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 two of the first Trump trial

Because of his ongoing trial [and to be continued for a few weeks], this is a quiet week for Donald Trump. He can only complain and tell lies after hours and on the weekends – well officially. But he has a tendency to yak away for a few minutes or so with his greatest hits of lies and whining after the day in court [or maybe during a break].

In Trump’s hush money trial in New York, Trump continues to rack up the gag order violations – currently at least eleven of them. There was a hearing into the gag order violations but no solution.

Outside the court, Trump continues to ramble on how he is a victim and shouldn’t be on trial. Among his claims:

• Michael “Cohen is a lawyer… and he wasn’t very good in a lot of ways in terms of misrepresentation.” Like many of his former employees, he says the same thing about Cohen. If Cohen was so bad, why wasn’t he fired sooner? This would be called mismanagement.
• “He [Cohen] got in trouble for things that had nothing to do with me.” Cohen was charged with and pleaded guilty to eight criminal charges, including two — “causing an unlawful corporate contribution” and “making an excessive campaign contribution” — that directly relate to the hush money case now being litigated in Manhattan criminal court.
• “… another thing that wasn’t even said was, we never even deducted it as a tax deduction.” Well of course you wouldn’t deduct an illegal act from your taxes as an expense.
• “Very importantly, why didn’t the Federal Elections [Commission] do anything? Federal Elections took a total pass on it. They said essentially nothing was done wrong or they would have done something about it.” The Federal Election Commission staff, in a December 2020 report by the general counsel, said it had found “reason to believe” violations of campaign finance law were made “knowingly and wilfully” by the Trump campaign. The report said that Cohen’s $130,000 payment to Daniels was far in excess of the legal limit for individual contributions of $2,700.
• “It’s all about Election Interference. Sad! …. This is done for purposes of hurting the opponent of the worst president in the history of our country.” According to 5 different polls done over the past years, Trump comes in anywhere between a ranking of 41 to last place at 45. President Biden, in the two most recent polls [others prior came before his presidency] ranks him 14 and 19.

An Arizona grand jury indicted seven attorneys or aides affiliated with Trump’s 2020 presidential campaign as well as 11 Arizona Republicans on felony charges related to their alleged efforts to subvert President Biden’s 2020 victory in the state, according to an announcement by the state attorney general. Those indicted include former Trump White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, attorneys Rudy Giuliani, Jenna Ellis, John Eastman and Christina Bobb, top campaign adviser Boris Epshteyn and former campaign aide Mike Roman. They are accused of allegedly aiding an unsuccessful strategy to award the state’s electoral votes to Trump instead of Biden after the 2020 election. Trump was not charged, but he is described in the indictment as an unindicted co-conspirator.

[Can the bankrupt Giuliani afford a lawyer? You think Trump will do anything to help them somehow? Last I heard, he hasn’t said a word. Why? He doesn’t want to be involved with losers and anyone indicted or is in prison is a loser – except himself.]

A poll from Marist College shows Biden at 51 percent and Trump at 48 percent in a national head-to-head contest. But when you factor in third-party candidates — Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Green Party candidate Jill Stein and independent Cornel West — Biden’s lead goes to five percentage points. An NBC News poll showed a similar dynamic. While Biden trailed by two points head to head (44-46), he led by two points (39-37) when the question included the third-party candidates.

Kennedy is pulling more votes from Trump supports than Biden supporters even though Kennedy is [theoretically] from the left – well his family is. Kennedy’s image among right-leaning voters is vastly superior to his image among left-leaning ones. While Republicans like him 40 percent to 15 percent — a plus-25 split — Democrats dislike him 53-16 — a negative-37 split.

Trump’s “greatest hits” of false claims:

• He created the greatest US economy in US history (not by any metric).
• He passed the biggest tax cut in history (it ranks 8th).
• He did more for Black people than any president than Abraham Lincoln (not by any metric).
• He defeated ISIS in four weeks (it took the United States and coalition partners more than two years after he took office).
• He was the first president to impose tariffs on China (China has faced US tariffs since George Washington first enacted them in 1789).
• He increased government revenue even though he cut taxes (false).

New “hits”:

• He claims Biden was declared ‘incompetent’ to stand trial in documents case (false).
• He claims the US under Biden is a third world country where “a political person uses weaponization against his political opponent” (this from a man who already said he’d go after government employees who went against him during his various trials).
• He claims “The prison population all over the world is at the lowest point… because they’re dumping their prisoners into our country.” (false)
  He claims “They’ve let in 15 million people…” have entered the country “and they’re coming from rough places and dangerous places.” (8.5 million tried to enter the country in the 3.5 years under Biden but less than a quarter actually were allowed in).
• He claims “under Biden, we have a three-year inflation rate of almost 50 percent. Under me, you had no inflation.” (very inflated; cumulative inflation during Trump’s presidency was nearly 8 percent; cumulative inflation during Biden’s presidency was nearly 18.5 percent; of course a chunk of that was because of supply change issues and the like after the pandemic).
• He claims “In February alone, nearly 1 million jobs held by native-born Americans disappeared…” (it was more like 500,000).

[I’m shocked he didn’t say he personally invented the vaccine to cure COVID-19 and personally injected all Americans – whether they liked it or not. ]

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.

The continuing legal mess

The campaign to use the US Constitution’s “insurrection” clause to bar Donald Trump from running for the White House again enters a new phase this week as hearings begin in two states on lawsuits that might end up reaching the US Supreme Court. A week-long hearing on one lawsuit to bar Trump from the ballot in Colorado, while oral arguments are scheduled before the Minnesota Supreme Court on an effort to kick the Republican former president off the ballot in that state.

[Any state that wants Trump off the ballot could make it harder for Trump to win the presidency. Of course he will complain that the election was stolen, Department of Justice out to get him, etc. Of course this could also give room for a third party candidate such as the dreadful Robert F. Kennedy Jr winning some votes.]

US District Judge Tanya S. Chutkan has reimposed a gag order on Trump’s public statements in advance of his trial on charges of conspiring to subvert the results of the 2020 election. The restrictions that the judge put back in place were ones she had lifted nine days earlier to give Trump and US prosecutors more time to argue whether the gag was unconstitutional, as attorneys for the former president had claimed. Trump can now ask a higher court for an emergency stay pending appeal, but in the meantime he is bound by Chutkan’s limits.

