Category: Part-Time President

Trump cites Imaginary ‘just released’ book manuscript to attack Cohen

President Donald Trump said Saturday that a “just released” manuscript of a book written by Michael Cohen would show his longtime personal lawyer had lied to Congress, without offering further evidence for the explosive claim.

“Virtually everything failed lawyer Michael Cohen said in his sworn testimony last week is totally contradicted in his just released manuscript for a book about me. It’s a total new love letter to “Trump” and the pols must now use it rather than his lies for sentence reduction!” Trump tweeted.

It’s not yet clear whether the manuscript exists, if Trump has actually seen it or if he is simply continuing a line of attack started on Friday, when the president demanded Congress obtain the alleged manuscript as proof that Cohen was lying in his testimony.

“The brand new manuscript for a new book by failed lawyer Michael Cohen shows his testimony was a total lie! Pundits should only use it,” Trump tweeted minutes later.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment

Last May, the Daily Beast reported that Cohen had written a book tentatively titled “Trump Revolution: From The Tower to The White House, Understanding Donald J. Trump,” but its release was stalled by legal issues.

During congressional testimony this week, Republicans pressed Cohen on whether he had a book deal lined up. Cohen would not rule out that possibility. However, Cohen’s potential publisher has said it “never saw a manuscript” and a lawyer for Cohen said the book never went beyond a preliminary proposal.

[Politico]

Trump Raves Over an Ordinary Tucker Carlson Show Open: ‘Everyone MUST Watch … A Classic!’

On Twitter, President Donald Trump gave a rave review to FNC’s Tucker Carlson for the opening monologue he delivered on the the topic of Michael Cohen‘s testimony Thursday night. But other than that it was tied to the week’s news, it wasn’t an especially stand-out segment for the show.

Carlson’s monologue focused on what Cohen’s testimony did not confirm for Democrats. Although the “there was no collusion” theme is fairly standard Carlson fare, perhaps the extra mocking sealed the deal for Trump.

The monologue, above, covered (with clips) what claims have been made by media and Democrat politicians over the course of the last two years, and which were not confirmed by Cohen. For example, on the topic of the so-called “pee tape,” Carlson said that “if there is a hooker tape out there, it’s fair to assume that Michael Cohen would know about it. He is that kind of guy. Now would be the time he would tell us all about it. But no.”

He showed Cohen stating under oath that he has never been to Prague, and added that Cohen would no longer have any reason to lie.

With regard to collusion, Carlson said “If anyone can provide that kind of evidence, it would be Michael Cohen. He was a personal attorney to a man who accepted rubles.” He then showed the clip of Cohen saying that he was “not really sure” he could answer the question, or that he would use the word “colluding.” In the clip, Cohen did say there was “back and forth” with Putin.

“Talk about a let down,” said Carlson. “No meeting in Prague. No blackmail. No collusion. No Russian conspiracy at all. It was a hoax. It was a much less interesting Loch Ness monster.”

It was like that for most of the nearly ten minute monologue, and was followed by more of the same in the subsequent interview with a conservative blogger.

A true… classic.

[Mediaite]

Trump rips Harry Reid, falsely states he ‘got thrown out’ of the Senate

President Trump on Monday lashed out at former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid after the Nevada Democrat criticized him in a new interview with CNN.

In an early-morning tweet, the president falsely stated that Reid — who did not run for reelection and retired from the Senate in 2017 — “got thrown out.”

Trump also said Reid, who was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer last year, is “working hard to put a good spin on his failed career.”

“He led through lies and deception, only to be replaced by another beauty, Cryin’ Chuck Schumer,” the president added. “Some things just never change!”

In his interview with CNN, Reid, who said his cancer is now in remission, did not hold back in his criticism of Trump.

“I just have trouble accepting him as a person, so frankly I don’t see anything he’s doing right,” Reid said.

Reid, who was a sharp critic of former President George W. Bush, said he pines for the last Republican to hold the office.

“He and I had our differences, but no one ever questioned his patriotism. Our battles were strictly political battles,” Reid said of Bush. “There’s no question in my mind that George Bush would be Babe Ruth in this league that he’s in with Donald Trump in the league. Donald Trump wouldn’t make the team.”

