Tag: liar

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White House Asked Former Trump Lawyer Twice To Say He Didn’t Obstruct Justice

Donald Trump

The New York Times is reporting that Don McGahn, Donald Trump’s first White House counsel, was asked by Trump administration officials on two separate occasions to publicly say he didn’t believe Trump obstructed the Mueller investigation.

Mr. Trump asked White House officials to make the request to Mr. McGahn, who was the president’s first White House counsel, one of the people said. Mr. McGahn declined. His reluctance angered the president, who believed that Mr. McGahn showed disloyalty by telling investigators for the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, about Mr. Trump’s attempts to maintain control over the Russia investigation.

The White House made one of the requests to Mr. McGahn’s lawyer, William A. Burck, before the Mueller report was released publicly but after the Justice Department gave a copy to Mr. Trump’s lawyers in the preceding days. Reading the report, the president’s lawyers saw that Mr. Mueller left out that Mr. McGahn had told investigators that he believed the president never obstructed justice. Mr. Burck had told them months earlier about his client’s belief on the matter and that he had shared it with investigators.

Mr. McGahn initially entertained the White House request. “We did not perceive it as any kind of threat or something sinister,” Mr. Burck said in a statement. “It was a request, professionally and cordially made.”

A White House spokeswoman did not respond to a message seeking comment.

White House officials made a second request a few days after the release of the Mueller report. McGahn demurred again.

More from Trump World:

• Rudy Giuliani has called off his previously announced trip to Ukraine where he planned to encourage an investigation regarding former Vice President Joe Biden’s son. The move was seen as another attempt by the Trump campaign to seek help from a foreign country.

• The chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, Richard E. Neal, subpoenaed the Treasury Department and Internal Revenue Service for six years of Mr. Trump’s personal and business tax returns.

• Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee are pursuing testimony from Special Counsel Robert Mueller, but an official date has not been agreed to.

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NY Times Obtains 10 Years Of Trump Taxes

Donald Trump


The New York Times has reportedly obtained printouts from Donald Trump’s “official Internal Revenue Service tax transcripts, with the figures from his federal tax form, the 1040, for the years 1985 to 1994.”

It may come as no surprise that the Donald was not nearly as successful as he has touted for years.

In fact, in the years leading up to his 1987 book, The Art of the Deal, which purported Trump to be a self-made billionaire, he was hemorrhaging millions and millions of dollars.

From the New York Times:

The numbers show that in 1985, Mr. Trump reported losses of $46.1 million from his core businesses — largely casinos, hotels and retail space in apartment buildings. They continued to lose money every year, totaling $1.17 billion in losses for the decade.

In fact, year after year, Mr. Trump appears to have lost more money than nearly any other individual American taxpayer, The Times found when it compared his results with detailed information the I.R.S. compiles on an annual sampling of high-income earners. His core business losses in 1990 and 1991 — more than $250 million each year — were more than double those of the nearest taxpayers in the I.R.S. information for those years.

Over all, Mr. Trump lost so much money that he was able to avoid paying income taxes for eight of the 10 years. It is not known whether the I.R.S. later required changes after audits.

The Times goes on to note that one maneuver Trump would use to stay afloat was to acquire company shares with borrowed money, then publicly announce he was considering a takeover. Once the stock price would bump up, he would quietly sell his shares. The Times reports Trump reported $67.3 million in such stock gains from 1986 through 1989. However, savvy stock watchers eventually stopped taking his takeover announcements seriously.

Trump’s lawyer, Charles Harder, said in a statement that the tax information was false but didn’t point out any specific errors, according to the Times. He reportedly told the newspaper that IRS transcripts “are notoriously inaccurate.”

Of course, the good news is Trump’s people can clear up any inaccuracies by providing the actual tax returns which would show the Trumpster to be all that he’s claimed to be all these years, right?

By the way – yes, there’s a Trump tweet for everything. This one from 2012 didn’t age too well, did it?

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Pelosi On Barr: “He Lied To Congress – If Anybody Else Did That It Would Be Considered A Crime”

During testimony to Congress last month, Attorney General William Barr was directly asked by Rep. Charlie Crist (D-FL) if he was aware of any concerns/frustrations Special Counsel Robert Mueller or his team had regarding Barr’s now-infamous four page ‘summary’ of Mueller’s two year investigation.

