Tag: Trump White House

Pence’s security detail raises eyebrows in peaceful Iceland

Washington Post logoLocals were reportedly urged to show “patience and understanding” for the visit.

Vice President Pence and his extensive security detail raised eyebrows on Wednesday as they traveled through the capital city of Iceland, a famously peaceful country where its president travels alone on private errands.

Pence was the first U.S. vice president to visit Iceland since George H.W. Bush went to Reykjavik in 1983, similarly causing a stir with his “attendant paraphernalia of Air Force Two, bulletproof limousines and White House telecommunication equipment,” The Washington Post reported at the time.

Weeks before Pence’s visit, Secret Service personnel were seen in the city scouting out locations, the Associated Press reported. Bomb-sniffing dogs were given special clearance to enter the country, and police officers from outside the capital were sent in to help the Reykjavik police meet security standards set by the United States. During the visit Wednesday, U.S. security personnel — who had to be given special permission to bear arms — trailed the vice president through the city. When Pence met with Icelandic officials, snipers were seen perched on the rooftops of nearby buildings, the AP wrote.

View the complete September 5 article by Rebecca Tan on The Washington Post website here.

Trump’s lost summer: Aides claim victory, but others see incompetence and intolerance

Washington Post logoWhen President Trump presided over the battle tanks and fighter jets, the fireworks and adoring fans on July 4, he couldn’t have known that the militaristic “Salute to America” — as well as to himself — would end up as the apparent pinnacle of the season.

What followed was what some Trump advisers and allies characterize as a lost summer defined by self-inflicted controversies and squandered opportunities. Trump leveled racist attacks against four congresswomen of color dubbed “the Squad.” He derided the majority-black city of Baltimore as “rat and rodent infested.” His anti-immigrant rhetoric was echoed in a missive that authorities believe a mass shooting suspect posted. His visits to Dayton, Ohio, and El Paso after the gun massacres in those cities served to divide rather than heal.

Trump’s economy also began to falter, with the markets ping-ponging based on the president’s erratic behavior. His trade war with China grew more acrimonious. His whipsaw diplomacy at the Group of Seven summit left allies uncertain about American leadership. The president returned from his visit to France in a sour mood, frustrated by what he felt was unfairly negative news coverage of his trip.

View the complete September 1 article by Philip Rucker and Ashley Parker on The Washington Post website here.

Trump’s personal assistant fired after comments about Ivanka, Tiffany

Madeleine Westerhout, who left her White House job suddenly on Thursday as President Trump’s personal assistant, was fired after bragging to reporters that she had a better relationship with Trump than his own daughters, Ivanka and Tiffany Trump, and that the president did not like being in pictures with Tiffany because he perceived her as overweight.

Given Westerhout’s sensitive role as a confidante to the president, the few details the White House shared about her abrupt firing had Washington’s political-media class in a quiet frenzy on Thursday night and Friday.

The critical comments happened at an off-the-record dinner, according to two people familiar with the matter, that Westerhout and deputy White House press secretary Hogan Gidley held earlier this month with reporters who were covering Trump’s vacation at his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey.

View the complete August 30 article by Daniel Lippman on the Politico website here.

Pompeo’s business deals with foreign-government companies

Washington Post logo“I ran a small business that made machine parts for the aerospace industry. And I spent a fair amount of time in Bangalore and in Chennai working with HAL — with Hindustan Aeronautics Limited — to sell products we — a small joint venture.”

— Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, remarks at the India Ideas Summit, June 12, 2019

“Question: Do you stand by the statement you made in your SSCI questionnaire that for the previous ten years you had not been involved in any financial or business transactions with any entity controlled by a foreign government? Answer: Yes.”

— Question for the Record (QFR), Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearings on the nomination of Pompeo to be secretary of state, April 12, 2018

A line in a recent lengthy profile of Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in the New Yorker caught our attention: “[David] Murfin named Pompeo president of Sentry International, an oil-services firm that manufactured parts in China and elsewhere and sold them in the U.S. One Sentry joint venture was with a subsidiary of the Chinese national oil firm Sinopec, although Pompeo later told the Senate that he had no business ties to foreign government-owned entities.”

View the complete August 29 article by Glenn Kessler on The Washington Post website here.

Trump’s Personal Assistant, Madeleine Westerhout, Steps Down

New York Times logoPresident Trump’s personal assistant, Madeleine Westerhout, whose office sits in front of the Oval Office and who has served as the president’s gatekeeper since Day 1 of his administration, resigned on Thursday, two people familiar with her exit said.

Ms. Westerhout’s abrupt and unexpected departure came after Mr. Trump learned on Thursday that she had indiscreetly shared details about his family and the Oval Office operations she was part of at a recent off-the-record dinner with reporters staying at hotels near Bedminster, N.J., during the president’s working vacation, according to one of the people, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss White House personnel issues.