Trump’s legal team asked Chutkan to delay a trial scheduled to take place in March — during the heat of the GOP primary race — as the legal system works through his bid to get the case dismissed on the grounds that he’s immune from prosecution on any actions he took while president. His attorneys also this week asked a judge in Florida to delay the trial in a case over the ex-president’s handling of classified documents until after November’s election.

In his New York state fraud case, Trump is expected to testify on Monday, November 6th and probably last until at least Tuesday if not Wednesday. His adult sons testified this past week.

In 2014, Trump placed a $1 billion bid to buy the NFL’s Buffalo Bills but eventually didn’t have the winning bid. In offering to buy the Bills, Trump cited his net worth as over $8 billion in an initial offer letter but never provided his financial statements. His then-lawyer Michael Cohen told the bankers that Trump wouldn’t release his financial records until told he was “the final bidder.”

“Trump has little chance of being approved by the NFL,” given that he had owned casinos and had a role in the rival USFL’s 1980s antitrust suit against the NFL, then-Morgan Stanley executive K. Don Cornwell wrote to colleagues in April 2014. The NFL was also suspicious that Trump claimed a net worth of over $8 billion. “He probably does have the dough… but never know the real facts with him,” said an investment banker. New York Attorney General Letitia James accuses Trump of deceiving banks, insurers and others by giving them financial statements that massively inflated the values of his assets.

A banking expert, Michiel McCarty, testified that Donald Trump and his company benefited more than $168 million by obtaining favorable loan terms on transactions where Trump personally guaranteed the loans. McCarty analyzed the lending documents related to transactions at issue in this case for the following Trump Organization properties: 40 Wall Street in New York, The Doral Golf Resort & Spa in Florida [almost half the total], Trump International Hotel & Tower in Chicago, and the Old Post Office project in Washington DC.

Trump’s attorney Chris Kise argued repeatedly in objections that the expert should not be permitted to suggest what loan rate Trump Org. could have gotten because no trial evidence has shown the lenders would have changed the loan terms if they knew Trump’s net worth was inflated based on the asset valuation in his financial statements.

Donald Trump Jr testified that his knowledge of economics is from a post high school course. He relied on his accountants and was not involved with the preparations of financial statements for his father, even though he signed them as a trustee of his father’s trust.

A higher court denied Ivanka Trump’s request to postpone her upcoming testimony in her father’s civil fraud trial, shortly after she claimed she’d suffer “undue hardship” if forced to appear during a school week. “Ms. Trump, who resides in Florida with her three minor children, will suffer undue hardship if a stay is denied and she is required to testify at trial in New York in the middle of a school week, in a case she has already been dismissed from, before her appeal is heard,” her attorney argued in part in an appeal.

Trump said that Mike Pence should endorse his bid for the White House after his former vice president dropped out of the race for the Republican nomination earlier in the day. “Because I had a great successful presidency, and he was the vice president, he should endorse me,” said Trump. Yet almost 3 years prior, Trump tweeted that Pence “didn’t have the courage to do what should have been done to protect our Country and our Constitution.” During the GOP primary, Trump lashed out Pence, calling him “delusional” and “not a very good person.” A former aide to Trump White House chief of staff Mark Meadows told the House January 6 committee last year that Trump had suggested to Meadows that he approved of the “Hang Mike Pence” chants.

Regarding Pence, Trump said in a speech: “People in politics can be very disloyal. I’ve never seen anything like it.” Because he doesn’t remember. He probably has early dementia.

Meanwhile, in another sign of early dementia, remember how he’d say that he would drain the swamp if elected in 2016 and of course never did because he didn’t know what he was draining? He said in Iowa recently that he will “build the swamp” and then backtracked after that.

In a rally in Iowa, Trump is starting to rewrite history. During his 2015-2016 campaign, he said that Mexico will pay for the wall. Mexico didn’t but the US paid an estimated $16 billion. Now Trump said Mexico would pay for “a piece” of the wall. They didn’t pay a cent. Later, Trump tweaked his rhetoric at one point late in the campaign, claiming that Mexico would reimburse the US for the wall, he declared it would be a complete reimbursement. They didn’t pay a cent. In early 2020, he claimed that “redemption money” from undocumented immigrants was paying for the wall, which wasn’t true even if he was talking about remittance payments as some experts guessed. Later in 2020, he claimed that some sort of “border tax” was about to start paying for the project, though that was baseless too.

He has also confused people and locations. Such as beating President Obama in 2016 when it was Hilary Clinton or mixing up the leaders of Hungary and Turkey.

Saw on the Washington Post web site about Chutkan’s gag order on Trump:

“It is impossible to keep his orange mouth shut.

Better chances of George Santos becoming president at the 2024 election.”

Trump losing allies

Donald Trump’s former chief of staff, Mark Meadows, was granted immunity by special counsel Jack Smith and has met with federal prosecutors multiple times in their investigation into the efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election. Meadows told investigators he did not believe the election was stolen and that Trump was being “dishonest” in claiming victory shortly after polls closed in 2020. While the exact terms of Meadows’ deal with prosecutors are not clear, similar deals traditionally allow a person with knowledge about an ongoing investigation immunity from prosecution if they cooperate fully with investigators, including by giving testimony under oath.

[This also means that Meadow’s book is filled with lies – as we all knew. Will the book be pulled? Thrown into the $5 book bins? Will buyers burn their books or ask for some type of refund?]

In a slew of court filings, attorneys for Trump filed several motions asking the judge overseeing the election subversion case in Washington, DC, to dismiss the charges against the former president on grounds that, among other things, they violate his First Amendment rights and are the product of a “selective and vindictive prosecution.” “Countless millions believe, as President Trump consistently has and currently does, that fraud and irregularities pervaded the 2020 Presidential Election,” his attorneys wrote. “As the indictment itself alleges, President Trump gave voice to these concerns and demanded that politicians in a position to restore integrity to our elections not just talk about the problem, but investigate and resolve it.” [Good luck there.]

