker, resigned today after being swept up in the ongoing scandal involving Trump asking the Ukrainian president to “do us a favor” in regard to digging up dirt on former Vice President Joe Biden. From the New York Times:

Mr. Volker, who told Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Friday that he was stepping down, offered no public explanation but a person informed about his decision said he concluded that it was impossible to be effective in his assignment given the developments of recent days.

His departure was the first resignation since revelations about Mr. Trump’s efforts to pressure Ukraine’s president to investigate former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. and other Democrats. The disclosures have triggered a full-blown House impeachment inquiry, and House leaders announced on Friday that they planned to interview Mr. Volker in a deposition next week.

Mr. Volker, a former ambassador to NATO who served in the part-time, unpaid position to help Ukraine resolve its armed confrontation with Russian-sponsored separatists, was among the government officials who found themselves in an awkward position because of the search for dirt on Democrats, reluctant to cross the president or Mr. Giuliani yet wary of getting drawn into politics outside their purview.

The unidentified intelligence official who filed the whistle-blower complaint that brought the president’s actions to light identified Mr. Volker as one of the officials trying to “contain the damage” by advising Ukrainians how to navigate Mr. Giuliani’s campaign.

Mr. Volker facilitated an entree for Mr. Giuliani with the newly elected government in Ukraine, acting not at the instruction of Mr. Trump or Mr. Pompeo but at the request of the Ukrainians who were worried that Mr. Giuliani was making the rounds seeking information about Mr. Biden and other Democrats.

ABC News reports that Democrats still expect Volker to show up for his deposition on Capitol Hill on October 3. It’s important to note that not only is the special envoy to Ukraine now gone, but the U.S. has no ambassador to Ukraine since the Trump administration called Marie Yovanovitch home for allegedly being not loyal enough.

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Hillary Clinton: Trump “Knows He’s An Illegitimate President”

The Washington Post reports former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton says in an interview scheduled to air on CBS Sunday Morning this weekend that Donald Trump is an ‘illegitimate’ president who won’t be reelected in 2020.

Clinton was asked whether it angers her that none of the current Democratic candidates invoke her on the campaign trail while Trump’s rally crowds still break out into “lock her up” chants.

“No, it doesn’t kill me because he knows he’s an illegitimate president,” she said. “I believe he understands that the many varying tactics they used, from voter suppression and voter purging to hacking to the false stories — he knows that — there were just a bunch of different reasons why the election turned out like it did.”

In June, former president Jimmy Carter used similar language to diminish Trump’s presidency.

She compared Trump’s latest effort to spread negative stories about Biden, who is leading in most polls to be the 2020 Democratic nominee, to what he did to her during their campaign.

Clinton also predicted Trump would lose in 2020 because “there were many funny things that happened in my election that will not happen again.”

Additionally, Clinton shares that she supports an impeachment inquiry as there are “a number of grounds” for it but says that Trump’s phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, when Trump asked Zelensky to investigate Biden’s son, is “incredibly troubling.”

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Trump Asked Pelosi If They “Could Work Something Out”

According to CNN, Donald Trump apparently asked Nancy Pelosi if “we could work something out” regarding the ongoing whistleblower scandal.

President Donald Trump was incredulous Tuesday as he sat in Trump Tower and watched House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announce she was launching a formal impeachment inquiry against him, sources familiar with the moment say. Sitting in the same building where he launched his long shot presidential campaign four years ago, Trump said he couldn’t believe it, he later told people. He had felt confident after phoning Pelosi earlier that morning. The drive for impeachment in her caucus had ramped up amid reports he pushed the Ukrainian President to investigate Joe Biden, and Trump was hoping to head off a clash. He figured he could de-escalate tensions by speaking with her directly.

NBC News correspondent Heidi Przybyla shared on MSNBC that she was briefed by Pelosi on a phone call she received from Trump where the president attempted to diffuse the situation through negotiations. “The president actually said to Nancy Pelosi, ‘Hey, can we do something about this whistleblower complaint? Can we work something out?’” “And [Pelosi] said, ‘Yes, you can tell your people to obey the law.'”

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LGBTQs Get Two-Sentence Mention In Trump’s UN Address

Donald Trump gives passing mention of LGBTQ rights during his 2019 address of the United Nations

Donald Trump gives passing mention of LGBTQ rights during his 2019 address of the United Nations During his speech before the United Nations today, Donald Trump included a mention of his administration’s previously announced plans to encourage more than 70 countries worldwide to decriminalize homosexuality. “My administration is working with other nations to stop criminalizing of homosexuality,” Trump said in a halting cadence. “And we stand in solidarity with (pause) LGBTQ people who live in countries that punish, jail and execute people based upon sexual orientation.” Gregory T. Angelo, who served as president of the Log Cabin Republicans for six years, quickly tweeted a video of Trump’s inclusion of the initiative.