The breach of trust meant immediate action: Ms. Westerhout, one of the people familiar with her departure said, was now considered a “separated employee” and would not be allowed to return to the White House on Friday.

View the complete August 29 article by Annie Karni and Maggie Haberman on The New York Times website here.

Democrats alarmed by Trump’s promise of pardons to build border wall

Washington Post logoThrough his pardons of political allies, conservative defenders and others convicted of federal crimes, President Trump throughout his term has sent indirect signals of his willingness to help those close to him escape punishment.

And now, the president has entwined that message with his chief campaign promise — by privately assuring aides that he would pardon them of any potential illegality as the administration rushes to build his border wall before he returns to the ballot next November.

The notion has alarmed congressional Democrats, who had been investigating potential obstruction of justice on Trump’s part as the House continues to weigh whether to launch impeachment proceedings once lawmakers return to Washington next month.

View the complete August 28 article by Seung Min Kim and Mike DeBonis on The Washington Post website here.

‘He’s not going to lie to this country’: Trump’s new press secretary gives a tortured and laughable defense of the president’s endless deception

AlterNet logoDefending President Donald Trump is not an easy job, so there are always some who insist that we should give his spokespeople credit for trying their best in a vexing position. But since no one needs to be a professional defender of the president — anyone who could get such a job has other options — we shouldn’t treat the pleas for sympathy with much credibility.

With that in mind, new White House Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham’s latest defense of the president’s lies should be greeted with laughing derision. In a new piece by Washington Post reporter Paul Fahri, Grisham took the admittedly impossible task of defending Trump’s lies to new, extreme heights (or depths, depending on where you’re standing):

“Do I believe that their coverage is slanted and biased? Yes. I’ve seen it with my own eyes. A majority of reporters are liberal. A lot of reporters are uncomfortable with him and his blunt way of speaking. I think this is the first time they’ve been so publicly called out for some of their behaviors and their instinct is to fight back rather than take a step back” and assess their conduct.

His blunt way of speaking? Does Grisham think Trump never lies?

View the complete August 28 article by Cody Fenwick on the AlterNet website here.

NOTE:  President Trump sworn to uphold the U.S. Constitution.  He lies (see the ‘Trump never lies’ link above), and then attacks this country’s free press when they report he lies.  Now, he has a communications staff that is taking that same lie to a higher level.)

19 states and D.C. sue Trump administration over family detention rule

Axios logoCalifornia Attorney General Xavier Becerra, along with 18 other states and the District of Columbia, are suing the Trump administration over a new rule allowing migrant families to be kept in detention long-term, Becerra’s spokesperson confirmed Monday.

Why it matters: This is the California attorney general’s 13th immigration-related lawsuit against the Trump administration, the spokesperson told Axios. The case will ultimately be brought in front of California federal Judge Dolly Gee, who has already refused to grant President Trump’s request to change the decades-old Flores settlement to allow families to be detained together longer than 20 days.

View the August 26 article by Stef W. Kight on the Axios website here.

Will the revised NAFTA deal add 180,000 jobs every year?

Washington Post logo“We are looking at the USMCA, NAFTA 2.0 trade deal. That would be very important and would add a half a point of GDP and 180,000 new jobs per year if we get that through.”

— Larry Kudlow, director of the White House National Economic Council, in an interview on “Fox News Sunday,” Aug. 18

Kudlow made this comment when he was asked by “Fox News Sunday” guest anchor Dana Perino what additional measures might be needed to bolster the economy. “I don’t think additional measures are needed,” he replied, making this statement about how the renegotiated North American Free Trade Agreement would result in an additional 180,000 jobs a year.

What’s that claim based on? Continue reading “Will the revised NAFTA deal add 180,000 jobs every year?”

House Judiciary Committee subpoenas ex-White House aide Rob Porter

The House Judiciary Committee on Monday issued a subpoena to former White House staff secretary Rob Porter, a key witness in former special counsel Robert Mueller’s obstruction of justice investigation into President Donald Trump, as the panel weighs whether to recommend articles of impeachment.

Porter, who resigned his post last year amid allegations that he abused his two ex-wives, was at the president’s side during several episodes of potential obstruction chronicled in Mueller’s 448-page report on Russian interference in the 2016 election and Trump’s attempts to thwart the probe.

“The committee intends to hold hearings and obtain testimony over the coming months as part of its efforts to hold the president accountable as we move forward with our investigation into obstruction, corruption and abuse of power by Trump and his associates,” Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.) said in a statement announcing the subpoena, which was first reported by POLITICO.

View the complete August 26 article by Andrew Desiderio and Eliana Johnson on the Politico website here.