President Trump and the House Oversight Committee not surprisingly have very different ideas for what should happen next in his lawsuit challenging the lawmakers’ subpoena for his financial documents.
Continue reading “Trump, House Duel Over Next Steps In Lawsuit Over Subpoena For His Financial Docs”
Milwaukee Bucks assistant coach Vin Baker and senior vice president Alex Lasry on Tuesday said that senior White House adviser Jared Kushner was out of bounds when he lashed out at the team last week for boycotting a playoff game amid protests in Kenosha, Wisconsin over the police shooting of Jacob Blake. Continue reading “Milwaukee Bucks Officials Dunk On Jared Kushner For Slamming NBA Boycott”
A Manhattan federal appeals court heard arguments Tuesday morning over President Trump’s year-long bid to delay enforcement of a criminal subpoena for his financial records, the latest episode in the President’s move to delay any and all probes into his business history.
Continue reading “Manhattan DA Again Hints That Trump Investigation Goes Beyond Hush Money”
The first shots in the second American civil war have been fired — at least, according to some right-wing groups that have sought to use recent shooting deaths during protests across the country as a call to arms.
President Donald Trump on Tuesday doubled down on what appeared to be an old conspiracy claiming that a plane of unnamed “thugs” had descended to cause chaos at the Republican National Convention last week.
When pressed about a thug-ridden plane theory he had pushed Monday night, the President told reporters Tuesday morning before boarding a plane to Kenosha that he had heard from “a person who was on a plane” from Washington “to wherever” that a group was made to feel “very uncomfortable” as the entire plane “filled up the looters, the anarchists, the rioters.”
The President had initially presented the theory during a Fox News interview on Monday, saying, “people that you’ve never heard of, people that are in the dark shadows” were emerging from that darkness to sway Democratic nominee Joe Biden, whom Trump has called a “puppet of the radical left movement.”
Without evidence, Trump told Fox News’ Laura Ingraham that a plane from an unnamed city that he later clarified as Washington “almost completely loaded with thugs wearing these dark uniforms, black uniforms with gear” was under investigation for a plot to disrupt the RNC.
When Ingraham pressed the President about what even she said sounded like a conspiracy theory, he insisted without providing verifiable evidence that there were people aboard a plane preparing to “do big damage” at the Republican Party’s convention last week.
“They’re people that you haven’t heard of. They’re people who are on the streets, people who are controlling the streets,” Trump said vaguely. Refusing to elaborate on a matter that he said was “under investigation,” Trump told Ingraham that he would tell her more “sometime.”
NBC News pointed out that the theory closely resembles one that was shared more than 3,000 times on Facebook earlier this summer.
President Trump tonight: "We had somebody get on a plane… it was almost completely loaded with thugs, wearing these dark uniforms, black uniforms."
Viral Facebook rumor from June: "At least a dozen males got off the plane in Boise from Seattle, dressed head to toe in black." pic.twitter.com/xn5YrM1R2k
— Ben Collins (@oneunderscore__) September 1, 2020
The June 1 post, from an Idaho man, falsely claimed that “at least a dozen males got off the plane in Boise from Seattle, dressed head to toe in black.” The man warned residents to prepare “for attacks downtown and residential areas,” and claimed one passenger had “a tattoo that said Antifa America on his arm.”
That post bred a series of spin-offs including another post that falsely claimed a Sheriff’s office in a local county had confirmed that Antifa had “sent a plane load of their people.” The rumor grew to such an outsize popularity at the time that the Payette County Sheriff’s Office released a statement debunking the viral rumor as “false information.”
The President continues his policy promoting a maximal climate of violence and instability in the hopes that fear, uncertainty and demoralization will give him another term in power. He continues his tacit embrace of Kyle Rittenhouse, the self-styled 17 year old ‘militia’ member who gunned down two protestors in Kenosha, Wisconsin last week. This morning NBC reports that Rittenhouse’s lawyer will argue that his client was part of a “well-regulated” militia and that at least the weapons charges against him are unconstitutional. That argument seems unlikely to succeed. But it is another sign of how the brazen murders of two civilians are being embraced as a new cause celebre on the right.
The hosts of “Fox and Friends” laughed at Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden on Tuesday morning for holding a campaign event without a crowd amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Continue reading “Fox Hosts Mock Biden For Having ‘No One Around Him’ At Campaign Event Amid COVID”
Vice President Mike Pence was reportedly alerted that he may have to temporarily take over presidential powers during President Donald Trump’s unexpected visit to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center late last year.
