Week four of the first Trump trial

Judge Juan Merchan has found Donald Trump in contempt for violating the gag order in his hush money trial for the 10^th time and said he’ll consider jail time going forward. “Going forward, this court will have to consider a jail sanction,” Merchan said. “Mr. Trump, it’s important you understand, the last thing I want to do is put you in jail. You are the former president of the United States and possibly the next president as well. The magnitude of this decision is not lost on me but at the end of the day I have a job to do.”

Jurors saw handwritten notes penned by former Trump Org. CFO Allen Weisselberg and former Trump Org. controller Jeffrey McConney in January 2017 calculating a payment to Michael Cohen totalling $420,000. Weisselberg’s calculations were handwritten directly on an October 2016 bank statement for Essential Consultants – former Trump layer Michael Cohen’s LLC – including a line item for the $130,000 wire to Stormy Daniels’ then-lawyer Davidson tied to the hush money settlement to the adult film star to cover up an affair.

[Seems everyone is a former….]

During the testimony of Stormy Daniels, she went in detail on what happened between her and Trump which has Merchan to stop her. Trump’s lawyers wanted a mistrial which was denied. During her testimony, Trump was making expletive comments that were loud enough that shortly after Merchan told one of Trump’s lawyers that he could be in contempt.

[A failed attempt by Trump’s lawyers as a mistrial could delay a new trial into next year and if Trump is elected, he is expected to shut down any trials and legal problems he has.]

Merchan has denied the defence’s motion for a mistrial. Merchan says he disagrees with the Trump team’s assertion that Daniels gave a new account in her testimony this week. Before the ruling, Merchan says the jurors have to decide who they believe in the case of the encounter between Donald Trump and Daniels. He notes that the people do not have to prove the encounter happened but because the defense has called her credibility into question, prosecutors have to make an effort to show her story is credible to prove their case.

“The more specificity Ms. Daniels can provide about the encounter, the more the jury can weigh whether the encounter did occur and if so whether they choose to credit Ms. Daniels’ story,” Merchan says.

Omarosa Manigault Newman who was on Trump’s Apprentice TV show and later in his administration mentioned that she and others in Trump’s administration were offered $20,000 a month [!] not to say anything about what goes on in the administration after signing a non-disclosure agreement. She declined.

[Unsure why she isn’t testifying unless something doesn’t add up or something we don’t know of.]

As he can’t say much about the trial, Trump called Merchan “totally corrupt” and “conflicted…. Take a look at his conflict, it’s a disgrace to the city of New York, to the state of New York and to the country.”

[Wouldn’t it be easier if he recorded these same old comments. He can probably add a few seconds to his life by not saying it live.]

Trump has turned sometimes to prepared speeches when he has left the courtroom.

[I guess he doesn’t want to ad lib something at that could get him in trouble.]

Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass confirms Karen McDougal — the model and actress who has said she was also paid to keep quiet about an affair with Trump — will not be called to take the stand.

Trump’s lawyers asked a New York appeals court to rule on their challenge to the gag order limiting what Trump can say about witnesses in the criminal hush money trial. Trump’s legal team filed an order to show cause, which has been sealed. The Manhattan district attorney’s office has opposed the filing, according to the docket.

In another case, Trump’s attorneys have found a new reason to seek to delay the classified documents case: Some of the documents found in boxes at Mar-a-Lago have shifted out of order since FBI agents seized them two years ago. Trump’s attorneys indicated in a filing that the shuffling of documents within boxes in evidence also could be grounds for the case to be tossed. They said they would file a motion to dismiss if the prosecution “cannot prove in a reliable way how it seized and handled the key evidence in the case, which will be a central issue at any trial.” Federal Judge Aileen Cannon paused the deadline the defendants faced this week for certain pretrial disclosures and said there would be a follow up order resetting pretrial deadlines and hearings.

Then Cannon finally blew the whole thing apart. In a ruling outlining a new schedule, Cannon not only moved the Section 5 deadline to June 17 [as Trump’s team had originally sought] but she also pulled the trial start date indefinitely. In part, she wrote, it was because of “the myriad and interconnected pretrial and CIPA issues” — presumably including the CIPA issues that had been left unresolved for a half-year. In the new order, she offered another accommodation for Trump’s team. In an April 22 filing, it argued that the “prosecution team” in this case should include “Agencies And Attorneys That Participated In The Investigation,” including, among others, the White House, National Archives and Secret Service.

[This was supposed to be probably the least complicated of the trials. There are some who are wondering how much of a career Cannon has left.]

