Trump Deleting Tweets After Luther Strange’s Loss Raises Legal Questions

After the candidate whom President Trump backed in Tuesday’s Alabama Senate primary, Luther Strange, lost to Roy Moore, Trump summarily deleted several tweets he had made in support of Strange. However, they were archived on ProPublica’s Politiwhoops website.

Among them: “Luther Strange has been shooting up in the Alabama polls since my endorsement. Finish the job-vote today for “Big Luther”

And: “ALABAMA, get out and vote for Luther Strange-he has proven to me that he will never let you down!#MAGA”

It’s not clear why Trump (or someone on his behalf) acted to attempt to remove the evidence that he backed Strange. The president had been very vocal in his support for Strange, including holding a rally in Alabama on Sept. 22. And while on the Internet nothing is ever really deleted, Trump’s actions to remove the tweets from his feed have raised some legal questions.

In June, two government watchdog groups, the National Security Archive and Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, brought a lawsuit against the Trump administration in part for deleting other tweets, arguing it was in violation of the Presidential Records Act.

According to the website of the National Archives, which administers the act, it places “the responsibility for the custody and management of incumbent Presidential records with the President.”

At the time the lawsuit was filed, CREW Executive Director Noah Bookbinder said that “by deleting these records, the White House is destroying essential historical records.”

But the Alabama Senate tweets may be another matter. In an email, CREW Communications Director Jordan Libowitz said Trump can delete “purely political tweets,” which he said are not covered by the Presidential Records Act.

However, Libowitz said Trump has been deleting a lot of tweets, and that “particularly as the government has acknowledged @realdonaldtrump tweets to be official statements, deleting those tweets which are not purely political would violate the [Presidential Records Act] if the tweets are not archived.”

Lauren Harper of the nonprofit National Security Archive, which advocates for public access to government information, said Trump is the head of the Republican Party because of his position as president, and so there is not much differentiation between his role as party leader and as president in the instance of deleting his tweets about Strange.

Noting reports that at least six current or former White House officials used private email accounts for government business, Harper says the deletion of the Strange tweets “is part of a larger pattern” of the Trump administration’s not taking record keeping seriously.

Following the email reports, press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said on Tuesday, “All White House personnel have been instructed to use official email to conduct all government-related work.”

Many of the tweets Trump has deleted are to correct typos. The night of the Alabama race, for example, Trump congratulated Moore and initially told him to “WIN in Nov.” A new tweet later corrected that to “in Dec,” when Alabama will hold its general election.

There was also the “covfefe” kerfuffle in May, when Trump tweeted the mysterious nonword, which was retweeted more than 100,000 times before being deleted. In June, Rep. Mike Quigley, D-Ill., introduced the “COVFEFE Act of 2017” to officially make social media part of the Presidential Records Act.

[NPR]

Trump buried in mockery for false claim he ‘has the votes’ to repeal Obamacare: ‘News to everyone in the Senate’

During his Indianapolis speech touting tax reform, President Donald Trump claimed the GOP “has the votes” to pass the party’s unpopular Obamacare repeal and replace bill — despite it being pulled from a Senate floor vote and effectively killed the day prior.

Naturally, Twitter took Trump to task for this week’s latest false claim.

“This would be news to literally everyone in the Senate,” Reuters’ Pete Schroeder tweeted.

“Fact check: No, he doesn’t,” CNN’s Jim Acosta responded.

His bold claim during his tax reform speech was not the first time Trump claimed the GOP had votes that didn’t exist that day. Earlier, he said they had the votes, but could not pass it because “there’s an ailing senator in the hospital” — another false claim.

[Raw Story]

 

Trump: The NFL Must Change Or It Will “Go to Hell”

President Donald Trump on Wednesday continued to unleash on the NFL despite backlash to his call for owners to fire players protesting police brutality and racial injustice by kneeling during the national anthem.

Speaking with reporters outside the White House on Wednesday, the president mocked the league’s television ratings.

“The NFL is in a box, a really bad box,” Trump said, speaking with reporters outside the White House.

“In my opinion, the NFL has to change or their business is going to go to hell,” he said.

