Showing posts with label Donald Trump. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Donald Trump. Show all posts
Friday 19 January 2018
In response to Trump's fake news awards the Committee to Protect Journalists announced Press Oppressors awards
As one has come to expect from this inadequate man it was an eleven point non-event with no red carpet, no 'ceremony', absolutely no evidence of corruption being presented and containing a number of distortions of fact.
Trump's awards had been left in the shade weeks ago by Stephen Colbert's mocking off Times Square billboard and the Committee to Protect Journalists' pre-emptive strike.
Shareblue Media, 9 January 2018:
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) on Monday released a list of the world’s worst press oppressors — and Donald Trump took home the top honor, beating out dictators like Russian President Vladimir Putin, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi.
The list of global press oppressors recognizes world leaders “who have gone out of their way to attack the press and undermine the norms that support freedom of the media.” It was released in response to Trump’s upcoming “fake news” awards ceremony.
Trump was named the winner of the “Overall Achievement in Undermining Global Press Freedom” award for going “above and beyond to silence critical voices and weaken democracy.”
Among other things, Trump has popularized the term “fake news,” using it to describe any news that he doesn’t like — at times, even his own words. He uses the bully pulpit to openly promote Fox News as his personal propaganda arm while denigrating other news sources and calling for the firing of journalists who make honest mistakes.
Most recently, Trump called for banning the book “Fire and Fury” because he doesn’t like its unflattering portrayal of his first year in office.
Winners in CPJ Press Oppressors Award Categories, 8 January 2017 :
Most Thin-skinned - Winner: President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Turkey, Runner-Up: President Donald Trump, United States
Most Outrageous Use of Terror Laws Against the Press - Winner: President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Turkey, Runner-Up: President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, Egypt
Tightest Grip on Media (This category excludes countries with no independent media, such as North Korea and Eritrea) - Winner: President Xi Jinping, China, Runner-Up: President Vladimir Putin, Russia
Biggest Backslider in Press Freedom - Winner: State Counselor and de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi, Myanmar, Runner-Up: President Andrzej Duda, Poland
Overall Achievement in Undermining Global Press Freedom - Winner: President Donald Trump, United States
The United States, with its First Amendment protection for a free press, has long stood as a beacon for independent media around the world. While previous U.S. presidents have each criticized the press to some degree, they have also made public commitments to uphold its essential role in democracy, at home and abroad. Trump, by contrast, has consistently undermined domestic news outlets and declined to publicly raise freedom of the press with repressive leaders such as Xi, Erdoğan, and Sisi. Authorities in China, Syria, and Russia have adopted Trump's "fake news" epithet, and Erdoğan has applauded at least one of his verbal attacks on journalists. Under Trump's administration, the Department of Justice has failed to commit to guidelines intended to protect journalists' sources, and the State Department has proposed to cut funding for international organizations that help buttress international norms in support of free expression. As Trump and other Western powers fail to pressure the world's most repressive leaders into improving the climate for press freedom, the number of journalists in prison globally is at a record high.
Labels:
Donald Trump,
free speech,
media,
right wing rat bags
Will Steve Bannon's predictions come true?
On 17 May 2017 Robert S. Mueller III was appointed by acting Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein to serve as Special Counsel investigating any links and/or coordination bet ween the Russian government and individuals associated with the campaign of President Donald Trump, any matters that arose or may arise directlyfrom the investigation and, any other matters within the scope of 28 C.F.R. §600.4(a).
Thus far Mueller has indicted four individuals - Lieutenant General Michael T. Flynn (Ret.) (plead guilty), Paul J. Manafort, Jr., Richard W. Gates III and George Papadopoulos (plead guilty).
Former White House adviser Steve Bannon's predictions concerning this DOJ/FBI investigation and Donald J. Trump's future had remained semi-private until the release on 5 January 2018 of Michael Wolff's book, "Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House".
Here are two examples.....
Labels:
corruption,
Donald Trump,
US politics,
US-Russia relations
Thursday 18 January 2018
That 'very stable genius' in Washington DC has a few health issues
Well Donald John Trump had an official medical exam on 12 January 2018 and the spin began almost immediately.
First for media consumption he grew one inch taller reaching 6ft 3in in height and he became yugely healthy.
A more honest assessment is found in the written medical summary prepared by the senior naval doctor who examined him, Rear-Admiral Ronny L. Jackson.