When Trump sat with some of the country’s top oil executives at his Mar-a-Lago Club last month, one executive complained about how they continued to face burdensome environmental regulations despite spending $400 million to lobby the Biden administration in the last year. Trump said by giving his campaign $1 billion [you read right] to get him into the White House, he vowed to immediately reverse dozens of Biden’s environmental rules and policies and stop new ones from being enacted.

[Unsure how he will stop new ones from being created when in the House, the GOP has a razor thin majority and no majority in the senate. Unsure if they even can legally donate an accumulated $1 billion.]

Barron Trump, 18 and about to graduate high school, was named as a delegate at large for the GOP national convention in Milwaukee. Barron Trump’s half brothers Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr., along with his half sister Tiffany Trump [as Tiffany Boulos], were also nominated, according to a list of 41 delegates at-large released Wednesday by the Republican Party of Florida. Half sister Ivanka Trump was not on the list.

[So Barron only got in. What does that tell you? He’s the sanest or the craziest. You pick!]

President Biden was near Racine, Wis., at the site of the ill-fated Foxconn manufacturing campus that was promised by Trump, to announce Microsoft’s $3.3 billion investment in an AI data center. The investment is expected to create 2,000 permanent jobs and 2,300 temporary union construction jobs, and Microsoft will also invest in workforce training programs in the state.

In 2018, when Foxconn, at Trump’s urging, announced plans to create 13,000 good-paying jobs in Mount Pleasant, Wisc., he celebrated the company’s $10 billion venture outside Racine as the “Eighth Wonder of the World.” But the project accomplished little more than the destruction of 100 local homes and farms. In September 2020, Wisconsin state officials denied the Taiwanese company special tax credits, saying it had abandoned its original commitment, employed fewer than 520 people and spent just $300 million. Local taxpayers were left with a tab of more than $500 million for site preparation.

[I doubt it, but I hope some of those unemployed in Wisconsin will remember this mess Trump made in five months.]

In Trump’s failed social network, Trump says “[Chuck] Schumer’s girlfriend, Alison R. Greenfield, is running this case against me. How disgraceful! This case should be dismissed immediately!!”

[He loves his mistrials and dismissed cases. Next he will find out the bailiff’s great grandfather was a janitor for a Democrat and wants a mistrial.]

Recently, the US Environmental Protection Agency announced new rules that will require coal-fired power plants to either capture nearly all of their climate pollution or shut down by 2039. As well, the G7 group [which includes the US] plan on shutting down coal plants by 2035.

[If Trump gets in again, he will most likely drop out of both agreements. When he started his reign, one of the earlier things he did was promote filthy coal mining. In 2017, 1,058,000 tons of coal was mined. By the end of 2020 that dropped to 932,623 tons. 871,619 tons in 2022 [the last year of statistics available.]

Trump has secured an additional $1.8 billion worth of shares in Trump Media, according to a regulatory filing recently. Based on the company’s stock hitting certain price benchmarks, Trump was awarded an additional 36 million shares in the company that owns his social media platform Truth Social. That brings his total ownership to more than 114 million shares, which based on Wednesday morning’s stock price, are worth $5.7 billion. Trump only needed the stock to be above $17.50 each for 20 consecutive trading days to secure the new shares.

[I think that was too simple to meet. Stock hovering around $51 as of today.]

Week three of the first Trump trial

New York Judge Juan Merchan has ruled Donald Trump violated the gag order nine times [out of 10 with 4 to be determined] for criticizing expected trial witnesses in posts on social media and his campaign page. Trump must pay the $9,000 fine by the end of the week [which he did]. Merchan also threatened incarceration if Trump wilfully violates the gag order again, writing in his ruling, “THEREFORE, Defendant is hereby warned that the Court will not tolerate continued wilful violations of its lawful orders and that if necessary and appropriate under the circumstances, it will impose an incarceratory punishment.”

[The judge, if violating the gag order again, should send him (in my opinion) to jail for contempt one weekend per contempt. So maybe 6 PM Friday until 6 PM on Sunday.]

Trump did not visibly react as the judge was reading his decision in court. After the ruling, Trump removed the seven “offending posts” from his failed social network and the two “offending posts” from his campaign website, as Merchan ordered.

After his day in court, Trump again criticized the gag order placed on him in his hush money criminal trial, calling it “unconstitutional.” Trump reiterated his claim that there’s “no crime” in the case.

He has already made further comments which could be against the gag order which could result in jail time for him.

[$1,000 per violation is the maximum allowed by New York State law. I am wondering if the state will enact a law to increase the fine. It would be cheaper to fine someone than to hold them in jail for up to 30 days which costs the state money and extra in the case of Trump because of additional security.]