Players, coaches, and owners have spoken out against Trump’s criticism of protesting players. During a rally Friday, Trump ignited controversy when he said NFL owners should fire any “son of a bitch” who kneels during the anthem.

The president and his top allies have continued to defend his comments, saying kneeling players are disrespecting the American flag and national anthem.

In a freewheeling process before a trip to Indiana similar to other impromptu exchanges, the president also made other notable comments.

Trump said he was not pleased with Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price following reports on his use of government-funded private jets. When asked whether he would fire Price, Trump said, “We will see.”

[Business Insider]

Trump Keeps Lying Graham-Cassidy Failed Because a Senator’s in the Hospital

Appearing on Fox & Friends this morning, Donald Trump explained that Republicans “have the votes” to pass the Graham-Cassidy health care bill but the legislation nonetheless can’t pass because a crucial senator is in the hospital.

In reality, there is no hospitalized senator. But Trump has constructed for himself an alternative version of reality in which not only is there a hospitalized senator but the budget reconciliation instructions which expire tomorrow somehow return early next year, meaning that when the fake senator’s hospitalization ends they’ll be able to come back and pass the bill.

Fox & Friends host Pete Hegseth, remarkably, did not press Trump on this extraordinary claim.

But Trump keeps saying it. The “hospitalized senator” theory first appeared on his Twitter account Wednesday morning.

Then during his tax reform comments later that day he made a modified version of the claim, saying the issue was that “we have a wonderful senator, great, great senator, who is a yes vote, but he’s home recovering from a pretty tough situation.”

This appears to be a reference to Sen. Thad Cochran who, though not hospitalized, is at home recuperating from some kind of urological issue.

However, Trump appears to have cause and effect reversed here. According to Cochran’s staff, he is resting in Mississippi because there are no crucial senate votes rather than the senate not holding votes because Cochran is in Mississippi. No less an authority than Bill Cassidy stated flatly on Tuesday that “we don’t have the votes” with John McCain, Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski, and Rand Paul all publicly opposed. Indeed, the real question regarding the whip count seems to be whether or not the bill really has the unanimous support of all the other senators, or if a handful of private opponents are simply laying low and letting those four take the heat.

Either way, the situation poses the obvious question of why Trump is saying this.

Is he trying to mislead his supporters? Is someone on his staff trying to mislead him? Has he become confused and nobody on his staff wants to correct him?

[Vox]

Media

http://video.foxnews.com/v/5591727368001/

Interior Secretary: One-third of employees ‘not loyal to the flag’

Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke reportedly said Monday that nearly a third of his department’s employees are not “loyal to the flag” or President Trump.

“I got 30 percent of the crew that’s not loyal to the flag,” Zinke told the National Petroleum Council during a speech, according to The Associated Press.

“We do have good people” Zinke added. “But the direction has to be clear and you’ve got to hold people accountable.”

Trump and some of his allies have complained of an entrenched federal bureaucracy that they say has worked to stop — or at least slow — the president’s agenda.

The Interior secretary’s comments about the American flag came amid a feud between Trump and the NFL over the president’s criticism of players who kneel in protest during the national anthem.

Trump sparked the controversy during a campaign rally in Alabama last Friday, saying that professional athletes who protest during the anthem should be fired.

Many NFL teams responded by asserting players’ right to free speech, and many players kneeled during the anthem during Sunday’s games. Some teams, like the Seattle Seahawks and Pittsburgh Steelers, refused to appear on the field for the anthem altogether.

Some critics have claimed that the president’s comments are racially motivated.

But Trump has stood by his criticism and sought to cast his rhetoric only as a defense of the U.S. and its flag.

“The issue of kneeling has nothing to do with race,” he tweeted Monday. “It is about respect for our Country, Flag and National Anthem. NFL must respect this!”

[The Hill]

Reality

This should be very troubling that a government department head who oversees tens of thousands of non-partisan positions claims that there will be a loyalty test, and people will lose their job if they do not swear loyalty to Donald Trump.

This is third-world authoritarian stuff.