This reveals that at 71 years of age, 75 inches or 6 foot 3 inches (190.5cm) tall and weighing 239 pounds or 17.07 stone (108.4kg) Trump has an estimated body mass index of between 29.9 to 30.9 BMI (when adjusted to height recorded on current drivers licence), which means he is at least 3 stone (19kg) over a healthy weight level.
Or to put it more baldly – he is obese.
His cholesterol level is too high even though he is taking medication, Crestor 10mg daily.
He also takes Aspirin 81mg daily as a blood thinner for what has been describd as non-clinical coronary atherosclerosis and, uses an invermectin cream for acne rosacea.
The medication, Propecia 1mg daily, he takes for prevention of male pattern baldness is known to have a side effect of impotence or other sexual dysfunction in some individuals.
While the medication, Ambien, his doctor states he occasionally takes to help him sleep can lead to episodes of confusion, loss of coordination, balance problems, mood change, nasal irritation, dry mouth, sore throat and other possible side effects.
Trump underwent a basic cognitive test and his result score was 30 out of 30 points.
No psychiatric examination was included in the range of tests that have been made public.
The medical information Trump consented to release…….
Labels:
Donald Trump,
health
Tuesday 16 January 2018
The American Resistance has many faces and these are just some of them (19)
Chicago Tribune, 4 December 2018:
President Donald Trump has signed an executive order disbanding his voter fraud commission.
A White House statement is blaming the decision on numerous states that have refused to provide voter information to the Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity.
White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders says that, "Rather than engage in endless legal battles at taxpayer expense," Trump has signed an order to dissolve the commission and asked the Department of Homeland Security to determine the administration's next steps.
Critics saw the commission as part of a conservative campaign to strip minority voters and poor people from the voter rolls, and to justify unfounded claims made by Trump that voter fraud cost him the popular vote in 2016.
Past studies have found voter fraud to be exceptionally rare. [my yellow highlighting]
The Hill, 3 January 2018:
It was established months after Trump claimed without citing evidence that millions of people voted illegally in 2016, depriving him of a popular-vote victory against Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton.
Vice President Mike Pence and Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, a vocal supporter of voter ID laws, led the commission. It was made up of Republicans and Democrats.
The panel met twice, but was quickly bogged down amid states’ unwillingness to comply with its requests and lawsuits alleging it did not follow federal record-keeping laws.
The Government Accountability Office announced last October it was opening an investigation into the commission at the request of three Democratic senators who said the panel did not properly disclose its work.
Democrats and civil-rights groups described the commission as part of a broader conservative effort to deprive minorities of voting rights and a cover to back up the president’s claims.
"The claim of widespread voter fraud in the United States is in fact, fraud. The demise of this commission should put this issue to rest," Michael Waldman, president of the liberal Brennan Center for Justice, said in a statement.
Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) celebrated the panel's end, calling it a "front to suppress the vote, perpetrate dangerous and baseless claims" that "was ridiculed from one end of the country to the other."
Some leading Republicans, including Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), also urged Trump last year to drop his claims of widespread fraud.
Labels:
Donald Trump,
elections,
law,
US Constitution,
US politics
Saturday 13 January 2018
Quotes of the Week
“In his dual careers as lawyer and merchant banker, Malcolm Turnbull has earned a reputation that inspires a mix of awe, fear and, among some, downright loathing.” [Journalist John Lyons writing in The Sydney Morning Herald, 1991]
“Of all personality measures, sadism showed the most robust associations with trolling and, importantly, the relationship was specific to trolling behavior. Enjoyment of other online activities, such as chatting and debating, was unrelated to sadism. Thus cyber-trolling appears to be an Internet manifestation of everyday sadism.” [Erin E. Buckels et al, writing in Personality and Individual Differences, “Trolls just want to have fun”]
“Few New Yorkers want to play golf at a course named after a man who hailed Nazis as “very fine people” and rhapsodized over the men who fought to preserve slavery during the Civil War.” [Oliver Willis writing at Shareblue Media, 28 December 2017]
Labels:
Donald Trump
Thursday 11 January 2018
President Trump still doesn't have outright victory for his policy of banning Muslim entry to USA and the legal fight opposing these bans enters its second year
The legal fight against President Donald J. Trump’s Muslim travel bans ended 2017 with another victory for the State of Hawaii et al and the fight now enters its second year on 3 February 2018.