The attorney of Karen McDougal and Stormy Daniels took the stand at one point this week. At one point, McDougal was looking at a deal with either ABC News [could be ABC Entertainment] or American Media Inc. [the National Inquirer owner] but decided to take the AMI deal because she didn’t want to tell her story in publicly while she would at ABC plus ABC [by law] can’t offer her compensation directly. She in the end took the AMI deal told her story to them and AMI then buried it.

Way back when, Trump said he wanted to testify. His lawyers were probably nervous because he goes off script… always. Now he created a false excuse on why he can’t: the gag order. A gag order has nothing to do with testifying.

“They don’t want me on the campaign trail,” Trump told reporters referring to his court time. And yet, he is able to go on the campaign trail from Friday late afternoon until Sunday night plus there has been usually one day off during each week. On top of that, he hasn’t spent time in the off days solely on the campaign trail.

[I wouldn’t be surprised if he played around of golf.]

Jurors saw a full transcript of the “Access Hollywood” tape, including Trump’s infamous “grab ‘em by the p?ssy” comment, as well as other vulgar language the campaign tried to dismiss as “locker room talk.” They did not, however, hear Trump on the tape, as the judge ruled the video would be prejudicial to the jury.

[Exactly who hasn’t seen some form of that video?]

The idea that Trump’s former lawyer, Michael Cohen, made the $130,000 payment on his own to Stormy Daniels “would be out of character for Michael,” former campaign press secretary and White House communications director Hope Hicks testified.

The latest false claims by Trump:

• “New York City is a violent city; it’s become violent with the cashless bail. I’m the only one who has to put up bail.” – Nope.
• “We’re supposed to be in Ohio tomorrow and we’re supposed to be in Florida on the next day.” Trump can’t campaign at all. – Nope. He has the weekends plus usually there is a day off during the week. Ohio was never on any known schedule. He’s in Florida all weekend for a fundraiser at Mar-a-Lago on Saturday and the Miami Grand Prix on Sunday.

Trump wouldn’t dismiss the potential for political violence from his supporters if he isn’t elected in November, suggesting it would depend on the outcome of the presidential race. “I think we’re going to win. And if we don’t win, you know, it depends. It always depends on the fairness of an election.”

[He had already made up his mind before the 2020 election, that the election was rigged. He will do the same later this year if he loses.]

Trump also doubled down on his promise to pardon the hundreds of people sentenced for crimes committed stemming from January 6 Trump Insurrection. Trump has called these individuals “hostages,” though many have pleaded guilty to violent crimes or have been convicted by juries.

He refused to say whether he would veto a federal abortion ban, insisting such a measure was unlikely to happen, despite previously saying he wouldn’t sign a federal abortion ban if he were re-elected and one came to his desk. Trump similarly said he would let states decide if doctors who perform illegal abortions should be punished.

[In other word, he is not ready to make a decision that he will later flip flop on.]

Trump for the first time said that Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich “should be released” after a year of detainment in Russia. Asked why he hadn’t previously called for Gershkovich’s release, Trump said: “I guess because I have so many other things I’m working on.”

[It’s not hard to release something on his failed social network to have Gershkovich released but he has time to criticize the judge and others and supposedly play golf.]

A few weeks back, Trump hosted a golf tournament. The morning after a couple of days playing, the golfers in the tournament [probably no namers] took and look and found Trump’s name at the top of the ranking. Asked how. Supposedly he used a couple of days practice from a few weeks prior and used the results for him in the tournament.

[Aside from no host usually plays in his own tournament and inserting previous results, it is unbelievable that he could be that good to win the tournament when he is known to be a lousy golfer (even after all those days he played golf while supposedly running the country). Either that or all the other golfers are that bad!]

Trump is claiming he will continue what he started in his final year as president [why wait 3+ years?] to “drain the swamp”. He wants to decentralize the government by moving more departments out of the heavily left leaning Washington, DC area.

Trump seeks to sweep away civil service protections that have been in place for more than 140 years. He has said he’d make “every executive branch employee fireable by the president of the United States” at will. It would move as many as 100,000 positions out of Washington. His plans would eliminate or dismantle entire departments. While assailing “faceless bureaucrats,” Trump also has said he would move federal agencies from “the Washington Swamp… to places filled with patriots who love America.”

And of course he wants to especially look at the Department of Justice, FBI, EPA and others.

From Trump’s statement on his campaign website: “I will immediately reissue my 2020 executive order restoring the president’s authority to remove rogue bureaucrats. And I will wield that power very aggressively.” That executive order reclassified many civil service workers, whose jobs are nonpartisan and protected, as political appointees who could be fired at will.