In the $250 million lawsuit by New York Attorney General Letitia James, Trump’s former attorney and “fixer” Michael Cohen testified Tuesday he and former Trump Org. CFO Allen Weisselberg would manipulate the statements of financial conditions, the documents at the center of the civil fraud trial, based on what Trump wanted his net worth to reflect. Cohen testified that Trump would tell him and Weisselberg what he wanted his total net worth to be.

“He has a horrible record,” Trump said outside the courtroom as he exited for a lunch break. “It’s not going to end up very good for him. We’re not worried at all about his testimony.”

[This goes back to previous comments that Trump has said. If the individual did such a lousy job, why was the individual part of his team for so long and not fired immediately?]

Ivanka Trump must take the witness stand in the civil fraud case against her father, her brothers and their family business, Judge Arthur Engoron rule. The ruling came weeks into the trial of New York Attorney General Letitia James’ lawsuit against Trump, sons Don Jr. and Eric, the Trump Organization and some executives. Ivanka Trump’s lawyer had told the judge that state lawyers “just don’t have jurisdiction over her.”

The Republican National Committee was caught off guard when Trump’s campaign announced that it would hold a counter programming event the same night as the third RNC debate, just down the road from the Miami arena where other Republican candidates would be facing off. The decision to host what appears to be a competing event in the same area has rubbed some Republicans the wrong way.

Allies close to Trump attempted to justify the decision, pointing to Trump’s public frustration that the RNC is continuing to hold debates despite the wide margin he has over the rest of the field. Earlier this month, Trump’s top campaign advisers called on the RNC to “immediately cancel the upcoming debate in Miami and end all future debates in order to refocus its manpower and money” on defeating Democrats in 2024.

[Trump and his huge ego things he won the nomination – so why bother having a debate. So much for democracy. Very authoritarian.]

Former Trump campaign lawyer Jenna Ellis pleaded guilty in the Georgia election subversion case and will cooperate with Fulton County prosecutors – the third guilty plea in the past week. At an unscheduled hearing in Atlanta, Ellis pleaded guilty to one count of aiding and abetting false statements, a felony stemming from the election lies that Ellis and other Trump lawyers peddled to Georgia lawmakers in December 2020. She was sentenced to five years of probation and ordered to pay $5,000 in restitution. Ellis has agreed to testify on behalf of the prosecution at future trials.

Ellis delivered a tearful statement to the judge pleading guilty, disavowing her participation in Trump’s unprecedented attempts to overturn the 2020 election. “If I knew then what I knew now, I would have declined to represent Donald Trump in these post-election challenges,” she said before the judge.

[More like she wanted to be famous or have plenty of money because she knew this would keep her busy. Expect Trump to after her – maybe saying she was never his lawyer! See below.]

The plea from Ellis implicated former Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani in a state crime – lying to Georgia legislators by peddling false voter-fraud theories. This comes one week after Kenneth Chesebro implicated Giuliani in the fake electors scheme that tried to subvert the Electoral College process. Giuliani denies wrongdoing. Ellis admitted that she “intentionally aided and abetted” Giuliani and another Trump lawyer, Ray Smith, in “in knowingly, wilfully, and unlawfully making … false statements to members of the Georgia Senate.”

Trump claimed Sidney Powell was “never” his attorney after she pleaded guilty in the Georgia election subversion case. Despite Trump’s claims, Powell was briefly an official member of Trump’s legal team in 2020, and Trump stayed in contact with her on election-related matters even after she was ousted from his campaign. “MS. POWELL WAS NOT MY ATTORNEY, AND NEVER WAS. In fact, she would have been conflicted.” She went on to file frivolous lawsuits across the country, in hopes of overturning the election results.

Trump’s attempt to distance himself from Powell comes after she agreed to cooperate with Fulton County prosecutors and testify against her co-defendants in the case, potentially including Trump. Trump publicly announced on November 15, 2020, that he “added” Powell to his “truly great team” of lawyers working on the election.

Trump was abruptly called to the witness stand and then fined $10,000 after the judge in his civil fraud trial said Trump had violated a gag order. It was the second time in less than a week that Trump was penalized for his out-of-court comments. Before imposing the latest fine, Judge Arthur Engoron summoned Trump from the defense table to testify about his comment to reporters hours earlier about “a person who’s very partisan sitting alongside” the judge.

Mar-a-Lago member and Australian billionaire Anthony Pratt said then-President Trump told him about his private calls with the leaders of Ukraine and Iraq. Reports revealed previously unknown recordings of Pratt candidly recalling his conversations with Trump – and build on existing allegations that Trump overshared sensitive government material.

At a speech in New Hampshire, Trump said:

• Trump declaring that there were no terrorist attacks in the US during his presidency: Justice Department alleged that a mass murder in New York City in 2017, which killed eight people and injured others, was a terrorist attack carried out in support of ISIS. As well, Justice Department also alleged that a 2019 attack by an extremist member of Saudi Arabia’s military, which killed three US service members and injured others at a military base in Florida.
• Trump claimed that Nikki Haley had proposed the US to take in a large number of refugees from Gaza: Haley never said anywhere in her comments on CNN that she wanted the US to take in refugees from Gaza.
  [Of course there were others but these are the major lies.]

A big legal week for Trump

Unlike last week, this was a very busy week in Trumpland. Trump Sewer? Trump Dump?

A federal judge’s ruling killed Donald Trump’s assertion of executive privilege to prevent the National Archives from turning over hundreds of documents pertinent to the House probe examining the January 6 Capitol insurrection. Although Trump is already mustering an appeal, the ruling represented a huge win for the House select committee probing one of the most alarming assaults on democracy in US history.

A day later, the same judge rejected another attempt by Trump’s lawyers to slow down the handing over of documents. That means Trump will now need to ask an appeals court for emergency help to keep the documents secret while he pursues appeals.

Short of a court order, the Archives will turn over more than 40 pages related to January 6, including White House visitor and call logs and three handwritten memos from the files of ex-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows. Trump is looking to hold off the Archives from giving the House hundreds more pages later in November, as the House pushes to speak to close advisers in his White House under subpoena.

