Reuters correspondent Jeff Mason’s refusal to take off his mask at President Donald Trump’s request during the White House’s Labor Day press conference apparently still rankled Trump on Tuesday morning.
Continue reading “Trump Gripes About Reporter Who Refused To Take Off Mask At Presser”
In his new book, Michael Cohen, President Donald Trump’s former personal attorney and fixer who is currently serving a prison sentence, portrayed his ex-client as an elitist with little concern for those who support him if they aren’t from “the ruling class.”
Continue reading “Cohen: Trump ‘Couldn’t Care Less’ About His White Working Class Supporters”
House Oversight Chair Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) stated late Monday night that her committee is launching an investigation into Postmaster General Louis DeJoy’s alleged straw donor scheme.
This article in the Post talks to a number of epidemiologists who say we’re on the cusp of what may be the worst of the COVID-19 epidemic.
The article is based in significant measure on a new model from the IHME modelers at the University of Washington. They don’t have a perfect record. So I don’t think we should see this as consensus opinion or what “the science” says. But it’s worth taking note of as at least one quite dire outlook.
President Donald Trump said on Monday that he would support a potential investigation into allegations that embattled Postmaster General Louis DeJoy used to push former staff at his old firm to donate to Republican candidates while he was CEO.
President Donald Trump held a Labor Day press conference at the White House on Monday and gave a speech that largely ticked off all the boxes: False claims about how well he’s handling the pandemic, rants about China “ripping off” the U.S., and fearmongering about “Democrat-run” cities.
At the end of the presser, Trump expanded on his threat to somehow yank funding from public schools that incorporate the New York Times’ 1619 Project, which focuses on the legacy of slavery, in their lesson plans.
“I’m not a believer in cancel culture,” the President told reporters, invoking a phrase that has essentially lost all meaning as conservatives rail against moves toward social progress. In a blaring dog whistle, Trump claimed “we” grew up with “a certain history,” and accused the 1619 Project of “trying to change our history.”
TPM Prime members can read our analysis of the GOP’s attempts to weaponize the phrase “cancel culture” in the face of civil rights movements here.
The press conference comes amid fallout over the Atlantic’s report last week alleging that Trump mocked fallen soldiers as “losers” and “suckers” in 2018, and that he did not want to visit the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery near Paris because he was worried the rain would ruin his hair. The President and the White House have denied the report.
President Donald Trump patted himself on the back for his widely panned response to the COVID-19 pandemic, which has reached a death toll of nearly 189,000 in the U.S. as of Monday morning.
Continue reading “Trump Claims ‘VERY High Marks’ For COVID Response As Death Toll Approaches 189k”
This weekend a California federal judge temporarily halted the Trump administration’s efforts to wind down the 2020 Census field operation by granting a temporary restraining order as part of a lawsuit. The suit was filed to block the administration from cutting Census collection operations from eight months to four.
BERLIN (AP) — Poisoned Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny’s condition has improved, allowing doctors to take him out of an induced coma, the German hospital treating him said Monday.
Navalny, a fierce, high-profile critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin, was flown to Germany last month after falling ill on Aug. 20 on a domestic flight in Russia. German chemical weapons experts say tests show the 44-year-old was poisoned with a Soviet-era nerve agent, prompting the German government last week to demand that Russia investigate the case.
“The patient has been removed from his medically induced coma and is being weaned off mechanical ventilation,” Berlin’s Charite hospital said in a statement. “He is responding to verbal stimuli. It remains too early to gauge the potential long-term effects of his severe poisoning.”
It added that the decision to publicly release details of his condition was made in consultation with Navalny’s wife.
Navalny had been in an induced coma in the Berlin hospital since he was flown to Germany on Aug. 22 for treatment.
News of his gradual recovery came as German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s office indicated that she might be willing to rethink the fate of a controversial German-Russian gas pipeline project — a sign of Berlin’s growing frustration over Moscow’s stonewalling about the case.
German authorities said last week that tests showed “proof without doubt” that Navalny was poisoned with a chemical nerve agent from the Novichok group. British authorities identified the Soviet-era Novichok as the poison used on former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter in England in 2018.
Russia has denied that the Kremlin was involved in poisoning Navalny and accused Germany failing to provide evidence about the poisoning that it requested in late August.
German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said Sunday that the Russian reaction could determine whether Germany changes its long-standing backing for the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, which brings Russian gas to Germany under the Baltic Sea, bypassing Ukraine.
“The chancellor also believes that it’s wrong to rule anything out,” Merkel spokesman Steffen Seibert told reporters Monday after being asked about Maas’ comments.
Previously, Merkel had insisted on “decoupling” the Navalny case from the pipeline project, which the U.S. strongly opposes. In August, three U.S. Republican senators threatened sanctions against the operator of a Baltic Sea port located in Merkel’s parliamentary constituency for its role as a staging post for ships involved in building Nord Stream 2.
Seibert cautioned that it was premature to expect Moscow to respond to the matter within a few days, but made it clear that Berlin wants answers soon.
“I can’t express a clear, time-limited expectation, except that we are certainly not talking about months or the end of the year,” he said.
German diplomats rejected the Russian suggestion that Berlin was to blame for any delay in investigating the case, noting that Navalny was first treated for suspected poisoning in the Siberian city of Omsk on Aug. 20.
“All evidence, witnesses, traces and so forth are in the place where the crime was committed, presumably somewhere in Siberia,” said German Foreign Ministry spokesman Christofer Burger.
The co-leader of Germany’s opposition Green party, Robert Habeck, called on the government to take a stronger stance and “bury” the pipeline project.
The project “divides Europe, it is economically nonsensical and oversized, and it is wrong in security policy terms,” Habeck said. Completing it “would mean that Russia can do what it wants. This signal must not be sent.”
Mikhail Ulyanov, the Russian envoy to international organizations in Vienna, voiced suspicions about the timing of demands to link the pipeline with the Navalny case.
“Suspicious coincidence of Navalny case and the final stage of Nord Stream 2 construction, which some states desperately want to be closed. I am not fond of conspiracy theories but it is obvious that the tragic events with Navalny are very timely and helpful for opponents of NS2,” he tweeted.
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Geir Moulson in Berlin and Vladimir Isachenkov in Moscow contributed to this report.
President Donald Trump’s relationship with Defense Secretary Mark Esper has reportedly unraveled to the point where the White House is actively seeking out possible replacements if Trump decides to oust Esper.
Continue reading “WH Interviewing Potential Esper Replacements In Case Trump Boots Pentagon Chief”