[This could push to hire less qualified people to take over the jobs of federal employees who were fired or left on their own. About the time Trump started his reign, the were quite a few federal employees who left the government and it took a long time to replace them. Departments were short staffed which caused many delays.

In 2019, Trump moved the headquarters of the Bureau of Land Management to Grand Junction, Colorado, and two agencies within the Department of Agriculture [USDA] to Kansas City. The government was claiming that costs will be lower and there will be better employee diversification. The Trump administration said moving the USDA agencies would bring researchers closer to “stakeholders”– that is, farmers.

The USDA said the move to Kansas City would save taxpayers $300 million over 15 years. Including such costs, the Agricultural and Applied Economics Association estimated the move actually cost taxpayers between $83 million and $182 million.

[For the USDA alone, in fact there were less minorities after the movies and the estimated costs that would be save actually was more expensive. In addition, many employees in those departments decided not to move outside of Washington forcing the departments to hire new and untrained employees.]

The National Institute for Food and Agriculture started with 394 when Trump started his reign and were losing 10 to employees each week. When the relocation was announced, there were 270 employees of which only 70 relocated to Kansas City.

Recently, the Office of Personnel Management, which in effect is the human resources department for the federal government, adopted new rules meant to bar career civil service workers from being reclassified as political appointees or other types of at-will workers. Trump’s draining would include the workers being reclassified as political appointees.

In an interview President Biden said he is willing to have at least one debate with Trump. Trump responded with “Everyone knows he doesn’t really mean it, but in case he does, I say, ANYWHERE, ANYTIME, ANYPLACE, an old expression used by Fighters.”

[Why wouldn’t Biden mean it? On the other hand, there is a greater chance of Trump backing out at the last moment. He complained when the moderator had the option of silencing his and Biden’s microphone during the 2020 debates. Trump has also said he wants to testify in his hush money trial but most likely won’t – probably because the prosecution and judge may disallow any of his comments that are known to be untrue.]

The auditor for Trump’s media company was charged with “massive fraud” by the Securities and Exchange Commission, which accused the firm of being a “sham audit mill” whose failures put investors at risk. The auditor, BF Borgers, and its owner, Benjamin Borgers, agreed to a permanent suspension from accounting work and to pay $14 million in civil penalties, federal regulators said. The SEC said its review of the firm’s audits found “deliberate and systemic failures” in more than 1,500 filings from January 2021 through June 2023. That period was before Trump Media & Technology Group went public, suggesting that its filings were not among those investigated as part of the review.

[Anyone surprised about this and fell down, stunned? Nope.]

At the annual White House Correspondents’ Dinner, of which Trump never attended in his four years, of course there were jabs made at Trump. Trump responded [as if he watched it but I’m sure he had a lackey who did] that the dinner was basically boring or garbage.

[Do you really think the comedians and guests who appeared during the four years without Trump would of sucked up and gave him kind words? OK maybe right wing nobodies.]

Week one of the first Trump trial

Early Friday afternoon in week one of the hush trial in New York City, the six alternate jurors were selected for the first trial of Donald Jonathan Trump.

[He hates when his middle name is used, so I used it!]

After some legal matter such as whether Trump can be used as a witness, the trial should begin on Monday in the second week.

[Trump testifying could be harmful for him as he obviously has a history of exaggeration and lies. If he takes the stand there will be plenty of side-bars to decide whether some (or most) if his testimony will be allowed or stricken.]

The prosecutor is introducing a motion to sanction Trump for his three social media posts they allege violate the judge’s gag order. The prosecutor told the judge they are seeking permission to hold Trump in contempt for violating the gag order and sanction Trump $1,000 for each of the three posts that violate the order. The prosecutor also said that prosecutors want the judge to take down the three posts and to remind the defendant that “further violations could result in jail time.” The judge hasn’t decided on this yet. At one point in the first week, Trump ignored the gag order seven times.

[Normally $3,000 should be “chicken feed” for him but with all his legal expenses.]

Judge Merchan said he will hold a hearing on the district attorney’s motion to sanction Trump for his social media posts, according to pool reports.

Seems Trump was bored in the first week of the trial during jury selection. It was reported that Trump actually dozed off during the first day. After the reporter mentioned it publicly, Trump gave the reporter a look.

Trump wants to take part in sidebars, which could put him very close to jurors. Defendants rarely get involved in sidebars with judges during jury selection.

Trump’s attorney asked the district attorney’s office to share the first three witnesses they plan to call, noting that opening arguments and the first witness testimony could begin very soon. The Assistant District Attorney refused but acknowledged that courtesy is often extended. But because Trump has been posting on social media about their witnesses, he said with a shrug, “We’re not telling him who the witnesses are.” Merchan said he couldn’t fault prosecutors for that. Trump visibly shook his head over the exchange.