But then a federal appeals court granted Trump’s request to pause the release of key White House records from his presidency to the House select committee investigating the January 6 attack on the US Capitol, as he appeals a lower court’s decision that he can’t claim executive privilege to keep them secret.

The current list of those who have been subpoenaed include Meadows, former White House deputy chief of staff for communications Daniel Scavino, former Defence Department official Kashyap Patel, former Trump adviser Stephen Bannon, former Department of Justice official Jeffrey Clark, Trump 2020 campaign manager William Stepien, former senior adviser to Trump 2020 campaign Jason Miller, attorney John Eastman who helped craft Trump’s argument that the election was stolen, former Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn, former White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany, Trump senior adviser Stephen Miller, 10 others [mostly White House officials] plus 14 people who were listed as organizers for the January 6th “rally” including people who received the “rally” permit, “supervisors”, “managers”, etc.

Trump said he considered it “common sense” for his supporters to chant “Hang Mike Pence!” during the Trump Insurrection but that he never feared for his vice president’s safety. How does Trump really know Pence would be safe? Was he there? Did he tell the insurrectionist not to harm Pence? Trump again took issue with Pence for not intervening to change the results as he presided over the count of electoral college votes by Congress. The count was ultimately interrupted after rioters breached the Capitol and Pence was whisked out of the chamber amid threats on his life.

A federal grand jury has returned an indictment Steve Bannon for contempt of Congress, the Justice Department announced. Bannon, 67, was charged with one count related to his refusal to appear for a deposition and another related to his refusal to produce documents. Each count carries a minimum of 30 days and a maximum of one year in jail, the Justice Department said.

Trump scored two big legal victories and avoided having to sit for a deposition in a defamation lawsuit after former “Apprentice” contestant Summer Zervos agreed to drop her claims. Zervos had sued Trump in 2017 after he denied allegations that he had sexually assaulted her. A judge had recently ordered Trump to sit for a deposition in the case by December 23.

A New York judge granted Trump’s motion to dismiss a lawsuit filed by his former personal attorney Michael Cohen against the Trump Organization. Cohen sued the Trump Organization in 2019, seeking reimbursement of legal fees and saying that after he began cooperating with federal investigators, the company failed to fulfill its contractual obligations to indemnify him or pay his legal bills relating to his work for the firm.

At least 13 senior Trump administration officials illegally mixed governing with campaigning before the 2020 election, intentionally ignoring a law that prohibits merging the two and getting approval to break it, a federal investigation found. A report from the office of Special Counsel Henry Kerner describes a “wilful disregard for the law” known as the Hatch Act that was “especially pernicious,” given that many officials abused their government roles days before the November election. Trump — whose job it was to discipline his political appointees — allowed them to illegally promote his re-election on the job despite warnings to some from ethics officials.

The 13 included, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, acting homeland security chief Chad Wolf, Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette, senior counsellor Kellyanne Conway, White House director of strategic communications Alyssa Farah, US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman, senior adviser and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, McEnany, Meadows, Stephen Miller, deputy White House press secretary Brian Morgenstern, Marc Short who was chief of staff to Vice President Mike Pence, and national security adviser Robert C. O’Brien.

No punishment is expected to be assessed because, by most legal interpretations, the president in office at the time is the only person who can take action to fire or reprimand his political appointees when they act illegally.

In the committee investigating the Trump Insurrection, Flynn suggested declaring a national emergency or even martial law should be done. He had previously said that since there was a Myanmar, then why not in the US. So much for democracy.

Nearly $1 million is donated weekly to Trump’s re-election campaign. Question would be what happens with the donations if he doesn’t run. Give to the Republican Party? Nah. Filly his piggy bank? I think so.

The Denier in Chief

Note: As you may or may not have noticed, I’m even going to bother repeating Donald Trump’s false claims and lies that he has said over and over and over and over and over again. What’s the point. We know he is the Liar in Chief.

This past week, Trump had to deny more than usual as two major books came out [at least to the press], continuing mess with him and the military, and denying the degree of how hard COVID-19 hit the US.

After Fox spend quite a bit of time bashing The Atlantic report which said Trump had disparaged military members who died in service to the country, Fox News itself confirmed key aspects of it. Correspondent Jennifer Griffin said she had confirmed Trump disparaged veterans; didn’t want to honor the dead at the Aisne-Marne Cemetery; and did not want to lower flags after the death of John McCain.

Trump attacked Griffin and claimed her reporting had been “refuted by many witnesses.” He then went further, saying, “Jennifer Griffin should be fired for this kind of reporting.” He added that he believed Fox News is “gone.”

So Trump is still in deny mode even though The Atlantic had multiple sources and now a Fox correspondent also has multiple sources. This coupled with Trump’s history of lies and who would you believe?

Trump admitted he knew weeks before the first confirmed US coronavirus death that the virus was dangerous, airborne, highly contagious and “more deadly than even your strenuous flues,” and that he repeatedly played it down publicly, according to legendary journalist Bob Woodward in his new book “Rage.” “This is deadly stuff,” Trump told Woodward on February 7.

Former Defense Secretary James Mattis is quoted as calling Trump “dangerous” and “unfit” to be commander in chief. Woodward writes that former Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats “continued to harbor the secret belief, one that had grown rather than lessened, although unsupported by intelligence proof, that Russian President Vladimir Poutine had something on Trump.” Woodward continues, writing that Coats felt, “How else to explain the president’s behavior? Coats could see no other explanation.”

In the same interviews, Trump called his general “p_ssies” because they were caring more about alliances [such as NATO] than with trade deals. I don’t think their job is to negotiate trade deals.

Quite a few White Shack advisors and cabinet member did not oppose Trump in being interviewed by Woodward. Two interviews at the White Shack were in the company of others but the rest were one on one.

White Shack press secretary Kayleigh McEnany insists Trump has “never lied to the American public” about coronavirus. “The President was expressing calm and his actions reflect that,” she said, adding later: “The President has always been clear-eyed with the American people.” Uh huh.

A whistleblower is alleging that acting DHS Secretary Chad Wolf and Acting Director of US Citizenship and Immigration Ken Cuccinelli, both appointed by Trump, in the Department of Homeland Security repeatedly instructed career officials to modify intelligence assessments to ensure they matched up with misleading public comments from Trump about Antifa and “anarchist” groups.

