Tag: Trump attack on the U.S. Constitution

Trump lashes out at New York Times for Mueller reporting

President Trump on Thursday lashed out at The New York Times for reporting that members of special counsel Robert Mueller’s team have concerns with Attorney General William Barr‘s summary of its report on the Russia investigation.

“The New York Times had no legitimate sources, which would be totally illegal, concerning the Mueller Report. In fact, they probably had no sources at all! They are a Fake News paper who have already been forced to apologize for their incorrect and very bad reporting on me!” Trump tweeted.

The Times report detailed concerns from unidentified investigators that Mueller’s findings are worse for Trump than Barr’s summary made them appear.

View the complete April 4 article by Jordan Fabian on The Hill website here.

Trump promises executive order that could strip colleges of funding if they don’t ‘support free speech’

A new executive order from the White House will aim to make federal research funding for colleges and universities contingent on their support for “free speech,” President Trump said Saturday.

The announcement, during Trump’s address to the Conservative Political Action Conference, appeared to target complaints by some university critics that institutions of higher education stifle right-wing viewpoints.

“If they want our dollars, and we give it to them by the billions, they’ve got to allow people like Hayden and many great young people, and old people, to speak,” Trump said, bringing onstage a young conservative, Hayden Williams, who was physically attacked last month while tabling for a conservative organization at the University of California at Berkeley.

View the complete March 2 article by Brian Fung on The Washington Post website here.

Trump declares New York Times ‘enemy of the people’

President Trump on Wednesday labeled The New York Times “a true enemy of the people” one day after an extensive report detailing the ways in which he has sought to influence the investigations into his presidency and allies.

“The New York Times reporting is false,” Trump tweeted. “They are a true ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE!”

The president’s tweet did not refute any specific reporting from the Times, but marked yet another escalation in his sustained attacks on his hometown paper and the media as a whole.

Inside President Donald Trump’s two-year war on the investigations encircling him

An examination by the New York Times reveals the extent of the president’s sustained and secret assault on the machinery of federal law enforcement.

WASHINGTON – As federal prosecutors in Manhattan gathered evidence late last year about President Donald Trump’s role in silencing women with hush payments during the 2016 campaign, Trump called Matthew Whitaker, his newly installed attorney general, with a question. He asked whether Geoffrey S. Berman, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York and a Trump ally, could be put in charge of the widening investigation, according to several U.S. officials with direct knowledge of the call.

Whitaker, who had privately told associates that part of his role at the Justice Department was to “jump on a grenade” for the president, knew he could not put Berman in charge because Berman had already recused himself from the investigation. The president soon soured on Whitaker, as he often does with his aides, and complained about his inability to pull levers at the Justice Department that could make the president’s many legal problems go away.

Trying to install a perceived loyalist atop a widening inquiry is a familiar tactic for Trump, who has been struggling to beat back the investigations that have consumed his presidency. His efforts have exposed him to accusations of obstruction of justice as Robert Mueller, the special counsel, finishes his work investigating Russian interference in the 2016 election.

View the complete February 20 article by Mark Mazzetti, Maggie Haberman, Nicholas Fandos and Michael S. Schmidt of The New York Times on The Star Tribune website here.

McCabe: GOP Leaders Didn’t Object To FBI Probe Of Trump As Security Threat

Andrew McCabe Credit: Pete Marovich, Getty Images

On the Today show Tuesday, former acting FBI director Andrew McCabe revealed that congressional leaders — including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell — did not object to the FBI opening a counterintelligence investigation into whether Trump was a threat to national security.

“No one objected,” McCabe said, when asked whether he had discussed the investigation with the “Gang of Eight” congressional leaders who get briefed on classified intelligence. “Not on legal grounds, not on constitutional grounds, and not based on the facts.”

The FBI opened its investigation into a sitting president, McCabe said, because “we had information that led us to believe that there might be a threat to national security — in this case that the president himself might, in fact, be a threat to the United States’ national security.”

View the complete article by Dan Desai Martin with the American Independent on the National Memo website here.

White House Correspondents’ Association condemns attack on journalist at Trump rally

A man is restrained after shoving a BBC cameraman during a rally for President Trump in El Paso. Credit: Eric Gay, AP Photo

The White House Correspondents’ Association called on President Donald Trump on Tuesday to make it clear to his supporters that violence against journalists is unacceptable, following an attack on a BBC cameraman at the president’s rally the previous evening.

Olivier Knox, the president of the association, said in a statement that the organization “condemns the physical attack on our colleague at the president’s rally in El Paso, Texas.”

“We are relieved that, this time, no one was seriously hurt,” he said. “The president of the United States should make absolutely clear to his supporters that violence against reporters is unacceptable.”

View the complete February 12 article by Rebecca Morin on the Politico website here.

White House threatening to again pull Acosta press credentials: CNN

The White House is threatening to again pull CNN correspondent Jim Acosta’s press credentials after a court-ordered temporary restoration expires at the end of the month, the network reported late Sunday.

“Friday’s court ruling means that a temporary restraining order is in effect for 14 days. But [White House] officials sent Acosta a letter stating that his press pass is set to be suspended again once the restraining order expires,” reported CNN senior media correspondent Brian Stelter.

CNN argued in a statement provided to Stelter that the action would threaten “all journalists and news organizations.”

View the complete November 19 article by Joe Concha on The Hill website here.

Judge orders White House to reinstate Acosta’s press credentials

A federal judge on Friday ordered the Trump administration to reinstate press credentials for Jim Acosta, CNN’s chief White House correspondent.

U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly, who was appointed to the bench by President Trump, granted CNN’s request to restore the press pass for Acosta, giving him regular access to the White House grounds to cover events and press conferences.

“I want to emphasize the very limited nature of this ruling,” Kelly said Friday in granting the temporary restraining order in favor of CNN.

View the complete November 16 article by Lydia Wheeler on The Hill website here.

White House suspends press pass of CNN’s Jim Acosta after his testy exchange with Trump

A video tweeted by White House press secretary Sarah Sanders of CNN reporter Jim Acosta is seen alongside the original feed aired by C-Span. (Adriana Usero/The Washington Post)

The White House suspended the press credentials of CNN reporter Jim Acosta on Wednesday, hours after President Trump took issue with questions Acosta asked at a news conference.

The move to punish Acosta by removing his access to the White House is believed to be unprecedented. The Trump administration barred another CNN reporter from attending an open media event in July but until now has not gone as far as removing a credential, known as a “hard pass,” which enables a journalist to enter the White House grounds.

Press secretary Sarah Sanders cited Acosta’s brief confrontation with a White House press aide during Trump’s midday news conference as the reason for suspending his press pass “until further notice.”

View the complete November 8 article by Amy B. Wang and Paul Farhi on The Washington Post website here.

Trump Praises Gianforte for Physically Assaulting Reporter

‘Any guy who can do a body slam — he’s my guy,’ president says

Credit: News Live Insanemrbrain via YouTube screengrab

President Donald Trump on Thursday praised Montana Rep. Greg Gianforte for physically assaulting a reporter on the eve of a special election last year.

Addressing a rally in Missoula on his third trip to Montana this year, Trump at first only alluded to the 2017 incident. “Never wrestle him,” he said after calling Gianforte onstage.

But then the president went further.

View the complete October 18 article by Simone Pathé on the Roll Call website here.