Evidence that will be allowed:

• Judge Juan Merchan said he will allow a series of National Enquirer stories attacking Trump’s opponents into evidence.
• Testimony from Karen McDougal will also be allowed, but Merchan said it is not necessary for the jury to hear that Trump continued his affair with McDougal while his wife, Melania Trump, was pregnant and after she gave birth. McDougal is a model and actress who has said she had a months long affair with Trump in 2006 and was paid $150,000 to keep quiet about it by the National Enquirer. Trump has denied the affair.
• Merchan will allow testimony of former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen’s guilty plea to campaign finance violations with the proper foundation. He said prosecutors cannot tie that guilty plea to Trump.

What will not be allowed:

• Merchan said he still believes the “Access Hollywood” video in which Trump brags about groping women should not be shown to jurors because it’s so prejudicial.
• The judge also denied prosecutors’ request to bring into evidence the allegations of sexual assault against Trump that came out after the “Access Hollywood” tape. He said he will not allow Trump to be prejudiced by a “rumor.”
• Merchan additionally said he doesn’t think the deposition of E. Jean Carroll, who accused Trump of sexual assault, should be brought in because it would be “building in a trial into a trial.”

Barron Trump’s graduation is on a court day but Merchan hasn’t decided to allow Trump to go to it. Although that’s later in May.

[Trump will probably go berserk if he can’t. Although knowing enough of him, he’d do campaigning as well.]

Remember how Trump was complaining that he couldn’t get a fair trial in heavily Democrat leaning New York City? Trump was asked what he thought of the first seven jurors selected. He answered to ask him again in two months [when the trial could be over]. So he’s not complaining now about a fair trial.

[Of course if he loses, he will bring up the unfair trial crap and if he wins, he won’t mention the unfairness. Note that his illegal activities related to this trial took place in New York City. So where else can it be done?]

While he is in court and can’t get out of being there, Trump’s vice-president candidates are on TV and radio trying to help him. They are J.D. Vance, Elise Stefanik, Doug Burgum [a long shot as from a small state and mostly unknown], and Vivek Ramaswamy.

[With some of the candidates, they could hurt him more than help.]

At some rally in some small town in Pennsylvania, Trump said “Gettysburg, what an amazing, horrible, just incredible, classy, terrible thing, really beautiful. I kinda went there, but had the wrong address. Robert E Lee a war hero that wasn’t captured, loser on the hill, but we miss him, really a great guy, believe me.”

[Lee was a war hero and “really a great guy, believe me” – Trump is that old to know him? The GOP were always ranting about President Biden’s age.]

The Supreme Court seemed deeply divided over a challenge to a federal law that prosecutors used to charge more than 350 people who were part of the Trump Insurrection mob that attacked the US Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Several conservatives expressed concern about giving prosecutors broad power that they suggested would allow the government to target peaceful protesters or hecklers who disrupt a court proceeding.

The court’s ruling, likely to land in late June, has the potential to undo the convictions and sentences of those who have gone to trial or pleaded guilty, and upend the charges still pending for many more. It could also clear Trump of some charges.

[So the justices want those disturbing the court to be allowed to?]

Jimmy Kimmel delivered another monologue making fun of Trump. The morning after, Trump claimed that at the Academy Awards in March, it was Kimmel, not Al Pacino, who said should of said “and the Oscar goes to” or at least “and the winner is.” Kimmel was the host that night. See here. [particularly at about 47 seconds in. “In fairness to our former President, many stable geniuses confuse me with Al Pacino….,” Kimmel wrote late that afternoon on Twitter.

[Can’t Trump get this right? Did he or have someone to verify the message sent? I guess not.]
Trump’s campaign is asking Republican candidates and committees using his name and likeness who fundraise to give at least 5% of what they raise to the campaign. Trump’s campaign managers, Susie Wiles and Chris LaCivita, said in a letter dated April 15, “Beginning tomorrow, we ask that all candidates and committees who choose to use President Trump’s name, image, and likeness split a minimum of 5% of all fundraising solicitations to Trump National Committee JFC…”

[You think anyone will give more than 5%?]

The LA Times goofed, claiming a “typographical error” when in the obituary for OJ Simpson, Donald Trump’s name was used instead. “Long before the city woke up on a fall morning in 2017, Trump walked out of Lovelock Correctional Center outside Reno, a free man for the first time in nine years,” the Times’ obituary read. “He didn’t go far, moving into a 5,000-square-foot home in Las Vegas with a Bentley in the driveway.”

