Category Archives: President
FBI Files
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The president ordered the release of FBI files related to the 2017 application for a FISA warrant to spy on Carter Page.
So, here’s how three different news outlets played the story:
NPR – Trump Orders Declassification Of FBI Documents Sought By House Republicans
New York Post –Trump says order to release FBI files may be ‘crowning achievement’
CNN – Trump inflames war on Justice Dept. by declassifying Russia docs
President’s Paranoia
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Paranoia strikes deep in the Trump White House. But maybe there really is something resembling a deep state embedded in the government.
It appears we now have a Deep Throat of the Deep State. An anonymous op-ed writer in the NYT claims he leads a cabal within in the administration that thwarts Trump’s worst impulses. Or, put another way, they thwart the will of the voters who elected him.
Republican Senator Ben Sasse pondered the president’s paranoia on Hugh Hewitt’s radio show, “I don’t understand the morality of why anyone would write the piece, because it seems pretty obvious to me that what it’s going to do is foster more paranoia.”
Campaign Spending Laws Apply Equally
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After busting Trump fixer Michael Cohen for violating campaign spending laws, U.S. attorney Robert Khuzami bragged “we are a nation of laws, with one set of rules that applies equally to everyone.”
Kimberly Strassel at the WSJ doesn’t buy it:
If there is only “one set of rules,” where is Mr. Mueller’s referral of a case against Hillary for America? Federal law requires campaigns to disclose the recipient and purpose of any payments. The Clinton campaign paid Fusion GPS to compile a dossier against Mr. Trump, a document that became the basis of the Russia narrative Mr. Mueller now investigates. But the campaign funneled the money to law firm Perkins Coie, which in turn paid Fusion. The campaign falsely described the money as payment for “legal services.” The Democratic National Committee did the same. A Perkins Coie spokesperson has claimed that neither the Clinton campaign nor the DNC was aware that Fusion GPS had been hired to conduct the research, and maybe so. But a lot of lawyers here seemed to have been ignoring a clear statute, presumably with the intent of influencing an election.
Manafort’s Money
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President Trump’s former campaign manager Paul Manafort was convicted on eight charges of bank and tax fraud. The judge ruled a mistrial on 10 other charges. The conviction isn’t related to Robert Mueller’s collusion investigation.
But maybe it was related to Manafort’s taste for the the finer things in life. He once spent $15,000 on an ostrich jacket. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. Except that he lied to banks for loans and didn’t pay taxes on $16 million.
Vox follows Manafort’s money here.
All Tweet No Action
Former CIA Director and cable tv personality John Brennan has tweeted that Trump is a traitor and a danger to our nation. So the president took away his security clearance. Now Brennan says Trump is punishing a critic and suppressing free speech.
All Tweet No Action
Earlier this week WSJ columnist William McGurn complained that Trump is “all tweet and no action”. McGurn feels the FBI is slow walking documents Congress has subpoenaed. So he wants Trump to declassify them.
