Category: National Issues

Trump Promised To Resign From His Companies — But There’s No Record He’s Done So

The following is an article by Derek Kravitz and Al Shaw was posted on the ProPublica website January 20, 2017:

To transfer control of his companies, the president has to submit filings in Florida, Delaware and New York. We spoke to officials in each of those states.

The President-elect Trump gestures to stacks of manila envelopes he said contain documents that transferred “complete control” of his businesses while speaking during a news conference in the lobby of Trump Tower in New York on Jan. 11, 2017 (Evan Vucci/AP Photo)

Update, Jan. 23, 2017: The Trump Organization is now filing paperwork on President Trump’s resignation from his companies. As of 5:30 p.m., it has filed paperwork for at least 14 companies in Florida.

The documents, which we’ve posted, are dated Monday, Jan. 23.

During today’s press briefing, White House Strategic Communication Director Hope Hicks said that Trump has resigned from all his companies, but that the documents “are not public at this time.”

CNN also reported on a Trump Organization document, dated Jan. 19, in which Trump states his resignation from more than 400 companies. Trump can resign from his businesses with a private letter. But in order to complete the process, he needs to file with states, each of which has its own deadline. Continue reading “Trump Promised To Resign From His Companies — But There’s No Record He’s Done So”

Trump’s unsupported claim he has ‘received awards on the environment’

The following article by Michelle Ye Hee Lee was posted on the Washington Post website January 24, 2014:

“I’m a very big person when it comes to the environment. I have received awards on the environment.”
— President Trump, remarks during a meeting with business leaders, Jan. 23

One of Donald Trump’s first proposals as president is to help businesses by cutting regulations by 75 percent. Trump cited environmental regulations as an example during a meeting with business leaders, but claimed he was a “very big person” on the environment who has “received awards on the environment.” Continue reading “Trump’s unsupported claim he has ‘received awards on the environment’”

Trump inspired a movement, all right

The following column by Eugene Robinson was posted on the Washington Post website January 23, 2017:

It matters that the crowd for the Women’s March on Washington was far bigger than that for President Trump’s inauguration. The new president often boasts of having started a great movement. Let it be the one that was born with Saturday’s massive protests.

If size is important, and apparently to Trump it is, there was no contest. The Metro transit system recorded 1,001,613 trips on the day of the protest, the second-heaviest ridership in history— surpassed only by ridership for President Barack Obama’s inauguration in 2009. By contrast, just 570,557 trips were taken Friday, when Trump took the oath of office. Continue reading “Trump inspired a movement, all right”

Without evidence, Trump tells lawmakers 3 million to 5 million illegal ballots cost him the popular vote

The following article by Abby Phillips and Mike DeBonis was posted on the Washington Post website January 23, 2017:

Days after being sworn in, President Trump insisted to congressional leaders invited to a reception at the White House that he would have won the popular vote had it not been for millions of illegal votes, according to people familiar with the meeting.

Trump has repeatedly claimed, without evidence, that widespread voter fraud caused him to lose the popular vote to Hillary Clinton, even while he clinched the presidency with an electoral college victory. Continue reading “Without evidence, Trump tells lawmakers 3 million to 5 million illegal ballots cost him the popular vote”

The Tyranny of A Minority President Has Begun — And So Has The Resistance

The following article by @LOLGOP was posted on the National Memo website January 23, 2017:

Donald Trump’s official presidential bio contains about a half-dozen attempts to convince someone — probably himself — that his win was a massive blowout and not a shameful, slight fluke only made possible by the intervention of a foreign government and a domestic conspiracy to get the FBI director to interfere in the democratic process during the final weeks, twice.

This sad overcompensation — like the emergency White House press briefing called Saturday night to lie about the size of of his inauguration crowd as the largest protests in U.S. history raged against the new president — isn’t an accident. Continue reading “The Tyranny of A Minority President Has Begun — And So Has The Resistance”

White House Vows To Fight Media ‘Tooth And Nail’ Over (Accurate) Coverage

The following article by Doina Chiacu and Jason Lange with Reuters was posted on the National Memo website January 22, 2017:

REUTERS/J. Scott Applewhite/Pool

The White House vowed on Sunday to fight the news media “tooth and nail” over what it sees as unfair attacks, with a top adviser saying the Trump administration had presented “alternative facts” to counter low inauguration crowd estimates.

On his first full day as president, Trump said he had a “running war” with the media and accused journalists of underestimating the number of people who turned out Friday for his swearing-in.

White House officials made clear no truce was on the horizon on Sunday in television interviews that set a much harsher tone in the traditionally adversarial relationship between the White House and the press corps. Continue reading “White House Vows To Fight Media ‘Tooth And Nail’ Over (Accurate) Coverage”

Pope Francis warns against rise of populist leaders ‘like Hitler’ as Donald Trump sworn in as President

‘In times of crisis, we lack judgement’

The following article by Samuel Osborne was posted on The Independent website January 22, 2017:

He made the comments to Spanish newspaper El Pais as Donald Trump was being sworn in as the 45th President of the United States.

During the interview, the pontiff condemned the use of walls and barbed wire to keep out foreigners, but said it was too early to judge Mr Trump, saying: “I think we must wait and see.”

When asked if he worries about the rise of populism in the United States and Europe, he said people should not repeat the same mistakes as in the 1930s, when they turned to “saviours” to resolve economic and political crises only to end up at war.  Continue reading “Pope Francis warns against rise of populist leaders ‘like Hitler’ as Donald Trump sworn in as President”

90,000-plus march in St. Paul with message for Trump

The following article by Erin Golden and Aimee Blanchette was posted on the StarTribune website January 21, 2017:

Close to 100,000 protesters swept across the state Capitol grounds on Saturday in what was likely Minnesota’s largest-ever demonstration of political dissent.

The turnout was the state’s contribution to an emphatic nationwide day of protest aimed at protecting civil rights in the new era that began with the new Trump administration on Friday. Continue reading “90,000-plus march in St. Paul with message for Trump”

Women’s marches: More than one million protesters vow to resist President Trump

The following article by Perry Stein, Steve Hendrix and Abigail Hauslohner was posted on the Washington Post website January 22, 2017:

More than 1 million people gathered in Washington and in cities around the country and the world Saturday to mount a roaring rejoinder to the inauguration of President Trump. What started as a Facebook post by a Hawaii retiree became an unprecedented international rebuke of a new president that packed cities large and small — from London to Los Angeles, Paris to Park City, Utah, Miami to Melbourne, Australia.

The organizers of the Women’s March on Washington, who originally sought a permit for a gathering of 200,000, said Saturday that as many as half a million people participated. On Sunday, Metro officials announced that Saturday was the second-busiest day in the Washington subway system’s history, with 1,001,613 trips. (By contrast, on Trump’s Inauguration Day, the system recorded 570,557 trips.) Continue reading “Women’s marches: More than one million protesters vow to resist President Trump”