Voting technology company Smartmatic and the far-right network One America News said that they had settled a defamation lawsuit stemming from the outlet’s lies about the 2020 election. Because of a confidential agreement, no details were revealed. Smartmatic filed its lawsuit against OAN in 2021, alleging that the right-wing conspiracy network “victimized” the company and spread lies about its role in the 2020 election to “increase viewership and revenue.”

The DJT stock continues to drop at one point. Maybe related to the fact that they began selling 2.1 million more shares which diluted the stock [which reduces Trump’s percentage in the company] and then announced they want to go into streaming as well. Streaming a notoriously cost-intensive business in which media behemoths like Disney have struggled to turn a profit. Since the height of DJT stock, it has dropped 70% as of April 16th but over the past three days, it has shot up a bit.

It is suggested that its streaming network could host live news, religious programming and family-friendly shows, movies and documentaries that “has been cancelled, is at risk of cancellation, or is being suppressed on other platforms and services.”

[So I guess content could include Beverley Hillbillies, Dukes of Hazard, moonshine experts, a cookie show on how to make deep fried Oreos….]
Trump repeatedly ranted about wind power during a fundraising dinner with oil and gas industry executives recently, claiming that the renewable-energy source is unreliable, unattractive and bad for the environment.

[Talking about sucking up. Just remember that he was pushing dirty and environmentally unfriendly coal when it was being used less and less. How anyone can think that renewable-energy source is bad for the environment must be crazy. He is.]

Only it now came out that disgraced former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in December after being ordered to pay $148 million for falsely accusing two poll workers of cheating in the 2020 election. This week, the former Trump attorney sat for an hours-long deposition behind closed doors in the case, as his creditors seek to recover their money — with his treasure trove of assets revealing how they might be paid.

Comey vs Trump, round 2

Former FBI Director, James Comey, cited “some evidence of obstruction of justice” in Trump’s actions and speculated that Russians might have dirt on Donald Trump. Does that include the “Pee Tape”?

Trump said in a tweet that Comey was not fired because of the Russia investigation — a statement directly at odds with his own comments on Comey’s dismissal. However, Trump had told NBC News last year that he was thinking of “this Russia thing” when he decided to fire Comey saying “regardless of (Rosenstein’s) recommendation, I was going to fire Comey.”

Trump tweeted “Comey drafted the Crooked Hillary exoneration long before he talked to her (lied in Congress to Senator G), then based his decisions on her poll numbers. Disgruntled, he, [Andrew] McCabe, and the others, committed many crimes!” Wonder how he got his information and which crimes for which Comey hasn’t been arrested for. He also tweeted that Comey “will go down as the WORST FBI Director in history, by far!” I will like to see how that is measured.

Trump tweeted “Unbelievably, James Comey states that Polls, where Crooked Hillary was leading, were a factor in the handling (stupidly) of the Clinton Email probe. In other words, he was making decisions based on the fact that he thought she was going to win, and he wanted a job. Slimeball!” Of course it makes no sense. You don’t investigate your future boss in public just so that you can get yourself a job with her.

Counselor to Trump, Kellyanne “The Witch” Conway, seems to be pushing her vision that FBI is a mess with Comey, McCabe and basically the rest of the FBI.

Interesting to note that Sanders said in November 2016 “When you’re attacking FBI agents because you’re under criminal investigation, you’re losing.” Then 15 months later she said “Former FBI Director Comey is a disgraced hack and a liar.” So she’s a loser like her boss. Whom would of through that.

A recent ABC News poll showed that Americans found Comey more believable than Trump, by a margin of 48% to 32%. If the fierce campaign by Trump world to discredit the former FBI director’s book fails to shift that number, it could suggest that the President is in for lasting political damage.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said he doesn’t believe Trump will fire special counsel Robert Mueller, adding he doesn’t want legislation on the issue. A bipartisan group introduced the Special Counsel Independence and Integrity Act, which protects Mueller, including ensure that the special counsel can only be fired for “good cause” by a senior Justice Department official. Several GOP senators saying the bill is unconstitutional. Others said it’s simply not good politics to try and tell Trump what to do.

Trump’s personal attorney Cohen used the same Delaware limited liability company to facilitate payments to two women. Essential Consultants LLC was used for the partial payment of a $250,000 fee paid to Cohen for negotiating a non-disclosure agreement with a former Playboy model who claimed she was impregnated by Elliott Broidy, a venture capitalist and former deputy finance chairman of the Republican National Committee.

The former Playboy model’s lawyer, Keith Davidson, is also represented former adult film actress Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal.

Essential Consultants was also used to pay $130,000 to porn star Stormy Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, to prevent her from speaking publicly about an alleged sexual encounter with Trump. It was partly these payments that led authorities to raid Cohen’s home, office and hotel.

