Showing posts with label Donald Trump. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Donald Trump. Show all posts
Saturday 13 January 2018
Quotes of the Week
“In his dual careers as lawyer and merchant banker, Malcolm Turnbull has earned a reputation that inspires a mix of awe, fear and, among some, downright loathing.” [Journalist John Lyons writing in The Sydney Morning Herald, 1991]
“Of all personality measures, sadism showed the most robust associations with trolling and, importantly, the relationship was specific to trolling behavior. Enjoyment of other online activities, such as chatting and debating, was unrelated to sadism. Thus cyber-trolling appears to be an Internet manifestation of everyday sadism.” [Erin E. Buckels et al, writing in Personality and Individual Differences, “Trolls just want to have fun”]
“Few New Yorkers want to play golf at a course named after a man who hailed Nazis as “very fine people” and rhapsodized over the men who fought to preserve slavery during the Civil War.” [Oliver Willis writing at Shareblue Media, 28 December 2017]
Labels:
Donald Trump
Thursday 11 January 2018
President Trump still doesn't have outright victory for his policy of banning Muslim entry to USA and the legal fight opposing these bans enters its second year
The legal fight against President Donald J. Trump’s Muslim travel bans ended 2017 with another victory for the State of Hawaii et al and the fight now enters its second year on 3 February 2018.
United States Courts of Appeals – Ninth Circuit, STATE OF HAWAII; ISMAIL ELSHIKH; JOHN DOES, 1 & 2; MUSLIM ASSOCIATION OF HAWAII, INC., Plaintiffs-Appellees, v. DONALD J. TRUMP, in his official capacity as President of the United States; U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY; KIRSTJEN M. NIELSEN, in her official capacity as Secretary of Homeland Security; U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE; REX W. TILLERSON, in his official capacity as Secretary of State; UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, 22 December 2017:
For the third time, we are called upon to assess the legality of the President’s efforts to bar over 150 million nationals of six designated countries1 from entering the United States or being issued immigrant visas that they would ordinarily be qualified to receive. To do so, we must consider the statutory and constitutional limits of the President’s power to curtail entry of foreign nationals in this appeal of the district court’s order preliminarily enjoining portions of § 2 of Proclamation 9645 entitled “Enhancing Vetting Capabilities and Processes for Detecting Attempted Entry Into the United States by Terrorists or Other Public-Safety Threats” (the “Proclamation”).
The Proclamation, like its predecessor executive orders, relies on the premise that the Immigration and Nationality Act (“INA”), 8 U.S.C. § 1101 et seq., vests the President with broad powers to regulate the entry of aliens. Those powers, however, are not without limit. We conclude that the President’s issuance of the Proclamation once again exceeds the scope of his delegated authority. The Government’s interpretation of 8 U.S.C. § 1182(f) not only upends the carefully crafted immigration scheme Congress has enacted through the INA, but it deviates from the text of the statute, legislative history, and prior executive practice as well.
Further, the President did not satisfy the critical prerequisite Congress attached to his suspension authority: before blocking entry, he must first make a legally sufficient finding that the entry of the specified individuals would be “detrimental to the interests of the United States.” 8 U.S.C. § 1182(f). The Proclamation once again conflicts with the INA’s prohibition on nationality-based discrimination in the issuance of immigrant visas. Lastly, the President is without a separate source of constitutional authority to issue the Proclamation.
On these statutory bases, we affirm the district court’s order enjoining enforcement of the Proclamation’s §§ 2(a), (b), (c), (e), (g), and (h). We limit the scope of the preliminary injunction, however, to foreign nationals who have a bona fide relationship with a person or entity in the United States…..
For all of these reasons, we affirm in part and vacate in part the district court’s preliminary injunction order. We narrow the scope of the injunction to give relief only to those with a credible bona fide relationship with the United States, pursuant to the Supreme Court’s decision in IRAP, 137 S. Ct. at 2088. In light of the Supreme Court’s order staying this injunction pending “disposition of the Government’s petition for a writ of certiorari, if such writ is sought,” we stay our decision today pending Supreme Court review. Trump v. Hawai‘i, No. 17A550, — S. Ct. —, 2017 WL 5987406 (Dec. 4, 2017). Because we conclude that Plaintiffs have shown a likelihood of success on their statutory claims, we need not reach their constitutional claims.
Video of closing argument on behalf of Plaintiffs-Appellees:
The matter is ongoing in 2018.
Background can be found at University of Michigan Law School, Civil Rights Litigation Clearing House.