Again, Trump tried to push voters to vote twice. First with mail-in voting and then in person. Trump claims this is the way to make sure the voter’s vote was counted. Except in just about every stare, it is a felony to vote twice in a single election.

“I don’t know exactly what he was saying, but it seems to me what he’s saying is he’s trying to make the point that the ability to monitor this system is not good,” Attorney General William Barr said. “And if it was so good, if you tried to vote a second time you would be caught if you voted in person.” What he is forgetting is that the voter will be arrested. Idiot. He’s the Attorney General? Where did he get his law degree from? Trump University?

“I never imagined that as Secretary of State I would have to inform both the President and the US Attorney General that it is illegal to vote twice,” said Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold.

Trump made his third visit to North Carolina in as many weeks, pushing a new end-in-sight message on coronavirus. The state still has a mask requirement in place, and many businesses — including bars and movie theaters — remain closed. But Trump did not wear a mask during his speech in Winston-Salem. Even though many supporters visible in stands directly behind Trump were wearing masks [so they can be visible for the media], those facing Trump mostly weren’t. This could be a super spreader.

The US Justice Department asked to take over the defense of Trump in a defamation lawsuit filed against him by longtime magazine columnist E. Jean Carroll, a woman who has accused Trump of sexual assault. While the alleged sexual assault occurred long before Trump became President, the Justice Department argued that it must take over because Trump’s comments spurring the defamation lawsuit came while he was in office and at taxpayer’s expense.

Meanwhile, New York state Supreme Court judge, Justice Verna Saunders, denied Trump’s effort to delay the proceedings in a defamation lawsuit filed against him by Carroll, a move that allows her to pursue his DNA sample in an effort to prove claims he sexually assaulted her in the 1990s.

Trump’s former attorney/fixer Michael Cohen said that Trump isn’t joking when he floats the notion of attempting to stay in the White House beyond two terms. “Donald Trump believes that he should be the ruler — the dictator of the United States of America. He actually is looking to change the Constitution. When Donald Trump jokes about 12 more years … he is not joking. Donald Trump does not have a sense of humor.”

“So I want you to understand that when he says 12 more years, if he wins he is going to automatically day number one start thinking how he can change the Constitution for a third term, and then a fourth term, like what he said to President XI and like what he said to so many other people. It’s why he admires the Kim Jong Uns of the world,” said Cohen.

The White Shack will definitely deny this and claim how can anyone trust a convict like Cohen. Cohen pleaded guilty in 2018 to tax fraud, lying to Congress and campaign finance violations for facilitating hush money payments to two women who alleged past affairs with Trump, who has denied having affairs with the women.

Former employees of the company that US Postmaster General Louis DeJoy previously ran were pressured to donate to GOP candidates and then reimbursed through bonuses. While encouraging donations is not illegal on its own, a reimbursement of campaign contributions would constitute a violation of state and federal election laws. DeJoy testified last month that he never repaid executives for making donations to the Trump campaign.

In an August 3 press briefing, Trump said his health care plan would most likely be released before the end of the month [of August]. It is now into September and still no Trump health care plan [TrumpCare? TrumpCareLess?] or no further dismantling of The Affordable Care Act [a.k.a. ObamaCare]. Maybe he likes it after all – or the parts he’s happy with.

Trump chastised a reporter at a “news” conference for wearing a mask claiming the mask was muffling what he said. Maybe if the reports had a microphone that all can hear? Trump later on praised another report for not wearing a mask.

During a White Shack press briefing, in response to a question about the poisoning of Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny, Trump said the US had no proof yet about what had happened. The German government said prior that Navalny was poisoned with a nerve agent from the Novichok group — a Soviet-era chemical weapon. The same agent was used in a March 2018 attack on former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in the English city of Salisbury. Isn’t that enough proof?

The Trump administration is considering whether to add China’s top chip maker Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation, or SMIC, to its growing trade black list. The administration has been blacklisting Chinese companies that help strengthen Beijing’s military. However, in a recent statement, SMIC said it had no ties to the Chinese military.

A far-right Norwegian lawmaker said that he has nominated Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts in his work “for a peace agreement between the United Arab Emirates and Israel which opens up for possible peace in the Middle East.” It is too late to be nominated this year. Last year, Trump predicted he would win the Nobel Prize “for a lot of things if they gave it out fairly, which they don’t.”

After spending a load of money renovating the White Shack’s Rose Garden, they are fixing it already. Seems draining issues. For Melania’s August 25 RNC speech, turf was laid down because it was too muddy. I’m wondering what the bill is like. Some Rose Garden critics said the garden was altered too much – more than what was called for.

Trump signs first [of many] vetoes

In another busy week [is there ever a quiet week?], Donald Trump vetoed legislation attempting to strike down his declaration of a national emergency at the southern border. It will be the first time in his two years in office that Trump has used his presidential veto power to block legislation. Not surprising this is the first time. His administration has had a problem passing anything even when the GOP controlled both the House and Senate.

It is unlikely that Congress will have the two-thirds majority required to override Trump’s veto, though House Democrats will try nonetheless on March 26.

So far, at least seven lawsuits have been filed challenging the declaration. The argument at the core of each lawsuit is similar: Trump exceeded his authority and circumvented Congress in an attempt to achieve his signature campaign promise for an emergency that, plaintiffs argue, doesn’t exist.

Trump tweeted shortly after the Senate passed the resolution condemning his unilateral action. “I thank all of the Strong Republicans who voted to support Border Security and our desperately needed WALL!” Ummm. A dozen Republicans voted against him. Not a good sign.

Trump and White House aides making clear to Republican senators that a vote against Trump on this issue would have ramifications come re-election time. Still, a White House official said Trump won’t forget when senators who opposed him want him to attend fundraisers or provide other help. More thuggery. Trump said he had sympathy for the Republicans who voted against him and emphasized that he never truly twisted the arms of lawmakers, because he knew there were not enough votes to override the veto.

The Senate delivered a high-profile rebuke to Trump over his signature agenda issue when 12 Republicans joined Democrats to overturn Trump’s national emergency border declaration. The vote was 59-41, an overwhelming vote against the Trump’s executive action. However it isn’t enough to block Trump’s veto which he will do.