Donald Trump calls for NFL to create rule mandating players stand for national anthem

An NFL spokesperson declined to address President Donald Trump’s latest tweet on Tuesday, which called for the league to create a rule that mandates players stand for the national anthem.

“I am little behind on his tweets,” NFL spokesperson Joe Lockhart told reporters on Tuesday. “I may catch up by the end of the day.”

Around 9 a.m. ET, Trump tweeted: “The NFL has all sorts of rules and regulations. The only way out for them is to set a rule that you can’t kneel during our National Anthem!”

Earlier on Tuesday morning, Trump was tweeting about the Cowboys’ protest on Monday night, as well as NFL ratings. The Cowboys and owner Jerry Jones took a knee before the national anthem played for a Monday Night Football matchup against the Cardinals in Arizona.

The Cowboys’ gesture took place after a Sunday of protests throughout the NFL.

Asked again about Trump calling for a rule change, Lockhart — on a conference call where he highlighted the NFL’s “Unity” message in response to the protests — didn’t engage.

“I guess I’d say he’s exercising his freedom to speak, and I’m exercising my freedom not to react,” Lockhart said.

[USA Today]

Reality

If you want to live in a country where patriotism is compulsory, to borrow a term from the right, then you should find another country. North Korea may be of your liking.

Here in America we value freedom of speech and each individuals ability to criticize their government. Trump did it for eight years as he lead the racist “birther” movement.

The 1943 Supreme Court decision in “West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette” found mandatory flag rituals to violate the constitutional requirements of democratic self-government.

“If there is any fixed star in our constitutional constellation,” ruled the Court, “it is that no official, high or petty, can prescribe what shall be orthodox in politics, nationalism, religion, or other matters of opinion or force citizens to confess by word or act their faith therein.”

As humanitarian crisis unfolds in Puerto Rico, Trump tweets about island’s “massive debt”

Officials are calling the devastation in Puerto Rico a humanitarian disaster. Six days after Hurricane Maria hit, millions are struggling for basic necessities like adequate food, water, fuel and electricity. Eighty percent of the island’s transmission lines are down, and power may not be restored for more than a month.

In a series of tweets Monday night, President Trump said the U.S. territory’s old electrical grid was “devastated.” He also appeared critical of the island’s financial problems, tweeting they owed “billions of dollars to Wall Street and the banks which, sadly, must be dealt with.”

FEMA has sent out over 10,000 federal forces to work around the clock, reports CBS News’ David Begnaud.

Supplies are coming in slowly from the U.S. mainland to help millions still struggling across the island.

FEMA administrator Brock Long said at a press conference, “We’ve got a lot work to do. It’s the worst hurricane Puerto Rico has seen.”

Governor Ricardo Rosselló traveled with the National Guard to deliver a satellite phone to the mayor of San Sebastian. Satellite phones are critical in allowing senior government officials to communicate with local leaders in some of the hardest-hit areas.

“Two Category 5 hurricanes passing through an island is unprecedented and therefore the response needs to be unprecedented,” Rosselló said.

Only a handful of flights are trickling out of Puerto Rico’s main airport. Desperate travelers crowded the ticket counters hoping to get on one of the few flights leaving for the states.

“My mother needs dialysis. We’ve been here 26 hours,” one woman said.

“Why can’t food and water be sent there right now, I mean there are babies who are naked in strollers their parents are fanning them,” Begnaud asked Rosselló.

“Because of your reporting that I saw last night, I ordered food and snacks to be delivered to the airport today,” he replied.

“Ok I hear you, but it’s not getting to them,” Begnaud said.

I understand and that’s why immediately I’m taking action and I will as soon as we finish the interview I will make sure that water it’s on its way and food is on its way,” Rosselló said.

He kept his word. Food and snacks arrived within an hour, but he worries about the lasting effects if Washington doesn’t pass a financial aid package soon.

“Humanitarian crisis will come to the United States in the form of the 3.5 million U.S. citizens that live here,” Rosselló said. “And what you’re bound to see is a massive exodus of Puerto Ricans into the mainland. It’s going to be a problem for us, it’s going to be a problem for mainland as well.”