Labels:
Donald Trump,
human rights,
immigration,
law,
US policy
Wednesday 10 January 2018
How US President Donald J Trump made one particular book an immediate best-seller
On 3 January
2018 excerpts from a soon to be published book, “Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House” were
published in The Guardian newspaper.
The following day brought news of a
letter to former Trump chief strategist Steve
Bannon…..
ABC
News, 4
January 2018:
Trump attorney Charles
J. Harder of the firm Harder Mirell & Abrams LLP, said in a statement,
"This law firm represents President Donald J. Trump and Donald J. Trump
for President, Inc. On behalf of our clients, legal notice was issued today to
Stephen K. Bannon, that his actions of communicating with author Michael Wolff
regarding an upcoming book give rise to numerous legal claims including
defamation by libel and slander, and breach of his written confidentiality and
non-disparagement agreement with our clients. Legal action is imminent."
In the letter to Bannon,
Harder, writes, "You [Bannon] have breached the Agreement by, among other
things, communicating with author Michael Wolff about Mr. Trump, his family
members, and the Company, disclosing Confidential Information to Mr. Wolff, and
making disparaging statements and in some cases outright defamatory statements
to Mr. Wolff about Mr. Trump, his family members, and the Company, knowing that
they would be included in Mr. Wolff’s book and publicity surrounding the
marketing and sale of his book."
Along with a
letter to Macmillan Publishers (Henry Holt & Company INC) and author Michael Wolff…..
CBS
News, 4
January 2018:
President Trump's
personal lawyer has issued a cease and desist letter to author Michael Wolff
and Wolff's publisher over the release of explosive excerpts of "Fire and
Fury: Inside Trump's White House." The letter demands that Wolff and the
publisher halt all publication and apologize to the president for "defaming"
him.
The letter from lawyer
Charles Harder, dated Thursday, comes after excerpts of Wolff's book have cast
the president and much of his White House in an unflattering light, portraying
the commander-in-chief as someone who does not understand constitutional amendments,
and is sometimes not taken seriously by key advisers. The letter accuses Wolff
and Henry Holt and Company of publishing false statements about the
president.
"Your publication
of the false/baseless statements about Mr. Trump gives rise to, among other
claims, defamation by libel, defamation by libel, defamation by libel per
se, false light invasion of privacy, tortious interference with contractural
relations, and inducement of breach contract," the letter says.
Mr. Trump, according to
the letter, demands that publication of the book immediately cease, along with
the publication of any excerpts or summaries. The letter also insists that a
"full and complete retraction" be issued, along with an apology to
Mr. Trump.
The letter also demands
a full electronic copy of the book "in searchable form" be given to
Mr. Trump's lawyers.
Full text of letter here.
What happened after is that in the following order:
1. the book
was published on 5 January 2018 ahead of the previously announced date and bookstores quickly sold out of hard copies on hand;
2. @RealDonaldTrump's thumbs began to work overtime as he began to tweet his displeasure commencing 6 January;
3. Steve
Bannon blinked on 8 January and issued an ‘apology’;
4. Also on 8 January lawyers for Macmillian Publishers formally replied to the 'cease and desist' letter; and
5. Macmillan
Publishers (founded circa 1843) issued this pushback statement on 9 January
Macmillan Publishers’ CEO John Sargent, Twitter, 9 January 2018
The ball is now back with Donald Trump.
Will he be stupid enough to proceed to litigation?
Sunday 7 January 2018
Trump starts the New Year with the United Nation's thumbing its nose at his threats
Despite US President Donald Trump’s threats to pull foreign aid from countries which didn’t vote as he directed, seventy-four per cent of national representatives participating in the UN General Assembly Emergency Session ‘Status of Jerusalem’ vote cast their ballots against the Trump Regime’s declaration of Jerusalem as the capital of the State of Israel.
United Nations News Centre, 21 December 2017:
General Assembly demands all States comply with UN resolutions regarding status of Jerusalem
21 December 2017 – By an overwhelming majority, Member States in the United Nations General Assembly on Thursday “demanded” that all countries comply with Security Council resolutions regarding the status of Jerusalem, following an earlier decision by the United States to recognize the Holy City as the capital of Israel.
Through a resolution adopted by a recorded vote of 128 in favour to nine against (Guatemala, Honduras, Israel, Marshall Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Nauru, Palau, Togo, United States), with 35 abstentions, the 193-member Assembly expressed “deep regret” over recent decisions concerning the status of Jerusalem and stressed that the Holy City “is a final status issue to be resolved through negotiations in line with relevant UN resolutions.”
Action in the Assembly today follows a failed attempt by the Security Council on Monday adopt a similar text reflecting regret among the body’s members about “recent decisions regarding the status of Jerusalem,” with a veto from the United States, a permanent member of the Council.
