Tag: Trump Administration

Twitter finds hundreds of accounts tied to Russian operatives

The following article by Elizabeth Dwoski, Adam Entous and Karoun Demirjian was posted on the Washington Post website September 28, 2017:

Facebook announced on Sept. 21 that it would turn over copies of 3,000 political ads brought by Russian accounts during the 2016 election, while Twitter said on Sept. 28 that it had shut down 201 accounts tied to the same group. (The Washington Post)

Twitter said Thursday it had shut down 201 accounts that were tied to the same Russian operatives who posted thousands of political ads on Facebook, but the effort frustrated lawmakers who said the problem is far broader than the company appeared to know.

The company said it also found three accounts from the news site RT — which Twitter linked to the Kremlin — that spent $274,100 in ads on its platform in 2016. Continue reading “Twitter finds hundreds of accounts tied to Russian operatives”

Trump backs off vow that private sector should help pay for infrastructure package

The following article by Tory Newmyer and Damian Paletta was posted on the Washington Post website September 26, 2017:

President Donald Trump, right, speaks while Rep. Richard Neal, a Democrat from Massachusetts and member of the House Ways and Means Committee, listens during a bipartisan meeting with members of the committee in the Roosevelt Room of the White House. (Zach Gibson/Bloomberg)

President Trump told lawmakers Tuesday that he was abandoning a key element of his planned $1 trillion infrastructure package, complaining that certain partnerships between the private sector and federal government simply don’t work.

Trump’s comments, described by a House Democrat who met with Trump and confirmed by a White House official, reveal an infrastructure plan that appears to be up in the air as White House officials have struggled to decide how to finance many of the projects they envision to rebuild America’s roads, bridges and tunnels. Continue reading “Trump backs off vow that private sector should help pay for infrastructure package”

Trump’s plutocracy problem complicates push for tax cuts

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

Here are key moments from the speech President Trump gave on tax policy proposals in Mandan, N.D., Sept. 6. (Sarah Parnass/The Washington Post)

THE BIG IDEA: Two in three Americans believe that large corporations pay too little in taxes. Only 11 percent of U.S. adults think these businesses pay too much, while 17 percent think they pay their fair share. Even half of Republicans believe big businesses pay too little in taxes, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll.

Overwhelmingly, across party lines, people feel that the current tax system is rigged in favor of the wealthy. Over 7 in 10 Americans think the tax system favors the rich. Just five percent think the current code favors the middle class. Continue reading “Trump’s plutocracy problem complicates push for tax cuts”

North Korea threatens to shoot down U.S. warplanes

The following article by Carol Morello was posted on the Washington Post website September 25, 2017:

North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho called President Trump’s recent comments on North Korea a declaration of war and said North Korea has the right to “shoot down” U.S. bombers. (ASSOCIATED PRESS)

North Korea threatened on Monday to shoot down U.S. military planes, even if they are not in the country’s airspace, arguing that President Trump’s bellicose tweets amount to a declaration of war.

The remark by Ri Yong Ho, Pyongyang’s foreign minister, represented another escalation in tensions stoked by a series of insults and threats hurled between Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and his regime. Even though Pyongyang’s military capability is considered far outmatched by U.S. technology and pilot training, Ri’s rhetoric raised anxieties that a simple miscalculation could spark a military confrontation and spiral out of control. Continue reading “North Korea threatens to shoot down U.S. warplanes”

Kushner used private email account for some White House business

The following article by Carol D. Leonnig,Ellen Nakashima and Rosalind S. Helderman was posted on the Washington Post website September 24, 2017:

President Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner has used a private email account to conduct and discuss official White House business dozens of times, his lawyer confirmed Sunday.