Trump had hoped the number of “yes” votes will stay below 60, aides say, a symbolic margin that he believes would save some embarrassment, though still require him to use his veto pen. But he reversed when asked if he would support a proposal to limit future national emergency declarations to 30 days which he could agree to – just not this national emergency. A number of prominent GOP lawmakers are against the emergency including Mitt Romney and Susan Collins.

“Prominent legal scholars agree that our actions to address the National Emergency at the Southern Border and to protect the American people are both CONSTITUTIONAL and EXPRESSLY authorized by Congress,” Trump wrote. I wouldn’t mind knowing which prominent legal scholars he is referring to. And “authorized”? The House hasn’t and it looks like the Senate won’t.

[If this is such a national emergency, why didn’t he pushed for this national emergency when he was elected? What has changed? Nothing. it is his signature election promise and one of many he has failed to do in his 26 months of this “presidency”. He couldn’t get anything passed even when “his” party had a majority for the first two party and definitely won’t when the Democrats took over the House.]

The House of Representatives passed a resolution with 420 members voting in favor of the resolution and zero voting against it. The resolution is calling for special counsel Robert Mueller’s report to be released to the public once it is completed. The resolution is not legally binding. So 185 Republicans vote in favor. But Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham moved to block a non-binding resolution in the Senate.

Trump’s former campaign chairman Paul Manafort will serve a total of seven and a half years in prison for two cases. The latest sentencing was for two charges: conspiracy against the US and conspiracy to obstruct justice for attempting to tamper with witnesses.

“I have not even given it a thought as of this moment,” Trump said. “It’s not something now that’s on my mind.” Trump reiterated that he felt “badly” for his former aide.

After Manafort’s second sentencing, Trump said “Today, again, no collusion. The other day, no collusion.” Except the second sentencing had nothing to do with his collusion problems. Manafort’s lawyer Kevin Downing repeated Trump’s comments saying “So that makes two courts… Two courts have ruled no evidence of any collusion with the Russians.”

If Trump pardons Manafort for his federal convictions, the ex-lobbyist could still face years in jail on state charges that are beyond his reach.

Ex-acting Attorney General Matt Whitaker did not deny in a closed congressional meeting that he had spoken with Trump about a case involving Trump’s ex-lawyer Michael Cohen. This is involving Cohen’s allegation that a pardon had been dangled in exchange for him staying loyal to the President, in which he was purportedly told he could be sure he had “friends in high places.”

At best, such a conversation would appear inappropriate and unethical since the President is the country’s top law enforcement officer. At worst it could again raise suggestions that Trump may have obstructed justice.

An attorney who said he had been speaking with Trump’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani reassured Cohen in an April 2018 email that Cohen could “sleep well tonight” because he had “friends in high places.”

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said he would obey the law if he receives a written request from Congress to turn over Trump’s tax returns. “I will consult with the legal department within Treasury, and I will comply with the law.”

Republicans, who have argued that Trump has the right to privacy, quickly made clear they believe any request from Democrats wouldn’t be lawful — opening up the possibility of an extended fight over whether Mnuchin will hand over the returns if a request is made. Trump came the first major Presidential candidate in 2016 to refuse citing an ongoing audit. [That’s one long audit.] House Democrats have been preparing to ask the Internal Revenue Service for Trump’s tax returns under an obscure provision that gives the leaders of the House and Senate tax-writing committees the power to request taxpayer information from the Treasury Department. It states that “the secretary shall furnish such committee with any return or return information specified in such request.”

Trump says he does not see white nationalism as a rising threat around the world following an attack targeting Muslims in New Zealand that killed at least 49 people.

Trump was just doing what he [thought] could to raise spirits when he signed Bibles at an Alabama church for survivors of a tornado outbreak, many religious leaders say, though some are offended and others say he could have handled it differently. Other Presidents have signed Bibles but they were generally one offs and for special occasions.

Trump should have at least signed inside in a less ostentatious way according to some faith leaders. Others said he shouldn’t of signed them at all. One said “It almost felt like a desecration of the holy book to put his signature on the front writ large, literally.” Others said it could be seen as a blurring of church and state and an endorsement of Christianity over other religions.

Trump wants to sell the military. No not that way. There are 100+ country that have US military presence. Trump wants to charge countries for the manpower and resources plus a surcharge [to make a profit]. Judging by how much it costs to buy a screw, that will be one big bill! They did, however, said it would be on a case by case basis.

Erik Prince, the founder of Blackwater and brother of Betsy Devos, proposed a plan to privatize the war in Afghanistan by turning military operations over to a mercenary force like his that wouldn’t be subject to Pentagon or civilian oversight and that would eventually fund itself by plundering the resources of the country. He sees that not only as a way of funding the occupation, but also as a way of making huge profits from the occupation of a foreign land. He envisages that as a template for future military adventures and seems to be in favor of deciding whether to engage in future oversees military operations not on the basis of US national interest concerns or human rights concerns but rather on the basis of whether a profit can be made. Not surprisingly, Trump seems to be in love with the idea.

Trump telling Breitbart News, “I have the support of the police, the support of the military, the support of Bikers for Trump — I have tough people, but they don’t play it tough until they go to a certain point and then it would be very, very bad.” Well, he should have support for the military but for military purposes – not to become thugs and do his dirty job – like say beat up Trump’s critics. The same goes for the police. Both groups should be impartial. As for bikers, not surprised he’d want to be associated with most or at least some of them. While not all, quite a few bikers belong to criminal gangs.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced the Trump administration will deny or revoke visas for International Criminal Court staff. The move is meant to deter a potential investigation by the judicial body into alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by US troops in Afghanistan. The restrictions include “persons who take or have taken action to request or further such an investigation.”

There is a legal phrase for this: Obstruction of justice. Something the administration is all too familiar with.

Over part of two tweets, Trump said “How do you impeach a man who is considered by many to be the President with the most successful first two years in history, especially when he has done nothing wrong and impeachment is for “high crimes and misdemeanors”?” OK. You can stop laughing now. Seriously. Stop!