The global initiative, which is reportedly being led by U.S. Ambassador to Germany Richard Grenell, was announced in February. This is the first time Trump has mentioned the initiative in a public speech. Angelo and his conservative LGBTQ bunch may be fawning over today’s two-sentence mention, but it’s worth noting that Trump is not the first president to mention LGBTQ issues while addressing the United Nations. That would be President Barack Obama. During an address of the United Nations General Assembly in September 2011, President Obama said, “No country should deny people their rights to freedom of speech and freedom of religion, but also no country should deny people their rights because of who they love, which is why we must stand up for the rights of gays and lesbians everywhere.” Later that same year, then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton gave a full 30-minute speech regarding LGBTQ rights before the U.S. Mission to the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland. It was there that she famously told the United Nations delegates, “Gay rights are human rights, and human rights are gay rights.” While Trump may TALK about standing in ‘solidarity’ with LGBTQ people, GLAAD’s ‘Trump Accountability Project’ just noted his administration’s 125th attack on the LGBTQ community since taking office. Just a few of those attacks are: • Filing an amicus brief asking the U.S. Supreme Court to rule against workplace protections for LGBTQ Americans • Trump’s misguided ban on transgender military service members • Efforts to use ‘religious freedoms’ as a basis for legalizing LGBTQ discrimination • Announcing plans for a new policy which would allow adoption agencies to deny LGBTQ couples the ability to adopt children based on so-called “religious exemptions” So, let’s not get all cray-cray that the Donald is suddenly our full-throated advocate, ok?

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Pelosi Announces Official Impeachment Inquiry Of Donald Trump

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi announces launch of formal impeachment inquiry into Donald Trump

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi announces launch of formal impeachment inquiry into Donald Trump Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi announced today that Democrats were moving forward with an official impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump. “The actions of the Trump presidency revealed the dishonorable fact of the president’s betrayal of his oath of office, betrayal of our national security, and betrayal of the integrity of our elections,” said Pelosi in a statement. “Therefore, today I’m announcing the House of Representatives is moving forward with an official impeachment inquiry.” Trump responded on Twitter saying Pelosi’s actions ‘ruined’ his great day at the UN.

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Senate Unanimously Calls For Release Of Whistleblower Complaint

The US Senate has unanimously approved a non-binding resolution calling for the release of whistleblower complaint

The US Senate has unanimously approved a non-binding resolution calling for the release of whistleblower complaint Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer called for, and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell allowed (both pictured above), a voice vote in the U.S. Senate calling for the release of the whistleblower complaint received on August 12 that began the current Ukraine/Trump scandal. The non-binding resolution was approved unanimously.

Meanwhile, Trump tweeted that he’s already ordered the release of the “complete, fully declassified and unredacted transcript” of his phone call with the Ukrainian president.

‘Like sands through the hourglass, so are the days of our lives…’

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Pelosi To Announce Formal Impeachment Inquiry Today

CNN is reporting that Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi plans to put a resolution on the House floor today to address the current Donald Trump/Ukraine scandal.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is planning to put a resolution on the House floor tomorrow to address the Ukraine issue amid growing calls to start the impeachment process, sources said.

What that resolution will specifically say is still being worked out. In fact, a Democratic leadership aide said key committees are working on the language now.

A source adds Pelosi wants to do this before Thursday when Joseph McGuire, the acting director of National Intelligence, comes to the House Intelligence Committee in hopes of pressuring him to reveal the details of the whistleblower complaint.

Separately, CNN is told that Pelosi is telling members she thinks this issue is understandable for the American public, and they get it. (This is critical since her whole thing has been public support.)

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GOP Challenger: Trump Committed Treason – Pure And Simple

Former Massachusetts Gov. Bill Weld says Donald Trump's pressure on Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden constitutes treason.

Former Massachusetts Gov. Bill Weld says Donald Trump's pressure on Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden constitutes treason. Former Massachusetts governor Bill Weld, one of the few Republicans who have announced they will try and challenge Donald Trump in a GOP primary, told MSNBC’s Morning Joe that Trump’s efforts to press the Ukrainian government into investigating former Vice President Joe Biden and his son amounts to “treason pure and simple.” “Talk about pressuring a foreign country to interfere and control a U.S. election,” said Weld. “It couldn’t be clearer. That’s not just undermining Democratic institutions. That is treason. It’s treason pure and simple.” Noting that the penalty for treason in the U.S. is death, Weld said being removed from office would be “a pretty good alternative” for the Donald.