North Korea has not taken steps to denuclearize, John Bolton says

The following article by Felicia Sonmez was posted on the Washington Post website August 7, 2018:

National security adviser Bolton briefs the media on election interference at the White House. Credit: Mark Wilson, Getty Images

National security adviser John Bolton said Tuesday that North Korea has not made progress toward denuclearization in a dismal acknowledgment that comes nearly two months after President Trump held a historic summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Singapore.

“The United States has lived up to the Singapore declaration. It’s just North Korea that has not taken the steps we feel are necessary to denuclearize,” Bolton said in an interview on Fox News Channel on Tuesday morning.

He added the United States will continue to apply pressure until Pyongyang produces results.

View the complete article here.

Trump Again Skips Intel Briefing After Siding With Putin

The following article by John T. Bennett was posted on the Roll Call website July 18, 2018:

President broke with DNI Coats standing alon(g)side Russian strongman

President Trump and Russian President Putin arrive Monday for a press conference in Helsinki, Finland. Credit: Chris McGrath, Getty Images

For the second consecutive day since he broke with America’s spy agencies over Russia’s election meddling, President Donald Trump on Wednesday will not get an intelligence briefing.

The daily presidential guidance email sent out each evening by the White House initially featured only one item, an 11:30 a.m. Cabinet meeting. It was was updated Wednesday morning to include a 2 p.m. press briefing with Sarah Huckabee Sanders.

Trump’s public schedule typically begins with a late-morning intelligence briefing in the Oval Office after his “executive time” in the White House residence, during which he tweets while watching cable news. He also uses that time to call lawmakers and friends, aides say.

View the complete article here.

 

Shifting Strategy, Trump’s Lawyers Set New Conditions for Mueller Interview

The following article by Michael S. Schmidt and Maggie Haberman was posted on the New York Times website July 6, 2018:

Rudolph W. Giuliani, the president’s lead lawyer in the special counsel investigation, has adopted an aggressive strategy in combating the inquiry. Credit: Doug Mills, The New York Times

WASHINGTON — President Trump’s lawyers set new conditions on Friday on an interview with the special counsel and said that the chances that the president would be voluntarily questioned were growing increasingly unlikely.

The special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, needs to prove before Mr. Trump would agree to an interview that he has evidence that Mr. Trump committed a crime and that his testimony is essential to completing the investigation, said Rudolph W. Giuliani, the president’s lead lawyer in the case.

His declaration was the latest sign that the president’s lawyers, who long cooperated quietly with the inquiry even as their client attacked it, have shifted to an openly combative stance.

View the full article on the New York Times website here.

Trump advocates depriving undocumented immigrants of due-process rights

The following article by Philip Rucker and David Weigel was posted on the Washington Post website June 25, 2018:

Turned away at the border and prosecuted for crossing illegally, Central American asylum seekers are feeling the brunt of Trump’s new ‘zero tolerance’ policy. (Jon Gerberg /The Washington Post)

President Trump on Sunday explicitly advocated for depriving undocumented immigrants of their due-process rights, arguing that people who cross the border into the United States illegally are invaders and must immediately be deported without trial or an appearance before a judge.

Trump’s attack on the judicial system sowed more confusion as lawmakers struggle to reach consensus on immigration legislation and as federal agencies scramble to reunite thousands of migrant children and their parents who were separated at the border under an administration policy that the president abruptly reversed last week. Continue reading “Trump advocates depriving undocumented immigrants of due-process rights”

Trump lawyer Giuliani is more unpopular than even Trump himself

The following article by Eric Boehlert was posted on the Shareblue.com website June 6, 2018:

Credit: Chris Kleponis, picture-alliance/dpa, AP Images

It looks like the rambling, incoherent interviews are taking a toll on Rudy Giuliani’s reputation.

A new national poll reveals that Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani has become a hugely unpopular figure in American politics. He can thank his re-emergence on the national stage as Trump’s errand boy last month.