In 2013, Cohen also tamped down a developing US Weekly magazine story about an alleged affair between Donald Trump Jr., who was a judge on his father’s NBC show “Celebrity Apprentice,” and Aubrey O’Day, a contestant on the show.

A judge ordered Cohen’s attorney to reveal Cohen’s third client [aside from Trump and Broidy] which is Fox News anchor Sean Hannity.

Cohen’s lawyers have called the raid “completely unprecedented” and asked the judge to let their lawyers review the documents or put in place a special master to comb through the seized material and separate communications that should be protected by attorney client privilege. Sounding Trump-ish the lawyers said “This is perhaps the most highly publicized search warrant in the history of recent American criminal jurisprudence….”

After Cohen was forced to reveal that Fox host Sean Hannity was his third client, weirdly, Hannity explicitly stated that he was never represented by nor had he ever retained Cohen and implied that his own exchanges with Cohen did not entail the silencing of any alleged sexual partner.

To get the search warrant in the first place for Cohen’s places, the government had to have convinced the court that Cohen and his so-called clients were not actually in an attorney-client relationship, and therefore their conversations were not privileged. Hannity isn’t asserting the privilege, so Cohen lacks any basis not to disclose the information or to prevent the government from looking at any communications between himself and Hannity.

The Democratic National Committee is suing the Trump campaign, Russia, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and several associates of Trump alleging a grand racketeering, hacking and fraudulent conspiracy that harmed Democrats through WikiLeaks’ publication of internal party emails during the 2016 presidential campaign.

Those named in the lawsuit include several top Trump advisers who attended the now-infamous June 2016 meeting in Trump Tower, longtime Trump confidant Roger Stone, former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort and former campaign adviser George Papadopoulos and others.

The 66-page lawsuit lays out how the Trumps curried favor in Russia through their family business, and then Russia allegedly worked with Trump advisers before the presidential election to disseminate the spoils from a cyberattack of the DNC.

Trump tweeted “So funny, the Democrats have sued the Republicans for Winning.” Am I missing something. Last I checked he won the last election. In the past, Trump has referenced the DNC’s computer servers in an attempt to raise questions over Democrats’ claims that Russians hacked DNC computer systems in the run-up to the 2016 election.

Trump tweeted “Russia and China are playing the Currency Devaluation game as the U.S. keeps raising interest rates. Not acceptable!” Well, don’t raise the rates! But just days before, the Treasury Department published a report saying that no US trading partner is manipulating its exchange rate. Just so happens Trump is at odds with both countries recently.

Before the presidential election, Trump vowed to label China a currency manipulator on Day 1 of his administration. But he’s repeatedly backed away from that promise. In May 2017, in fact, he said China had stopped manipulating its currency, and he personally took the credit.

In the continuing tit-for-tat trade war, China’s Commerce Ministry said that customs officers will charge importers a fee of about 179% on US sorghum after an investigation found the shipments were unfairly subsidized and damaging Chinese producers. Sorghum is a grain that is used to feed livestock and make a liquor that’s very popular with Chinese drinkers. This will affect Kansas, a state that backs Trump. China’s imports of the crop were worth about $960 million last year.

After The US, France and the UK’s joint mission to bomb chemical factories and some military installations in Syria, Trump tweeted “Could not have had a better result. Mission Accomplished!” We will see if it is really accomplished when [and if] Syria uses chemical weapons soon. George W. Bush said mission accomplished and yet the US is still in Iraq.

The UK has accused Syria and Russia of preventing independent chemical weapons experts [Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons] from entering the city of Douma, hit by a suspected gas attack that Western leaders have blamed on the Syrian government. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said the OPCW team’s arrival was hampered by the weekend air strikes. If he called the accusations “groundless”, then why would he stop OPCW from entering the area to prove that he is right – unless Syria or Russia is removing evidence.

US ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, got ahead of Trump’s decision-making when she hit the Sunday talk show circuit and said the US would level new sanctions the next day targeting Russian companies that facilitated the Syrian regime’s chemical weapons program. The sanctions have yet to come. After a meeting a couple of days prior, others also thought there would be more sanctions announced in the coming days but Haley did not clear her talking points about the sanctions with other administration officials.

After Nikki Haley announced that more sanctions were coming to Russia and the Trump administration said that wasn’t true, Trump personally made the decision to abandon plans to impose more sanctions on Russia for supporting Syria’s chemical weapons attack on civilians. The Trump administration informed the Russian government there won’t be an additional round of sanctions.

