Tag: White House

Trump told Russian officials in 2017 he wasn’t concerned about Moscow’s interference in U.S. election

Washington Post logoPresident Trump told two senior Russian officials in a 2017 Oval Office meeting that he was unconcerned about Moscow’s interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election because the United States did the same in other countries, an assertion that prompted alarmed White House officials to limit access to the remarks to an unusually small number of people, according to three former officials with knowledge of the matter.

The comments, which have not been previously reported, were part of a now-infamous meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak, in which Trump revealed highly classified information that exposed a source of intelligence on the Islamic State. He also said during the meeting that firing FBI Director James B. Comey the previous day had relieved “great pressure” on him.

A memorandum summarizing the meeting was limited to a few officials with the highest security clearances in an attempt to keep the president’s comments from being disclosed publicly, according to the former officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive matters.

View the complete September 27 article by Shane Harris, Josh Dawsey and Ellen Nakashima on The Washington Post website here.

Kushner owns lots of Baltimore-area apartments. Some are infested with mice.

Washington Post logoIn a now-viral tweetstorm on Saturday, President Trump characterized Rep. Elijah E. Cummings’s Baltimore-based congressional district as a “rodent infested mess” where “no human” would want to live.

His criticism rang with a particular irony in Baltimore County, where presidential son-in-law Jared Kushner owns more than a dozen apartment complexes that have been cited for hundreds of code violations and, critics say, provide substandard housing to lower-income tenants.

In an interview Saturday, Baltimore County Executive John A. Olszewski Jr. condemned Trump’s comments as “an attack on basic decency.”

View the complete July 28 article by Rebecca Tan on The Washington Post website here.

Trump floated a Putin visit to the White House in a March 20 phone call

The following article y Anton Troianovski was posted on the Washington Post website April 2, 2018:

MOSCOW — President Trump proposed meeting Vladimir Putin at the White House in a March phone call, the Kremlin said Monday, a fresh revelation about a conversation that stirred controversy over Trump’s friendly tone toward the Russian leader amid mounting tensions with the West.

After the March 20 phone call — in which Trump congratulated Putin for a reelection victory in a vote widely criticized as not free and fair — Trump told reporters that the two leaders had discussed a possible meeting to discuss Syria, Ukraine, North Korea and “the arms race.” He did not mention any meeting venues at that time. Continue reading “Trump floated a Putin visit to the White House in a March 20 phone call”

We got a glimpse of Trump negotiating today. It … wasn’t great.

The following article by Aaron Blake was posted on the Washington Post website January 9, 2018:

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) voiced disagreements about immigration issues at meeting with President Trump on Jan. 9. (Photo: Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post)

White House officials made the unusual decision Tuesday to allow cameras to film a nearly hour-long immigration meeting with a bipartisan group of lawmakers. They probably wish they hadn’t.

For a moment, Democrats thought they had struck an unexpected deal with President Trump. Trump had previously insisted that any deal protecting “dreamers” — undocumented immigrants brought to the United States as children — should also include border security and/or a border wall. But he now says that he would support a “clean” bill protecting dreamers, and then take up comprehensive immigration reform later. Continue reading “We got a glimpse of Trump negotiating today. It … wasn’t great.”

Trump lawyer seeks to block insider book on White House

The following article by Josh Dawsey and Ashley Parker was posted on the Washington Post website January 4, 2018:

President Trump used to have kind words for his former chief strategist Stephen K. Bannon, but things changed with his scathing statement on Jan. 3. (Jenny Starrs/The Washington Post)

A lawyer representing President Trump sought Thursday to stop the publication of a new behind-the-scenes book about the White House that has already led Trump to angrily decry his former chief strategist Stephen K. Bannon.

The legal notice — addressed to author Michael Wolff and the president of the book’s publisher — said Trump’s lawyers were pursuing possible charges including libel in connection with the forthcoming book, “Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House.”

The letter by Beverly Hills-based attorney Charles J. Harder demanded the publisher, Henry Holt and Co., “immediately cease and desist from any further publication, release or dissemination of the book” or excerpts and summaries of its contents. The lawyers also seek a full copy of the book as part of their investigation.

The latest twist in the showdown came after lawyers accused Bannon of breaching a confidentiality agreement and Trump denounced his former aide as a self-aggrandizing political charlatan who has “lost his mind.”

It marked an abrupt and furious rupture with the onetime confidant that could have lasting political impact on the November midterms and beyond.