Ahead of that failed resolution, Nickolay Mladenov, Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, told the Security Council that the security situation in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory had become more tense in the wake of US President Donald Trump's decision on 6 December to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.
Subsequently, Yemen and Turkey, in their respective capacities as Chair of the Arab Group and the Chair of the Summit of the Organization of the Islamic Cooperation, requested the President of the General Assembly to “urgently resume’ the tenth emergency special session of the General Assembly in accordance with the so-named ‘Uniting for peace’ procedure.
This procedure, under Assembly resolution 377 (1950), is a pathway around a Security Council veto. By it, the Assembly can call an emergency special session to consider a matter “with a view to making appropriate recommendations to members for collective measures,” if the Security Council fails to act or if there is lack of unanimity among the Council’s permanent members, China, France, Russia, United Kingdom, and the United States.
Since the tenth such meeting, the Assembly has temporarily adjourned the emergency special session and authorized “the President of the General Assembly […] to resume its meeting upon request from Member States,” allowing for speedy consideration by the body of urgent issues.
The most recent resumed emergency session was in 2009 when the Assembly called a meeting on East Jerusalem and the Occupied Palestinian Territory.
Resolutions in the Assembly are non-binding and do not carry the force of international law as do measures agreed in the Security Council.
Find out more about the Assembly’s emergency special sessions and resolution 377 (1950) here
Today’s resolution demanded that “all States comply with Security Council resolutions regarding the Holy City of Jerusalem, and not recognize any actions or measures contrary to those resolutions.”
The General Assembly further affirmed that “any decisions and actions which purport to have altered the character, status or demographic composition of the Holy City of Jerusalem have no legal effect, are null and void and must be rescinded in compliance with relevant resolutions of the Security Council.”
In that regard the Assembly also called upon all States to refrain from the establishment of diplomatic missions in the Holy City of Jerusalem, pursuant to Security Council resolution 478 adopted in 1980.
Reiterating its call for the reversal of the negative trends that endanger the two-State solution, the Assembly urged greater international and regional efforts and support aimed at achieving, without delay, a comprehensive, just and lasting peace in the Middle East.
The text of the ‘Status of Jerusalem’ resolution include the undertaking; to ask nations not to establish diplomatic missions in the historic city of Jerusalem, as delegates warned that the recent decision by the United States to do so risked igniting a religious war across the already turbulent Middle East and even beyond.
Labels:
Donald Trump,
international affairs,
United Nations,
USA
Saturday 23 December 2017
Quote of the Week
“When we have obtained emails in the course of our ongoing criminal investigation, we have secured either the account owner’s consent or appropriate criminal process” [US DoJ Special Counsel’s Office spokesperson, Peter Carr speaking about Trump Transition Team emails, in Slate on 17 December 2017]
Labels:
Donald Trump,
US politics
Thursday 21 December 2017
Who is Trump defending? His discriminatory administration or vulnerable people?
Who is Trump defending? His discriminatory administration or vulnerable people?
Odds are Donald Trump is attempting to disguise his war against science, the environment, women's reproductive rights, people with disabilities, vulnerable groups and all Americans living in poverty.
Washington Post, 15 December 2017:
Trump administration officials are forbidding officials at the nation's top public health agency from using a list of seven words or phrases - including "fetus" and "transgender" - in any official documents being prepared for next year's budget.
Policy analysts at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta were told of the list of forbidden words at a meeting Thursday with senior CDC officials who oversee the budget, according to an analyst who took part in the 90-minute briefing. The forbidden words are: "vulnerable," "entitlement," "diversity," "transgender," "fetus," "evidence-based" and "science-based."
In some instances, the analysts were given alternative phrases. Instead of "science-based" or "evidence-based," the suggested phrase is "CDC bases its recommendations on science in consideration with community standards and wishes," the person said. In other cases, no replacement words were immediately offered.
The question of how to address such issues as sexual orientation, gender identity and abortion rights - all of which received significant visibility under the Obama administration - has surfaced repeatedly in federal agencies since President Donald Trump took office. Several key departments - including Health and Human Services, which oversees CDC, as well as Justice, Education and Housing and Urban Development - have changed some federal policies and how they collect government information about lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Americans.
In March, for example, HHS dropped questions about sexual orientation and gender identity in two surveys of elderly people.
HHS has also removed information about LGBT Americans from its website. The department's Administration for Children and Families, for example, archived a page that outlined federal services that are available for LGBT people and their families, including how they can adopt and receive help if they are the victims of sex trafficking.
