Tag: Trump White House

Sanders, Acosta in intense clash over Trump, press

The following article by Brett Samuels was posted on the Hill website August 2, 2018:

Credit: CNN

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders on Thursday refused to say the media is not the enemy of the people in an extraordinary exchange with CNN’s Jim Acosta, who has been at the center of a firestorm over President Trump and the press.

Sanders during the back and forth at the White House press briefing read off a laundry list of media reports she cited as unfair or misleading, calling the president’s repeated attacks on the press “completely understandable.”

“I think the president has made his position known,” Sanders said, before turning her attention to Acosta in particular. “It’s ironic, Jim, that not only you and the media attack the president for his rhetoric when they frequently lower the level of conversation in this country.”

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White House uses foreign aid agency to give jobs to Trump loyalists

The following article by Robert O’Harrow, Jr. was posted on the Washington Post website July 28, 2018:

President Trump turns to leave after attending an event on the economy from the South Lawn of the White House on July 27, 2018. Credi: Jacquelyn Martin, AP

The White House has assumed control over hiring at a small federal agency that promotes economic growth in poor countries, installing political allies and loyalists in appointed jobs intended for development experts, according to documents and interviews.

Until the Trump administration, only the chief executive and several other top officials of the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) were selected by the White House, former agency officials said. The chief executive, in turn, used authority granted to the agency by Congress to appoint about two dozen other staffers, primarily for their technical ­expertise.

But starting last year, the White House began naming political appointees to the lower-level positions, according to internal rosters obtained by The Washington Post and interviews with former employees and other knowledgeable people. The employees were warned by an agency leader they could lose their jobs to make way for the new political appointees, the former employees said.

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https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/cnn-reporter-barred-from-white-house-event-drawing-journalists-protests/2018/07/25/81dd6b5e-9057-11e8-bcd5-9d911c784c38_story.html?utm_term=.2ad4a4e61880&wpisrc=nl_headlines&wpmm=1

The following article by Paul Farhi and Felicia Sonmez was posted on the Washington Post website July 25 2018:

CNN reporter Kaitlan Collins said she was barred on July 25, from an open White House media event after officials objected to her questions. (Melissa Macaya /The Washington Post)

A CNN reporter said she was blocked from an open media event at the White House on Wednesday after officials objected to questions she asked President Trump at an event earlier in the day.

Reporter Kaitlan Collins said press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders and communications director Bill Shine told her she was banned from a late-afternoon announcement in the Rose Garden involving Trump and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker a few hours after she sought to question Trump during a press-pool “spray” in the Oval Office.

Blocking a credentialed White House reporter from an event open to all members of the media is highly unusual and possibly unprecedented, and it marks another low point in the Trump White House’s highly strained relationship with the news media.

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White House: Trump won’t meet Putin until next year

The following article by Jordan Fabian was posted on the Hill website July 25, 2018:

 

Red Square and the Kremlin in Moscow. Credit: Yuri Kadobnov, AFP, Getty Images)

President Trump on Wednesday backed away from his plan to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin in the fall, citing the special counsel investigation into Moscow’s interference in the 2016 election.

National security adviser John Bolton said in a statement the next one-on-one meeting between Trump and Putin will be “after the first of the year” and following the conclusion of the Russia probe, which he described as a “witch hunt.”

“The president believes that the next bilateral meeting with President Putin should take place after the Russia witch hunt is over, so we’ve agreed that it will be after the first of the year,” Bolton said.

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The Trump White House’s hypocritical, slippery slope on purging its critics’ security clearances

The following article by Aaron Blake was posted on the Washington Post website July 23, 2018:

Sarah Huckabee Sanders said on July 23 that President Trump is “exploring the mechanisms to remove security clearance” for six former intelligence officials. (Reuters)

Now we know why President Trump complained about former intelligence officials being paid as cable analysts. On Monday, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Trump was looking into whether to revoke the security clearances of some of his chief intelligence and law enforcement critics for, among other things, “politicizing” and “monetizing” their past positions.

