Tag: Trump White House

Trump says White House counsel McGahn to leave this fall

The following article by Morgan Chalfant was posted on the Hill website August 29, 2018:

President Trump announced Wednesday that White House counsel Don McGahn would be leaving his position in the fall.

Trump made the abrupt announcement on Twitter, writing that McGahn would leave after Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh’s expected confirmation.

“I have worked with Don for a long time and truly appreciate his service!” Trump wrote.

“Trump is nuts. This time really feels different”: Trump rejects “war council” intervention, goes it alone

The following article by Gabriel Sherman was posted on the Vanity Fair website August 27, 2018:

With his closest allies defecting, the president increasingly trusts only his instincts. He “got joy” from stripping former C.I.A. director John Brennan’s security clearance. And after betrayals by Allen Weisselberg and David Pecker, a former White House official says, Trump “spent the weekend calling people and screaming.”

After Michael Cohen’s plea deal last week, Donald Trump spiraled out of control, firing wildly in all directions. He railed against “flippers” in a rambling Fox & Friends interview, and lashed out on Twitter at Attorney General Jeff Sessions, the Justice Department, and Robert Mueller. In the wake of his outbursts, White House officials have discussed whether Trump would listen to his closest New York City friends in an effort to rein him in. Two sources briefed on the matter told me that senior officials talked about inviting Rudy Giuliani and a group of Trump’s New York real-estate friends including Tom Barrack, Richard LeFrak, and Howard Lorber to the White House to stage an “intervention” last week. “It was supposed to be a war council,” one source explained. But Trump refused to take the meeting, sources said. “You know Trump—he hates being lectured to,” the source added. (Spokespeople for LeFrak and Lorber say they have no knowledge of a meeting. A spokesperson for Barrack didn’t comment.) Continue reading ““Trump is nuts. This time really feels different”: Trump rejects “war council” intervention, goes it alone”

‘Hellooo . . . Hellooo?’: An awkward phone call becomes part of the Trump spectacle

The following article by David Nakamura was posted on the Washington Post website August 27, 2018:

A call between President Trump and Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto got off to a rocky start on Aug. 27 when Trump realized Peña Nieto was not on the call. (Photo: Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post)

Amid breaking news of a U.S.-Mexico trade deal, President Trump invited reporters into the Oval Office on Monday to punctuate the moment in an unusual way: allowing them to sit in on a celebratory phone chat with Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto.

But when he punched a button on a phone on the Resolute Desk, the line was dead.

“Enrique?” Trump said, with television cameras rolling. There was no response. “You can hook him up,” he called out to aides. “You tell me when. This is a big deal. A lot of people are waiting.”

View the complete article here.

Trump re-lowers flag for McCain, expresses ‘respect’ after backlash

The following article by Jordan Fabian and Brett Samuels was posted on the Hill website August 27, 2018:

President Trump on Monday expressed “respect” for Sen. John McCain‘s (R-Ariz.) public service and ordered flags to fly at half-staff following a widespread criticism of his response to the Senate icon’s passing.

“Despite our differences on policy and politics, I respect Senator John McCain’s service to our country and, in his honor, have signed a proclamation to fly the flag of the United States at half-staff until the day of his interment,” Trump said in a statement released by the White House.

Trump said he has asked Vice President Pence to speak at a memorial service for McCain at the Capitol on Friday and approved military transportation to move the senator’s body from Arizona to Washington, D.C.

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Art of the Snub: So Far, Trump Opts Against Lowering Flags for McCain This Week

The following article by John T. Bennett was posted on the Roll Call website August 27, 2018:

President ordered flags at half-staff before

A slightly frayed flag flies at the Capitol in Washington fly at half staff on Sunday morning, after Sen. John McCain’s death. So far, President Donald Trump has opted against ordering U.S. flags to be lowered in McCain’s honor. Credit: Bill Clark, CQ Roll Call

President Donald Trump is continuing his feud with John McCain even after the senator’s death, so far opting against ordering U.S. flags to be lowered in honor of the longtime lawmaker. He often has acted quickly to honor other Americans.

Flags at the White House and even the Navy Memorial were at full staff on Monday. The flag  at the White House had been lowered to half-staff over the weekend. Thus far, Trump has not issued a proclamation ordering that U.S. flags be lowered beyond that.

The president reportedly rejected a statement drafted by senior White House aides Saturday night after McCain passed away that honored his decades of service, including his time as a tortured prisoner during the Vietnam War. Instead, he issued a brief tweet offering condolences for the McCain family — but offered no words about McCain’s Navy or congressional careers.

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Bill Shine Backstory: Why Did The Federal Probe Of Fox News Go ‘Dormant’?