Once viewed by many Americans as an esteemed figure in U.S. politics, particularly when he served as mayor of New York City at the time of the 9/11 terror attacks, Giuliani, thanks to his work with Trump this spring, has quickly transformed himself into a punch line. Continue reading “Trump lawyer Giuliani is more unpopular than even Trump himself”

Trump’s reelection committee has spent more than $1 out of every $5 on legal fees this year

The following article by Michelle Ye Hee Lee and Anu Narayanswamy was posted on the Washington Post website April 15, 2018:

More than half the money raised by President Trump’s campaign in the first quarter of 2018 came from small donations. Credit: Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images

President Trump’s reelection campaign spent more than $1 out of every $5 on attorney fees this year as the president contended with the ongoing special counsel investigation and a new legal challenge from an adult-film star.

Of the $3.9 million that Trump’s committee spent in the first quarter of 2018, more than $834,000 went to eight law firms and the Trump Corp. for legal fees, according to new Federal Election Commission records filed Sunday.

The latest figures bring the Trump campaign’s total spending on legal fees to nearly $4 million since the president took office, records show. In the last quarter of 2017, Trump’s campaign committee spent $1.1 million in legal fees. Continue reading “Trump’s reelection committee has spent more than $1 out of every $5 on legal fees this year”

Ivanka Trump Slammed as Fake Secretary of State in Peru by Twitter

The following article by Jessica Kwong was posted on the Newsweek website April 13, 2018:

Credit: Reuters

First daughter Ivanka Trump is being accused of acting like the U.S. secretary of state in Peru, where she is attending a conference that her father President Donald Trump canceled his appearance for.

One such attack on Ivanka Trump was posted Friday morning by Scott Dworkin, co-founder of the Democratic Coalition resisting the president. He worked during Barack Obama’s 2008 and 2012 presidential campaigns, as well as the “Draft Biden” and “Run Warren Run” campaigns, according to the coalition’s website. Continue reading “Ivanka Trump Slammed as Fake Secretary of State in Peru by Twitter”

Trump May Soon Discover Why It’s Too Late To Fire Mueller

The following article by Gene Lyons was posted on the National Memo website April 11, 2018:

Credit: Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images

“Happiness,” wrote Jonathan Swift in 1704, “is a perpetual Possession of being well Deceived.” If so, the United States under the blundering misrule of Donald J. Trump should be the happiest nation on earth. Instead, many of his warmest supporters appear consumed with anger and tempted by preposterous make-believe.

None more than the president himself, of course. Continue reading “Trump May Soon Discover Why It’s Too Late To Fire Mueller”

H. R. McMaster delivers a parting shot to Russia as he prepares to bow out as national security adviser

The following article by Ellen Nakashima and John Hudson was posted on the Washington Post website April 4, 2018:

National security adviser McMaster Credit: Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post

Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster, in his last public remarks as President Trump’s national security adviser, strongly denounced Russia for its increased aggression around the world and declared: “We have failed to impose sufficient costs.”

His comments come a little more than a week after he was ousted by Trump, who is replacing him with conservative firebrand and former U.N. ambassador John Bolton.

They came hours after Trump, in a White House news conference with Baltic state leaders, stated, “Nobody has been tougher on Russia than I have.” Continue reading “H. R. McMaster delivers a parting shot to Russia as he prepares to bow out as national security adviser”

Leaked memo shows EPA told employees to lie about climate science

The following article by Caroline Orr was posted on the ShareBlue website March 28, 2018:

EPA Director Scott Pruitt just upped the ante of his war on science.

Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP

A leaked memo reveals that the Environmental Protection Agency(EPA) sent employees a list of talking points on Tuesday instructing them to cast doubt on the scientific consensus about climate change.

The internal EPA memo, which was obtained by Huff Post, includes a set of eight “approved talking points” sent to EPA staffers by the agency’s Office of Public Affairs.

The talking points instruct employees to highlight scientific uncertainty and lack of evidence linking human activity to climate change — statements that are contradicted by the 2017 federal climate assessment, which concluded that “it is extremely likely that human activities, especially emissions of greenhouse gases, are the dominant cause of the observed warming since the mid-20th century.” Continue reading “Leaked memo shows EPA told employees to lie about climate science”