After the GOP tweeted “The NY Attorney General called President Trump an “illegitimate president.” She has proven to have a vendetta against @realDonaldTrump & is using her position of power to baselessly smear the President & the work he’s done for the American people,” Trump retweeted that and added “All part of the Witch Hunt Hoax. Started by little [former NY Attorney General] Eric Schneiderman & [Governor Andrew] Cuomo. So many leaving New York!” There were 19.85 million in New York state in 2017 and 19.88 million in 2018. Yup. Leaving in droves! [This was a second tweet after the first one was deleted because he couldn’t spell Cuomo’s name correctly.]

Let’s not forget the Trump still has properties in New York such as his trump Tower. You don’t see him leaving the state.

According to excerpts from the forthcoming book “Kushner Inc.” obtained by New York Times, Trump told former Chief of Staff John Kelly he wanted Ivanka and Jared Kushner gone. The White House is denying these reports, calling the book “completely false.” Boy this could been interesting the next time they see each other. “Is it true daddy?”

After the latest Boeing 737 MAX 8 jet crash Trump tweeted “Airplanes are becoming far too complex to fly,” Trump tweeted. “Pilots are no longer needed, but rather computer scientists from MIT. I see it all the time in many products. Always seeking to go one unnecessary step further, when often old and simpler is far better. Split second decisions are needed, and the complexity creates danger. All this cost for very little gain.”

“I’m not an email person,” Trump said during a July 2016 news conference. “I don’t believe in it because I think it can be hacked” as if no Twitter accounts have been hacked ever. Is tweeting any better? You send out an Email, it does normally to a finite number of users. You tweet something, it does to everyone of your followers.

Trump is also a big supporter of Boeing and has been a salesman for them. Most recently during his trip to Vietnam last month where he oversaw the sale of 100 Boeing 737 MAX planes — 20 of those MAX 8 models — for $12.7 billion. Vietnam has put the order on hold until the reason for the crashes are identified.

Within 48 hours, Trump was forced to order the halting of the airplanes because after Canada grounded them, they weren’t flying anywhere except in the US and even passengers were worried about them.

After Trump accused “The Democrats have become an anti-Israel party. They’ve become an anti-Jewish party,” press secretary Sarah “Simpleton” Sanders wouldn’t say whether Trump believes Democrats hate Jews, which is what he reportedly told Republican donors over the weekend at his Florida estate.

When Sanders claimed that the Democrats refusal to specifically condemn a freshman lawmaker for her controversial comments amounted to an “abhorrent” display, she was asked whether Trump condemned Rep. Steve King’s comments noting that King has a history of making what can be called racist comments but only recently stripped of various committee postings. She deflected the question. The Democrats did condemn the freshman who also apologized.

Trump also claimed that Jews are switching to the Republican party. Of course various polls from the past few elections say that Jews vote for the Democrats anywhere between 70% and 80% of the time.

A vote this week on Yemen was the first time Congress invoked the decades-old War Powers Act to try to rein in a president. That resolution seeking to end US backing for the Saudi Arabian-led coalition fighting in Yemen was approved in the aftermath of the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul and is expected to be the subject of Trump’s second veto.

The Trump administration is proposing $2.7 trillion in spending cuts following a directive by Trump to reduce spending by 5% across federal agencies, except for defense spending, as part of its budget plan for fiscal year 2020, which begins on October 1. The Democrats already have said that Trump will not get the $8.6 billion he plans to request for the wall.

“President Trump added nearly $2 trillion to our deficits with tax cuts for the wealthy and large corporations, and now it appears his budget asks the American people to pay the price,” said Democratic Rep. John Yarmuth, chairman of the House Budget Committee. “With severe cuts to essential programs and services that would leave our nation less safe and secure, the Trump budget is as dangerous as it is predictable.”

Former House Speaker Paul Ryan tweeted that Trump’s “record of accomplishment is why he’ll win re-election,” a significant difference from comments the he made earlier in the week where he described how he thought some Democrats could beat Trump in the 2020 election.

One of the very few items that Trump managed to check off on his platform list is sinking. Unless the Trump administration lifts the punishing tariffs it has imposed on Mexican steel and aluminum imports — duties it also imposed on Canada — Mexico is prepared to keep the status quo with the 25-year-old North American Free Trade Agreement.

Trump tweets “Republican Approval Rating just hit 93%. Sorry Haters!” From which poll he gives no data. So his “poll” [the one he invented in his mind] says 7% don’t like him. Still not good.

In 2011, Trump questioned whether President Obama was a born American in addition to his academic record. According to the Washing Post [and in recent testimony by Michael Cohen], days after he had threatened his high school, college and college board not to release his grades or SAT scores. In fact, Trump wanted all of his transcripts [which were on paper only] to be given to alumni Trump could trust.

In the more than two years since Trump took office, he has not hosted a women’s championship sports team for a solo event at the White House. WNBA teams were frequently invited to the White House during the Obama, Bush, and Clinton administrations. NCAA women’s basketball champion teams have visited the White House for the previous five administrations. The sole exception is of a November 2017 event honoring multiple NCAA championship teams.

Case in point: The North Dakota State Bison NCAA division 2 football team were at the White House and again they were served Big Macs, fried chicken sandwiches and other fast food on silver platters using fine china. “We could’ve had chefs, we could have, but we had fast food — because I know you people.”

Trump suggested the decision was aimed at supporting American business. “We like American companies, OK?” he said. Trump encouraged the team to “go and eat up,” noting that he would have a sandwich at the podium himself, but it would cause “too big a stir” with the reporters present. Ya. Sure Donnie.

In the computer department:

A researcher from France has detected in an app, nicknamed “Yelp for Conservatives”, was found with an open API [a set of functions and procedures allowing the creation of applications] leaking reams of user data without any real hacking. The developer said the app is designed “to keep conservatives safe as they eat and shop” has not taken kindly to the findings. He’s accusing the researcher of hacking his database and has threatened legal recourse.

The same researcher found another app called “Donald Daters” [coincidentally also pro-Conservative] which leaked users’ names, photos, personal messages and users’ authentication tokens. It is a MAGA-themed dating experience.

A recent polls says that 50% support Cohen, 35% support Trump.