Puerto Rico’s governor has complimented the work FEMA is doing, and FEMA’s complimented the governor. They both complimented President Trump, but CBS News has asked where the aid is happening. The governor guaranteed that we would be able to see it.

[CBS News]

US Sees ‘No Indication’ Iran Launched a Ballistic Missile, Despite Trump Tweet

US intelligence radars and sensors “picked up no indication” of an Iranian ballistic missile launch in the days surrounding a reported test, according to a Trump administration official familiar with the latest US assessment.

Iranian reports that the nation tested a new ballistic missile so far does not appear to be true, the official said, adding: “As far as we can see, it did not happen.”
State-run broadcaster Press TV reported the launch on Saturday, according to footage broadcast on Iranian state television.

“Iran has released footage of the successful test-launch of its new ballistic missile, Khorramshahr, a few hours after it was unveiled during a military parade in the capital city of Tehran,” Press TV said.

But the telemetry, or electronic signals, of a ballistic missile launch would have been picked up by a variety of US assets in the region who keep an around the clock eye on Iran’s weapons activities, the official said.

President Donald Trump tweeted about the apparent launch on Saturday: “Iran just test fired a ballistic missile capable of reaching Israel. They are also working with North Korea. Not much of an agreement we have!”

The footage shown on Iranian television appears most likely to be a re-run of a previous test launch, the official said.

The official did not know if Trump received an intelligence briefing about the launch before sending the tweet.

Fox News was the first to report that the US believes the launch did not take place.

[CNN]

Kushner Used Private Email For White House Work

President Trump’s son-in-law and adviser Jared Kushner has used a private email account to communicate with other officials in the administration about White House business, according to Politico. 

Kushner has used the email to talk about various topics — including media planning and event coverage — with figures such as former White House chief of staff Reince Priebus, former chief strategist Stephen Bannon and President Trump’s chief economic adviser Gary Cohn.

Kushner set up the account during the transition period after he campaigned for Trump, who frequently attacked former Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton for her user of a private email server while she was secretary of State.

“Mr. Kushner uses his White House email address to conduct White House business,” Kushner’s lawyer Abbe Lowell told Politico in a statement.

“Fewer than 100 emails from January through August were either sent to or returned by Mr. Kushner to colleagues in the White House from his personal email account. These usually forwarded news articles or political commentary and most often occurred when someone initiated the exchange by sending an email to his personal rather than his White House address.”

The report comes as special counsel Robert Mueller continues to probe alleged ties between the Trump campaign and Russian interference in the presidential campaign.

Kushner has been seen as a person of interest by Mueller.

The Washington Post reported in May that Kushner and the Russian ambassador to the U.S. had discussed setting up a secret communications channel between Trump’s transition team and the Kremlin.

It was reported in June that Kushner was present at a Trump Tower meeting in the summer of 2016 with a Russian lawyer that was organized by Donald Trump Jr. after he was told the lawyer could provide damaging information on Clinton.

[The Hill]

Trump Retweets Message Calling For NFL Boycott

President Trump on Sunday retweeted a message calling for a boycott of the NFL after players from teams across the league knelt during the national anthem.

“You can boycott our anthem WE CAN BOYCOTT YOU!” the message read, featuring an image of the NFL logo with the word “boycott” across it.

“Courageous Patriots have fought and died for our great American Flag — we MUST honor and respect it! MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!” Trump tweeted afterward.

Trump also retweeted a message from the woman behind the boycott message, Donna Warren, featuring an image of an amputee military veteran.

“I wonder what this BRAVE American would give to stand on his OWN two legs just ONCE MORE for our #Anthem?” the tweet read.

Trump has been facing major backlash after he said NFL owners should fire players who kneel during the national anthem.

He said owners should “get that son of a bitch off the field right now” at a campaign rally Friday and also said people should walk out of football games if they see players kneeling.

Football players across the league chose to kneel during the national anthem at games Sunday, while others locked arms in support.

Trump tweeted earlier Sunday that “standing with locked arms is good, kneeling is not acceptable.”

[The Hill]

 

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