Tag: Trump lack of transparency

The IRS turned over Nixon’s tax returns the same day a congressional panel asked for them

Washington Post logoThe Internal Revenue Service turned President Richard Nixon’s tax returns over to a congressional committee the same day in 1973 that the panel requested them for a review, according to letters released by House Democrats on Thursday.

The newly released documents appear to contradict the Trump administration’s claims that House Democrats’ demands for the president’s tax returns are “unprecedented,” and suggest a split between this administration and past IRS officials over the interpretation of the law.

Congressional Republicans denied any similarity between the two episodes, pointing out that Nixon requested the investigation into his returns while Trump has not.

View the complete July 25 article by Jeff Stein on The Washington Post website here.

Trump has spent about 60 percent of his time over the last 3 months in ‘Executive Time’: Leaked White House schedules

Credit: Jabin Botsford, The Washington Post

Donald Trump spent more than 60 percent of his time over the past 3 months in “Executive Time,” according to a White House source who leaked copies of the president’s private schedule to Axios.

“Executive Time” is a loosely-defined title for the time Trump takes to watch television, engage with Twitter and make phone calls to friends and confidants. As Axios reports, Trump “usually spends the first 5 hours of the day” in “Executive Time.”

Six sources also told Axios that while Trump’s schedule claims he’s in the Oval Office from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m. everyday, in reality the president “spends his mornings in the residence, watching TV, reading the papers, and responding to what he sees and reads” in phone calls with associates.

View the complete February 3 article by Elizabeth Preza on the AlterNet website here.

President Trump Told Sarah Huckabee Sanders ‘Not to Bother’ Briefing Reporters

Credit: Chip Somodevilla, Getty Images

NEW YORK — President Donald Trump says he directed White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders not to bother with the traditional daily briefing of reporters.

The last briefing took place on Dec. 18.

In a tweet on Tuesday, the president said the press covers Sanders “so rudely & inaccurately, in particular certain members of the press.

View the complete January 23 article by David Bauder with the Associated Press on the Time website here.

Dems Wrote Memo To Set Up White House, Trump Says

The following article by John T. Bennett was posted on the Roll Call website February 10, 2018:]

President: Intel Dems wanted to ‘blame the White House for lack of transparency’

President Trump speaks in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building last month, blasting House Intelligence Democrats over a rebuttal memo of which he is blocking the release. Credit: Alex Wong/Getty Images

President Donald Trump is accusing House Intelligence Committee Democrats with purposely crafting their rebuttal memo about FBI and Justice Department officials’ actions early in the Russia election meddling probe in a way that would back his White House into a corner.

The president used a Saturday tweet to explain his Friday night decision to block the release of the Democratic document that counters one released last week by the panel’s Republicans. Trump claims the Democrats crafted “a very political and long response memo which they knew, because of sources and methods (and more), would have to be heavily redacted.”

The GOP president accused the committee’s Democrats with crafting their document so they could “blame the White House for lack of transparency.” Continue reading “Dems Wrote Memo To Set Up White House, Trump Says”