Tag: Trump White House

Accusations Against Aide Renew Attention on White House Security Clearances

The following article by Michael D. Shear and Matthew Rosenberg was posted on the New York Times website February 12, 2018:

Credit: Tom Brenner/The New York Times

WASHINGTON — One week after the 2016 election, President-elect Donald J. Trump tweeted that he was “not trying to get ‘top level security clearance’ for my children,” calling such claims “a typically false news story.” But he said nothing at the time about his son-in-law, Jared Kushner.

Nearly 15 months later, Mr. Kushner, now a senior White House adviser with a broad foreign policy portfolio that requires access to some of the intelligence community’s most closely guarded secrets, still has not succeeded in securing a permanent security clearance. The delay has left him operating on an interim status that allows him access to classified material while the F.B.I. continues working on his full background investigation.

Mr. Kushner’s status was similar to the status of others in the White House, including Rob Porter, the staff secretary who resigned last week after his two former wives alleged that he physically and emotionally abused them during their marriages. Continue reading “Accusations Against Aide Renew Attention on White House Security Clearances”

A Whirlwind Envelops the White House, and the Revolving Door Spins

The following article by Peter Baker was posted on the New York Times website February 12, 2018:

The Trump White House has had a higher turnover rate than any White House in decades. Credit: Tom Brenner/The New York Times

WASHINGTON — The doors at the White House have been swinging a lot lately. A deputy chief of staff moved on. A speechwriter resigned. The associate attorney general stepped down. The chief of staff offered to quit. And that was just Friday.

All of that came after the departure of Rob Porter, the White House staff secretary who cleared out his office last week amid accusations of spousal abuse. The White House had overlooked reported problems with his security clearance last year in part, officials said, because of a reluctance to lose yet another senior aide, particularly one seen as so professional and reliable.

More than a year into his administration, President Trump is presiding over a staff in turmoil, one with a 34 percent turnover rate, higher than any White House in decades. He has struggled to fill openings, unwilling to hire Republicans he considers disloyal and unable to entice Republicans who consider him unstable. Those who do come to work for him often do not last long, burning out from a volatile, sometimes cutthroat environment exacerbated by tweets and subpoenas. Continue reading “A Whirlwind Envelops the White House, and the Revolving Door Spins”

A hypothesis: When Trump speaks of women, he’s thinking of men

The following article by Avi Selk was posted on the Washington Post website February 11, 2018:

During the 2016 presidential campaign, Donald Trump appeared with women who had accused Bill Clinton of sexual misconduct. Back when he was friends with the Clintons, Trump had disparaged some of the same women. (Mike Segar/Reuters)

As a seemingly endless string of sexual misconduct and domestic abuse allegations bring down people near the center of U.S. politics and culture, some have noticed an apparent pattern in President Trump’s responses to selected scandals.

We could even state it as a hypothesis:

Whether Donald Trump believes a woman’s claim of sexual misconduct depends on his relationship to the accused man.

So let’s test it. Continue reading “A hypothesis: When Trump speaks of women, he’s thinking of men”

Trump’s budget balloons deficits, cuts social safety net

The following article by Andrew Taylor and Martin Crutsinger was posted on the Associated Press website February 13, 2018:

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump unveiled a $4.4 trillion budget plan Monday that envisions steep cuts to America’s social safety net but mounting spending on the military, formally retreating from last year’s promises to balance the federal budget.

The president’s spending outline for the first time acknowledges that the Republican tax overhaul passed last year would add billions to the deficit and not “pay for itself” as Trump and his Republican allies asserted. If enacted as proposed, though no presidential budget ever is, the plan would establish an era of $1 trillion-plus yearly deficits. Continue reading “Trump’s budget balloons deficits, cuts social safety net”

The mysterious oppo researcher working in the White House lawyer’s office

The following article by Nancy Cook was posted on the Politico website February 11, 2018:

Michael Roman, best known as a shadowy operative who oversaw a research unit for the Koch network, now occupies an unusual and undefined role in the Trump administration.

Past administrations have also employed people with opposition research and investigative experience. But such dirt-digging operatives have typically not been installed inside the White House counsel’s office. Credit: Kevin Dietsch-Pool/Getty Images

Few people in or close to the White House have any idea what Michael Roman does all day.