At the CDC, the meeting about the banned words was led by Alison Kelly, a senior leader in CDC's Office of Financial Services, according to the CDC analyst who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the person was not authorized to speak publicly. Kelly did not say why the words are being banned, according to the analyst, and told the group that she was merely relaying the information.
Other CDC officials confirmed the existence of a list of forbidden words. It's likely that other parts of HHS are operating under the same guidelines regarding the use of these words, the analyst said.
At the CDC, several offices have responsibilities for work that uses sAt the CDC, several offices have responsibilities for work that uses some of these words. The National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention is working on ways to prevent HIV among transgender people and reduce health disparities. The CDC's work on birth defects caused by the Zika virus, for example, includes research on the developing fetus.
The ban is related to the budget and supporting materials that are to be given to CDC's partners and to Congress, the analyst said. The president's budget for 2019 is expected to be released in early February. The budget blueprint is generally shaped to reflect an administration's priorities.
Labels:
Donald Trump,
US politics
Tuesday 28 November 2017
Zinging U.S. President Trump appears to be the new pastime of old media
Labels:
Donald Trump,
media
Saturday 25 November 2017
The American Resistance has many faces and this is just one of them (18)
What's up with @CarrieUnderwood stealing the song I stole from her? TouchĂ©, girl. #BeforeHeTweets #CMAawards @BradPaisley pic.twitter.com/dTFupVZWRZ— Randy Rainbow (@RandyRainbow) November 9, 2017
Labels:
Donald Trump,
US politics
Quote of the Week
“Trump is 71; Murdoch is 86, and the median age of a prime-time Fox News viewer is 68. Anyone can see where this is going. The grim reaper has become a Democratic poll watcher.” [Journalist Richard Cohen writing in The Washington Post, 13 November 2017]
Labels:
Donald Trump,
media,
Rupert Murdoch
Tuesday 14 November 2017
The American Resistance has many faces and these are just two of them (17)
* The woman is this photograph was susequently fired by her employer, government contrator Akima LLC, a subsidiary of NANA Development CorporationAmericans are resisting in their own ways everyday.— Red T Raccoon (@RedTRaccoon) October 29, 2017
This woman won today with her one finger salute to our Commander in Chief Donald Trump. pic.twitter.com/Fz6LCsg8Xi
Labels:
Donald Trump,
Twitter,
US politics
Sunday 12 November 2017
Here is the man Trump and his supporters have been calling a low-ranking volunteer, a coffee boy - since Papadopoulos' plea deal was revealed
Salon, 1 November 2017:
The credibility of Attorney General Jeff Sessions has been called into serious question after the Justice Department unsealed a plea deal taken by a former foreign policy adviser to President Donald Trump's campaign.
The documents revealed that former adviser George Papadopoulos attended a "national security meeting in Washington D.C.," on March 31, 2016, along with Trump, Sessions and others. In that meeting, Papadopoulos "introduced himself," and explicitly stated "in sum and substance, that he had connections that could help arrange a meeting between then-candidate Trump and [Russian] President Putin."
Trump tweeted a picture of the meeting the day it occurred, and he, as well as Sessions, sat at opposite heads of the table. Papadopoulos is pictured to the left of Sessions in the middle of the table.
Labels:
corruption,
Donald Trump,
lies and lying,
US-Russia relations
Wednesday 8 November 2017
The American Resistance has many faces and this is just one of them (16)
Impeach trump ads are starting to pop up. A beautiful sight. The trashy, unhinged, treasonous racist isn't America.pic.twitter.com/wkEYnlKuaJ— Ricky Davila 🇵🇷 (@TheRickyDavila) October 21, 2017
via @TheRicyDavila
* The US Fox Nertwork LLC entered a contract to sshow this political advertisement. It has withdrawn this advertisement from Fox News on or about 28 October 2017.
Labels:
Donald Trump,
people power,
US politics,
US society
Monday 6 November 2017
US President Donald Trump can run but can he hide?
After months of fighting to have this court case go away US President Donald J. Trump is in the process of being forced to hand over documents relating to at least ten sexual assault allegations, as part of a defamation action.
This subpoena only became public in September 2017.
Subpoena in Summer Zervos v Donald J. Trump by clarencegirl on Scribd
According to BuzzFeed on 15 October 2017:
Trump’s response to
Zervos’s motion is due Oct. 31, according to Zervos’s attorney, Gloria Allred.
In a statement Allred said: “We are hopeful that the court will deny President
Trump’s motion to dismiss, so that we may move forward with discovery and
obtain relevant documents and testimony.”
The original compliant and jury demand was lodged in the Supreme Court Of The State Of New York County Of New York in January 2017 as Summer Zervos v Donald J. Trump.
