During an interview with Jon Karl on ABC News’ This Week, former Trump campaign and White House adviser Steve Bannon declared President Trump has never lied to his knowledge.
Umm, ok. And I’m Justin Timberlake.
Karl had played clips of Trump promising to never lie to the American public during the 2016 campaign. As Karl points out that was a promise the Trumpster “obviously broke. He has not always told the truth.”
“I don’t know that,” replied Bannon. “From what I’ve seen, he has.” Karl asked him again, “you think the President has never lied?” “Not to my knowledge, no,” Bannon said again. Then he joked “except when he called me ‘Sloppy Steve.’”
Bannon went on to say that Trump simply speaks in a “special vernacular” that resonates with the American people.
I don’t think Bannon knows what “vernacular” means.
Watch the exchange below.
.@jonkarl: “You say the president has never lied?”
Steve Bannon: “Not to my knowledge, no… I think he speaks in a particular vernacular that connects to people in this country.” pic.twitter.com/RuWsmkICuW
Donald Trump’s lies have become so multitudinous that I’ve not been able to keep up lately.
But I have to address this particular lie, which the Trumpster repeated yet again today.
Donald Trump said a few days ago and then again this morning on Fox News that “so many parents” of Korean War vets asked him on the campaign trail in 2016 to please help bring home the remains of their sons.
Trump repeats the claim that he had “so many parents” of Korean War vets ask him during the campaign to help return the remains of Americans who died there. The average age of parents then would have been between 102 and 111. (via FOX) pic.twitter.com/VtEOzJVDU9
In a newly released memo, Donald Trump’s lawyers admitted for the first time that Trump dictated a statement to deceive the public about his son’s June 2016 Trump Tower meeting with a Russian government lawyer.
In a confidential letter to special counsel Robert Mueller in January, President Donald Trump’s legal team acknowledged for the first time that Trump “dictated” the first misleading statement put out about his son’s controversial 2016 meeting with Russians at Trump Tower.
“You have received all of the notes, communications and testimony indicating that the President dictated a short but accurate response to the New York Times article on behalf of his son, Donald Trump, Jr.,” the letter said, according to The New York Times, which published a copy of it. “His son then followed up by making a full public disclosure regarding the meeting, including his public testimony that there was nothing to the meeting and certainly no evidence of collusion.”
Trump lawyer Jay Sekulow, NBC interview, 7/16/17: “The President was not — did not — draft the response. The response came from Donald Trump Jr. and — I’m sure — in consultation with his lawyer. … Let me say this — but I do want to be clear — that the President was not involved in the drafting of the statement and did not issue the statement. It came from Donald Trump Jr.”
White House press secretary Sarah Sanders, daily press briefing, 8/1/17: “He certainly didn’t dictate, but he — like I said, he weighed in, offered suggestion like any father would do.”
The White House has denied any involvement in the misleading statement which originally described the meeting was about child adoption. Instead, emails showed Russian actors were offering dirt on Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. Trump Jr. took the meeting after responding, “I love it!”
In a letter to Mueller, Trump’s lawyers said he “dictated a short but accurate response to the New York Times” about the infamous Trump Tower meeting with Russians. But here are FIVE TIMES @JaySekulow and @PressSec previously denied Trump’s role in the misleading statement. pic.twitter.com/DINgjFdKvL
Repeat after me: The President's son, son-in-law, and campaign manager met with Russian operatives who promised dirt on Clinton and then the President dictated a knowingly false statement cover up the purpose of the meeting.
On May 12, 2017, in front of a national TV audience, Donald J. Trump told NBC news anchor Lester Holt why he fired former FBI Director James Comey:
“In fact when I decided to just do it [fire Comey], I said to myself, I said ‘you know, this Russia thing with Trump and Russia is a made-up story.'”
Today, that same Donald Trump (we think – unless aliens have invaded his body) tweeted to the world, “Not that it matters but I never fired James Comey because of Russia! The Corrupt Mainstream Media loves to keep pushing that narrative, but they know it is not true!”
And yes, his followers will believe him.
Not that it matters but I never fired James Comey because of Russia! The Corrupt Mainstream Media loves to keep pushing that narrative, but they know it is not true!
