Tag: Trump abuse of power

Trump Says He ‘Learned From Nixon’ — But Did He?

Donald Trump on Friday morning defended his behavior and comments surrounding the Russi investigation, saying he “learned a lot from Richard Nixon” about how to handle probes into his administration.

“I learned a lot. I study history,” Trump said in an interview with Fox & Friends — referring to what he learned from Nixon’s “Saturday Night Massacre,” in which Nixon fired Department of Justice officials looking into his handling of the Watergate scandal.

“And the firing of everybody — I should’ve in one way, but I’m glad I didn’t because look at the way it turned out. They’re all a bunch of crooks and they got caught.” Continue reading.

Flynn decision cheered by Trump and the right, as critics decry it as an attack on the rule of law

Washington Post logoThe Justice Department’s decision to drop its prosecution of former national security adviser Michael Flynn on Thursday was greeted as a triumph by President Trump and his allies, who have argued for years that Flynn was set up — but with dire alarm by Trump’s opponents, who saw the move as an attack on the rule of law.

The extreme division mirrored three years of partisan combat over how the FBI handled Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, an investigation that shadowed much of Trump’s time in office.

And the circumstances of the development — delivered by a loyalist attorney general after a key prosecutor withdrew from a case in which Flynn had previously acknowledged guilt on multiple occasions — appeared only to harden positions. Continue reading.

Justice moves to drop case against Flynn

The Hill logoThe Department of Justice (DOJ) is moving to drop its case against former national security adviser Michael Flynn for charges of lying to the FBI about his contacts with Russia shortly before President Trump took office.

Flynn had entered into an agreement in 2017 to cooperate with DOJ and plead guilty, but he had since withdrawn from the plea agreement and was fighting the charges.

Documents released last month have fueled conservative claims that the FBI was out to entrap Flynn, who was ousted from the White House after misleading Vice President Pence and others about his contacts with the Russian ambassador. Continue reading.

Trump won’t allow Fauci to testify before House because it’s ‘a bunch of Trump haters’

The Hill logoPresident Trump on Tuesday said Anthony Fauci will be allowed to testify before the Senate next week, but that he would prevent the government’s top infectious diseases expert from appearing before the House because he believes it’s full of “Trump haters.”

“The House is a set up. The House is a bunch of Trump haters,” the president told reporters as he departed the White House to visit a Honeywell factory in Arizona.

“But Dr. Fauci will be testifying in front of the Senate, and he looks forward to doing that,” Trump added. “But the House I will tell you, the House, they should be ashamed of themselves. And, frankly, the Democrats should be ashamed, because they don’t want us to succeed. They want us to fail so they can win an election.” Continue reading.

Trump Airs Another Campaign Ad At Briefing, Produced By White House Staff

Donald Trump used time during his regular COVID-19 briefing on Monday to play a campaign ad for himself. Trump said that the video had been put together by White House staff — a possible violation of federal law regulating the election activities of federal employees.

Under fire for downplaying the coronavirus’ risk and doing little to prepare for the pandemic, Trump made reporters watch what was effectively a campaign ad. “We have a few clips that we’re just going to put up,” he said, before playing a video containing clips organized and edited to blame the media for minimizing the threat of the pandemic and tout Trump’s response.

After the video was over, ABC News reporter Jonathan Karl asked about its origins. Continue reading.

Trump Warned His Tweets Inciting Insurrection Were ‘Illegal’

President Donald Trump may have gotten more than he bargained for Friday, when he posted three tweets, just sixteen words in total, that stunned and infuriated the nation and have legal experts weighing in on just how much trouble he could be in.

One, a former U.S. Dept. of Justice official, suggests possibly a lot.

But first, the tweets:

The average Trump supporter might say, “So?” Or, as Trump has often defended his actions, he has a First Amendment right to say what he wants.

George Conway: Trump can’t accept that the presidency doesn’t belong to him

The Hill logoGeorge Conway, the husband of White House counselor Kellyanne Conwayand a frequent critic of President Trump, argued in The Washington Post that Trump can’t accept that he doesn’t own the presidency like a business. 

“When he ran a private company, one he owned, Trump could command all its constituent parts to do his bidding and make the rules himself,” Conway wrote in an op-ed. “You’d think by his fourth year in the White House, he would have learned that the presidency doesn’t work that way. But obviously he hasn’t.”

Trump on Monday sparked controversy when he claimed he has “ultimate authority” to force governors, who have been issuing stay-at-home orders to curtail the spread of the coronavirus, to reopen schools, businesses and other institutions in their states currently shuttered by the pandemic.

 

Trump throws ‘wrecking ball’ across federal inspectors general

President sets off chain reaction that could weaken government oversight

President Donald Trump in a span of 24 hours has upended the executive branch’s internal oversight of most of the government’s discretionary budget.

In one fell swoop, Trump removed the newly named leader of a watchdog committee overseeing federal pandemic response spending. He then ordered one person to oversee, for the near term, all audits and investigations of military and environmental programs. And he nominated what some consider to be a relatively unqualified official to monitor the Pentagon’s multibillion-dollar enterprise.

The moves come on the heels of the president’s firing on Friday of the intelligence community inspector general who had forwarded to Congress the whistleblower complaint that led to the impeachment inquiry. Continue reading.

Trump removes inspector general who was to oversee $2 trillion stimulus spending

Washington Post logoPresident Trump has removed the chairman of the federal panel Congress created to oversee his administration’s management of the $2 trillion coronavirus stimulus package — the latest action by the president to undermine the system of independent oversight of the executive established after Watergate.

In just the past four days, Trump has ousted two inspectors general and expressed displeasure with a third, a pattern that critics say is a direct assault on one of the pillars of good governance.

Glenn Fine, who had been the acting Pentagon inspector general, was informed Monday that he was being replaced at the Defense Department by Sean W. O’Donnell, currently the inspector general at the Environmental Protection Agency. O’Donnell will simultaneously be inspector general at the EPA and acting IG at the Pentagon until a permanent replacement is confirmed for the Defense Department. Continue reading.