Tag: ethically challenged

Citing Recusal, Trump Says He Wouldn’t Have Hired Sessions

The following article by Peter Baker, Michael S. Schmidt and Maggie Haberman was posted on the New York Times website July 19, 2017:

WASHINGTON — President Trump said on Wednesday that he never would have appointed Attorney General Jeff Sessions had he known Mr. Sessions would recuse himself from overseeing the Russia investigation that has dogged his presidency, calling the decision “very unfair to the president.”

[Read excerpts of The Times’s interview with President Trump.]

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.

Continue reading “Citing Recusal, Trump Says He Wouldn’t Have Hired Sessions”

The three most damaging paragraphs from the revelation about Trump pushing back against the FBI

The following article by Amber Phillips was posted on the Washington Post website May 22, 2017:

Over the past week or so, the world has glimpsed some of the president’s private conversations about the Russia probe, and what we’ve seen has one common theme: A president appearing to veer across the double-yellow DO NOT CROSS lines that separate the investigative section of the federal government and his White House.

The latest must-read revelation comes Monday from The Washington Post’s Adam Entous and Ellen Nakashima. Continue reading “The three most damaging paragraphs from the revelation about Trump pushing back against the FBI”

Trump asked intelligence chiefs to push back against FBI collusion probe after Comey revealed its existence

The following article by Adam Entous and Ellen Nakashima was posted on the Washington Post website May 22, 2017:

President Trump asked two of the nation’s top intelligence officials in March to help him push back against an FBI investigation into possible coordination between his campaign and the Russian government, according to current and former officials.

Trump made separate appeals to the director of national intelligence, Daniel Coats, and to Adm. Michael S. Rogers, the director of the National Security Agency, urging them to publicly deny the existence of any evidence of collusion during the 2016 election. Continue reading “Trump asked intelligence chiefs to push back against FBI collusion probe after Comey revealed its existence”

Top 10 Risks and Remedies for Trump’s Conflicts of Interest

The following article by Liz Kennedy and Danielle Root was posted on the Center for American Progress website February 24, 2017:

Overview

Trump’s corrupt conflicts of interest threaten America’s national security, economy, and democracy; citizens, Congress, and the courts have important tools to demand accountability and exercise oversight.

Introduction and summary

President Donald J. Trump’s dangerous, unprecedented, and unconstitutional business conflicts of interest pose grave risks to America’s interests at home and abroad. The full extent of Trump’s indebtedness and foreign entanglements remain unknown while he continues to hide his tax returns. Moreover, because his business and financial ties are largely undetermined there is every reason to fear that Trump will provide favors and special treatment to his business partners and that foreign states and businesses will have too much power over the Trump administration and its decisions. The public will rightly question whether Trump’s actions are made for the benefit of the American people or to further his own financial gains. Continue reading “Top 10 Risks and Remedies for Trump’s Conflicts of Interest”

Is President Trump surrendering America’s moral high ground?

The following article by James Hohmann and Breanne Deppisch was posted on the Washington Post website January 26, 2017:

THE BIG IDEA: Not even a week into Donald Trump’s presidency, some liberal internationalists find themselves privately pining for George W. Bush.

Despite acts of brutality that were perpetrated on his watch, Bush always insisted publicly that the United States did not torture. He understood that copping to the enhanced interrogation techniques he had secretly approved could undercut our moral standing on the world stage, provide terrorists a potent recruiting tool and give our enemies an excuse to torture Americans.

Trump doesn’t think like that. “I have spoken as recently as 24 hours ago with people at the highest level of intelligence,” the new president told ABC News in an interview that aired last night, “and I asked them the question, ‘Does it work? Does torture work?’ and the answer was, ‘Yes, absolutely.'” Continue reading “Is President Trump surrendering America’s moral high ground?”

6 of Donald Trump’s Most Appalling Moments This Week

Does anyone out there still honestly think we have to give this dangerous weasel the benefit of the doubt?

The following article by Janet Allon was posted on the AlterNet website January 15, 2017:

Say what you will about the possibly fictional “dossier” containing damaging information about our president-elect that Buzzfeed released this week, it sure seems to have annoyed him, and there’s something distressingly enjoyable about that. On the cusp of the inauguration of a certifiably deranged idiot, that’s going to have to pass for fun for now. Never has there been a leader more deserving of stories full of innuendo and giggle-inducing allegations. You reap what you sow, to quote Donald Trump’s second-favorite book, right after his own ghostwritten tome. Continue reading “6 of Donald Trump’s Most Appalling Moments This Week”