Here are the people Sanders listed:

  • Former CIA director John Brennan
  • Former FBI director James B. Comey
  • Former director of national intelligence James R. Clapper Jr.
  • Former CIA and National Security Agency director Michael Hayden
  • Former White House national security adviser Susan E. Rice
  • Former deputy FBI director Andrew McCabe

The potential move appears mostly symbolic. Brennan and Hayden quickly noted that they don’t use their clearance anymore. And McCabe has already lost his clearance, given that he was fired by Attorney General Jeff Sessions. The fact that McCabe was included on the list suggests this wasn’t exactly a well-researched trial balloon — if it even was researched.

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Trump’s blacklist: White House considers targeting security clearances

The following article was posted on the Axios website July 23, 2018:

Credit: Chip Somodevilla, Getty Images

White House press secretary Sarah Sanders told reporters Monday that President Trump is considering revoking former CIA Director John Brennan’s security clearance, as well as those of several other former intelligence officials, claiming they’ve “politicized and in some cases actually monetized their public service security clearances” and have made “baseless accusations” against the president.

Why it matters: These former intelligence officials have all been quick to criticize the president, with Brennan being a leading voice of opposition following Trump’s summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin. As some White House reporters pointed out in the briefing, revoking their clearances has the optics of political retaliation.

Others on Trump’s blacklist: Former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, former FBI Director James Comey, former National Security Advisor Director Michael Hayden, former National Security Advisor Susan Rice, and former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe.

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The Memo: Summit fallout hits White House

The following articl by Niall Stanage was posted on the Hill website July 21, 2018:

President Trump has endured one of the worst weeks of his tenure since Monday’s disastrous press conference with Russian President Vladimir Putin — and he is not out of the woods yet.

The initial storm over the news conference was prolonged by a series of missteps and fresh controversies for the administration.

Trump’s subsequent invite to Putin to visit Washington in the fall was met with consternation even by many Republicans. Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats was apparently taken by surprise when the news of the invite was given to him at a live event in Aspen, Colo., by Andrea Mitchell of NBC News.

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Bill Shine, Trump’s Top Communicator, Was Questioned by Federal Prosecutors

The following article by Elizabeth Williamson and Emily Steel was posted on the New York Times website July 20, 2018:

Bill Shine, White House deputy chief of staff for communications, arriving in London. He steered clear of any public role in mitigating the turmoil from the president’s trip through Europe. Credit: Doug Mills/The New York Times

WASHINGTON — Bill Shine, a former co-president of Fox News hired this month as President Trump’s communications chief, brought conservative credentials and heavy baggage with him into the White House. President Trump embraced the former and ignored the latter.

Mr. Shine, now struggling to limit the damage from Mr. Trump’s performance on Monday with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, was ousted from Fox News last year in the wake of a sexual harassment scandal at the network.

Mr. Shine was never publicly accused of harassment, but he was accused in multiple civil lawsuits of covering up misconduct by Roger E. Ailes, the founding chairman of Fox News, and dismissing concerns from colleagues who complained.

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White House Pulls Circuit Court Nominee at Last Minute

The following article by the Roll Call staff was posted on their website July 19, 2018:

Ryan Bounds nomination to 9th Circuit was set to be voted down

The nomination of Ryan Wesley Bounds for US Circuit Judge for the 9th Circuit was withdrawn at the last minute by the White House amid questions about his past writings. Credit: Tom Williams, CQ Roll Call file photo

Facing imminent defeat even in a Republican-controlled Senate, the White House on Thursday withdrew the nomination of Ryan Wesley Bounds to be a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit, an abrupt turn of events just moments before the chamber was set to vote on confirmation of the judge.

The late-breaking issue appeared to be writings that came to light and turned the tide against him with some Republicans.

“There were some writings from when he was a student at Stanford that were maybe not racially sensitive. They weren’t racist but there is some concern that the issue could have been handled with more sensitivity,” Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., said.

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Trump’s damage control falters

The following article by Jordan Fabian was posted on the Hill website July 18, 2018:

President Trump on Wednesday said Russia does not pose a threat to the United States, contradicting his director of national intelligence on a critical security issue and deepening a controversy that began at his summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Hours later, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Trump was actually indicating he was done answering questions when he responded “no” to a reporter who asked if he believes Russia is still seeking to meddle in U.S. political affairs.

“We believe that the threat still exists,” she said at the White House press briefing, the first in 16 days.

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