UPDATE
Trump's response has been reported in the media as characterising his allegedly defamatory statements, about private citizen Summer Zervos, as political opinion protected under the US Constitution.
Labels:
court,
defamation,
Donald Trump,
law,
sexual assault
Tuesday 31 October 2017
Donald Trump continues to deny Trump presidential election campaign-Russia link as FBI indictments begin
US President Donald J. Trump continues to deny Trump presidential election campaign-Russia links as Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) indictments begin.
CNN, 30 October 2017:
CNN, 30 October 2017:
Washington (CNN) Former
Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort and former Trump campaign official Rick
Gates surrendered Monday to Justice Department special counsel Robert Mueller.
Gates, 45, is a longtime
business associate of Manafort, 68, having worked together since the mid-2000s,
and served as his deputy on the campaign. The two were indicted under seal on
Friday, a source with direct knowledge of the matter said.
The indictment against
the two men contains 12 counts: conspiracy against the United States,
conspiracy to launder money, unregistered agent of a foreign principal, false
and misleading US Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) statements, false
statements, and seven counts of failure to file reports of foreign bank and
financial accounts.
Manafort arrived at the
FBI's Washington field office Monday morning. The two are being processed
separately, according to a law enforcement official. They will later be
transported to federal district court in Washington later Monday morning.
The two are scheduled to
make their initial court appearances before US District Magistrate Judge
Deborah Robinson at 1:30 p.m. ET Monday…..
Manafort entered the
Trump campaign orbit in early 2016, when he reached out to Trump's daughter
Ivanka Trump and son-in-law Jared Kushner and offered to work for free, according to The New York Times.
Manafort joined the
Trump campaign in March 2016 to help with delegate counting ahead of the
Republican National Convention, as some Republicans hoped to use arcane
delegate procedures to wrest the nomination from Trump at the convention in
Cleveland.
He soon was promoted to
campaign chairman, and he became the top official on the campaign after
then-campaign manager Corey Lewandowski was fired in June 2016.
His tenure didn't last
long.
The Times reported in August 2016 that Ukrainian investigators
found Manafort's name in an off-the-books, handwritten ledger detailing secret
payments — including $12.7 million to Manafort from Yanukovych's Party of
Regions.
Manafort denied he had
received any such payment and claims the ledger was forged. But just days
later, he
resigned from the campaign as the accusations swirling around him
became a major distraction for Trump.
Copy of FBI indictment dated 27 October 2017 here.
Grand Jury Investigation, Memorandum Opinion here.
Manafort and Gates now under house arrest.
Copy of FBI indictment dated 27 October 2017 here.
Grand Jury Investigation, Memorandum Opinion here.
Manafort and Gates now under house arrest.
@realDonaldTrump, 30 October 2017:
Sorry, but this is years
ago, before Paul Manafort was part of the Trump campaign. But why aren't
Crooked Hillary & the Dems the focus?????....
....Also, there is NO
COLLUSION!
On 3 October 2017 the FBI issued an indictment in United States of American v George Papadopoulos on one count of making false statements concerning his interactions with certain foreign nationals whom he understood to have close connections with Russian government officials. Papadopoulos appears to have joined the Trump campaign in March 2016.
He was part of Trump's six-man foreign policy team led by then Alabama senator and now US Attorney-General Jeff Sessions.
He was part of Trump's six-man foreign policy team led by then Alabama senator and now US Attorney-General Jeff Sessions.
Copy of Papadopoulos Statement of Offence can be read here. Copy of Papadopoulos plea agreement here.
Los Angeles Times, 30 October 2017:
A former foreign policy
advisor to Donald Trump's presidential campaign has pleaded guilty to lying to
the FBI about his contacts with Russians who claimed to have “thousands of
emails” on Hillary Clinton, in the latest charges filed in the investigation
of the Trump campaign's contacts with Russia.
George
Papadopoulos, 30, of Chicago, has agreed to cooperate with the
investigation led by special counsel Robert S. Mueller III, according to a plea
agreement unsealed on Monday.
He pleaded guilty on
Oct. 5 to making false statements to disguise his contacts with Russians whom
he thought had “dirt” on Clinton, according to court papers. He was
arrested in July as he got off a plane at Dulles International Airport.
After he was contacted
by an unnamed Russian professor in March, Papadopoulos exchanged emails with an
official in the Russian foreign ministry, court papers say. Among the
topics he discussed was a possible visit by Trump to Russia.
“As mentioned we are all
very excited by the possibility of a good relationship with Mr. Trump,” one
Russian emailed him.
