Education Secretary Betsy DeVos declined to say whether schools should adhere to CDC guidelines as President Trump demands that they reopen amid surging cases of the coronavirus across the country. Continue reading “DeVos Repeatedly Dodges When Grilled On CDC Guidelines For Reopening Schools”
A Second Shutdown
I had been working last night on a lengthy post, covering a range of topics, but with emphasis on the fact that we may be going back to a second shutdown because of how catastrophically we bungled the epidemic in this country. If this happens it will mean all the struggle and sacrifice of the Spring, along with at least a trillion dollars of crisis spending, will have been wasted.
Along those lines I’m looking now at a press release for a Meet the Press interview this morning with Admiral Brett Giroir, a key Trump administration pandemic official. Asked about calls for another shutdown Giroir says: “I don’t think we need to shut down, at least in most places around the country.”
Mueller Blasts Trump For Commuting Stone’s Sentence: ‘He Remains A Convicted Felon’
Former special counsel Robert Mueller issued a rare public rebuke in a Washington Post op-ed a day after President Trump moved to commute Roger Stone’s prison sentence. Continue reading “Mueller Blasts Trump For Commuting Stone’s Sentence: ‘He Remains A Convicted Felon’”
Trump Campaign Mocked On Twitter For Citing Weather As Reason To Cancel NH Rally
Following a decision Friday to postpone a campaign rally in New Hampshire due to a tropical storm, the Trump campaign is facing a storm of quite a different kind – that of Twitter users who are trolling the decision as a tactical move to avoid the low attendance that marred Trump’s rally in Tulsa last month.
White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany told reporters on Friday the event would be delayed for “a week or two” due to a “big storm” — but that storm was not slated to hit New Hampshire according to earlier predictions from the National Weather Service that mentioned the chance of showers early in the day, that would clear by the time of Trump’s evening event.
“Cloudy with a chance of a puny crowd” Washington Post opinion columnist, Jennifer Rubin tweeted on Friday, echoing the suspicions of others who have suggested that the event was cancelled in a last ditch effort to save face in case turnout was low as it had been at Trump’s first in-person, mask-optional rally last month – his first since the coronavirus pandemic made landfall in the United States.
On that occasion, roughly 6,200 of the 19,000-seat arena were filled, after Trump’s campaign manager Brad Parscale had bragged that the rally had fielded requests for close to a million tickets.
A contributing columnist to The Post and adviser to the Lincoln Project, George Conway, also tweeted a screenshot shortly after the announcement was made showing the hourly weather forecast for Portsmouth on Saturday evening – between the hours of 6 p.m. and 9 p.m., the forecast showed no genuine threat of rain. The event was scheduled to begin at 9 p.m.
Here’s the weather forecast for Portsmouth, New Hampshire for tomorrow evening. pic.twitter.com/rK307qGCfx
— George Conway (@gtconway3d) July 10, 2020
Vox political editor, Aaron Rupar, suggested that the White House’s cries about bad weather in Portsmouth were “a pretext that Trump’s team were using “avoid another Tulsa-style disaster.”
Others, including cofounder of a super-PAC called the Democratic Coalition Against Trutmp said there was “no rain in sight.”
Trump’s staff said they canceled his NH rally due to weather, but there is no rain in sight. We all know they actually canceled because no one was gonna show. #BidenPledgesAllegianceToUS
— Scott Dworkin (@funder) July 11, 2020
Greg Sargent opinion columnist for The Post’s blog “The Plum Line” said it was fitting that Trump would cancel the event amid attendance concerns.
“The original Big Lie of the Trump presidency was his lie about his inaugural crowd,” Sargent wrote, referring to qualms the president had about the media’s reporting of a smaller crowd than he claimed when he delivered his inaugural address in 2017. “So it’s fitting that Trump is now gripped by fear of low rally turnout amid his coronavirus fiasco.”
It seems there was also a lack of local interest in the rally in Portsmouth even before warnings of a storm along the east coast. New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu told reporters on Tuesday that while he intended to greet the president personally as governor he was unlikely to attend the event.
Daniel Uhlfelder, a Florida lawyer, joked in a tweet that the New Hampshire event had been cancelled “due to a blue tsunami” — referring ostensibly to poll numbers which increasingly indicate that Democratic opponent, former Vice President Joe Biden, is favored over Trump in forecasts for the presidential election in November.
A POLITICO/Morning Consult survey earlier this month showed disapproval of the job Trump is doing as president on the rise. Nearly 6 in 10 voters gave the president negative marks as coronavirus outbreaks devastate, among others, states in the Sun Belt.
Top Writer For Tucker Carlson’s Show Resigns After Secretly Posting Racist And Sexist Comments Online
The top writer for Tucker Carlson’s Fox News show resigned after a CNN media reporter uncovered that the lead writer had penned racist, sexist, and homophobic comments in an online forum using a pseudonym.
CNN’s Oliver Darcy said that Carlson’s former top writer Blake Neff, posted a series of derogatory comments about women, Black, Asian, and LGBTQ people. Some of the racist remarks authored by Neff had been posted as recently as two weeks ago.
