Tag: Richard Painter

‘Is this a joke?’ Ex-White House ethics lawyer slams Trump campaign’s offer to let supporters ‘co-sign’ Trump’s police order for money

On Tuesday, President Donald Trump signed an executive order that places modest restrictions on police chokeholds, calls for improved training requirements, aims to track problem officers when they change jobs to avoid punishment, and urges local governments to pair police with social workers when responding to certain types of calls.

The president lost no time in trying to monetize his new policy, telling supporters in a fundraising email that they have “the unique opportunity to co-sign President Trump’s executive order.”

This fundraising pitch outraged former White House ethics counsel Richard Painter, who weighed in on Twitter: Continue reading.

Trump ‘cannot be allowed to command the United States military’ after threatening civil war: Law and ethics expert

AlterNet logoNoted law professor and former Bush chief White House ethics lawyer Richard Painter has issued a warning after President Donald Trump effectively threatened a civil war via Twitter Sunday night.

Trump tweeted remarks from his top religious advisor, far right wing extremist Dr. Robert Jeffress, saying, “If the Democrats are successful in removing the President from office (which they will never be), it will cause a Civil War like fracture in this Nation from which our Country will never heal.”

Professor Painter warned that in light of Trump’s threat, he “cannot be allowed to command the United States military,” and “should be removed from office immediately.”

View the complete September 30 article by David Badash from The New Civil Rights Movement on the AlterNet website.

Former Bush Official Says John Bolton Was ‘by Far the Most Dangerous Man We Had in the Entire 8 Years’

Richard Painter, the former chief White House ethics lawyer in the George W. Bush administration, blasted the prospect of former US Ambassador to the UN John Bolton replacing General H. R. McMaster as President Donald Trump’s national security adviser — a prospect that came to fruition Thursday.

“John Bolton was by far the most dangerous man we had in the entire eight years of the Bush Administration,” Painter tweeted last Friday. “Hiring him as the president’s top national security advisor is an invitation to war, perhaps nuclear war.”

Painter ended his post with a blunt and stark sentence: “this must be stopped at all costs.” He also linked to an article in the Atlantic titled “Hiring John Bolton Would Be a Betrayal of Donald Trump’s Base.”

View the complete March 22, 2018, commentary by Ben Brimelow on The Business Insider website here.

Former Bush official Richard Painter: “Substantial chance” Trump is being blackmailed by Putin

President Donald Trump has fulfilled almost all of Vladimir Putin’s dreams and plans to expand the global power of Russia by diminishing the power, respect and influence of the United States.

The New York Times reported this week that during the past year Donald Trump repeatedly and in private expressed the desire to withdraw the United States from the NATO alliance. Beyond an almost heretofore unthinkable betrayal of one of the most successful alliances in modern history — and one founded by the United States after World War II to counter the influence and power of the former Soviet Union in a war — such a move could be seen as surrendering Europe to Vladimir Putin and Russia.

This is one more example of Donald Trump’s behavior that validates the logic and reasoning behind the counterintelligence investigation opened by the FBI in 2017, in order to determine whether the president of the United States, is actually a Russian asset.

View the complete January 17 article by Chauncey DeVega on the Salon website here.

MSNBC panel erupts after former White House ethics chief makes fun of Trump

The following article by Noor Al-Sibai was posted on the Raw Story website August 30, 2018:


Ex-White House ethics chief Richard Painter (left) and MSNBC host Ayman Mohyeldin. Images via screengrab

While calling Donald Trump out on his latest “nonsense,” George W. Bush’s former White House ethics chief inadvertently told a joke that made an entire MSNBC panel burst into laughter.

“He’s accusing Robert Mueller of being a Democrat,” ex-White House ethics chief Richard Painter said, adding that “everybody in Washington knew that Robert Mueller was a Republican coming into the Bush administration at the FBI.”

Painter added that “the only evidence” Trump has of Mueller’s Democratic leanings is that “he played on the same high school hockey team as John Kerry.”

View the complete article here.

Richard Painter Refuses to Say He’s a Democrat

Today, less than three weeks before the DFL Primary, lifelong Republican Richard Painter refused to say he’s a Democrat. Painter claims he wants to focus on the “issues,” but four months ago Painter had no problem publicly declaring himself a Republican. What gives?

Well, Painter is now running in a DFL Primary – not because he believes in the DFL Party or the values DFLers fight for, but because he viewed it as an easier path than running as a Republican.

Minnesota Democrats should not be fooled by Painter’s blatant political opportunism and attempt to deceive voters.

Don’t believe us? Here’s Painter in his own words: Continue reading “Richard Painter Refuses to Say He’s a Democrat”