I have some bad news, Mr. President. That time you told Lester Holt that you were thinking about the Russia investigation when you fired Comey? That was on prime time television and the ratings were excellent. https://t.co/hemmQqmDGV— Adam Schiff (@AdamSchiffCA) May 31, 2018
This is deeply concerning because someone was on national TV,apparently pretending to be you, who said you DID! Who was that guy with Lester Holt? Alec Baldwin? https://t.co/g9b8YgXtoRhttps://t.co/uSxYCNorEi
We’ve gone full Orwellian now. We have *video* of Trump admitting that he fired James Comey because of “the Russia thing.” Here’s the quote: “And in fact when I decided to just do it I said to myself, I said, “You know, this Russia thing with Trump and Russia is a made-up story.” https://t.co/1gfHMQWnar
Not only did Trump obviously admit he fired Comey over Russia to Lester Holt, but it was such a disastrous moment for him that he hasn’t done a single interview with a non-friendly TV reporter in the more than a year since.
This is believable if and only if you ignore that video of someone that looks remarkably like Donald Trump telling Lester Holt that fired Comey because of Russia https://t.co/SZ6u8fzSek
Donald Trump lies in the tweet below in saying that Democrats need to end the “horrible law” that’s separating children from parents once they cross the border from Mexico.
Put pressure on the Democrats to end the horrible law that separates children from there parents once they cross the Border into the U.S. Catch and Release, Lottery and Chain must also go with it and we MUST continue building the WALL! DEMOCRATS ARE PROTECTING MS-13 THUGS.
It’s Trump administration policy that didn’t happen under Obama or Bush. Trump has the power to reverse it at any time and Democrats have urged him to do so.
In early May, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen directed her department to refer all unauthorized immigrants who cross the U.S. border to federal prosecutors. It’s in accordance with the Department of Justice’s new “zero tolerance” policy on illegal immigration at the Southwest border.
Parents would be sent to federal court under the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service and then placed in a detention center, according to a DHS spokesperson. Their children, minors who cannot be housed in a detention center for adults, would be transferred to the Department of Health and Human Services for placement in a juvenile facility or foster care if they have no other adult relative in the U.S. who can take them in.
“It is the government’s choice whether to criminally prosecute someone for illegal entry or reentry,” Theresa Cardinal Brown, director of immigration and cross-border policy at the Bipartisan Policy Center in Washington, D.C., told us.
So, yet again, Trump lies.
What he does understand, though, is that lying over and over again to his followers eventually becomes “truth” for them.
But, it’s not true.
In a similar vein, Trump’s lies about “millions of illegal votes” in the 2016 election has now become “truth” for his tribe.
A new HuffPost/YouGov poll shows 48% of Republicans believe as many as 5 million illegal votes were cast in 2016.
If you repeat something often enough, they believe it. Especially if they WANT to believe it.
One more example – speaking at the graduation ceremonies for the U.S. Naval Academy, Trump lied about getting our military its first pay raise in ten years, and getting “a couple hundred more ships” in the latest defense budget.
TRUMP: “Going to have new equipment and well-deserved pay raises. We just got you a big pay raise. First time in 10 years. We got you a big pay increase. First time in over 10 years. I fought for you. That was the hardest one to get, but you never had a chance of losing.”
THE FACTS: That’s not right. U.S. military members have gotten a pay raise every year for the past 10 years and several have been larger than this year’s 2.6 percent increase. Pay increases in 2008, 2009 and 2010, for example, were all 3.4 percent or more.
TRUMP: “We have now the lowest number of ships that we’ve had since World War I, and very soon you’re going to get to 355 beautiful ships. 355. That’s almost a couple of hundred more ships.”
THE FACTS: No it isn’t. The Navy now has 283 ships.
Donald Trump’s 2017 financial disclosure was released today and listed on the document is (who would have ever guessed?) a payment of more than $100,000 to his longtime lawyer, Michael Cohen, issued as reimbursement for payments to a “third-party.”
Gee, could “third-party” end up being the one and only Stormy Daniels?
Didn’t Donald tell the press on Air Force One that he didn’t know anything about any payments to Ms. Daniels?
The disclosure, released by the Office of Government Ethics, did not specify the purpose of the payment. However, Mr. Cohen has paid $130,000 to an adult film actress, Stephanie Clifford, who has claimed she had an affair with Mr. Trump.
Mr. Cohen has said he made the payment to keep the actress, who goes by the stage name Stormy Daniels, from going public before the 2016 election with her story about an affair with Mr. Trump.
A footnote in the disclosure said that Mr. Cohen had requested reimbursement of the expenses incurred in 2016 and Mr. Trump had repaid it in full in 2017. It did not give an exact amount of the payment but said it was between $100,001 and $250,000.