Darcy said he was tipped anonymously in what gave way to the investigation of years of posts by Neff on the message board AutoAdmit.
According to the report, on June 5, Neff wrote, “Black doods staying inside playing Call of Duty is probably one of the biggest factors keeping crime down.” On June 24, Neff commented, “Honestly given how tired black people always claim to be, maybe the real crisis is their lack of sleep.”
Carlson’s show has been repeatedly criticized for stoking racism and xenophobia, while also making claims amid racial justice protests that white supremacy is a “hoax.”
Neff had been working as the lead writer for the Fox show since 2016 after leaving the The Daily Caller, a conservative news website co-founded by Carlson and where Neff published more than 2,000 posts.
Darcy also reported that Neff is quoted by the Darmouth Alumni Magazine as saying, “Anything [Carlson is] reading off the teleprompter, the first draft was written by me,” adding that the show’s writers did their best to use the show’s power in swaying the political conversation “responsibly.”
The resignation comes after Ed Henry the former co-host of “America’s Newsroom” — another Fox News show — was fired from the network for allegations of sexual misconduct announced just over two weeks before Neff’s departure.
In an internal memo sent to employees Saturday afternoon that was shared with TPM after this story was first published, Fox News CEO Suzanne Scott and President Jay Wallace said that Fox News Media “strongly condemns horrific racist, misogynistic and homophobic behavior.”
Scott and Wallace called Neff’s conduct “abhorrent” and said his behavior on the forum “was never divulged to the show or the network until Friday, at which point we swiftly accepted his resignation.”
Scott and Wallace said that actions like Neff’s would not be tolerated and that Carlson would address the issue on his show on Monday night.
Trump Boosts Michael Flynn In Fresh Attack On Russia Probe
Just hours after commuting his longtime friend and former political adviser, Roger Stone, President Donald Trump on Saturday tweeted support for his former national security adviser, Michael Flynn.
The president claimed that “new documents” boosting Flynn who admitted to lying to the FBI amid the Russia probe had surfaced according to the conservative news network One America News.
New documents just released reveal General Flynn was telling the truth, and the FBI knew it! @OANN
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 11, 2020
While Trump has hinted at a pardon for Flynn in the past, some in the Trump camp are also calling to have the general join the president’s re-election campaign trail, nine sources confirmed to POLITICO.
Flynn has been embroiled in a long legal battle after admitting that he lied to the FBI during an investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election.
The tweet comes just a day after the full U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit on Friday put on hold an order that the judge immediately dismiss Flynn’s case, reigniting a fight over whether a federal judge can question the Justice Department’s reasons for wanting to dismiss the case.
While it was not evident which “new documents” the president was referring to, a report from One America News on Thursday pointed at a detailed a new lawsuit by Judicial Network, a conservative group that claims to have documents that reveal how former U.N. Ambassador Samantha Power made multiple requests to unmask Flynn’s identity. “Documents show Power made at least seven requests to obtain Michael Flynn’s redacted identity in meetings with top Russian officials,” OAN said.
Trump forced Flynn out of his position as national security adviser in February 2017 – after just about a month of service in that job. Following Flynn’s guilty plea for lying, Trump tweeted that he “had to fire General Flynn because he lied to the Vice President and the FBI.”
But in May this year, after the Justice Department called for the dismissal of Flynn’s case which it said was “conducted without any legitimate investigative basis,” Trump lauded his former adviser, telling reporters that Flynn was “an even greater warrior” and calling those who pursued him “human scum.”
In another tweet on Saturday, emboldened by his own move to commute his friend, Trump further articulated his own warped ideas about “law and order” that involved the jailing of his opponents. Perhaps further seeking his own vindication, Trump called for the jailing and extradition of Christopher Steele, the writer of the “Steele Dossier,” calling him a “sick liar[sic]” for alleging illegal conduct by Trump and his allies before and during his first campaign for president.
Pelosi Calls Stone Commutation ‘An Act Of Staggering Corruption’
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) on Saturday, condemned President Donald Trump’s decision to commute the sentence of his former adviser and longtime friend, Roger Stone, calling it, “an act of staggering corruption.”
Pelosi vowed in a statement that Congress would take action to prevent any further unabashed attempts by the president to free convicted friends from serving out sentences.
“Legislation is needed to ensure that no President can pardon or commute the sentence of an individual who is engaged in a cover-up campaign to shield that President from criminal prosecution,” Pelosi wrote.
Stone is the latest Trump ally to reap a reward for standing by the president and committing his loyalty by blocking Trump from blame for what Pelosi called Trump’s own “criminal misconduct.”
Stone had been investigated during the Russia probe for his involvement in a Russian interference scheme in the 2016 presidential election.
In addition to five counts of lying to Congress, Stone was charged with witness tampering and obstruction of an official proceeding. He was due to report to prison on Tuesday before Trump’s brazen reprieve of his sentence.
