The following article by Niall Stanage was posted on the Hill website October 3, 2017:
Credit: Evan Vucci/AP
President Trump called for unity and healing Monday in response to the deadliest mass gun killing in modern American history.
His remarks and tone attracted praise even from some critics. But those critics contend Trump’s history of using red-hot rhetoric complicates his efforts to bring the country together following the deadly attack in Las Vegas. Continue reading “The Memo: Trump’s unity tone draws skeptics”
The following article by Lisa Rein was posted on the Washington Post website October 2, 2017:
Members of President Trump’s Cabinet have been taking noncommercial flights at the expense of taxpayers, and Trump says he’s “not happy.” (Monica Akhtar/TWP)
The inspector general for the Interior Department has opened an investigation into Secretary Ryan Zinke’s travel during seven months in office, from his use of taxpayer-funded charter and military planes to his mixing of official trips with political appearances.
The following article by Max Greenwood was posted on the Hill website October 3, 2017:
The Justice Department has released several legal memos issued under past administrations that found it is unlawful for presidents to appoint family members to White House positions or commissions.
The memos, issued to White Houses run by former Presidents Nixon, Carter, Reagan and Obama, were overruled in January by Deputy Assistant Attorney General Daniel Koffsky, a longtime Justice Department lawyer. Continue reading “Justice releases anti-nepotism White House memos”
The following article by Grace Bennett was posted on the Media Matters website October 1, 2017:
ABC’s This Week, CBS’ Face the Nation, CNN’s State of the Union, Fox’s Fox News Sunday, and NBC’s Meet the Press all failed to mention Jared Kushner and other Trump officials used private email accounts
The October 1 editions of all the Sunday political talk shows failed to discuss the news that several White House officials in the Trump administration used private email accounts to conduct official government business, making themselves vulnerable to espionage from foreign entities.
On September 25, TheNew York Timesreported that at least six White House advisors, including Steve Bannon and Reince Priebus, had used personal email accounts to conduct official government business. The Times’ story followed a Politicoreport that Jared Kushner, a senior advisor and President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, had used a private email account to conduct correspondence related to White House matters. Even though the story that White House advisors used personal email accounts for official business was reported several days ago, ABC’s This Week, CBS’ Face the Nation, CNN’s State of the Union, Fox Broadcasting Co.’s Fox News Sunday, and NBC’s Meet the Press all failed to discuss it during their Sunday morning broadcasts.
As the Timesnotes, “Officials are supposed to use government emails for their official duties so their conversations are available to the public and those conducting oversight.” According toPolitico, the National Security Agency (NSA) had “warned senior White House officials in classified briefings” against the “improper use of personal cellphones and email,” as it “could make them vulnerable to espionage” by foreign entities. By failing to discuss the news of the officials’ use of private accounts, Sunday political talk shows ignored a significant story and failed to inform their audiences of yet another example of the lack of transparency that has been an endemic in the Trump administration. The Sunday shows’ failure to report on officials’ use of personal email accounts is particularly shocking given the media’s obsessivefocus on Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server during her time as Secretary of State throughout the 2016 election.
Methodology:Media Matters searched SnapStream for mentions of “emails,” “private email server,” “personal email,” and “private server” on the October 1 editions of ABC’s This Week, CBS’ Face the Nation, CNN’s State of the Union, Fox Broadcasting Co.’s Fox News Sunday, and NBC’s Meet the Press.
The following article by Lou Dubose was posted on the Washington Spectator website September 28, 2017:
image: Edel Rodriguez
In January 2018, contractors working for the Department of Homeland Security will begin to fulfill what Donald Trump has promised: building “a big, beautiful wall” that will separate the United States of America from Los Estados Unidos de Mexico. The path of least resistance to breaking ground on the first segment of the controversial border barrier runs through the Santa Ana Wildlife Refuge, 2,080 acres of richly biodiverse federal land on a meandering stretch of the Rio Grande in South Texas.
What has played out in South Texas over the past several months is a prelude to Donald Trump’s larger wall-building project, as the DHS and U.S. Customs and Border Protection play fast and loose with the rules, and muscle anyone who gets in their way. Continue reading “Trump Plots Potemkin Wall”
The following article by Nate Silver was posted on the fivethirtyeight website September 30, 2017:
His outburst on Hurricane Maria and Puerto Rico shows that not everything is a clever ploy to rally his base.
President Trump in the Oval Office. ANDREW HARNIK / AP
Whenever President Trump lashes out against someone or something in a way that defies traditional expectations for presidential behavior — for instance, his decision to criticize the mayor of San Juan, Puerto Rico, on Saturday morning after her city was devastated by Hurricane Maria — it yields a debate about what was behind it. After Trump’s series of attacks on the NFL and its players earlier this month, for example, there were two major theories about what motivated his conduct.
The first theory is that it was a deliberate political tactic — or as a New York Times headline put it, “a calculated attempt to shore up his base.” We often hear theories like this after Trump does or says something controversial or outrageous. His response to the white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, in August was sometimes explained in this way, for example. “Mr. Trump has always appreciated the emotional pull of questioning bias and fairness, especially with his white working-class base,” the Times wrote, portraying Charlottesville as an issue that drove a wedge between the Trumpian and the Republican establishment.
The following article by Joe Davidson was posted on the Washington Post website October 2, 2017:
Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke speaks March 29 at the Interior Department in Washington. (Molly Riley/AP)
While Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke’s accusation about the loyalty of his workforce is the Trump administration’s most outrageous statement about federal employees, it fits a deplorable pattern of verbal aggression against them.
Zinke’s declaration that “I got 30 percent of the crew that’s not loyal to the flag” is an escalation that demands denunciation.
“This is the latest in a long line of attacks by this administration on federal workers, starting with his claim that the country needs another ‘good shutdown,’ ” said Rep. Elijah E. Cummings (Md.), the ranking Democrat on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. “The idea that President Trump, Secretary Zinke or anyone else in the administration would threaten the jobs of hard-working civil servants unless they pledge loyalty to the president is grossly abusive and, if carried out, against the law.” Continue reading “Disloyalty slur latest in series showing Trump administration’s mistrust of feds”
The following article by Denisse Moreno with the International Business Times was posted on the National Memo website October 1, 2017:
Credit: Reuters
After it was revealed President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner and other White House aides used their personal email for work purposes, a Politico report on Friday said the National Security Agency had previously warned against doing so.
The following article by Aaron Blake was posted on the Washington Post website September 30, 2017:
San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz made a direct appeal to President Trump for additional aid on Sept. 29. (Municipio Autónomo de San Juan)
President Trump is facing growing — but still measured — criticism of the federal response to the devastation in Puerto Rico. So what does he do? Lash out at the mayor of a hurricane-ravaged city, naturally.