Reid said calls for Trump’s impeachment — voiced by some Democrats in Congress — would be a “waste of time” because the Republicans in the GOP-controlled Senate are “so afraid of Trump that they’re not going to get involved in this.” (The Senate would need to vote to proceed with Trump’s impeachment.)

But Reid also said Democrats in Congress need not worry about a backlash if they do decide to introduce articles of impeachment against the president.

“I don’t think there would be a backlash,” he said. “Because the vast majority of the people know something’s wrong with Trump.”

[Yahoo]

Donald Trump brazenly claims he has not done anything wrong

President Donald Trump on Saturday claimed that he had done absolutely nothing wrong.

The commander-in-chief made the assertion while quoting far-right media personality Graham Ledger, who has a show on the pro-Trump One America News Network.

[Raw Story]

Reality

For starters…

Donald Trump is “Individual 1” and a co-conspirator to cover up campaign finance violations and collusion with Russia.

Donald Trump was in close contact with his lieutenants as they made outreach to both Russia and WikiLeaks — and that they tried to conceal the extent of their activities

And Donald Trump obstructed justice by firing FBI James Comey for not ending an investigation into him and his campaign.

Frazzled and furious Trump attacks McCabe, Mueller and the media in hours-long Twitter meltdown

President Donald Trump closed Presidents Day weekend with a repeat performance of his late Sunday night into early Monday morning tweetstorm. For the second night in a row the President was up late Monday launching angry – and this time, juvenile – tweets, attacking his favorite targets: the Mueller investigation, former Acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe, and, as usual, the media.

And accusing some, like McCabe, of “Treason!”

Trump was clearly watching Fox News’ Sean Hannity when he tweeted that attack, and clearly he liked the “lying & leaking” part because about 30 minutes later, this juvenile attack:

Less than nine hours later, Trump was back with the attacks, again, quoting Fox News:

And then, minutes later, the media:

And then, the Democrats. Trump has literally no idea how the U.S. court system works. He thinks California has the option of filing a lawsuit in, say, Maine. They don’t. The 9th Circuit has jurisdiction over California, but Trump doesn’t understand that, so he displays his ignorance time and time again. But he’s also wrong: it’s 16 states, not cities, led by California.

“As I predicted, 16 cities, led mostly by Open Border Democrats and the Radical Left, have filed a lawsuit in, of course, the 9th Circuit! California, the state that has wasted billions of dollars on their out of control Fast Train, with no hope of completion, seems in charge!”

All in all, 10 tweets in 10 hours, including, quite ironically – and an amazing self-own – this:

[Raw Story]


Rush Limbaugh Denies He Influences Trump. Hours Later, Trump Quotes Him in Coup-Touting Tweet.

On Sunday, conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh denied he had influence over President Donald Trump.

Calling it a false narrative spread in the media, Limbaugh said this to Fox’s Chris Wallace on Fox News Sunday: “If these people in the media, Chris, really thought that I was telling Trump what to do and when, they’d be calling me, they’d be asking me about it, they’d want to get down to the dirty details.”

He added: “People don’t really believe what they’re saying about this…It’s just another effort to continue to try to diminish the president, diminish Trump, as somebody who doesn’t know what he’s doing, can’t do it without guidance from the so-called wacko right.”

Yet, hours later, Trump tweeted out this, quoting Limbaugh’s claim of a “silent coup” against the president:

[Mediaite]

Trump Touts Fox News Poll … That Found 50 Percent Oppose Border Wall

President Donald Trump tonight tweeted out a screengrab from Fox News on the results of the network’s latest poll regarding border security, days ahead of the deadline to pass the compromise bill and avert a shutdown.

Fox News’ Special Report tonight covered part of the poll––finding that 66 percent of people support a border deal that “includes money for some form of a border barrier and other border security measures as well as money for humanitarian relief.”

And the president’s Twitter account posted the graphic tonight:

The full poll from Fox News finds that 46 percent support a border wall but 50 percent oppose it. 38 percent would favor Trump declaring a national emergency to get the wall built and 56 percent would oppose it.

When asked whether Trump or Nancy Pelosi ended the shutdown stronger politically, 35 percent said Trump and 43 percent said Pelosi.

[Mediaite]

Trump Quotes Inane Media Criticism From Fox News Host Jesse Watters: ‘So True!’

