Tag: New York Times

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President Trump Throws AG Jeff Sessions Under The Bus

In what can only be described as “stunning,” President Trump told the New York Times that had he known Attorney General Jeff Sessions would recuse himself on all matters pertaining to Russia, he would have never fired him. Trump says the decision to recuse was “very unfair to the president.”

In a remarkable public break with one of his earliest political supporters, Mr. Trump complained that Mr. Sessions’s decision ultimately led to the appointment of a special counsel that should not have happened. “Sessions should have never recused himself and if he was going to recuse himself he should have told me before he took the job and I would have picked somebody else,” Mr. Trump said.

In a wide-ranging interview with The New York Times, the president also accused James B. Comey, the F.B.I. director he fired in May, of trying to leverage a dossier of compromising material to keep his job. Mr. Trump criticized both the acting F.B.I. director who has been filling in since Mr. Comey’s dismissal and the deputy attorney general who recommended it. And he took on Robert S. Mueller III, the special counsel now leading the investigation into Russian meddling in last year’s election.

Trump also draws a red line in the sand saying Robert Mueller should not look into his family’s financial records, again raising the question, “What’s he hiding?”

It’s interesting how much Trump bashes the NY Times but then sits down with them for these lengthy interviews. It’s like he wants their approval so very badly.

Listen to the president below then head over to the New York Times for the wide-ranging interview.

UPDATE – AG Sessions told reporters today, “We love this job. We love this department, and I plan to continue to do so as long as that is appropriate.”

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NY Times Exec Editor: “We’re Not Failing At All”

Dean Baquet, Executive Editor of the New York Times, spoke with CNN host Brian Stelter about Donald Trump’s assertions that the venerable newspaper is “failing.”

Via Mediaite:

After host Brian Stelter noted that Trump has tried to get the nickname to stick by using the term “failing” 53 times on Twitter to describe the Times, he asked Baquet what the facts were. “We’re not failing at all,” the editor responded. “Our digital subscriptions are going through the roof. Even print subscriptions are up. We’re a profitable company.”

He then added that this was an “effort by this administration to minimize the press.” Baquet further explained that the president’s tweets are also designed to minimize other institutions that are there to hold him accountable. “I think that’s dangerous,” he said.

Regarding the use of anonymous sources, Baquet said, “I always know who the sources are for these stories. That’s why I’m so confident pushing back at the Trump administration when they criticize the stories.”

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Outtakes From Donald Trump Meeting With New York Times

Hiroko Masuike/The New York Times

New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman live-Tweeted insights from this morning’s Donald Trump / New York Times confab.

The meeting was scheduled then briefly cancelled, then reconfirmed hours later apparently due to an erroneous report from Trump advisor Reince Priebus to the Trumpster that the Times had changed the terms of the meeting. The Times confirmed no terms were changed on their part.

While part of the meeting was off the record, both sides agreed some of the exchange would be for public consumption.

Some highlights:

• Regarding the end of the campaign, Trump went into Michigan because his team learned Clinton’s campaign was worried about the state.

• While he admits “We had a great victory” in the election, he did mention he’s well-aware he did not win the popular vote. “I’ll see every once in awhile someone says, ‘Well, the popular vote.'” Says he was never a fan of the Electoral College “until now.”

• Trump on alt-right supporters: “It’s not a group I want to energize. And if they are energized I want to look into it and find out why.”

• Trump says “no” when asked if he is taking investigations off the table for Clintons but adds he doesn’t want to “hurt the Clintons.” He added “I think it would be very very divisive for the country.”

• Regarding the concerns about his businesses and conflicts of interest: “The law’s totally on my side, the president can’t have a conflict of interest.” Furthermore, “I’d assumed that you’d have to set up some type of trust or whatever and you don’t.”

• On Bannon:”If I thought he was a racist or alt-right or any of the things, the terms we could use, I wouldn’t even think about hiring him.” Regarding Breitbart: “Breitbart is just a publication. The cover stories like you cover stories.”

• Regarding Congress: “Paul Ryan, right now, loves me. Mitch McConnell loves me,” Trump says. Then says, “I’ve liked Chuck Schumer for a long time.”

• Trump asked about potential pushback on an infrastructure plan from GOP leaders. “Right now, they’re in love with me,” Trump says.

• Trump says he is “seriously considering” Mattis for DoD, says he asked Mattis about waterboarding, was surprised he didn’t favor it.

• Asked about son in law Jared Kushner, Trump says he will probably not have a formal position in the White House but could “could be a player on Mideast peace.

• Trump gets asked about his commitment to first amendment, says, “I think you’ll be happy.”

