Tag: Trump Administration

Trump lawyer insists there is no obstruction investigation — but then hedges

The following article by John Wagner and Rosalind S. Helderman was posted on the Washington Post website June 18, 2017:

A member of President Trump’s legal team repeatedly insisted that Trump is not under investigation for obstruction of justice but acknowledged he could not know for certain during combative Sunday television interviews.

“Let me be very clear here, as it has been since the beginning, the president is not and has not been under investigation for obstruction,” lawyer Jay Sekulow said on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” part of a blitz of bookings on the Sunday morning public affairs shows. Continue reading “Trump lawyer insists there is no obstruction investigation — but then hedges”

Big Pharma Swamp Alert: Joe Grogan

The following article was posted on the trumpaccountable.org website June 17, 2017:

Despite Donald Trump campaigning vigorously for more reasonable drug prices for Americans throughout the campaign, the Big Pharma lobby has established itself as a force that Donald Trump is unable or unwilling to challenge. One of the most pointed examples of this is the appointment of Joe Grogan, a lobbyist for pharmaceutical giant Gilead Sciences for the past five years, to the Office of Management and Budget and the office of health programs.

According to Grogan’s LinkedIn page he worked at Gilead Sciences as “Head of Federal Affairs” for over five years until joining the OMB this March. While at Gilead, Grogan was involved in high profile lobbying – including Gilead’s controversial pricing of drugs developed to cure hepatitis C –  and otherwise worked to represent the financial interests of the pharmaceutical industry. Continue reading “Big Pharma Swamp Alert: Joe Grogan”

Trump retains assets worth at least $1.4 billion, new disclosure shows

The following article by Matea Gold, Drew Harwell and Rosalind S. Helderman was posted on the Washington Post website June 16, 2017:

President Trump reported on a new financial disclosure that his far-flung real estate and hotel assets are worth at least $1.4 billion, a stark illustration of the complex financial interests he has maintained in the White House.

The report, which the president voluntarily filed with the Office of Government Ethics, shows that he collected an influx of new revenue from recent foreign deals and a surge of business at his signature Mar-a-Lago property in Florida. Continue reading “Trump retains assets worth at least $1.4 billion, new disclosure shows”

Cutting Insurance from Working Families to Give Tax Cuts to Millionaires

The following article by Alex Rowell and Ryan Erickson was posted on the Center for American Progress website June 16, 2017:

Republican health care plans, including the House-passed American Health Care Act (AHCA), would repeal taxes on the wealthy, including the Net Investment Income Tax (NIIT)—a tax on combined capital gain, dividend, and interest income applicable to individuals making more than $200,000 or couples filing jointly making more than $250,000 in adjusted gross income. This tax cut is paid for by eliminating health insurance coverage for millions of low- and moderate-income Americans. Approximately 90 percent of the benefit of repealing this tax goes to the top 1 percent of households.

Below is a table that shows estimates of the average tax cut for households earning more than $1,000,000 in annual adjusted gross income by state if proposals to eliminate the NIIT succeed. Continue reading “Cutting Insurance from Working Families to Give Tax Cuts to Millionaires”

Blocked by Design

The following article by Kenneth T. Walsh was posted on the U.S. News and World Report website June 16, 2017:

Trump’s inability to enact his agenda shows the system is working.

Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post

It can be frustrating and infuriating for activist presidents when they find themselves seemingly thwarted at every turn. But the built-in limits on presidential power – our American system of checks and balances – are there for a good reason, and they are working as intended.

Checks and balances were designed by the founders to serve as a brake on excessive government influence, which has been a deep concern in the United States from the very beginning of the Republic. Despite President Donald Trump’s protestations that he is being unfairly blocked in attempting to implement his agenda, the system is operating properly. Continue reading “Blocked by Design”

Special counsel is investigating Jared Kushner’s business dealings

The following article by Sari Horwit,Matt Zapotosky and Adam Entous was posted on the Washington Post website June 15, 2017:

Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post

Special counsel Robert S. Mueller III is investigating the finances and business dealings of Jared Kushner, President Trump’s son-in-law and adviser, as part of the investigation into Russia’s interference in the 2016 presidential election, according to U.S. officials familiar with the matter.