Mr. Trump’s disclosure today conclusively proves that the American people were deceived by Mr. Cohen, Mr. Trump, Mr. Schwartz, the WH, and Mr. Giuliani. This was NOT an accident and it was not isolated. Cover-ups should always matter. #Basta
— Michael Avenatti (@MichaelAvenatti) May 16, 2018
Trump, April 5: Reporter: “Do you know where he got the money to make that payment?” Trump: “No. I don’t know…You’ll have to ask Michael Cohen. Michael is my attorney. You’ll have to ask Michael.” https://t.co/kOUn3RXR27
Let’s be clear what this is: the Trump-appointed acting head of the Office of Government Ethics just wrote DOJ to flag that Trump may have committed a crime by not disclosing his Stormy payment to Cohen in last year’s financial disclosure. https://t.co/uIre10zsy1
President Trump acknowledged Thursday for the first time that his longtime lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen represented him in efforts to silence Stormy Daniels, the adult film actress who has alleged a sexual encounter with Trump more than a decade ago.
Trump earlier this month denied any knowledge of the $130,000 payment to Daniels that was arranged by Cohen and is subject of a federal investigation, telling reporters: “I don’t know” about the payment or where Cohen got the money. And the White House repeatedly has insisted that Daniels’ allegations that she had a sexual encounter with Trump in 2006 were false.
But in an interview with Fox News on Thursday morning, Trump appeared to reveal that he had knowledge of Cohen’s payment to Daniels.
“Michael represents me, like with this crazy Stormy Daniels deal, he represented me,” Trump said. “And from what I’ve seen, he did absolutely nothing wrong. There were no campaign funds going into this.”
Daniels’s attorney, Michael Avenatti, weighed in a few minutes later on MSNBC and said that Trump had made a “hugely damaging admission.”
Trump just said on Fox & Friends of Cohen: “Michael would represent me, and represent me on some things. He represents me— like with this crazy Stormy Daniels deal, he represented me.”
The legal troubles are growing & the stable genius reps himself. Which will take him down 1st?
Before arriving at the White House, I’m certain Donald Trump was not accustomed to having folks follow, track and hold him to his word about most issues.
He was the boss of the Trump Organization, and if you wanted to work there, you just let the boss be the boss.
But as president, the Trumpster is finding out that, yes, folks are paying attention and we keep a record of everything you say.
So there wasn’t any difficulty involved when the Donald tweeted this morning that former FBI Director James Comey “was not fired because of the phony Russia investigation” to jump back a year when he told Lester Holt of NBC News that he specifically fired Comey over the “Russia thing.”
#Liar
By the way, this is why Donald doesn’t give press conferences any more. He would most certainly be asked about his self-inflicted contradictions.
I know he was able to correctly pick out pictures of animals on a test, but there are days I’m not so sure about his mental competence.
Slippery James Comey, the worst FBI Director in history, was not fired because of the phony Russia investigation where, by the way, there was NO COLLUSION (except by the Dems)!
White House Press Secretary tweeted out the above message and photo in an attempt to show Donald Trump in a strong, military moment.
Unfortunately, her tweet was misleading because Vice President Mike Pence (pictured on Trump’s right in the photo) was in Peru at the time of the Syria bombings.
What she really wanted was a “bin Laden war room pic,” but the reality is there isn’t one.
So she tried to fudge it hoping folks wouldn’t notice.
Folks noticed…
Fun fact: This picture is NOT from last night as Mike Pence is mysteriously in the room while also out of the country.
This morning, in a radio interview, Trump went even further in extolling Rasmussen polling, claiming that, if anything, it is underestimating his popularity. It would be easy to laugh this off as the usual bluster, but if Trump really believes this, it could have real consequences for the country, particularly in the context of his brewing trade war with China.
In today’s interview with “Bernie and Sid in the Morning” on WABC radio, Trump listened modestly as his hosts showered obsequious praise on him for heroically making America great in the face of unremitting hate from the media.
“A poll just came out now, Rasmussen, it’s now 51,” Trump said. “They say that it’s 51 but add another 7 or 8 points to it. … They don’t want to talk about it, but when they get into the booth they’re going to vote for Trump.”
Then Trump was asked about trade and China. “I’m not saying there won’t be a little pain,” Trump said, adding: “We may take a hit, and you know what? Ultimately we’re going to be much stronger for it, but it’s something we have to do.”
This juxtaposition is disconcerting. If this trade war goes south, and the public rejects it, will Trump even know or believe that is happening?
