President Donald Trump on Monday night compared the shooting of Jacob Blake, an unarmed Black man who was shot seven times in the back by a police officer, to a blunder in a golf tournament.
Trump Refuses To Condemn Kyle Rittenhouse, Suggests He Acted In Self-Defense
President Trump spent most of his first post-RNC press conference on Monday tearing into Democrats — accusing them of inciting “left-wing political violence” amid unrest that has broken out in Portland, Oregon and Kenosha, Wisconsin — without condemning his own supporters who appeared to contribute to recent violent clashes.
During the presser, the President defended his supporters who shot paint at Black Lives Matter protesters in Portland over the weekend, which resulted in the fatal shooting of one person. Trump seemed to double down on his retweet of a video showing his supporters driving into Portland with the comment “GREAT PATRIOTS.”
“Paint is a defensive mechanism,” Trump said. “Paint is not bullets.”
Trump’s presser ultimately culminated in his refusal to condemn Kyle Rittenhouse, the 17-year-old Trump supporter who has been criminally charged with homicide in the shooting deaths of two protesters in Kenosha, Wisconsin, amid unrest following the shooting of Jacob Blake by police that left him paralyzed.
When asked whether he condemns Rittenhouse’s actions, Trump replied “that was an interesting situation” before going on to suggest that the 17-year-old Trump supporter who allegedly killed two people during a protest in Kenosha acted in self-defense.
“You saw the same tape as I saw and he was trying to get away from them I guess, it looks like,” Trump said. “And he fell and then they very violently attacked him and it was something that we are looking at right now and it’s under investigation.”
The President added that he guesses that Rittenhouse was “in very big trouble” and that “he probably would’ve been killed.”
Follow along with the TPM staff below:
Time To Cancel The ‘Cancel Culture’ Handwringing Driving The GOP’s 2020 Strategy
Absent of an official GOP 2020 platform, speeches at the Republican National Convention (RNC) last week largely consisted of shrieks about all the terrors Democrats would inflict upon this great nation: They’ll hand out free healthcare to illegal immigrants! Destroy the suburbs! Take away your guns! Dictate how many hamburgers you can eat!
Throughout these pearl-clutching tirades, one boogeyman made a regular appearance: “Cancel culture.”
Trump & Co. Gleefully Twist CDC COVID Stat To Artificially Lessen Death Count
On Monday, from behind the lectern in the White House briefing room, Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany doubled down on a weekend retweet from President Donald Trump on CDC COVID-19 data that was so dangerously misleading that Twitter has removed it from the platform.
Continue reading “Trump & Co. Gleefully Twist CDC COVID Stat To Artificially Lessen Death Count”
Liberty University Investigating ‘All Facets’ Of Jerry Falwell’s Tenure
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Liberty University is opening an independent investigation into Jerry Falwell Jr.’s tenure as president, a wide-ranging inquiry that will include financial, real estate and legal matters, the evangelical school’s board announced Monday.
In a statement, the board said it had retained an outside firm to investigate “all facets” of the school’s operations under Falwell, and that it was “committed to learning the consequences that have flowed from a lack of spiritual stewardship by our former president.”
Continue reading “Liberty University Investigating ‘All Facets’ Of Jerry Falwell’s Tenure”
The Only Story Today
One of the President’s supporters, who was actually filmed cheering him at a Trump rally, brought an AR-15 to a BLM protest and murdered two protestors and seriously injured a third. The President won’t condemn his actions.
Asked whether President condemns supporter and Trump rally attendee Kyle Rittenhouse who murdered two protestors, Press Secretary says Trump's "not going to weigh in on that." pic.twitter.com/ZeoaYP5oHB
— Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) August 31, 2020
‘It’s Taken Over My Life’: Ex-Melania Friend Working With Prosecutors On Inauguration Probe
Stephanie Winston Wolkoff, a former close friend to first lady Melania Trump, claimed on Monday that she is working with three prosecutors in their investigations into the Trump inaugural committee.
Feds Cite ‘Voluminous’ Info Seized In We Build The Wall Case Against Bannon
Federal prosecutors have seized “voluminous” amounts of information in the We Build The Wall case against Steve Bannon, Brian Kolfage and two others, telling a federal judge on Monday that the government has been executing search warrants through August.
Continue reading “Feds Cite ‘Voluminous’ Info Seized In We Build The Wall Case Against Bannon”
Appeals Court Finds Another Way To Stymie House’s McGahn Subpoena
After the full U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit had rejected its previous reasons for not enforcing the House’s Don McGahn subpoena, a right-leaning panel of appellate judges found another rationale to stymie the demand that he testify.
Continue reading “Appeals Court Finds Another Way To Stymie House’s McGahn Subpoena”
Where Things Stand: Trump Campaign Seeks To Cast Unrest As A Campaign Issue
The White House is going after former Veep Joe Biden for not traveling to Kenosha, Wisconsin, unlike President Trump who “shows up.”
The only issue? The governor of Wisconsin has politely asked Trump to actually … not show up.