The Fix’s Callum Borchers lists three takeaways from the book “Fire and Fury” by Michael Wolff about President Trump’s campaign and first year in office. (Video: Bastien Inzaurralde/Photo: Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post)

The White House’s sharp public break with Bannon, which came in response to unflattering comments he made about Trump and his family in a new book about his presidency, left the self-fashioned populist alienated from his chief patron and even more isolated in his attempts to remake the Republican Party by backing insurgent candidates.

Late Wednesday, lawyers for Trump sent a cease-and-desist letter to Bannon, arguing he violated the employment agreement he signed with the Trump Organization in numerous ways and also may have defamed the president. They ordered that he stop communicating either confidential and or disparaging information, and preserve all records in preparation for “imminent” legal action. Continue reading “Trump lawyer seeks to block insider book on White House”

CNN anchor gets House Republican to admit he communicated with the White House on Mueller

The following article by Aaron Rupar was posted on the ThinkProgress website December 21, 2017:

Jim Jordan went on CNN to defend his Comey/Clinton conspiracy theory. It did not go well.

During a CNN interview on Wednesday evening, Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) admitted that he’s discussed Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into the Trump campaign with the White House.

Asked by anchor John Berman if he’s “had conversations with the White House about the Mueller investigation,” Jordan initially tried to talk over Berman and ignore the question. But under sustained grilling, Jordan eventually admitted that he has in fact discussed the investigation with Trump administration officials.

“Well of co– I talk with the White House about all kinds of things,” Jordan said. “We’ve had talks with the White House about tax policy, we have talks about welfare policy, we had talks about Obamacare — of course we’ve had talks with the White House.” Continue reading “CNN anchor gets House Republican to admit he communicated with the White House on Mueller”

White House Chief Of Staff Discussed Departure Of Ivanka And Jared

The following article by Chris Riotta with Newsweek was posted on the National Memo website November 25, 2017:

Donald Trump’s White House may no longer be a family-run business in the years ahead, if Chief of Staff John Kelly’s conversations with the president’s advisers reflect a possible foreshadowing of departures among the first family.

The former secretary of national security—now tasked with heading Trump’s day-to-day operations in the West Wing—has discussed the possibility of Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump bowing out of the administration by 2018, the New York Times’ Maggie Haberman, Peter Baker and Sharon LaFraniere reported Saturday. The developments follow similar reports indicating Trump himself has questioned whether the first daughter and her husband should remain in the White House amid negative press surrounding their involvement in his administration. Continue reading “White House Chief Of Staff Discussed Departure Of Ivanka And Jared”

Mueller requested DOJ hand over documents related to Comey firing: report

The following article by Olivia Beavers was posted on the Hill website November 19, 2017:

© Getty Images

Special counsel Robert Mueller asked the Justice Department within the past month to turn over a wide array of documents as part of its ongoing investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election, ABC News reported Sunday.

His team is particularly interested in materials that relate to Trump’s dismissal of former FBI Director James Comey and Attorney General Jeff Sessions‘s decision to recuse himself from the Russia probe earlier this year, a source who was told about the request informed ABC News. Continue reading “Mueller requested DOJ hand over documents related to Comey firing: report”

Stephen Miller solidifies influence in White House

The following article by Jordan Fabian was posted on the Hill website October 5, 2017:

Kellyanne Conway and Stephen Miller walk through the colonnade of the White House on February 10, 2017. Credit: Getty)

Stephen Miller is a survivor in President Trump’s White House.

The young policy aide has solidified his influence, even as would-be allies such as Stephen Bannon have been forced out of the West Wing.

In just the past month, he played a key role in developing the administration’s new travel ban, pushed Trump to scrap an Obama-era program for young immigrants living illegally in the U.S. and argued for a historically low refugee cap. Continue reading “Stephen Miller solidifies influence in White House”

Fact-checking the White House’s rhetoric on the CBO report

The following article by Glenn Kessler and Michelle Ye Hee Lee was posted on the Washington Post website March 14, 2017:

White House press secretary Sean Spicer offered a number of attacks and claims during a news briefing dominated by the new Congressional Budget Office report on the House Republican replacement bill for the Affordable Care Act. The report estimated that 24 million fewer people would have health insurance in 2026 if the law were approved in its current form, causing political headaches for the effort to replace Obamacare. Here’s a guide to his rhetoric.

“CBO coverage estimates are consistently wrong and more importantly do not take into consideration the comprehensive nature of this three-prong plan to repeal and replace Obamacare with the American Health Care Act.”

Continue reading “Fact-checking the White House’s rhetoric on the CBO report”