United States Courts of Appeals – Ninth Circuit, STATE OF HAWAII; ISMAIL ELSHIKH; JOHN DOES, 1 & 2; MUSLIM ASSOCIATION OF HAWAII, INC., Plaintiffs-Appellees, v. DONALD J. TRUMP, in his official capacity as President of the United States; U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY; KIRSTJEN M. NIELSEN, in her official capacity as Secretary of Homeland Security; U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE; REX W. TILLERSON, in his official capacity as Secretary of State; UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, 22 December 2017:
For the third time, we are called upon to assess the legality of the President’s efforts to bar over 150 million nationals of six designated countries1 from entering the United States or being issued immigrant visas that they would ordinarily be qualified to receive. To do so, we must consider the statutory and constitutional limits of the President’s power to curtail entry of foreign nationals in this appeal of the district court’s order preliminarily enjoining portions of § 2 of Proclamation 9645 entitled “Enhancing Vetting Capabilities and Processes for Detecting Attempted Entry Into the United States by Terrorists or Other Public-Safety Threats” (the “Proclamation”).
The Proclamation, like its predecessor executive orders, relies on the premise that the Immigration and Nationality Act (“INA”), 8 U.S.C. § 1101 et seq., vests the President with broad powers to regulate the entry of aliens. Those powers, however, are not without limit. We conclude that the President’s issuance of the Proclamation once again exceeds the scope of his delegated authority. The Government’s interpretation of 8 U.S.C. § 1182(f) not only upends the carefully crafted immigration scheme Congress has enacted through the INA, but it deviates from the text of the statute, legislative history, and prior executive practice as well.
Further, the President did not satisfy the critical prerequisite Congress attached to his suspension authority: before blocking entry, he must first make a legally sufficient finding that the entry of the specified individuals would be “detrimental to the interests of the United States.” 8 U.S.C. § 1182(f). The Proclamation once again conflicts with the INA’s prohibition on nationality-based discrimination in the issuance of immigrant visas. Lastly, the President is without a separate source of constitutional authority to issue the Proclamation.
On these statutory bases, we affirm the district court’s order enjoining enforcement of the Proclamation’s §§ 2(a), (b), (c), (e), (g), and (h). We limit the scope of the preliminary injunction, however, to foreign nationals who have a bona fide relationship with a person or entity in the United States…..
For all of these reasons, we affirm in part and vacate in part the district court’s preliminary injunction order. We narrow the scope of the injunction to give relief only to those with a credible bona fide relationship with the United States, pursuant to the Supreme Court’s decision in IRAP, 137 S. Ct. at 2088. In light of the Supreme Court’s order staying this injunction pending “disposition of the Government’s petition for a writ of certiorari, if such writ is sought,” we stay our decision today pending Supreme Court review. Trump v. Hawai‘i, No. 17A550, — S. Ct. —, 2017 WL 5987406 (Dec. 4, 2017). Because we conclude that Plaintiffs have shown a likelihood of success on their statutory claims, we need not reach their constitutional claims.
Video of closing argument on behalf of Plaintiffs-Appellees:
The matter is ongoing in 2018.
Background can be found at University of Michigan Law School, Civil Rights Litigation Clearing House.
Labels:
Donald Trump,
human rights,
immigration,
law,
US policy
Wednesday 10 January 2018
How US President Donald J Trump made one particular book an immediate best-seller
On 3 January
2018 excerpts from a soon to be published book, “Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House” were
published in The Guardian newspaper.
The following day brought news of a
letter to former Trump chief strategist Steve
Bannon…..
ABC
News, 4
January 2018:
Trump attorney Charles
J. Harder of the firm Harder Mirell & Abrams LLP, said in a statement,
"This law firm represents President Donald J. Trump and Donald J. Trump
for President, Inc. On behalf of our clients, legal notice was issued today to
Stephen K. Bannon, that his actions of communicating with author Michael Wolff
regarding an upcoming book give rise to numerous legal claims including
defamation by libel and slander, and breach of his written confidentiality and
non-disparagement agreement with our clients. Legal action is imminent."
In the letter to Bannon,
Harder, writes, "You [Bannon] have breached the Agreement by, among other
things, communicating with author Michael Wolff about Mr. Trump, his family
members, and the Company, disclosing Confidential Information to Mr. Wolff, and
making disparaging statements and in some cases outright defamatory statements
to Mr. Wolff about Mr. Trump, his family members, and the Company, knowing that
they would be included in Mr. Wolff’s book and publicity surrounding the
marketing and sale of his book."