Officially, Roman works as a special assistant to the president and director of special projects and research, a vague title that reveals almost nothing. He earns $115,000 a year for this work, according to White House salary records, and keeps an office inside the Eisenhower Executive Office Building.

He reports to White House counsel Don McGahn, who represented the conservative Koch network as a lawyer during the period when Roman was working for the Kochs’ Freedom Partners group as head of research — a $269,000-a-year job that involved tracking the activities of Democratic political organizers and donors. Continue reading “The mysterious oppo researcher working in the White House lawyer’s office”

Will truth win out? Rob Porter’s departure holds a key to effective journalism in the Trump era.

The following article by Margaret Sullivan was posted on the Washington Post website February 11, 2018:

Rob Porter, left, with John Kelly. Amid domestic violence allegations, Porter resigned the same day a photo of his ex-wife’s beaten face surfaced. (Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images)

It never should have taken a photo of Colbie Holderness’s bruised eye to get Rob Porter out of the White House.

He shouldn’t have been there to begin with, as a top aide to President Trump, given the long-standing and credible charges of domestic abuse from Holderness, along with another of his ex-wives and his former girlfriend.

It’s outrageous, but that’s what it took.

Porter’s resignation — the very same day the photo of his ex-wife’s beaten face was made public by the Intercept — speaks volumes about how reality can prevail. Continue reading “Will truth win out? Rob Porter’s departure holds a key to effective journalism in the Trump era.”

Schiff: Trump doesn’t want to release Dem memo because it ‘undermines his claim of vindication’

The following article by Mallory Shelbourne was posted on the Hill website February 11, 2018:

Credit: John Shinkle/POLITICO

Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) on Sunday said President Trump doesn’t want the public to see the “underlying facts” in the Democratic countermemo because they would undercut his “claim of vindication” in the Russia probe.

“The president doesn’t want you to see these facts from the FISA application because it completely undermines his claim of vindication,” Schiff told CBS’s “Face the Nation,” referring to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) court application used to obtain a warrant to spy on a former Trump campaign aide. Continue reading “Schiff: Trump doesn’t want to release Dem memo because it ‘undermines his claim of vindication’”

Flake: White House saying it could have handled Porter allegations better an understatement B

The following article by Julia Manchester was posted on the Hill website February 11, 2018:

Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) said on Sunday it is an “understatement” to say the White House could have handled the abuse allegations against former staff secretary Rob Porter better.

“I think when the White House said they could have handled the situation better, that’s a bit of an understatement, yes. They could have done a lot better particularly with the Rob Porter situation,” Flake told NBC’s Chuck Todd on “Meet the Press.” Continue reading “Flake: White House saying it could have handled Porter allegations better an understatement B”

WH Response to Abuse Claims Shines a Light on Victims’ Fears

The following article by Juliet Linderman was posted on the Associated Press website February 10, 2018:

WASHINGTON (AP) — When Jennifer Willoughby and Colbie Holderness stepped forward to tell the story of how they were physically, verbally and emotionally abused by their ex-husband, who had since become a top White House aide, President Donald Trump had nothing but good things to say about the man they had accused of domestic violence.

Rob Porter “did a great job while he was at the White House. And we hope he has a wonderful career,” Trump said Friday, adding that the aide had vehemently maintained his innocence. Continue reading “WH Response to Abuse Claims Shines a Light on Victims’ Fears”

As domestic abuse claims roil the White House, Trump says lives are being ruined ‘by a mere allegation’

The following article by Anne Gearan was posted on the Washington Post website February 10, 2018:

President Trump tweeted Saturday what seemed to be a defense of administration officials accused of domestic abuse. Credit: Evan Vucci/AP

President Trump appeared to be coming to the defense of men accused of domestic abuse or other sexual misconduct, asking in a Saturday morning Twitter post, “Is there no such thing any longer as Due Process?”

The president also said: “Peoples lives are being shattered and destroyed by a mere allegation. Some are true and some are false. Some are old and some are new. There is no recovery for someone falsely accused — life and career are gone.” Continue reading “As domestic abuse claims roil the White House, Trump says lives are being ruined ‘by a mere allegation’”