White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow’s comment that “there might have been some momentary confusion” from the UN ambassador prompted a sharp rebuttal where Haley said “With all due respect, I don’t get confused.” Kudlow took back the comment. But after being one of the few bright spots in administration, whether this drops her in Trump’s rankings of those he can trust and work with.

Interesting that in a conversation between Trump and Vladimir Poutine, Poutine says that Russia has some of the most beautiful hookers. Why would that come up unless Poutine offered or Trump asked?

“If I think that if it’s a meeting that is not going to be fruitful we’re not going to go. If the meeting when I’m there is not fruitful I will respectfully leave the meeting,” said Trump at a news conference when asked about his impending meeting with Kim Jun Un. His way of having a back door in case he decides not to have the meeting.

Trump tweeted “While Japan and South Korea would like us to go back into TPP, I don’t like the deal for the United States. Too many contingencies and no way to get out if it doesn’t work. Bilateral deals are far more efficient, profitable and better for OUR workers. Look how bad WTO is to U.S.” Wondering if he knows that the WTO is not a trading pact and WTO may have been bad for the US only because the US slams countries with ridiculous tariffs only to see the WTO say it isn’t right. Didn’t he recently say he wanted to get back into the TPP?

Trump was upset that the US had expelled 60 Russian diplomats, believing the US would match the number of diplomats expelled by individual European countries — not as a whole. Last year he spoke in Pennsylvania during the same event.

The Trump campaign announced that he will hold a campaign rally in Washington Township in Michigan on April 28 while the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner will be going on in Washington.

Michael Catanzaro, adviser for energy and environmental policy, will be returning to the law and lobbying firm where he previously worked. Catanzaro had headed domestic energy issues for the White House’s National Economic Council.

Pittsburgh Police Cmdr. Victor Joseph reportedly sent an email instructing Major Crimes detectives to bring full uniforms and riot gear to work “until further notice” should Trump fire Special Counsel Robert Mueller. A group has called for a “Nobody is Above the Law” rally in Pittsburgh if Mueller gets fired.

Former First Lady Barbara Bush passes away. And what does Trump tweet about? Comey, someone who he says never existed [attacked Stormy Daniels], and sanctuary cities in California. Not a condolence to the family. But he did comment verbally. In a White House statement “To avoid disruptions due to added security, and out of respect for the Bush Family and friends attending the service, President Trump will not attend”. Surprised? Added security? 3 former Presidents will be there.

Trump finally landed new personal lawyers in the newly enlisted lawyers from the firm Spears & Imes in New York. As well, Rudy Giuliani is joining Trump’s personal legal team according to Trump’s personal lawyer Jay Sekulow but his role on the legal team will be “limited.” Giuliani said his focus will be on interfacing with special counsel Robert Mueller in his Russia probe.

In Congress, those leaving office without a clear next political step tend to come from places where Trump is less popular. On the flip side, Republicans are more likely to leave the House to seek higher office if Trump was more popular in their districts. So far, twenty-five Republicans have announced they will retire and leave Congress and 13 have announced they will leave Congress to run for another office.

Mike Pence’s pick for his national security adviser, Jon Lerner, has withdrawn after his hiring created tensions in the administration. There was a report that Trump attempted to block Pence from hiring Lerner because of his “never Trump” views.

Trump tweeted “Just hit 50% in the Rasmussen Poll, much higher than President Obama at same point.” Except Rasmussen is the least reliable poll and a right wing leaning pollster. He’s happy at 50%?

Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke claims that “I’m a geologist… A geologist will tell you there is little, if any, oil and gas.” In his autobiography, Zinke wrote that he majored in geology at the University of Oregon. But Zinke, however, has never held a job as a geologist.

Several geologists have flagged his comments as disingenuous, saying that someone with a 34-year-old degree who never worked in the field is not considered a geologist. He is not a member of the American Institute of Professional Geologists or the Association of State Boards of Geologists.

The Senate recently passed a banking bill that would shield large regional banks from tough scrutiny that requires them to sit on extra cash to weather the next financial storm. Regional banks could reward shareholders with up to $53 billion if Congress rolls back Dodd-Frank, which refers to a comprehensive and complicated piece of financial regulation born out of the Great Recession of 2008.

More than one-fifth of the $3.9 million that President Donald Trump’s 2020 re-election campaign has spent this year has gone to legal fees, the campaign’s latest quarterly Federal Election Commission filing shows. Trump’s campaign raised $10.1 million in 2018’s first three months and has $28.3 million in the bank.

The campaign spent another $58,000 on costs listed as “rent” divided between three recipients: Trump Plaza, Trump Restaurants and Trump Tower. $58,000. That’s it?