President Donald Trump quoted a mind-numbingly inane piece of media criticism from a Fox News host Monday morning in an attempt to undermine fact-checkers.

Jesse Watters, who hosts a Saturday night show on Fox News, kicked off last week’s iteration with a lazy generalization: “The media fact-checkers are lying to you.”

Watters’ dismissal of fact-checkers relied on reports that Trump’s recent false claims about violent crime in El Paso were false. Watters took issue with a specific headline from Vox, which he called a “distortion.”

“The fact-checkers have become fake news,” he declared confidently.

Trump parroted the remark on Twitter Monday, calling it “So True!”:

Fact checkers can slip up — we’ve chronicled bad fact-checking on this very site — but to dismiss the entire practice as “fake” is, of course, remarkably stupid. There’s no doubt why Watters is taking aim at fact-checkers, however, and why the president is parroting his attack. The Washington Post‘s running fact-check found that in his first two years in office, Trump made a mind-blowing 8,158 false or misleading claims. That’s an average of 5.9 PER DAY.

[Mediaite]

Trump continues manic Twitter assault on the press by calling the New York Times the ‘Enemy of the People’

President Donald Trump attacked The New York Times on Saturday, only one hour after attacking CNN.

“Horrible and totally dishonest reporting on almost everything they write,” Trump argued.

“Hence the term fake news, enemy of the people, and opposition party,” he said, while listing multiple terms.

[Raw Story]

Reality

Trump isn’t quoting Jill Abramson, he is quoting Fox News’ Howard Kurtz quoting Jill Abramson, which means her words are being twisted and taken out of context to fit a Republican narrative.

Abramson told the Associated Press Kurtz misrepresented her comments in an attempt to “Foxify” her.

Per the AP:

In her email, Abramson notes that Kurtz ignored her passage in the book saying that under Baquet’s leadership, the depth and intensity of its accountability coverage of Trump “was masterful. On most days it outshone the Post’s. The news report as a whole had never been stronger.”

 

All Of The Made-Up, Nonsensical, Hypocritical Highlights From Trump’s Cabinet Meeting

President Donald Trump ranted about immigrants, attractive generals, the difficulty of being president and more on Wednesday in his first televised appearance of the year.

In a rambling and often disjointed conversation, the president led reporters and members of his Cabinet through his thinking on issues ranging from immigration to military strategy to the very role of the presidency.

Here are some of the standout moments from the over 90-minute meeting:

Trump claimed there are more than 30 million undocumented immigrants.

That number is about three times greater than experts’ estimates. Pew Research Center estimated there were 10.7 million undocumented immigrants in the U.S. as of 2016.

He said Afghanistan was responsible for turning the Soviet Union into Russia, then said he would have been a good general.

In one extended rant, Trump put forth his theory that Afghanistan was responsible for turning the Soviet Union into Russia, shared his thoughts on military strategy to fight terrorism and then claimed he would have been a good general. Trump avoided the draft five times.

Trump said he works too hard, despite taking more vacation days than any other president in recent history.

Former President Barack Obama was harshly criticized for taking vacation days ― including by Trump. But Trump has far surpassed Obama in the number of days he’s spent golfing during his presidency.

He repeated a number he made up for what unauthorized immigration costs the U.S.

Trump has a long history of spouting greatly inflated or invented numbers for how much illegal immigration costs the U.S. During his presidential campaign, he often claimed it cost $100 billion. That number has risen steadily over the years, unattached to any apparent research or reports, as The Washington Post’s Philip Bump has documented.

Trump summed up the deadly, devastating and years-long conflict in Syria with a minimizing statement.

After abruptly announcing plans in December to withdraw all American troops from war-torn Syria, Trump backpedaled somewhat on Wednesday, saying it might take longer than previously expected. “We’re talking about sand and death,” he said. “That’s what we’re talking about.”

The president commented on the physical attractiveness of a group of generals he once met with at the Pentagon.

This one pretty much speaks for itself, but “computer boards,” anyone?

He complained about being ‘all alone’ over the holidays, ‘except for all of the guys out on the lawn with machine guns.’

Trump threatened to take unilateral action on a number of his top priorities and then seemed to taunt, ‘Wouldn’t that be scary?’

[Huffington Post]

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