Along with a
letter to Macmillan Publishers (Henry Holt & Company INC) and author Michael Wolff…..
CBS
News, 4
January 2018:
President Trump's
personal lawyer has issued a cease and desist letter to author Michael Wolff
and Wolff's publisher over the release of explosive excerpts of "Fire and
Fury: Inside Trump's White House." The letter demands that Wolff and the
publisher halt all publication and apologize to the president for "defaming"
him.
The letter from lawyer
Charles Harder, dated Thursday, comes after excerpts of Wolff's book have cast
the president and much of his White House in an unflattering light, portraying
the commander-in-chief as someone who does not understand constitutional amendments,
and is sometimes not taken seriously by key advisers. The letter accuses Wolff
and Henry Holt and Company of publishing false statements about the
president.
"Your publication
of the false/baseless statements about Mr. Trump gives rise to, among other
claims, defamation by libel, defamation by libel, defamation by libel per
se, false light invasion of privacy, tortious interference with contractural
relations, and inducement of breach contract," the letter says.
Mr. Trump, according to
the letter, demands that publication of the book immediately cease, along with
the publication of any excerpts or summaries. The letter also insists that a
"full and complete retraction" be issued, along with an apology to
Mr. Trump.
The letter also demands
a full electronic copy of the book "in searchable form" be given to
Mr. Trump's lawyers.
Full text of letter here.
What happened after is that in the following order:
1. the book
was published on 5 January 2018 ahead of the previously announced date and bookstores quickly sold out of hard copies on hand;
2. @RealDonaldTrump's thumbs began to work overtime as he began to tweet his displeasure commencing 6 January;
3. Steve
Bannon blinked on 8 January and issued an ‘apology’;
4. Also on 8 January lawyers for Macmillian Publishers formally replied to the 'cease and desist' letter; and
5. Macmillan
Publishers (founded circa 1843) issued this pushback statement on 9 January
Macmillan Publishers’ CEO John Sargent, Twitter, 9 January 2018
The ball is now back with Donald Trump.
Will he be stupid enough to proceed to litigation?
Sunday 7 January 2018
Trump starts the New Year with the United Nation's thumbing its nose at his threats
Despite US President Donald Trump’s threats to pull foreign aid from countries which didn’t vote as he directed, seventy-four per cent of national representatives participating in the UN General Assembly Emergency Session ‘Status of Jerusalem’ vote cast their ballots against the Trump Regime’s declaration of Jerusalem as the capital of the State of Israel.
United Nations News Centre, 21 December 2017:
General Assembly demands all States comply with UN resolutions regarding status of Jerusalem
21 December 2017 – By an overwhelming majority, Member States in the United Nations General Assembly on Thursday “demanded” that all countries comply with Security Council resolutions regarding the status of Jerusalem, following an earlier decision by the United States to recognize the Holy City as the capital of Israel.
Through a resolution adopted by a recorded vote of 128 in favour to nine against (Guatemala, Honduras, Israel, Marshall Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Nauru, Palau, Togo, United States), with 35 abstentions, the 193-member Assembly expressed “deep regret” over recent decisions concerning the status of Jerusalem and stressed that the Holy City “is a final status issue to be resolved through negotiations in line with relevant UN resolutions.”
Action in the Assembly today follows a failed attempt by the Security Council on Monday adopt a similar text reflecting regret among the body’s members about “recent decisions regarding the status of Jerusalem,” with a veto from the United States, a permanent member of the Council.
Ahead of that failed resolution, Nickolay Mladenov, Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, told the Security Council that the security situation in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory had become more tense in the wake of US President Donald Trump's decision on 6 December to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.
Subsequently, Yemen and Turkey, in their respective capacities as Chair of the Arab Group and the Chair of the Summit of the Organization of the Islamic Cooperation, requested the President of the General Assembly to “urgently resume’ the tenth emergency special session of the General Assembly in accordance with the so-named ‘Uniting for peace’ procedure.
This procedure, under Assembly resolution 377 (1950), is a pathway around a Security Council veto. By it, the Assembly can call an emergency special session to consider a matter “with a view to making appropriate recommendations to members for collective measures,” if the Security Council fails to act or if there is lack of unanimity among the Council’s permanent members, China, France, Russia, United Kingdom, and the United States.