Republican Senator Mitt Romney (UT) on Saturday also became one of the first Republicans in Congress to formally chastise the president following his decision calling it and act “historic corruption.”
Unprecedented, historic corruption: an American president commutes the sentence of a person convicted by a jury of lying to shield that very president.
— Mitt Romney (@MittRomney) July 11, 2020
Ahead of the decision on Friday, Republican Senator Lindsey Graham (SC) weighed in about Trump’s consideration of clemency for Stone, tweeting his support for commutation, saying “it would be justified” for Trump to intervene, adding that Stone’s offenses were “non-violent” and “the first time.”
Trump defended his decision on Saturday, adding fuel to a White House narrative on Stone’s alleged victimization. In a morning tweet, he said that his friend was “targeted by an illegal Witch Hunt.” The comments are the latest in Trump’s warping of the justice system – making an institution of the rule of law, into a political issue of right and left, and baselessly claiming that it was Democrats – “the other side” – that are “criminals.”
Roger Stone was targeted by an illegal Witch Hunt that never should have taken place. It is the other side that are criminals, including Biden and Obama, who spied on my campaign – AND GOT CAUGHT!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 11, 2020
Roger Stone Celebrates Brazen Move By Trump To Commute His Sentence
Former political adviser and longtime friend to President Donald Trump, Roger Stone, celebrated the news of his commutation Friday night to the cheers of his supporters, saying that the president “saved my life,” and gave him “an opportunity to fight for vindication.”
“Just a few minutes ago I had a very gracious call from the president of the United States, who told me that he had decided to use his extraordinary powers of clemency to commute my sentence — what he called a ‘full commutation of my sentence,'” Stone told reporters outside of his Florida home late Friday, according to ABC News. He added that although he had not seen the papers yet, he believed that under the terms of a commutation he would be able to pursue two appeals he had filed regarding his conviction.
The longtime ally of the president welcomed the occasion with a black and white “Free Roger Stone!” face mask and a “Roger Stone Still Did Nothing Wrong!” T-shirt.
Stone, who was recently denied a request to delay serving his sentence citing health concerns due to the risk of coronavirus infection in the close quarters of prison, expressed relief and his confidence in winning on appeal.
“I believe I will expose an enormous amount of corruption in my trial on appeal, but I have to live long enough to get to the appeal,” Stone said. “And at 67 years old with a history of respiratory problems and other underlying health issues, the danger was very real.”
On Friday, the White House condemned the “unjust sentence of Roger Stone” in a statement announcing the president’s decision to grant his friend clemency. The statement painted Stone as “a victim of the Russia Hoax” that Democrats and the media “perpetuated for years in an attempt to undermine the Trump Presidency.”
Stone’s lawyer Grant Smith told ABC News in a statement that Stone was “incredibly honored” that Trump used “his awesome and unique power under the Constitution of the United States for this act of mercy.”
The commutation was the latest move by the Trump administration to twist the justice system and provide favors to the president’s convicted allies – and more specifically those who remain loyal to the very end. Ahead of the news on Friday NBC’s Howard Fineman said that in a talk with Stone a commutation was preferable to a pardon – and that he anticipated Trump would deliver since Stone had not caved under
“enormous pressure to turn on [Trump].”
Just had a long talk with #RogerStone. He says he doesn’t want a pardon (which implies guilt) but a commutation, and says he thinks #Trump will give it to him. “He knows I was under enormous pressure to turn on him. It would have eased my situation considerably. But I didn’t.”
— howardfineman (@howardfineman) July 10, 2020
Stone came under scrutiny during Robert Mueller’s Russia probe into foreign meddling in the 2016 presidential election. Stone was convicted of lying to Congress on several issues central to the investigation, including communications he had with Trump campaign to discuss WikiLeaks’ documents that could damage Trump’s Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton.
In February, Stone was sentenced to 40 months in prison after he was found guilty of obstructing justice, witness tampering and lying to Congress. Stone’s 40-month sentence was already far shorter than an original sentence of up to nine years that was recommended by federal prosecutors before Attorney General William Barr stepped in to undercut the recommendation after the president criticized the sentence as too harsh. Stone was expected to report to prison on July 14.
House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-CA) rebuked Trump’s use of executive power to rescue”criminal friends” from prison time, suggesting that the move undermined the rule of law.
“With this commutation, Trump makes clear that there are two systems of justice in America: one for his criminal friends, and one for everyone else,” Schiff said in a statement obtained by The New York Times. Schiff added that Trump, Barr, and “all those who enable them pose the gravest of threats to the rule of law.”
BREAKING
In a screed that historians will cite as a hallmark of Trumpism, the president has commuted the prison sentence of Roger Stone:
Coverup Complete: Trump Commutes Roger Stone’s Prison Sentence
The White House announced Friday that President Trump is commuting the prison sentence of his longtime friend and sometimes campaign adviser Roger Stone, the culmination of a scheme one federal judge called a coverup for the President.
Continue reading “Coverup Complete: Trump Commutes Roger Stone’s Prison Sentence”