In April, after he had
become an advisor to the campaign, Papadopoulos met with the Russian professor
at a London hotel. The professor said he had just returned from a trip to
Moscow, where he was told “the Russians had emails of Clinton.”
Papadopolous told other
leaders in the Trump campaign that he was in contact with Russians, and said
there were some “interesting messages coming in from Moscow about a trip.”
An unnamed campaign
official, described as a campaign “supervisor,” encouraged him to make the
trip, a
document reads.
BACKGROUND
Paul Manafort joined the Trump election campaign and
briefly served
as campaign manager before resigning in August 2016.
Rick Gates was part of the early Trump campaign effort and later became deputy chair of Trump's Inaugural Committee.
Rick Gates was part of the early Trump campaign effort and later became deputy chair of Trump's Inaugural Committee.
ABC
News, 20 July
2017:
Mr Trump Jr has been the
focus of a string of revelations about a meeting with a Kremlin-linked
lawyer in 2016, billed as a part of a Russian government effort to help the
Republican's White House campaign.
Explosive emails, which
Mr Trump Jr published on his own Twitter account, show that:
Donald Trump Jr (and
others) knowingly had a meeting with a Kremlin-linked lawyer on June 9, 2016
The intermediary who
arranged the meeting offered "information that would incriminate"
Hillary Clinton and "her dealings with Russia" that would be
"very useful" to the campaign
The intermediary
described the information as "very high level and sensitive"
Most importantly, it was
described as "part of Russia and its Government's support for Mr
Trump"
The story has continued
to evolve, with a former Soviet officer recently confirming he
was as the meeting.
Mr Manafort and Mr
Kushner were also reported to be at the meeting in question.
The
Washington Post,
27 October 2017:
On Friday, Trump
declared the investigations into any collusion between his campaign and the
Russian government all-but-over….
“It is now commonly
agreed, after many months of COSTLY looking, that there was NO collusion
between Russia and Trump. Was collusion with HC!”.....
After his inauguration,
the first time Trump mentioned collusion on Twitter was May 8.
“Director Clapper
reiterated what everybody, including the fake media already knows,” he wrote on
Twitter, referring to former national intelligence director James R. Clapper
Jr., “there is ‘no evidence’ of collusion w/ Russia and Trump.”
“The Russia-Trump
collusion story is a total hoax,” he added,
“when will this taxpayer funded charade end?”
At the moment Trump
tweeted about how there wasn’t any collusion — the first and second times
of 14
tweets in total — the investigations into collusion were limited to an
FBI counterintelligence investigation and House and Senate committees digging
into the matter. The next day, though, Trump fired FBI Director James B. Comey,
triggering the chain of events that led to the appointment of Mueller and his
investigation.
When Trump was
interviewed by NBC’s Lester Holt shortly after the Comey firing, he was
adamant.
“I think that looking
into me and, the campaign … look, I have nothing to do [with it],” he said.
“This was set up by the Democrats. There is no collusion between me
and my campaign and the Russians. The other thing is the Russians did not
affect the vote.” He also told Holt that “when I decided to just [fire Comey],
I said to myself, I said, ‘You know, this Russia thing with Trump and Russia is
a made-up story, it’s an excuse by the Democrats for having lost an election
that they should have won.’ ”
Quartz, 29 October 2017:
However, Russia’s
efforts to influence the US election have been repeatedly, unequivocally
confirmed on the record by all top US intelligence officials, including those
appointed by Trump.
A report (pdf)
issued by US intelligence officials on Jan. 6 stated Russian President Vladimir
Putin was behind a campaign to influence the 2016 election, “denigrate
Secretary Clinton, and harm her electability and potential presidency,” and
stated that Putin had “a clear preference for President-elect Trump.”
During a public Senate
Intelligence Committee hearing (pdf)
this May, Virginia’s Mark Warner asked top intelligence officials if they
agreed with the conclusions of this report that “Russian intelligence agencies
were responsible for the hacking and leaking of information and using
misinformation to influence our elections?”
Every intelligence
official answered yes. Intelligence officials at the hearing included
representatives from the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the National
Security Agency, as well as Trump-appointed CIA director Mike Pompeo and Trump’s
chosen director of national intelligence, Dan Coats. (See 42:30 mark
on the video below, or at the 1:04 mark on the video on the Senate
website).