Since the tenth such meeting, the Assembly has temporarily adjourned the emergency special session and authorized “the President of the General Assembly […] to resume its meeting upon request from Member States,” allowing for speedy consideration by the body of urgent issues.
The most recent resumed emergency session was in 2009 when the Assembly called a meeting on East Jerusalem and the Occupied Palestinian Territory.
Resolutions in the Assembly are non-binding and do not carry the force of international law as do measures agreed in the Security Council.
Find out more about the Assembly’s emergency special sessions and resolution 377 (1950) here
Today’s resolution demanded that “all States comply with Security Council resolutions regarding the Holy City of Jerusalem, and not recognize any actions or measures contrary to those resolutions.”
The General Assembly further affirmed that “any decisions and actions which purport to have altered the character, status or demographic composition of the Holy City of Jerusalem have no legal effect, are null and void and must be rescinded in compliance with relevant resolutions of the Security Council.”
In that regard the Assembly also called upon all States to refrain from the establishment of diplomatic missions in the Holy City of Jerusalem, pursuant to Security Council resolution 478 adopted in 1980.
Reiterating its call for the reversal of the negative trends that endanger the two-State solution, the Assembly urged greater international and regional efforts and support aimed at achieving, without delay, a comprehensive, just and lasting peace in the Middle East.
The text of the ‘Status of Jerusalem’ resolution include the undertaking; to ask nations not to establish diplomatic missions in the historic city of Jerusalem, as delegates warned that the recent decision by the United States to do so risked igniting a religious war across the already turbulent Middle East and even beyond.
Labels:
Donald Trump,
international affairs,
United Nations,
USA
Saturday 23 December 2017
Quote of the Week
“When we have obtained emails in the course of our ongoing criminal investigation, we have secured either the account owner’s consent or appropriate criminal process” [US DoJ Special Counsel’s Office spokesperson, Peter Carr speaking about Trump Transition Team emails, in Slate on 17 December 2017]
Labels:
Donald Trump,
US politics
Thursday 21 December 2017
Who is Trump defending? His discriminatory administration or vulnerable people?
Who is Trump defending? His discriminatory administration or vulnerable people?
Odds are Donald Trump is attempting to disguise his war against science, the environment, women's reproductive rights, people with disabilities, vulnerable groups and all Americans living in poverty.
Washington Post, 15 December 2017:
Trump administration officials are forbidding officials at the nation's top public health agency from using a list of seven words or phrases - including "fetus" and "transgender" - in any official documents being prepared for next year's budget.
Policy analysts at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta were told of the list of forbidden words at a meeting Thursday with senior CDC officials who oversee the budget, according to an analyst who took part in the 90-minute briefing. The forbidden words are: "vulnerable," "entitlement," "diversity," "transgender," "fetus," "evidence-based" and "science-based."
In some instances, the analysts were given alternative phrases. Instead of "science-based" or "evidence-based," the suggested phrase is "CDC bases its recommendations on science in consideration with community standards and wishes," the person said. In other cases, no replacement words were immediately offered.
The question of how to address such issues as sexual orientation, gender identity and abortion rights - all of which received significant visibility under the Obama administration - has surfaced repeatedly in federal agencies since President Donald Trump took office. Several key departments - including Health and Human Services, which oversees CDC, as well as Justice, Education and Housing and Urban Development - have changed some federal policies and how they collect government information about lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Americans.
In March, for example, HHS dropped questions about sexual orientation and gender identity in two surveys of elderly people.
HHS has also removed information about LGBT Americans from its website. The department's Administration for Children and Families, for example, archived a page that outlined federal services that are available for LGBT people and their families, including how they can adopt and receive help if they are the victims of sex trafficking.
At the CDC, the meeting about the banned words was led by Alison Kelly, a senior leader in CDC's Office of Financial Services, according to the CDC analyst who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the person was not authorized to speak publicly. Kelly did not say why the words are being banned, according to the analyst, and told the group that she was merely relaying the information.
Other CDC officials confirmed the existence of a list of forbidden words. It's likely that other parts of HHS are operating under the same guidelines regarding the use of these words, the analyst said.