The following article by Joe Conason was posted on the National Memo website August 26, 2018:

Bill Shine

With national attention now directed toward state and federal law enforcement agencies in New York — which are reported to be investigating Donald Trump and his associates — perhaps we will learn at last what happened in another troubling investigation, involving Trump’s cronies at Fox News Channel.

Among those cronies is former Fox News vice president Bill Shine, who has since ascended to oversee White House communications as deputy chief of staff to the president. Shine served for years as the top deputy to Roger Ailes, the late Fox News chief fired over his horrific mistreatment of female employees at the network.

Back in 2016, when the indefatigable Preet Bharara still served as the United States Attorney in Manhattan, his office opened a probe of secret and illicitly concealed financial payoffs to the women Ailes had abused. To protect the Fox News chief from the consequences of his own horrific misconduct, the network had paid out as much as $100 million in settlements to those women — and concealed those massive expenditures from its own stockholders.

View the complete article here.

White House Lowers Flag Back to Half-staff for McCain After Day of Outrage By

The following article by Benjamin Hart was posted on the New York Magazine website August 26, 2018:

Even after Senator John McCain’s death, President Trump has made no secret of his disdain for the man. Hours after McCain succumbed to cancer on Saturday, Trump reportedly nixed a White House statement that called the senator a “hero,” instead offering a single, anodyne tweet that conspicuously eschewed any personal praise.

On Monday, there was visual evidence of Trump’s contempt. The White House had lowered its flag to half-staff on Sunday, but shortly after midnight, it was back at full staff, in a clear break with precedent — which dictates that it be lowered until burial — and the U.S. flag code.

Continue reading “White House Lowers Flag Back to Half-staff for McCain After Day of Outrage By”

Trump rejected plans for a White House statement praising McCain

The following article by Josh Dawsey was posted on the Washington Post website August 26, 2018:

The Arizona Republican spent decades in the Senate. He endured more than five years of imprisonment and torture by the North Vietnamese. (Video: Joyce Koh/Photo: Melina Mara/The Washington Post)

President Trump nixed issuing a statement that praised the heroism and life of Sen. John McCain, telling senior aides he preferred to issue a tweet before posting one Saturday night that did not include any kind words for the late Arizona Republican.

Press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Chief of Staff John F. Kelly and other White House aides advocated for an official statement that gave the decorated Vietnam War POW plaudits for his military and Senate service and called him a “hero,” according to current and former White House aides, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive internal deliberations. The original statement was drafted before McCain died Saturday, and Sanders and others edited a final version this weekend that was ready for the president, the aides said.

But Trump told aides he wanted to post a brief tweet instead, and the statement praising McCain’s life was not released.

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Trump recently sought his lawyers’ advice on possibility of pardoning Manafort, Giuliani says

The following article by Carol D. Leonnig and Josh Dawsey was posted on the Washington Post website August 23, 2018:

President Trump has made many high-profile pardons, and is considering more. Here’s what his pardoning strategy says about his view of the legal system. (Video: Jenny Starrs /Photo: Jabon Botsford/The Washington Post)

President Trump recently asked his lawyers for their advice on the possibility of pardoning Paul Manafort and other aides accused of crimes, his lawyer said Thursday.

The subject of pardoning Manafort came as Trump’s former campaign chairman faced multiple charges of bank fraud and tax evasion in an Alexandria criminal case, Trump attorney Rudolph W. Giuliani said in an interview.

Trump’s lawyers counseled the president against the idea of pardoning anyone linked to the investigation into Russia’s interference in the 2016 election, according to Giuliani, saying Trump should at least wait until special counsel Robert S. Mueller III has concluded his probe. Giuliani said the president agreed and did not push the issue further.

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White House Admits China Has Yet to Budge on ‘Unfair Trade’

The following article by John T. Bennett was posted on the Roll Call website August 23, 2018:

Trump gives himself an ‘A-plus,’ but leaves Beijing’s trade tactics off achievement list

China and U.S. flags were displayed in front of the portrait of China’s late Communist leader Mao Zedong during President Trump’s 2017 visit there. Credit: Lintao Zhang, Getty Images file photo

The White House has tried threats and bluster, then imposed controversial tariffs. Congress even did something rare, passing a bipartisan bill. But despite President Donald Trump’s and lawmakers’ efforts, China has yet to so much as blink on what Republicans and Democrats agree are its unjust trade practices, administration officials said Thursday.

The two U.S. political parties and Trump rarely find themselves in near-unanimous agreement. But when it comes to what they all see as China’s habit of stealing American technology and intellectual properties, playing games with its market and currency, and otherwise tipping the global trade scene to benefit its companies and economy, Washington is mostly unified.

The two parties and the president agree that legislation is needed to update the country’s immigration laws, but they have been unable to agree on the specifics of an overhaul bill. The same is true of other issues, with agreement that changes are needed but wide chasms on the specific remedies.