Haberman is an excellent reporter you should definitely follow on the Twitter – @maggieNYT

For more details on the meeting, click over to the New York Times.

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Trump On Again With New York Times Meeting Only Hours After Cancelling Via Twitter

Donald Trump’s machinations with the press are beginning to cause whiplash for observers.

After initially scheduling a meeting with the New York Times editors and reporters, Trump abruptly cancelled via Twitter over “inaccurate” reporting and “nasty tone.”

Hours later, Trump changed course and announced the meeting would take place today.

CNN has the details:

Trump originally asked for the meeting with Times executives, and also agreed to meet on the record with reporters and columnists.

The Times announced the meeting on Monday. But on Tuesday morning, Trump said on Twitter that the “terms and conditions” had changed at the last minute — a claim The Times denied, saying it was in fact Trump who had tried to alter the conditions.

The Times said it only learned through Trump’s tweets that the meeting was off.

“We did not change the ground rules at all and made no attempt to,” Times spokeswoman Eileen Murphy told CNNMoney.

Later, Trump tweeted that he had apparently changed his mind and would be traveling to the Times offices for the meeting.

A portion of the meeting will be an on-the-record interview, as the newspaper originally wanted.

“Mr. Trump’s staff has told us that the President Elect’s meeting with The Times is on again,” Eileen Murphy, head of communications for the Times, said in a statement. “He will meet with our publisher off-the-record and that session will be followed by an on-the-record meeting with our journalists and editorial columnists.”

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New York Times Responds To Trump Campaign’s Request To “Cease And Desist”

After the New York Times published an article detailing the alleged sexual assaults on two women by Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, the Trump campaign predictably and publicly sent a letter to the Times demanding the newspaper retract the story.

The New York Times’ lawyer responded today.

The letter reads, in part:

“The essence of a libel claim, of course, is the protection of one’s reputation. Mr. Trump has bragged about his non-consensual sexual touching of women. He has bragged about intruding on beauty pageant contestants in their dressing rooms. He acquiesced to a radio show host’s request to discuss Mr. Trump’s own daughter as a “piece of ass.” Multiple women not mentioned in our article have publicly come forward to report on Mr. Trump’s unwanted advances. Nothing in our article has had the slightest effect on the reputation that Mr. Trump, through his own words and actions, has already created for himself.”

See the full response below. Click the image to enlarge.

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New York Times: Hillary Clinton For President

(image via the New York Times)

The venerable New York Times today endorsed Democrat Hillary Clinton for president.

I’m certain it’s no surprise to Republican Donald Trump that his hometown paper doesn’t see him as the future leader of the free world. In fact, the Times refers to him as “the worst nominee put forward by a major party in modern American history.” (bolding is mine).

The editors focus here on the reasons why voters should consider Clinton this election cycle.

From the editorial board of the New York Times:

In any normal election year, we’d compare the two presidential candidates side by side on the issues. But this is not a normal election year. A comparison like that would be an empty exercise in a race where one candidate — our choice, Hillary Clinton — has a record of service and a raft of pragmatic ideas, and the other, Donald Trump, discloses nothing concrete about himself or his plans while promising the moon and offering the stars on layaway. (We will explain in a subsequent editorial why we believe Mr. Trump to be the worst nominee put forward by a major party in modern American history.)

But this endorsement would also be an empty exercise if it merely affirmed the choice of Clinton supporters. We’re aiming instead to persuade those of you who are hesitating to vote for Mrs. Clinton — because you are reluctant to vote for a Democrat, or for another Clinton, or for a candidate who might appear, on the surface, not to offer change from an establishment that seems indifferent and a political system that seems broken.

Running down the other guy won’t suffice to make that argument. The best case for Hillary Clinton cannot be, and is not, that she isn’t Donald Trump.

The best case is, instead, about the challenges this country faces, and Mrs. Clinton’s capacity to rise to them.

The Times goes on to list Hillary’s considerable experience including her “substantial” achievements as secretary of state, her work on behalf of 9/11 first responders’ health care, her efforts in the Senate Arms Forces Committee, her “unusual capacity to reach across the aisle,” her life-long record of service to children and families, and her “reputation for grit and bipartisan collaboration.”

The editorial board notes that Hillary’s career spans the post-Cold War era of the 90s to today’s ever-changing political landscape of a world “darkened” by the rise of terrorism.