At the time, Barr told Crist, “No, I don’t.”

But this week, news of a letter from Mueller to Barr expressing frustrations that Barr’s summary mischaracterized the investigation’s context and substance now puts Barr’s denial in a new perspective.

He had received the letter from Mueller and had a phone call with the Special Counsel about the summary. So, he lied to Congress when he said he didn’t know of any concerns on Mueller’s part.

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi was asked today how she felt about the statements by Barr.

Pelosi didn’t hold back. “He lied to Congress – if anyone else did that it would be considered a crime.”

Yesterday, Rep. Adam Schiff echoed the same sentiments.

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WaPo: Robert Mueller Frustrated Attorney General’s Summary “Did Not Capture Content, Nature, Substance” Of 2-Year Probe

The Washington Post reports that Special Counsel Robert Mueller wrote a letter to the Justice Department expressing his "frustration" that Attorney General William Barr's 4-page summary of his investigation “did not fully capture the context, nature, and substance” of the two-year probe.

The Washington Post reports that Special Counsel Robert Mueller wrote a letter to the Justice Department expressing his “frustration” that Attorney General William Barr’s 4-page summary of his investigation “did not fully capture the context, nature, and substance” of the two-year probe.

At the time Mueller’s letter was sent to Barr on March 27, Barr had days prior announced that Mueller did not find a conspiracy between the Trump campaign and Russian officials seeking to interfere in the 2016 presidential election. In his memo to Congress, Barr also said that Mueller had not reached a conclusion about whether Trump had tried to obstruct justice, but that Barr reviewed the evidence and found it insufficient to support such a charge.

Days after Barr’s announcement, Mueller wrote the previously undisclosed private letter to the Justice Department, laying out his concerns in stark terms that shocked senior Justice Department officials, according to people familiar with the discussions.

“The summary letter the Department sent to Congress and released to the public late in the afternoon of March 24 did not fully capture the context, nature, and substance of this office’s work and conclusions,” Mueller wrote. “There is now public confusion about critical aspects of the results of our investigation. This threatens to undermine a central purpose for which the Department appointed the Special Counsel: to assure full public confidence in the outcome of the investigations.”

Mueller sent his letter on March 24. But in early April, Barr testified to Congress that he didn’t know why there were reports that Mueller’s team was privately frustrated by Barr’s summary.

Asked by Rep. Charlie Crist (D-Fla.) if he knew why Mueller’s team might be frustrated, Barr said, “No, I don’t.”

On April 20, Sen. Chris Van Hollen asked Barr, “Did Bob Mueller support your conclusion?” His answer was, “I don’t know whether Mueller supported my conclusion.”

We now know Mueller stated his concerns on March 27th, and that Barr totally misled Congress and the public.

Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) told CBS This Morning that Barr should resign since the 4-page memo misled the American people in favor of Donald Trump.

“I think his statement is deliberately false and misleading, and yes, most people would consider that to be a lie,” said Schiff. “Look, there’s no sugar coating this, I think he should step down. It’s hard, I think, for the country to have confidence in the top law enforcement official in the country if he’s asked a direct question as he was and he gives a directly false answer, so this is serious business.”

“After two years and work and investigation implicating the president of the United States, for the attorney general to mislead the public for an entire month before releasing that report is inexcusable.”

Barr is testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee this morning. The WaPo report should make Barr’s morning that much more interesting.

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Michigan Man Accuses, Then Denies Accusing, Candidate Of Sexual Assault

Jacob Wohl

UPDATE: As many suspected, Republican losers operatives Jacob Wohl and Jack Burkman may have been behind the hoax.

From The Daily Beast:

The Daily Beast reached out to Kelly on a cell phone listed to him in the student directory at his Michigan college. Told we were reporting on apparent efforts by Jacob Wohl and Jack Burkman to drum up false sexual assault allegations against Buttigieg, Kelly replied, “I was unaware this was happening. But yes it is true.”

Kelly wrote that he did not control the newly-created Medium and Twitter accounts that posted the allegations under his name. When asked if he could verify his identity, he texted the Daily Beast a selfie that matched the photo seen on Medium and on Kelly’s longstanding Facebook accounts.

“Here is a selfie of me, sorry I have been crying,” he wrote. “Today and the promises made didn’t go as planned.”