At the CDC, several offices have responsibilities for work that uses sAt the CDC, several offices have responsibilities for work that uses some of these words. The National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention is working on ways to prevent HIV among transgender people and reduce health disparities. The CDC's work on birth defects caused by the Zika virus, for example, includes research on the developing fetus.
The ban is related to the budget and supporting materials that are to be given to CDC's partners and to Congress, the analyst said. The president's budget for 2019 is expected to be released in early February. The budget blueprint is generally shaped to reflect an administration's priorities.
Labels:
Donald Trump,
US politics
Tuesday 28 November 2017
Zinging U.S. President Trump appears to be the new pastime of old media
Labels:
Donald Trump,
media
Saturday 25 November 2017
The American Resistance has many faces and this is just one of them (18)
What's up with @CarrieUnderwood stealing the song I stole from her? Touché, girl. #BeforeHeTweets #CMAawards @BradPaisley pic.twitter.com/dTFupVZWRZ— Randy Rainbow (@RandyRainbow) November 9, 2017
Labels:
Donald Trump,
US politics
Quote of the Week
“Trump is 71; Murdoch is 86, and the median age of a prime-time Fox News viewer is 68. Anyone can see where this is going. The grim reaper has become a Democratic poll watcher.” [Journalist Richard Cohen writing in The Washington Post, 13 November 2017]
Labels:
Donald Trump,
media,
Rupert Murdoch
Tuesday 14 November 2017
The American Resistance has many faces and these are just two of them (17)
* The woman is this photograph was susequently fired by her employer, government contrator Akima LLC, a subsidiary of NANA Development CorporationAmericans are resisting in their own ways everyday.— Red T Raccoon (@RedTRaccoon) October 29, 2017
This woman won today with her one finger salute to our Commander in Chief Donald Trump. pic.twitter.com/Fz6LCsg8Xi
Labels:
Donald Trump,
Twitter,
US politics
Sunday 12 November 2017
Here is the man Trump and his supporters have been calling a low-ranking volunteer, a coffee boy - since Papadopoulos' plea deal was revealed
Salon, 1 November 2017:
The credibility of Attorney General Jeff Sessions has been called into serious question after the Justice Department unsealed a plea deal taken by a former foreign policy adviser to President Donald Trump's campaign.
The documents revealed that former adviser George Papadopoulos attended a "national security meeting in Washington D.C.," on March 31, 2016, along with Trump, Sessions and others. In that meeting, Papadopoulos "introduced himself," and explicitly stated "in sum and substance, that he had connections that could help arrange a meeting between then-candidate Trump and [Russian] President Putin."
Trump tweeted a picture of the meeting the day it occurred, and he, as well as Sessions, sat at opposite heads of the table. Papadopoulos is pictured to the left of Sessions in the middle of the table.
Labels:
corruption,
Donald Trump,
lies and lying,
US-Russia relations
Wednesday 8 November 2017
The American Resistance has many faces and this is just one of them (16)
Impeach trump ads are starting to pop up. A beautiful sight. The trashy, unhinged, treasonous racist isn't America.pic.twitter.com/wkEYnlKuaJ— Ricky Davila 🇵🇷 (@TheRickyDavila) October 21, 2017
via @TheRicyDavila
* The US Fox Nertwork LLC entered a contract to sshow this political advertisement. It has withdrawn this advertisement from Fox News on or about 28 October 2017.
Labels:
Donald Trump,
people power,
US politics,
US society
Monday 6 November 2017
US President Donald Trump can run but can he hide?
After months of fighting to have this court case go away US President Donald J. Trump is in the process of being forced to hand over documents relating to at least ten sexual assault allegations, as part of a defamation action.
This subpoena only became public in September 2017.
Subpoena in Summer Zervos v Donald J. Trump by clarencegirl on Scribd
According to BuzzFeed on 15 October 2017:
Trump’s response to
Zervos’s motion is due Oct. 31, according to Zervos’s attorney, Gloria Allred.
In a statement Allred said: “We are hopeful that the court will deny President
Trump’s motion to dismiss, so that we may move forward with discovery and
obtain relevant documents and testimony.”
The original compliant and jury demand was lodged in the Supreme Court Of The State Of New York County Of New York in January 2017 as Summer Zervos v Donald J. Trump.
UPDATE
Trump's response has been reported in the media as characterising his allegedly defamatory statements, about private citizen Summer Zervos, as political opinion protected under the US Constitution.