The endorsement closes thusly:

Mrs. Clinton’s service spans both eras, and she has learned hard lessons from the three presidents she has studied up close. She has also made her own share of mistakes. She has evinced a lamentable penchant for secrecy and made a poor decision to rely on a private email server while at the State Department. That decision deserved scrutiny, and it’s had it. Now, considered alongside the real challenges that will occupy the next president, that email server, which has consumed so much of this campaign, looks like a matter for the help desk. And, viewed against those challenges, Mr. Trump shrinks to his true small-screen, reality-show proportions, as we’ll argue in detail on Monday.

Through war and recession, Americans born since 9/11 have had to grow up fast, and they deserve a grown-up president. A lifetime’s commitment to solving problems in the real world qualifies Hillary Clinton for this job, and the country should put her to work.

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Paul Krugman: America Can’t Afford Another Election Tipped By Innuendo

Credit: Sam Hodgson for The New York Times

Excellent essay in the New York Times by Paul Krugman wherein he references the 2000 George W. Bush/Al Gore election, and asks journalists to hit pause occasionally and “ask whether they are reporting facts or simply engaging in innuendo.” He also urges voters to try and read with a critical eye when taking in political news.

Just an excerpt:

True, there aren’t many efforts to pretend that Donald Trump is a paragon of honesty. But it’s hard to escape the impression that he’s being graded on a curve. If he manages to read from a TelePrompter without going off script, he’s being presidential. If he seems to suggest that he wouldn’t round up all 11 million undocumented immigrants right away, he’s moving into the mainstream. And many of his multiple scandals, like what appear to be clear payoffs to state attorneys general to back off investigating Trump University, get remarkably little attention.

Meanwhile, we have the presumption that anything Hillary Clinton does must be corrupt, most spectacularly illustrated by the increasingly bizarre coverage of the Clinton Foundation.

Step back for a moment, and think about what that foundation is about. When Bill Clinton left office, he was a popular, globally respected figure. What should he have done with that reputation? Raising large sums for a charity that saves the lives of poor children sounds like a pretty reasonable, virtuous course of action. And the Clinton Foundation is, by all accounts, a big force for good in the world. For example, Charity Watch, an independent watchdog, gives it an “A” rating — better than the American Red Cross.

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New York Times Op-Ed Questions Homeland Security Raid Of Rentboy

I’ve been wondering all week why, after almost two decades of operation, the Department of Homeland Security decided to focus on, and ultimately raid, the offices of gay escort website Rentboy.

Especially when you consider that dozens of straight escort sites continue to operate in New York City. Why just target the gay escort site?

Apparently, I’m not the only one as the New York Times editorial board pens an op-ed questioning the motivation and ultimate goals of the office raid.

Here’s just an excerpt from the op-ed:

Prosecutors can credibly argue that the site’s operators were breaking the law. But they have provided no reasonable justification for devoting significant resources, particularly from an agency charged with protecting America from terrorists, to shut down a company that provided sex workers with a safer alternative to street walking or relying on pimps. The defendants have not been accused of exploiting sex workers, featuring minors on the website, financial crimes or other serious offenses that would warrant a federal prosecution.

Amnesty International announced this month that it would be pushing for the decriminalization of consensual sex work worldwide. After a lengthy and at times fraught debate, the organization’s experts concluded that sex workers were less likely to be harmed and exploited in places where the trade is lawful. Several gay and transgender rights organizations, including Lambda Legal and the Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders, issued a joint statement supporting Amnesty International’s position.

[snip]

The Rentboy.com bust may spook clients and sex workers for a while, but it would be naïve to think it will do much more. Federal authorities should consider whether continuing to spend time and money turning the website’s operators into felons is worthwhile, while far more serious crimes, including human trafficking and sexual exploitation, go unpunished.

I’ll add that I personally support the decriminalization of consensual sex work. I think as long as no one is physically harmed and it’s between two consenting adults, the government shouldn’t be involved.

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No NY Times Bestseller List For Ted Cruz Due To “Strategic Bulk Purchases”

Ted Cruz’s new book will not be appearing on the New York Times’ Bestseller List, even though he outsold all but two of the other books sold this past week.

A Times spokesman said: “In the case of this book, the overwhelming preponderance of evidence was that sales were limited to strategic bulk purchases.”

Apparently, political peeps like to buy copies of their own book to give away to supporters to spread their message. However, in the past that has also helped get their books to the top of the list.

The policy at the Times currently is to not count these bulk purchases as the powers that be want the list to more closely reflect the sales to individuals and not “strategic bulk purchases.”

I’m sure the conservative Right folks will be hating on the NY Times, but as the pundits point out in the clip below, several right-wing characters like Bill O’Reilly and Charles Krauthammer have had #1 rankings on the NY Times list.