FBI agents and federal prosecutors have also been examining the financial dealings of other Trump associates, including former national security adviser Michael Flynn, former campaign chairman Paul Manafort and Carter Page, who was listed as a foreign-policy adviser for the campaign. Continue reading “Special counsel is investigating Jared Kushner’s business dealings”

G.O.P. Senators Might Not Realize It, but Not One State Supports the Republican Health Bill

The following article by Christopher Warshaw and David Broockman was posted on the New York Times website June 14, 2017:

It’s no secret that the American Health Care Act is unpopular. In recent national polls, only about 29 percent of Americans support the bill. It is the most unpopular piece of major legislation Congress has considered in decades — even more unloved than TARP (“the bailout”), and much more unpopular than the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare.

Will Republican senators vote yes on a bill this unpopular? To hang on to their jobs, senators have to keep only voters in their own states happy, not the whole nation. Perhaps red-state senators, or even some senators in swing states, might think their states are friendlier to the bill than the nation as a whole. Continue reading “G.O.P. Senators Might Not Realize It, but Not One State Supports the Republican Health Bill”

Jeff Sessions finds a shield in executive privilege — but it might not be a strong one

The following article by Matt Zapotosky was posted on the Washington Post website June 13, 2017:

Attorney General Jeff Sessions’s repeated refusal to answer lawmakers’ skeptical inquiries Tuesday draws on a long legal and political tradition: Private deliberations involving the president and his top advisers often can be kept out of public view.

But analysts disagreed on whether the attorney general was appropriately using executive privilege to advance a worthy goal, or merely suggesting it as a shield to fend off questions he did not want to take. Continue reading “Jeff Sessions finds a shield in executive privilege — but it might not be a strong one”

President Trump’s misleading claims about new mines and ‘clean coal’

The following article by Michelle Ye Hee Lee was posted on the Washington Post website June 9, 2017:

Fact Checkers Glenn Kessler and Michelle Lee examine several of President Trump’s claims from his speech announcing the U.S. withdrawal from the Paris climate accord on Thursday. (Video: Meg Kelly/Photo: Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post)

“The bottom line is that the Paris accord is very unfair at the highest level to the United States. Further, while the current agreement effectively blocks the development of clean coal in America, which it does. And the mines are starting to open up, having a big opening in two weeks, Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia, so many places. A big opening of a brand, new mine. It’s unheard of. For many, many years that hasn’t happened.”
— President Trump, speech announcing U.S. withdrawal from the Paris climate-change agreement, June 1

“Next week we’re opening a big coal mine. You know about that. One in Pennsylvania. It’s actually a new mine. That hadn’t happened in a long time, folks. But we’re putting the people and we’re putting the miners back to work.”
–Trump, remarks in Cincinnati, June 7 Continue reading “President Trump’s misleading claims about new mines and ‘clean coal’”

Trump is now raging at Jeff Sessions. This hints at a deeply unsettling pattern.

The following article by Greg Sargent was posted on the Washington Post website June 6, 2017:

THE MORNING PLUM:

Credit Doug Mills/The New York Times

On Monday, President Trump angrily lashed out at the Justice Department for defending the weaker second version of his immigration ban. This was odd, because Trump himself signed the executive order promulgating that revised version, which was ostensibly designed to address the court’s concerns about the first — objections the White House itself said it hoped to address.

But it turns out that Trump’s anger at the Justice Department has a deeper source: rage at Attorney General Jeff Sessions. The New York Times reports on what’s at the root of it: Continue reading “Trump is now raging at Jeff Sessions. This hints at a deeply unsettling pattern.”