New York Times reporter Michael Schmidt reveals in a copy of his forthcoming book obtained by CNN, that the Vice President was privately put on “standby” to assume presidential powers in spite of the White House claiming otherwise in public.
The White House stated at the time that the President was “fine” and that Trump’s November 2019 visit to the Maryland hospital would simply include a series of “quick exam and labs” ahead of a “very busy 2020.”
But according to CNN, the Times reporter reveals a far more alarmed response in the West Wing amid the sudden hospital trip. In his upcoming book Schmidt reports that “word went out in the West Wing for the vice president to be on standby to take over the powers of the presidency temporarily if Trump had to undergo a procedure that would have required him to be anesthetized.”
A CNN source said at the time that Trump’s visit did not follow the protocol of a routine presidential medical exam, adding that medical staff at Walter Reed had notified via staff-wide memo of a presidential visit — an indication the unplanned visit was not routine.
While the source acknowledged it was possible that a small group of doctors involved had been informed ahead of time of Trump’s visit, it was atypical that not all medical staff had been alerted in the case of the allegedly routine exam.
While Pence did not ultimately take the reins at the time, Schmidt writes that incident raises further scrutiny about why Trump made the unscheduled visit.
President Trump’s physician weighed in on the matter
The President appeared to refer to a suggestion unrelated to Schmidt’s book that he had suffered from stroke, denying the claims surrounding his Walter Reed visit as “fake news” in a tweet Tuesday morning.
It never ends! Now they are trying to say that your favorite President, me, went to Walter Reed Medical Center, having suffered a series of mini-strokes. Never happened to THIS candidate – FAKE NEWS. Perhaps they are referring to another candidate from another Party!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 1, 2020
Dr. Sean Conley, physician to the President, weighed in on the matter Tuesday afternoon, issuing a statement that said contrary to some reports, Trump had not been evaluated for stroke, mini stroke or any acute cardiovascular emergencies.
“The President remains health and I have no concerns about his ability to maintain the rigorous schedule ahead of him. As stated in my last report, I expect him to remain fit to execute the duties of the Presidency,” Conley wrote.
Acting Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Chad Wolf stated that the Justice Department is looking into arresting leaders of Black Lives Matter (BLM) amid protests over the shooting of Jacob Blake by police officer Rusten Sheskey.
Continue reading “Acting DHS Chief Says Feds Are ‘Working On’ Arresting BLM Leaders”
Justin Blake, speaking on behalf of the family of the 29-year-old Black man who was shot seven times by police in Kenosha, Wisconsin, said that Jacob Blake’s father has “no interest” in speaking with President Donald Trump — adding that the family’s main goals were Blake’s health and obtaining justice.
“President Trump is a racist who stokes racial tensions,” Blake’s uncle told CNN. “He has been stirring racial tensions since he got in the White House. Why, as Jacob’s uncle, would I want to talk to him? Our focus is on Jacob and healing the community,” Justin Blake said.
The comments come as President Donald Trump expressed at a news conference Monday that he did not plan to meet with the Blake family during his Wisconsin visit Tuesday because they wanted to involve lawyers.
“I thought it would be better not to do anything where there were lawyers involved,” Trump said, adding: “They wanted to have lawyers involved and I thought that was inappropriate, so I didn’t do that.”
While he declined speaking in a context that involved lawyers, Trump said that he had spoken with the pastor of Blake’s mother, adding, “I did just give my best regards.”
Benjamin Crump, an attorney for the Blake family, told CNN’s Jim Acosta when asked about the presence of legal counsel that it was routine practice. “He seems to have lawyers with him when he talks to people,” Crump said of the President.
Blake’s father told Acosta on Monday that he was “not going to play politics,” and later added that his son’s operation and healing “has nothing to do with a photo-op.”
Earlier Monday, White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said the President had plans to meet with local law enforcement and some business owners, and he’ll “survey the damage,” following nights of protest adding that additional details were forthcoming.
Trump’s visit to the battleground state is part of an intensifying campaign to condemn parts of the country as dangerous because they are run by Democrats. The President has assumed no personal responsibility for encouraging a deeply divisive climate through culture wars and race-baiting over the past three and a half years.
Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers (D) had pleaded with Trump in a letter ahead of the visit requesting that that Trump not visit Kenosha based on concern that Trump’s presence “will only hinder our healing” and “delay our work to overcome division and move forward together.”
On Monday, Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden fired back at Trump’s tactical attack on Democrat-run cities and states in the aftermath of Blake’s shooting, saying that the President has sought to foment violence. Biden accused the President of “rooting for chaos and violence,” under the guise of law and order.