Labels:
court,
defamation,
Donald Trump,
law,
sexual assault
Tuesday 31 October 2017
Donald Trump continues to deny Trump presidential election campaign-Russia link as FBI indictments begin
US President Donald J. Trump continues to deny Trump presidential election campaign-Russia links as Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) indictments begin.
CNN, 30 October 2017:
CNN, 30 October 2017:
Washington (CNN) Former
Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort and former Trump campaign official Rick
Gates surrendered Monday to Justice Department special counsel Robert Mueller.
Gates, 45, is a longtime
business associate of Manafort, 68, having worked together since the mid-2000s,
and served as his deputy on the campaign. The two were indicted under seal on
Friday, a source with direct knowledge of the matter said.
The indictment against
the two men contains 12 counts: conspiracy against the United States,
conspiracy to launder money, unregistered agent of a foreign principal, false
and misleading US Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) statements, false
statements, and seven counts of failure to file reports of foreign bank and
financial accounts.
Manafort arrived at the
FBI's Washington field office Monday morning. The two are being processed
separately, according to a law enforcement official. They will later be
transported to federal district court in Washington later Monday morning.
The two are scheduled to
make their initial court appearances before US District Magistrate Judge
Deborah Robinson at 1:30 p.m. ET Monday…..
Manafort entered the
Trump campaign orbit in early 2016, when he reached out to Trump's daughter
Ivanka Trump and son-in-law Jared Kushner and offered to work for free, according to The New York Times.
Manafort joined the
Trump campaign in March 2016 to help with delegate counting ahead of the
Republican National Convention, as some Republicans hoped to use arcane
delegate procedures to wrest the nomination from Trump at the convention in
Cleveland.
He soon was promoted to
campaign chairman, and he became the top official on the campaign after
then-campaign manager Corey Lewandowski was fired in June 2016.
His tenure didn't last
long.
The Times reported in August 2016 that Ukrainian investigators
found Manafort's name in an off-the-books, handwritten ledger detailing secret
payments — including $12.7 million to Manafort from Yanukovych's Party of
Regions.
Manafort denied he had
received any such payment and claims the ledger was forged. But just days
later, he
resigned from the campaign as the accusations swirling around him
became a major distraction for Trump.
Copy of FBI indictment dated 27 October 2017 here.
Grand Jury Investigation, Memorandum Opinion here.
Manafort and Gates now under house arrest.
Copy of FBI indictment dated 27 October 2017 here.
Grand Jury Investigation, Memorandum Opinion here.
Manafort and Gates now under house arrest.
@realDonaldTrump, 30 October 2017:
Sorry, but this is years
ago, before Paul Manafort was part of the Trump campaign. But why aren't
Crooked Hillary & the Dems the focus?????....
....Also, there is NO
COLLUSION!
On 3 October 2017 the FBI issued an indictment in United States of American v George Papadopoulos on one count of making false statements concerning his interactions with certain foreign nationals whom he understood to have close connections with Russian government officials. Papadopoulos appears to have joined the Trump campaign in March 2016.
He was part of Trump's six-man foreign policy team led by then Alabama senator and now US Attorney-General Jeff Sessions.
He was part of Trump's six-man foreign policy team led by then Alabama senator and now US Attorney-General Jeff Sessions.
Copy of Papadopoulos Statement of Offence can be read here. Copy of Papadopoulos plea agreement here.
Los Angeles Times, 30 October 2017:
A former foreign policy
advisor to Donald Trump's presidential campaign has pleaded guilty to lying to
the FBI about his contacts with Russians who claimed to have “thousands of
emails” on Hillary Clinton, in the latest charges filed in the investigation
of the Trump campaign's contacts with Russia.
George
Papadopoulos, 30, of Chicago, has agreed to cooperate with the
investigation led by special counsel Robert S. Mueller III, according to a plea
agreement unsealed on Monday.
He pleaded guilty on
Oct. 5 to making false statements to disguise his contacts with Russians whom
he thought had “dirt” on Clinton, according to court papers. He was
arrested in July as he got off a plane at Dulles International Airport.
After he was contacted
by an unnamed Russian professor in March, Papadopoulos exchanged emails with an
official in the Russian foreign ministry, court papers say. Among the
topics he discussed was a possible visit by Trump to Russia.
“As mentioned we are all
very excited by the possibility of a good relationship with Mr. Trump,” one
Russian emailed him.