Sunday 29 October 2017
The American Resistance has many faces and this is just one of them (15)
@POTUS your comments about Puerto Rico are unbecoming of a Commander in Chief they seem more to come from a “Hater in Chief”.— Carmen YulĂn Cruz (@CarmenYulinCruz) October 12, 2017
Carmen YulĂn Cruz, Mayor of San Juan, Puerto Rico an unincorporated U.S. territory
Labels:
Donald Trump,
US politics
Tuesday 24 October 2017
Sunday 22 October 2017
Shorter Donald Trump: there's noboby like me
Labels:
Donald Trump,
right wing rat bags
Friday 20 October 2017
US President Trump says he is proud to be among so many friends in October 2017
Donald Trump became the first sitting US president to attend and give a keynote speech at the annual Values Voter Summit which this year was held in Washington DC on 12-15 October.
This event included at least nine other misogynistic, anti-Muslim and/or anti LGBTI speakers - six of whom belong to ‘hate groups’ listed by The Southern Poverty Law Centre - as well as a three-hour long Values Voter Summit Activist Training workshop for attendees.
Trump previously spoke at this far-right ‘Christian’ summit in 2015 as a candidate and then in 2016 as the Republican presidential nominee.
Excerpt from the White House transcript of Trump’s 13 October 2017 summit speech:
We believe in strong families and safe communities. We honor the dignity of work. (Applause.) We defend our Constitution. We protect religious liberty. (Applause.) We treasure our freedom. We are proud of our history. We support the rule of law and the incredible men and women of law enforcement. (Applause.) We celebrate our heroes, and we salute every American who wears the uniform. (Applause.)
We respect our great American flag. (Applause.) Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
And we stand united behind the customs, beliefs and traditions that define who we are as a nation and as a people…..
“When I came to speak with you last year, I made you a promise. Well, one of the promises I made you was that I’d come back. See? (Applause.) And I don't even need your vote this year, right? That's even nicer. (Laughter.)
But I pledged that, in a Trump administration, our nation’s religious heritage would be cherished, protected, and defended like you have never seen before. That's what’s happening. That's what’s happening. You see it every day. You're reading it.
So this morning I am honored and thrilled to return as the first sitting President to address this incredible gathering of friends -- so many friends. (Applause.) So many friends. And I'll ask Tony and all our people that do such a great job in putting this event together -- can I take next year off or not? (Laughter.) Or do I have to be back? I don't know…..
So I'm here to thank you for your support and to share with you how we are delivering on that promise, defending our shared values, and in so doing, how we are renewing the America we love.
In the last 10 months, we have followed through on one promise after another. (Applause.) I didn't have a schedule, but if I did have a schedule, I would say we are substantially ahead of schedule. (Applause.)
Some of those promises are to support and defend the Constitution. I appointed and confirmed a Supreme Court Justice in the mold of the late, great Justice Antonin Scalia, the newest member of the Supreme Court, Justice Neil Gorsuch. (Applause.)
To protect the unborn, I have reinstated a policy first put in place by President Ronald Reagan, the Mexico City Policy. (Applause.) To protect religious liberty, including protecting groups like this one, I signed a new executive action in a beautiful ceremony at the White House on our National Day of Prayer -- (applause) -- which day we made official. (Applause.)
Among many historic steps, the executive order followed through on one of my most important campaign promises to so many of you: to prevent the horrendous Johnson Amendment from interfering with your First Amendment rights. (Applause.) Thank you. We will not allow government workers to censor sermons or target our pastors or our ministers or rabbis. These are the people we want to hear from, and they're not going to be silenced any longer. (Applause.)
Just last week, based on this executive action, the Department of Justice issued a new guidance to all federal agencies to ensure that no religious group is ever targeted under my administration. It won't happen. (Applause.) ….
We are stopping cold the attacks on Judeo-Christian values. (Applause.)…
We know that it's the family and the church, not government officials, that know best how to create strong and loving communities. (Applause.) And above all else, we know this: In America, we don't worship government -- we worship God. (Applause.) Inspired by that conviction, we are returning moral clarity to our view of the world and the many grave challenges we face……
For too long, politicians have tried to centralize the authority among the hands of a small few in our nation’s capital. Bureaucrats think they can run your lives, overrule your values, meddle in your faith, and tell you how to live, what to say, and how to pray. But we know that parents, not bureaucrats, know best how to raise their children and create a thriving society. (Applause.)
We know that faith and prayer, not federal regulation -- and, by the way, we are cutting regulations at a clip that nobody has ever seen before. Nobody. (Applause.) In nine months, we have cut more regulation than any President has cut during their term in office. So we are doing the job. (Applause.) And that is one of the major reasons, in addition to the enthusiasm for manufacturing and business and jobs -- and the jobs are coming back.
That's one of the major reasons -- regulation, what we've done -- that the stock market has just hit an all-time historic high. (Applause.) That just on the public markets we've made, since Election Day, $5.2 trillion in value. Think of that: $5.2 trillion. (Applause.) And as you've seen, the level of enthusiasm is the highest it's ever been, and we have a 17-year low in unemployment. So we're doing, really, some work. (Applause.)
