Tag: Trump Administration

Hillary Clinton on the conservative media: ‘It appears they don’t know I’m not president’

The following article by Kristine Phillips was posted on the Washington Post website October 31, 2017:

Three Trump campaign officials were indicted on charges as it relates to Russian meddling on Oct. 30, but the President focused on diverting negative attention to Hillary Clinton. (Joyce Koh/The Washington Post)

Hillary Clinton was nowhere near Washington the day charges against President Trump’s former campaign chairman were announced and news broke that a former Trump campaign volunteer had pleaded guilty to lying to federal agents about meeting with Russian officials.

She was in Chicago where she promoted her book (“I have a great chapter about Russia”), thought about her Halloween costume (“I think I will maybe come as the president”) and quipped about conservative media outlets’ preoccupation with a vanquished presidential candidate while big news surrounded the one who won. Continue reading “Hillary Clinton on the conservative media: ‘It appears they don’t know I’m not president’”

Trump’s real leak problem is not with Mueller’s team. It’s with his own.

The following article by Callum Borchers was posted on the Washington Post website October 31, 2017:

Credit: Gary Cameron/Reuters

Before Monday’s unsealing of indictments against Paul Manafort and Richard Gates, and a guilty plea by George Papadopoulos, President Trump’s allies preemptively sought to shift attention away from the substance of the charges and onto the leak that had led the media to expect them.

“There are strict laws against any of this type of leaking of grand jury activity,” New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) said on CBS’s “Face the Nation” on Sunday.

“Fox & Friends” picked up the argument Monday morning, which must have pleased the president; he indicated on Twitter that he was watching the show. Continue reading “Trump’s real leak problem is not with Mueller’s team. It’s with his own.”

Climate-denying talk radio host Trump picked for top science post now at center of Russia scandal

The following article by Natasha Geiling was posted on the ThinkProgress website October 31, 2017:

Sam Clovis, who emailed with George Papadopoulos about Russia, is going before the Senate on November 9.

Sam Clovis Credit:  Charlie Neibergall/AP

Sam Clovis, one of the Trump administration’s more controversial nominees for a political appointment, was already raising eyebrows ahead of his November 9 confirmation hearing before the Senate Agriculture Committee. To start, Clovis — who has been nominated to the position of undersecretary of research, education, and economics at the United States Department of Agriculture, the agency’s top science position — has no background in the the hard sciences, nor any experience with agricultural or nutritional science. Clovis is also a staunch climate science denier who accused President Barack Obama of “race baiting” and has called progressives “the real racists.”

But on Monday, Clovis’ nomination took on new meaning when it was revealed that, while working as national co-chairman of the Trump campaign, he had encouraged George Papadopoulos, a campaign foreign policy adviser, to meet with Russian nationals in a potential effort to bolster the campaign. On Monday, unsealed court documents revealed that Papadopoulos had plead guilty to lying to federal agents about his communication with Russia. Continue reading “Climate-denying talk radio host Trump picked for top science post now at center of Russia scandal”

Sam Clovis’s really bad excuse for greenlighting a Trump campaign meeting with Russians

The following article by Aaron Blake was posted on the Washington Post website October 31, 2017:

Sam Clovis was one of the anonymous campaign officials cited in George Papadopoulos’s plea deal. (Charlie Neibergall/AP)

Sam Clovis was always a pretty suspect pick by President Trump to become the chief science adviser at the Agriculture Department — mostly because he’s not actually a scientist. His chief qualification for the job seems to be that he was national co-chairman of Trump’s 2016 campaign. Democrats have also spotlighted his past comments skeptical of climate change and suggesting that laws protecting LGBT rights could lead to the legalization of pedophilia.

And now we can add another reason his nomination could be a key battle for Democrats — and a dicey proposition for Republicans.

The Washington Post’s Rosalind S. Helderman and Tom Hamburger reported Monday night that Clovis was one of those anonymous campaign officials cited in former Trump aide George Papadopoulos’s plea deal. Clovis was the one named as a “campaign supervisor,” and he both praised Papadopoulos’s efforts to broker a meeting with the Russians as “great work” and later urged Papadopoulos to make the trip rather than Trump. Continue reading “Sam Clovis’s really bad excuse for greenlighting a Trump campaign meeting with Russians”

A White House Story Reveals Shifting Stance on Tax Cuts for the Rich

The following article by Jim Tankersley was posted on the Washington Post website October 30, 2017:

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders delivers remarks to the press on October 30, 2017, inside the James S. Brady Briefing Room. Credit Tom Brenner/The New York Times

On Monday, as news about the indictment of President Trump’s former campaign manager dominated the headlines, the White House press secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, took to the podium to tell a story about journalists, bar tabs and discount beer.

The story, told at the White House press briefing, was meant to illustrate the realities of America’s progressive tax system. Instead, Ms. Sanders’ tale appears to conflict with another story that President Trump likes to tell: the one about how he’s not interested in cutting taxes for the rich.

