Tag: Trump White House

Trump’s Oval Office was nicknamed ‘the Star Wars bar’ because so many bizarre characters would hang out there, Wolff says

White House staffers got so used to seeing a vast retinue of unlikely figures in President Donald Trump’s Oval Office that they nicknamed it the ‘Star Wars bar,’ according to Michael Wolff, author of a new exposé on the Trump administration. 

In an interview with The Times of London published Wednesday,Wolff discussed his new book, “Landslide,” which the newspaper has been publishing excerpts of.

In the interview, Wolff claims that he travelled to meet Trump at his Mar-a-Lago resort despite the unflattering portrayal of the former president in his two previous books on his time as president.  Continue reading.

Pence chief of staff made key decision that paved way for masks to be politicized: new book

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In 2020 Marc Short, the chief of staff to then-Vice President Mike Pence, made a fateful decision that paved the way for the politicization of wearing masks. Had he chosen differently there’s no question countless lives could have been saved.

Short, who once served as the executive director of the far right Young America’s Foundation, “focused on the political and economic implications of the coronavirus response and approached many public health decisions by considering how they would be perceived,” The Washington Post reveals. That report comes from a deep-dive into the Trump pandemic response detailed in the new book, “Nightmare Scenario: Inside the Trump Administration’s Response to the Pandemic That Changed History,” by Washington Post journalists Yasmeen Abutaleb and Damian Paletta.

In possibly the most damaging of those decisions, Short nixed a plan, which was far along enough to have a PR campaign already created, to send face masks to every household in America. The Dept. of Health and Human Services was backing the program, while other reports have revealed the U.S. Postal Service was also working on it. Continue reading.

Meadows Pressed Justice Dept. to Investigate Election Fraud Claims

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Emails show the increasingly urgent efforts by President Trump and his allies during his last days in office to find some way to undermine, or even nullify, the election results.

WASHINGTON — In Donald J. Trump’s final weeks in office, Mark Meadows, his chief of staff, repeatedly pushed the Justice Department to investigate unfounded conspiracy theories about the 2020 presidential election, according to newly uncovered emails provided to Congress, portions of which were reviewed by The New York Times.

In five emails sent during the last week of December and early January, Mr. Meadows asked Jeffrey A. Rosen, then the acting attorney general, to examine debunked claims of election fraud in New Mexico and an array of baseless conspiracies that held that Mr. Trump had been the actual victor. That included a fantastical theory that people in Italy had used military technology and satellites to remotely tamper with voting machines in the United States and switch votes for Mr. Trump to votes for Joseph R. Biden Jr.

None of the emails show Mr. Rosen agreeing to open the investigations suggested by Mr. Meadows, and former officials and people close to him said that he did not do so. An email to another Justice Department official indicated that Mr. Rosen had refused to broker a meeting between the F.B.I. and a man who had posted videos online promoting the Italy conspiracy theory, known as Italygate. Continue reading.

Trump is refusing to hand over key records — leaving a big gap in the historical record

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Public figures live on within the words they are remembered by. To understand the effect they had on history, their words need to be documented. No one is absolutely sure of exactly what Abraham Lincoln said in his most famous speech, the Gettysburg Address. Five known manuscripts exist, but all of them are slightly different. Every newspaper story from the day contains a different account.

In the case of modern presidents, for the official record, we rely upon transcriptions of all their speeches collected by the national government.

But in the case of Donald Trump, that historical record is likely to have a big gap. Almost 10% of the president’s total public speeches are excluded from the official record. And that means a false picture of the Trump presidency is being created in the official record for posterity. Continue reading.

Former Trump and GOP officials celebrate the fall of ‘mean’ Matt Gaetz: ‘He’s a blight on the conference’

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Former officials in President Donald Trump White House and the Republican Party were “gloating” Tuesday night when it was revealed that Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) was being investigated by the Justice Department for possible sex trafficking, Business Insider reported.

Gaetz, who is the “subject” of an investigation, could end up being indicted if evidence is found of a crime. It’s possible he could also be completely vindicated. But the latter didn’t matter as Republicans joined with jubilation to celebrate what they thought was Gaetz’s fall. One former senior Trump White House aide was on multiple text chains with former colleagues gossiping about the deluge of news about Gaetz’s legal predicament.

“The former Trump aides aren’t necessarily happy to see the three-term lawmaker in trouble, but they ‘feel a little vindicated,'” BI said, citing a former White House staffer. “He’s the meanest person in politics.” Continue reading.

