Trump Presidency

[XtremeJibber2001]

Some winning today - sanctions on Deripaska (Manafort’s buddy) were lifted today!

[Kpdemello]

#winning

https://www.newsweek.com/mueller-report ... 9541?amp=1" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[XtremeJibber2001]

#winning

https://www.newsweek.com/mueller-report ... 9541?amp=1" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Bernstein? No credibility/sarcasm

“Legendary journalist Carl Bernstein has said that he’s been told that special counsel Robert Mueller’s report will show how President Donald Trump helped Russia “destabilize the United States.”

[XtremeJibber2001]

Trump has set the table for Democrats .... their 2020 moto just needs to be 'Fck Russia' and if you're pro-Trump you're pro-Russia.

[XtremeJibber2001]

President Trump went to 'extraordinary lengths' to hide details of Putin meetings, report says
William Cummings, USA TODAY Published 5:46 p.m. ET Jan. 13, 2019 | Updated 7:42 a.m. ET Jan. 14, 2019

President Donald Trump went to "extraordinary lengths" to keep details from his conversations with Russian President Vladimir Putin secret – even from officials within his own administration, The Washington Post reported this weekend, citing unnamed sources.

After meeting with Putin at the 2017 Group of 20 summit in Hamburg, Germany, Trump took his interpreter's notes and told him not to discuss the meeting with anyone, including other U.S. officials, the Post reported.

The paper said Trump's handling of the Hamburg meeting was "part of a broader pattern by the president of shielding his communications with Putin from public scrutiny and preventing even high-ranking officials in his own administration from fully knowing what he has told one of the United States’ main adversaries."

No detailed record exists from five of Trump's interactions with the Russian leader since taking office, the Post reported. It was unclear if that was the only time Trump took his interpreters' notes, but the paper said several administration officials have been unable to obtain a readout from his meeting last year with Putin in Helsinki.

Former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson was present at the meeting in Hamburg. The Post said Tillerson did not answer questions about Trump asking the interpreter to keep details of the meeting quiet, or if Trump took the interpreter's notes.

Fiona Hill, a senior Russia adviser on the National Security Council, and former State Department official John Heffern asked Trump's interpreter for more information about the Hamburg meeting, which is how they learned of the president's request to keep the details under wraps, the Post reported.

In a news conference after the meeting, Tillerson said Putin denied interfering in the 2016 election, but refused to say how Trump responded to the denial, per the Post. Officials told the Post that the only detail from the meeting that the interpreter did share was that Trump told Putin, "I believe you."

Trump denied the report during an interview with Fox News host Jeanine Pirro on Saturday. He called the Post "basically the lobbyist for Amazon," because it is owned by the tech giant's CEO Jeff Bezos, a Trump critic.

"I’m not keeping anything under wraps," Trump said. "I couldn't care less."

"I have a one-on-one meeting with Putin like I do with every other leader. I have many one-on-one, nobody ever says anything about it," Trump told Pirro. "But with Putin, they say, 'Oh, what did they talk about?'"

"I meet with Putin, and they make a big deal. Anybody could have listened to that meeting. that meeting is up for grabs," Trump said, adding that he and Putin spoke about Israel and "lots of other things."

Trump dismissed the "whole Russia thing" as a "terrible hoax" and said he won in 2016 because he "was a better candidate than Hillary Clinton," not because of collusion with Russian efforts to undermine her campaign.

"The fact is, I was obviously a good candidate. I won every debate. I won everything I did, and I won, and I won easily – 306-223, I believe," Trump said, referring to his performance in the Electoral College.

Democrats were alarmed by The Washington Post report.

Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., has sought details from Trump's meetings with Putin and, after the 2018 Helsinki meeting, called for the president's interpreter to testify before Congress.

In August, she and Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., sent Secretary of State Mike Pompeo a letter requesting records from that meeting, including the interpreter's notes. They cited the "extraordinary and, to our knowledge, unprecedented circumstances of President Trump’s two hour, one-on-one meeting with a leader identified as a threat to the United States by President Trump’s own National Security Strategy."

"When he takes the interpreter's notes and wants to destroy them so no one can see what was said in written transcript, you know it raises serious questions about the relationship between this president and Putin," Sen. Dick Durbin said Sunday on ABC's "This Week."

Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., said if the Post's report is accurate, Trump "broke all protocol."

"The American government does not know what was discussed between Trump and Vladimir Putin in that, frankly, pathetic, embarrassing encounter where Trump was kowtowing on the world stage to Vladimir Putin in Helsinki," Warner, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, said on CNN's "State of the Union."

[Kpdemello]

I read that story too. I don't know how any objective observer can read that and not be concerned, especially in light of everything else that's going on. His supporters really have their heads stuck in the sand over this. I hope the FBI or someone subpoena's those notes and that interpreter. Maybe it's all innocent but this smells.

[brownman]

Pretty funny watching Wally deny he works for Russia.
That makes it official.

[XtremeJibber2001]

Anyway, Trump is just 4 points away from the highest disapproval rating of his presidency ... so we have that!

EDIT: Oh and the shutdown is within days of becoming the longest on record. That's some winning right there!

Trump @ 55.5 disapproval ... almost winning. He's polling the lowest in his presidency among Caucasians without college degrees.

Shutdown is now historic ...

[MarieM]

57% disapproval
#LameDuck
http://maristpoll.marist.edu/wp-content ... pdf#page=3" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[XtremeJibber2001]

57% disapproval
#LameDuck
http://maristpoll.marist.edu/wp-content ... pdf#page=3" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Still has time to beat GWB's record of 71% in 2008, lowest in history. It's important to note in September of 2001 GWB's approval rating was 92% ... which he squandered.

[brownman]

Yeah .. his record breaking performance, 'the likes of which the world has never seen before', will include WPOAT ..
Why do we need a State of the Union message anyway? Everyone knows we are in a state of chaos and displeasure.

Best fallback position Wally has now is a Booger King franchise .. he's only good at flipping covfefe burders.

[Bubba]

Giuliani last year said collusion is not a crime. Now he says he never categorically denied that the campaign colluded with Russia, only that Trump himself didn't. Trump keeps saying no collusion by the campaign or himself personally.

Message to Giuliani: Loose lips sink ships.

[Kpdemello]

Liar in chief, along with his lying sidekick lawyer, doing their thing...

President Trump's personal attorney, Rudolph Giuliani, claimed Wednesday night that he "never said there was no collusion" between members of President Trump's 2016 presidential campaign and Russian officials -- but he did say that Trump himself never colluded with Russian officials ... The former New York City mayor also said on CNN's "Cuomo Prime Time" that "if the collusion happened, it happened a long time ago. It's either provable or it's not. It is not provable because it never happened ... I'm telling you there's no chance it happened." Trump previously denied any member of his campaign conspired with Russian officials. In May 2017, Trump flatly stated: "There is no collusion, certainly myself and my campaign."

https://www.foxnews.com/us/fox-news-fir ... ks-on-wall" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Meanwhile, don't we know from court filings that Manafort, Trump's one time campaign manager, not only had connections but was sharing data with the Russians? I mean that's pretty damning.

[Kpdemello]

Oh, check out this gem:

The head of a small polling firm used by President Trump's campaign during the 2016 election says that Michael Cohen, Trump's former lawyer, hired his firm to rig two online polls in the president's favor and paid less than half of what was owed in cash.

https://thehill.com/homenews/news/42578 ... rt-of-bill" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

More #winning?

[XtremeJibber2001]

Liar in chief, along with his lying sidekick lawyer, doing their thing...

President Trump's personal attorney, Rudolph Giuliani, claimed Wednesday night that he "never said there was no collusion" between members of President Trump's 2016 presidential campaign and Russian officials -- but he did say that Trump himself never colluded with Russian officials ... The former New York City mayor also said on CNN's "Cuomo Prime Time" that "if the collusion happened, it happened a long time ago. It's either provable or it's not. It is not provable because it never happened ... I'm telling you there's no chance it happened." Trump previously denied any member of his campaign conspired with Russian officials. In May 2017, Trump flatly stated: "There is no collusion, certainly myself and my campaign."

https://www.foxnews.com/us/fox-news-fir ... ks-on-wall" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Meanwhile, don't we know from court filings that Manafort, Trump's one time campaign manager, not only had connections but was sharing data with the Russians? I mean that's pretty damning.

Even ZeroHedge is lacking it's normal commentary around this story.
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-01- ... rump-didnt