Earlier this month, in a meeting with members of the Senate Finance Committee, Mr. Trump repeated his oft-told anecdote of a chat he had with his good friend Robert Kraft, the wealthy owner of the New England Patriots, in which Mr. Kraft implored him to cut taxes for the middle class but not the rich. Mr. Trump agreed with that notion, Democrats who attended the meeting said, and declared that his coming tax bill would be focused on the middle class and not on rich people like Mr. Trump. Continue reading “A White House Story Reveals Shifting Stance on Tax Cuts for the Rich”

John Kelly refuses to apologize for false attacks on Florida congresswoman

The following article by Philip Rucker was posted on the Washington Post website October 30, 2017:

White House chief of staff John F. Kelly speaks at the White House media briefing on Oct. 19. (Photo by Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post)

White House Chief of Staff John F. Kelly said Monday he would not apologize for the false attacks he leveled against Rep. Frederica S. Wilson (D-Fla.) this month when he sought to defend President Trump for his handling of a condolence call to the widow of a fallen soldier.

On Oct. 19, in a rare appearance at the White House media briefing, Kelly attacked Wilson as an “empty barrel” and accused her of grandstanding at a public event two years ago in Florida by taking credit for securing federal funding for a new building.

Video of the event soon released by the Florida Sun Sentinel showed Wilson did no such thing. Rather, she used her speech to praise the two slain FBI agents in whose memory the building was named. Wilson accused Kelly of “character assassination,” and members of the Congressional Black Caucus demanded that Kelly apologize. Continue reading “John Kelly refuses to apologize for false attacks on Florida congresswoman”

John Kelly calls Robert E. Lee an ‘honorable man’ and says ‘lack of compromise’ caused the Civil War

The following article by Eli Rosenberg and Cleve R. Wootson, Jr. was posted on the Washington Post website October 31, 2017:

White House Chief of Staff John F. Kelly called Robert E. Lee “an honorable man” and said that “the lack of an ability to compromise” led to the Civil War (Thomas Johnson/The Washington Post)

White House Chief of Staff John F. Kelly on Monday called Robert E. Lee “an honorable man” and said that “the lack of an ability to compromise” led to the Civil War, once again thrusting himself into the public spotlight on an emotionally charged issue.

The comments, made on the debut night of conservative media host Laura Ingraham’s show on Fox News, came after Kelly was asked about the recent decision by a Virginia church to remove plaques that honored the Confederate general and George Washington. Continue reading “John Kelly calls Robert E. Lee an ‘honorable man’ and says ‘lack of compromise’ caused the Civil War”

Mueller charges come at vulnerable time for Trump

The following article by Niall Stanage was posted on the Hill website October 31, 2017:

Special counsel Robert Mueller released several bombshells on Monday, and they exploded at an especially vulnerable time for President Trump.

Three polls in the past week have shown Trump hitting all-time lows with the public.

Now, the question is whether the new developments from Mueller — indictments against former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort and his associate Richard Gates, as well as a plea deal with former campaign foreign policy adviser George Papadopoulos — will drive those numbers even lower.

Continue reading “Mueller charges come at vulnerable time for Trump”

The other bad news for Trump on Monday: New approval-rating lows

The following article by Philip Bump was posted on the Washington Post website October 30, 2017:

President Donald Trump speaks before signing a presidential memorandum to declare the opioid crisis a national public health emergency in the East Room of the White House in Washington, on Thursday, Oct. 26, 2017. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post)

Even before news broke of indictments against his former campaign chairman and an admission of guilt by a former campaign adviser, President Trump was having a rough day.

On Sunday evening, a poll from NBC News and the Wall Street Journal indicated that Trump’s approval rating had hit a new low, sinking to 38 percent. More worrisome for the president? Since September, the drop was biggest among independents, whites and whites without a college degree — key components of the coalition that won Trump the White House. NBC and the Journal also reported that the 38 percent rating was lower than any other president had seen at a similar point in their first terms in the modern era.

On Monday, new data from Gallup reiterated that same message. In Gallup’s daily tracking poll, which looks at three days of national polling, Trump’s approval rating hit a new low of 33 percent and his disapproval a new high of 62 percent. The net approval — those who approve minus those who disapprove — hit a new low at minus-29. Continue reading “The other bad news for Trump on Monday: New approval-rating lows”

‘This is a nothing burger’: How conservative media reacted to the Mueller indictments

The following article by Eli Rosenberg was posted on the Washington Post website October 31, 2017:

The revelation Monday of charges against three former Trump campaign officials in special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s probe into possible Russian influence in American politics delivered a sharp jolt to the news cycle.

Anticipation over the arrests had been high for days after news that the first charges in Mueller’s investigation were imminent had seeped out over the weekend. And the documents outlining allegations against former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, business partner Rick Gates and former Trump foreign policy adviser George Papadopoulos, laid out what investigators had found in unvarnished detail. Continue reading “‘This is a nothing burger’: How conservative media reacted to the Mueller indictments”