**************************************

So, not sure of the details at this point, but some seriously uncouth shenanigans were plied today against Democratic presidential candidate, Mayor Pete Buttigieg.

Someone using the name “Hunter Kelly” supposedly penned a letter on Medium (where anyone can post) that he was allegedly assaulted by Mayor Pete.

I was loath to give the piece any oxygen, but since no one believed it, including Republicans, I was asked to write it up for Instinct Magazine. I did making sure everyone understood folks knew it was completely shady.

Just an hour or so later, the guy – “Hunter Kelly” – posted on his Facebook:

I WAS NOT SEXUALLY ASSAULTED
It’s important for everyone to know that I was not sexually assaulted and would never falsely accuse anyone.
To keep it brief for now- I was approached by a political figure to come to DC to discuss political situations from the standpoint of a gay Republican. When I arrived they discussed Peter Buttigieg and started talking about how they would be working a campaign against him.
I went to bed and woke up to a fake Twitter @RealHunterKelly and an article that I in no way endorsed or wrote.
I have since left and am working on a formal statement to give to everyone including the Buttigieg family.
Thank you for standing behind me and knowing that I would never accept or allow any of this.

#shady

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Meme Of The Day: Trump Says He Is “A Young Vibrant Man”

In a reaction to the announcement by former Vice President Joe Biden that he will run for president in 2020, Donald Trump offered a backhanded (and questionable) comment about his own, and Biden’s, current physical conditions.

“Well, I just feel like a young man. I’m so young. I can’t believe it. I’m the youngest person — I am a young vibrant man. I look at Joe, I don’t know about him.”

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Trump Sues To Block Congress From Accessing His Financial Records

Donald Trump, Rep. Elijah J. Cummings

The Washington Post reports that Donald Trump is suing to block Congress – specifically House Oversight Committee Chair Elijah Cummings –  from accessing his financial records.

The lawsuit seeks a court order to prevent Trump’s accounting firm from complying with what his lawyers say is an improper use of subpoena power by congressional Democrats.

“Democrats are using their new control of congressional committees to investigate every aspect of President Trump’s personal finances, businesses, and even his family,” the filing by Trump claims. “Instead of working with the President to pass bipartisan legislation that would actually benefit Americans, House Democrats are singularly obsessed with finding something they can use to damage the President politically.”

The filing, in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, further escalates a clash between the White House and the Democratic-controlled House over congressional oversight.

Last week, Cummings subpoenaed Mazars USA, an accounting firm long used by Trump.

It’s important to note that the House Oversight Committee is specifically charged with oversight of the Executive Branch of government.

Cummings’ committee is seeking 10 years of financial records from Trump.

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Trump Lies About Obama-Era Lawyer, Doesn’t Mention Charges Stem From Working With Trump Campaign Manager

(Graphic via CallToActivism)

Donald Trump got oh-so-excited about a former member of the Obama administration, Gregory Craig, being indicted this week.

As Call To Activism points out, though, the charges against Craig came from his involvement with former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort years after leaving the Obama administration.

From The New York Times:

The indictment alleged that, while a partner at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, Mr. Craig took on work on behalf of the government of Viktor F. Yanukovych, then the president of Ukraine.

The work was brought to Mr. Craig by Paul Manafort, then a political consultant for Mr. Yanukovych and later the campaign chairman for President Trump in 2016.

The charges stated that Mr. Craig lied in order to avoid registering with the Justice Department under the Foreign Agents Registration Act and withheld information about the full scope of his activities.

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Donald Trump: “I Know Nothing About Wikileaks”

Donald “I don’t know nothing about Wikileaks” Trump

As I reported earlier today, Wikileaks founder Julian Assange was arrested in London today after hiding out in the Ecuadorian embassy since 2012.

Asked by the press today if he “still loves Wikileaks,” Donald Trump pretended to “know nothing about Wikileaks.”

And yet, back in October 2016, Trump extolled the virtues of Wikileaks after they released thousands of emails from the Democratic National Committee.

Trump repeatedly said he “loved” the organization when it was releasing emails related to Hillary Clinton’s campaign.

Trump Oct 2016: “WikiLeaks, I love WikiLeaks.”

Trump Oct 2016: “This WikiLeaks is like a treasure trove,”

Trump Nov 2016: “Boy, I love reading those WikiLeaks.”

Let’s go to the video tape!

Funny how that works, huh?