In April, after he had
become an advisor to the campaign, Papadopoulos met with the Russian professor
at a London hotel. The professor said he had just returned from a trip to
Moscow, where he was told “the Russians had emails of Clinton.”
Papadopolous told other
leaders in the Trump campaign that he was in contact with Russians, and said
there were some “interesting messages coming in from Moscow about a trip.”
An unnamed campaign
official, described as a campaign “supervisor,” encouraged him to make the
trip, a
document reads.
BACKGROUND
Paul Manafort joined the Trump election campaign and
briefly served
as campaign manager before resigning in August 2016.
Rick Gates was part of the early Trump campaign effort and later became deputy chair of Trump's Inaugural Committee.
Rick Gates was part of the early Trump campaign effort and later became deputy chair of Trump's Inaugural Committee.
ABC
News, 20 July
2017:
Mr Trump Jr has been the
focus of a string of revelations about a meeting with a Kremlin-linked
lawyer in 2016, billed as a part of a Russian government effort to help the
Republican's White House campaign.
Explosive emails, which
Mr Trump Jr published on his own Twitter account, show that:
Donald Trump Jr (and
others) knowingly had a meeting with a Kremlin-linked lawyer on June 9, 2016
The intermediary who
arranged the meeting offered "information that would incriminate"
Hillary Clinton and "her dealings with Russia" that would be
"very useful" to the campaign
The intermediary
described the information as "very high level and sensitive"
Most importantly, it was
described as "part of Russia and its Government's support for Mr
Trump"
The story has continued
to evolve, with a former Soviet officer recently confirming he
was as the meeting.
Mr Manafort and Mr
Kushner were also reported to be at the meeting in question.
The
Washington Post,
27 October 2017:
On Friday, Trump
declared the investigations into any collusion between his campaign and the
Russian government all-but-over….
“It is now commonly
agreed, after many months of COSTLY looking, that there was NO collusion
between Russia and Trump. Was collusion with HC!”.....
After his inauguration,
the first time Trump mentioned collusion on Twitter was May 8.
“Director Clapper
reiterated what everybody, including the fake media already knows,” he wrote on
Twitter, referring to former national intelligence director James R. Clapper
Jr., “there is ‘no evidence’ of collusion w/ Russia and Trump.”
“The Russia-Trump
collusion story is a total hoax,” he added,
“when will this taxpayer funded charade end?”
At the moment Trump
tweeted about how there wasn’t any collusion — the first and second times
of 14
tweets in total — the investigations into collusion were limited to an
FBI counterintelligence investigation and House and Senate committees digging
into the matter. The next day, though, Trump fired FBI Director James B. Comey,
triggering the chain of events that led to the appointment of Mueller and his
investigation.
When Trump was
interviewed by NBC’s Lester Holt shortly after the Comey firing, he was
adamant.
“I think that looking
into me and, the campaign … look, I have nothing to do [with it],” he said.
“This was set up by the Democrats. There is no collusion between me
and my campaign and the Russians. The other thing is the Russians did not
affect the vote.” He also told Holt that “when I decided to just [fire Comey],
I said to myself, I said, ‘You know, this Russia thing with Trump and Russia is
a made-up story, it’s an excuse by the Democrats for having lost an election
that they should have won.’ ”
Quartz, 29 October 2017:
However, Russia’s
efforts to influence the US election have been repeatedly, unequivocally
confirmed on the record by all top US intelligence officials, including those
appointed by Trump.
A report (pdf)
issued by US intelligence officials on Jan. 6 stated Russian President Vladimir
Putin was behind a campaign to influence the 2016 election, “denigrate
Secretary Clinton, and harm her electability and potential presidency,” and
stated that Putin had “a clear preference for President-elect Trump.”
During a public Senate
Intelligence Committee hearing (pdf)
this May, Virginia’s Mark Warner asked top intelligence officials if they
agreed with the conclusions of this report that “Russian intelligence agencies
were responsible for the hacking and leaking of information and using
misinformation to influence our elections?”
Every intelligence
official answered yes. Intelligence officials at the hearing included
representatives from the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the National
Security Agency, as well as Trump-appointed CIA director Mike Pompeo and Trump’s
chosen director of national intelligence, Dan Coats. (See 42:30 mark
on the video below, or at the 1:04 mark on the video on the Senate
website).
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