We know that it's the family and the church, not government officials, that know best how to create strong and loving communities. (Applause.) And above all else, we know this: In America, we don't worship government -- we worship God. (Applause.) Inspired by that conviction, we are returning moral clarity to our view of the world and the many grave challenges we face.”
In this administration, we will call evil by its name. (Applause.) We stand with our friends and allies, we forge new partnerships in pursuit of peace, and we take decisive action against those who would threaten our people with harm. (Applause.) And we will be decisive -- because we know that the first duty of government is to serve its citizens. We are defending our borders, protecting our workers, and enforcing our laws. You see it every single day like you haven't seen it in many, many years -- if you've seen it at all. (Applause.)
Please note that statements made by Trump in this speech need to be fact checked for accuracy.
It's getting uglier by the day. Trump has given a speech to an anti-LGBTQ group...and he called them his 'friends'. pic.twitter.com/WEoSoSwGDI— James Melville (@JamesMelville) October 13, 2017
Labels:
Donald Trump,
fascism,
religion,
right wing rat bags,
society,
US politics
Friday 13 October 2017
Donald J. Trump: “Why Isn't the Senate Intel Committee looking into the Fake News Networks in OUR country to see why so much of our news is just made up-FAKE!”
No matter how hard he tries US President Donald Trump just can't keep the Russia issue behind closed doors.
It keeps seeping out into the public domain via mainstream and social media.
Reuters, 5 October 2017:
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The special counsel investigating whether Russia tried to sway the 2016 U.S. election has taken over FBI inquiries into a former British spy's dossier of allegations of Russian financial and personal links to President Donald Trump's campaign and associates, sources familiar with the inquiry told Reuters.
A report compiled by former MI6 officer Christopher Steele identified Russian businessmen and others whom U.S. intelligence analysts have concluded are Russian intelligence officers or working on behalf of the Russian government.
A spokesman for special counsel Robert Mueller declined comment. The FBI also declined comment.
Three sources with knowledge of Mueller's probe said his investigators have assumed control of multiple inquiries into allegations by U.S. intelligence agencies that Russia interfered in the election to benefit Trump, a Republican.
Russia has repeatedly denied any meddling in the election.
Two officials familiar with the investigations said that both Mueller's team and the Senate Intelligence Committee are seeking any evidence that former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort or others who had financial dealings with Russia might have helped Kremlin intelligence agencies target email hacking and social media postings undermining Trump's election opponent, Democrat Hillary Clinton.
On Wednesday, the Senate panel's chairman Richard Burr told reporters that the issue of whether Trump's campaign colluded with Russia remains an open question.
Prof. Seth Abramson, University of New Hampshire, 4 October 2017:
FACT: the number of votes Russia needed to flip in Michigan and Wisconsin (out of 7.5 million votes total) to give BOTH to Trump was 16,900. pic.twitter.com/5RfAZGSIOx— Seth Abramson (@SethAbramson) October 4, 2017
Trump's response is typical……
MEDIA MATTERS for America, 5 October 2017:
President Donald Trump urged Congress to begin investigations into the U.S. media, which he baselessly claimed was fabricating stories in order to damage his presidency, in a Thursday morning tweet with authoritarian overtones.
"Why Isn't the Senate Intel Committee looking into the Fake News Networks in OUR country to see why so much of our news is just made up-FAKE!," the president tweeted just before 7 a.m. EST.
Why Isn't the Senate Intel Committee looking into the Fake News Networks in OUR country to see why so much of our news is just made up-FAKE!
28,38728,387 Replies 12,30112,301 Retweets 48,15748,157 likes
Trump's tweet came the morning after the bipartisan leaders of the Senate Intelligence Committee -- which has been investigating what U.S. intelligence agencies have determined was a Russian propaganda effort aimed at disrupting the 2016 presidential election in Trump's favor --confirmed those conclusions and warned that the Kremlin's effort to influence U.S. elections is ongoing. At a news conference detailing the progress of their investigation, Sen. Richard Burr (R-NC), the committee's chairman, said that the issue of whether Trump's associates had colluded with Russia "is still open."
Trump has long been defensive about the question of whether Russia aided his election, and has termed the special counsel's investigation into whether his associates participated in that effort a "witch hunt." And his constant attempts to undermine and delegitimize the press are one of the rare throughlines in his chaotic administration. Critics have noted that this effort parallels those made by authoritarian leaders…..
Labels:
corruption,
Donald Trump,
US politics,
US-Russia relations
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