Kushner used the private account through his first nine months in government service, even as the president continued to criticize his opponent in the 2016 presidential election, Democrat Hillary Clinton, for her use of a private email account for government business. Kushner several times used his account to exchange news stories and minor reactions or updates with other administration officials. Continue reading “Kushner used private email account for some White House business”

Aides Warned Trump Not To Attack North Korea’s Leader Personally Before His Fiery UN Address

The following article by Brian Bennett with the Tribune Content Agency was posted on the National Memo website September 23, 2017:

WASHINGTON — Senior aides to President Donald Trump repeatedly warned him not to deliver a personal attack on North Korea’s leader at the United Nations this week, saying insulting the young despot in such a prominent venue could irreparably escalate tensions and shut off any chance for negotiations to defuse the nuclear crisis.

Trump’s derisive description of Kim Jong Un as “Rocket Man on a suicide mission” and his threat to “totally destroy” North Korea were not in a speech draft that several senior officials reviewed and vetted Monday, the day before Trump gave his first address to the U.N. General Assembly, two U.S. officials said. Continue reading “Aides Warned Trump Not To Attack North Korea’s Leader Personally Before His Fiery UN Address”

Report: White House Staff Already Looking For New Jobs

The following article by Greg Price of Newsweek was posted on the National Memo website September 23, 2017:

Many White House staffers are reportedly contacting job recruiters, headhunters and seemingly anyone who can get them out of the Trump administration.

Normally, West Wing staffers remain with an administration for at least a year or two not only to adorn the top of their resumes but also to avoid the bad optics that leaving a job so quickly can have in almost any other sector. But Politico reports that staffers from the National Economic Council, the communications shop and even political appointees are trying to leave due to low morale from the Trump-Russia investigation and the heavy turnover at top positions in the White House. Continue reading “Report: White House Staff Already Looking For New Jobs”

The Coming Trump Slump

The following article by Benjamin P. Edwards and Sarah C. Haan was posted on the U.S. News and World Report website September 22, 2017:

Trump’s tumultuous presidency is damaging the U.S. economy.

Credit: Spencer Platt/Getty Images

Despite President Donald Trump’s asserted focus on job growth and the business environment, his administration is damaging the fundamentals undergirding U.S. economic growth. A slowdown seems likely because Trump’s fractious months in office have already degraded the nation’s business and investment environment.

Contrary to Trump’s belief, controversy-generating reality television strategies do not generate good governance and growth. While the president promised Guam’s governor that tourism would go up “tenfold” because of media attention from his Twitter tirades about North Korea, the numbers tell a different tale. The war of words cost Guam’s tourism industry $9.5 million last month. It appears vacationers would prefer to avoid possibly atomic attractions. Continue reading “The Coming Trump Slump”

Waves of color surround the Capitol Dome, February 2017

The following article by Arthur Delaney was posted on the Huffington Post website September 20, 2017:

Waste on a plane: Iffy reasons for extravagant air travel by several Trump Cabinet members.

WASHINGTON ― Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price needs to travel on private jets for his job because he is extremely busy, a spokeswoman said Wednesday in response to criticism that chartering flights is expensive and wasteful.

Politico reported Tuesday that Price took five private flights just last week, including a half-hour trip from Washington to Philadelphia.

Continue reading “Waves of color surround the Capitol Dome, February 2017”

Trump Offers a Selective View of Sovereignty in U.N. Speech

The following article by Mark Landler was posted on the New York Times website September 19, 2017:

President Trump delivering his first address to the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday. Credit Doug Mills/The New York Times

UNITED NATIONS — President Trump, in declaring Tuesday that sovereignty should be the guiding principle of affairs between nations, sketched out a radically different vision of the world order than his forebears, who founded the United Nations after World War II to deal collectively with problems they believed would transcend borders.

Mr. Trump offered the General Assembly a strikingly selective definition of sovereignty, threatening to act aggressively against countries like North Korea, Iran and Venezuela, whose policies he opposes, yet saying almost nothing about Russia, which seized territory from its neighbor Ukraine, and meddled in the American presidential election. Continue reading “Trump Offers a Selective View of Sovereignty in U.N. Speech”