Jared Kushner stuck taxpayers with massive hotel bill weeks before leaving White House

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Jared Kushner left taxpayers with a hefty bill for his last official trip to Israel just weeks before his father-in-law Donald Trump left the White House.

The former White House senior adviser billed taxpayers $24,335 in room and board for the visit, which also raised new questions about Kushner making deals on the government dime that benefited him and his family’s business interests, reported The Daily Beast.

The expenditure was filed under “Accommodation and Food Services” in a publicly available spending database maintained by the federal government, and Kushner took part in a ceremony at the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem, where a courtyard was named in his honor. Continue reading.

Watch GOP Rep. Ronny Jackson flee a reporter asking about a report on his ‘sexual and denigrating’ behavior

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Republican Rep. Ronny Jackson of Texas has been facing a scandal involving his conduct while serving as White House medical adviser — a position he held under President Barack Obama and later, under President Donald Trump. The U.S. Department of Defense Inspector General’s Office, following an investigation, has concluded that Jackson made “sexual and denigrating” commentsabout a female medical subordinate. And when CNN reporter Daniella Diaz asked Jackson about the allegations, the GOP congressman couldn’t get away from her fast enough.

According to CNN reporters Manu Raju, Barbara Starr, Zachary Cohen and Oren Liebermann, “After interviewing 78 witnesses and reviewing a host of White House documents, investigators concluded that Jackson, who achieved the rank of rear admiral (in the U.S. Navy), failed to treat his subordinates with dignity and respect, engaged in inappropriate conduct…. On a presidential trip to Manila from April 22, 2014, to April 29, 2014, four witnesses who traveled with then-President Barack Obama and Jackson said that Jackson became intoxicated and made inappropriate comments about a female medical subordinate.”

When Diaz saw Jackson, she introduced herself and told him, “I’m wondering if we could get your reaction to the report we broke last night” — and he abruptly responded, “I’ve already submitted a segment.” Continue reading.

Acting Defense Secretary Chris Miller Praises Russia, Says He ‘Can’t Wait To Leave’ His Job

Reporters stunned by Miller’s odd, rambling comments.

Acting Defense Secretary Christopher Miller stunned reporters with a bizarre, meandering interview in which he praised Russia and said he can’t wait to quit his post, according to a transcript released Friday.

Miller, appointed just two months ago by President Donald Trump, told reporters Thursday on a flight back to Washington that he had “professional respect for how they do things” in Russia. He said the nation had been dealt a “bad hand,” and played it “very, very well.” 

Miller added: “I kind of, you know, like, professionally, I’m like, wow, they’re doing pretty well, and they’re using a lot of irregular warfare concepts, information, all this stuff, in a way that, you know, like … good on them.” Continue reading.

Alex Azar resigns as Health and Human Services Secretary, citing Capitol mob

Azar said his resignation would become effective on Jan. 20th, which is the same date he would have been leaving office once President-elect Joe Biden is sworn in.

Alex Azar, the Health and Human Services Secretary, resigned earlier this week, citing the violent Capitol riot inflamed by President Donald Trump in his resignation letter obtained by NBC News.

Azar said his resignation would become effective on Jan. 20th — the same date he would have been leaving office once President-elect Joe Biden is sworn in. The letter was dated Jan. 12, almost a week after the riot.

He said that the attack — which left five people dead and many injured — and the president’s slow response to condemn it, threaten to “tarnish” the achievements the administration has made over the past four years. In particular, Operation Warp Speed, which led to the creation of two vaccines to combat the raging coronavirus pandemic. Continue reading.

White House readying last-minute $27B spending cuts plan

‘Rescissions’ package can be undone by Biden administration, ignored by Democrats

The Trump administration was preparing a $27.4 billion package of spending rescissions to send to Capitol Hill, likely on Wednesday, which once sent will place a temporary hold on the funds at least until President-elect Joe Biden’s budget team gets situated.

The rescissions request, which allows the executive branch to try to cancel previously appropriated funds if Congress agrees, is almost twice as large as the $15.2 billion rescissions request he sent to Congress in 2018. At the time that package, which ultimately was blocked in the Senate, was the largest in history.

The new cuts package, described by sources familiar with it on condition of anonymity, is also orders of magnitude bigger than the nearly $4 billion in spending items President Donald Trump critiqued in the $1.4 trillion fiscal 2021 omnibus appropriations package.  Continue reading.