Another crony sentenced

After his former 2016 campaign chairman Paul Manafort was sentenced to just 47 months after the prosecution asked for 19 to 25 years, Donald Trump spinned it differently tweeted “Both the Judge and the lawyer in the Paul Manafort case stated loudly and for the world to hear that there was NO COLLUSION with Russia” as the conviction was for bank and tax fraud and not for colluding with Russia.

However, on the counts that Manafort wasn’t found guilty, it was only because a single individual held out on guilty on those counts. [One could say that the individual could be a Trump supporter who knew the consequences if found guilty on the Russian related charges.] But the less than four-year term shocked many legal observers and sparked looks of astonishment among prosecutors. The judge only said that collusion wasn’t an issue for him to consider in the case. He did not assess whether it happens or not.

A judge in Washington, who has been less well disposed toward Manafort, will sentence him next week in a separate case, in which he has been accused of lying to Mueller and breaching a plea deal.

“They should be ashamed of their horrendous treatment of Paul Manafort who they pressured relentlessly because, unlike Michael Cohen, he wouldn’t lie for them,” said Trump’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani in a statement. Except, Manafort is accused of lying in the other court case.

Even Manafort’s lawyer said outside court: “There is absolutely no evidence that Paul Manafort was involved in any collusion with any government official from Russia.” Seems for them Russian collusion is way more important than tax fraud.

Trump went on a two hour rambling speech – sometimes swearing – at the Conservative Political Action Conference rambling about the usual: collusion, witch hunt, presidential harassment, Green New Deal, Hillary Clinton’s Emails, etc. Would you want to hear the same ramblings over and over again?

At CPAC, Trump says he’ll be signing an executive order requiring colleges and universities to support free speech. “If they want our dollars and we give them by the billions,” Trump said, “they’ve got to allow people to speak.” We’ll see if it backfires when those speaking go against him. If so, what he does after. This was because a conservative activist was punched on the campus of the University of California Berkeley last month.

Trump also said that all of the territory of the ISIS caliphate in Syria has been taken back, despite previously saying something similar just days ago. “As of today or tomorrow, we will have 100% of the caliphate defeated.”

During a stopover in Alaska on the way back from Vietnam, Trump said 100% of the caliphate had been taken. An official of the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces disputed that statement, saying that the fight is ongoing and that they were surprised by Trump’s statement.

Trump said as well that he was being “sarcastic” when he asked Russia to find Hillary Clinton’s emails. If so, why does he keep on bringing it up? 28 months later, he still thinks the Democrats will null and void his election win and talks about Clinton’s emails. And yet, there is no way to erase his 28 months in office. He is [like it or not] the 45th president. Yes. It’s a form of fear mongering and definitely lying.

Trump claimed he fired former FBI Director James Comey in 2017 claiming “the good news is that this is going to be so bipartisan, everyone’s going to love it” since the Democrats were angry at Comey because of his investigation right before the election.

Trump said regarding possible obstruction from the firing of Comey “If you use your rights, if you use your power, if you use Article Two, it is called obstruction. But only for Trump, for nobody else.” So there are laws that don’t apply to him.

Trump reacted to a House vote on a resolution condemning anti-Semitism, saying, without evidence, that the Democratic party is “anti-Jewish”. The House of Representatives passed a resolution broadly condemning hate and intolerance, including anti-Semitism and anti-Muslim discrimination, in the wake of controversy over Democratic freshman Rep. Ilhan Omar.

The vote was 407-23. Twenty-three Republicans voted against the measure, and all Democrats – including Omar – who voted in support of the resolution. But it seems like it is the Republicans who are against the resolution broadly condemning hate and intolerance, including anti-Semitism and anti-Muslim discrimination.

A photo published in the Miami Herald shows the founder and one-time owner of a spa, Li Yang, implicated in a human-trafficking ring attended Trump’s Super Bowl watch party at his West Palm Beach country club in February. Yang snapped a blurry selfie with a smiling Trump, who turned in his chair to look over his right shoulder for the photo.

Nineteen days later, Trump’s long-time friend and New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft was charged with soliciting prostitution at the Orchids of Asia Day Spa in nearby Jupiter, which Yang had founded more than a decade earlier. None of the spas are registered to Yang or her family. They were sold 6 years ago and the current owner was charged with racketeering and running a house of prostitution and has pleaded not guilty.

Trump had pressured his then-chief of staff John Kelly and White House counsel Don McGahn to grant his daughter and senior adviser Ivanka Trump a security clearance against their recommendations. While Trump has the legal authority to grant clearances, most instances are left up to the White House personnel security office, which determines whether a staffer should be granted one after the FBI has conducted a background check.

But after concerns were raised by the personnel office, Trump pushed Kelly and McGahn to make the decision on his daughter and son-in-law’s clearances so it did not appear as if he was tainting the process to favor his family, sources told CNN. After both refused, Trump granted them their security clearances.

Trump pressured Gary Cohn, the former director of the National Economic Council, to tell the Justice Department to block AT&T’s Time Warner deal. At the heart of the theories is Trump’s public dislike of CNN, which was a division of Time Warner, and his close relationship with Fox News. Justice Department filed its lawsuit to block the deal.

While Trump openly criticized the AT&T-Time Warner deal, he publicly congratulated Murdoch for selling most of 21st Century Fox to Disney even before the deal had received regulatory approval. Rupert Murdoch is a close friend of Trump and the Murdoch family will make more than two billion dollars.

“FEMA has been told directly by me to give the A Plus treatment to the Great State of Alabama and the wonderful people who have been so devastated by the Tornadoes,” Trump tweeted. But some are questioning whether he is biased towards areas of the country that were hit by disasters but in areas that favor Trump over the Democrats. He was less than positive to the devastations in California [pull funding] and Puerto Rico [blame local leaders for slow relief efforts].

“When the Republicans had the Majority they never acted with such hatred and scorn! The Dems are trying to win an election in 2020 that they know they cannot legitimately win!” tweeted Trump. So he is already suggesting that Democrats cannot beat him fairly — raising the specter that if he loses next November, he will suggest that the election was not legitimate.

In the unemployment and employment section:

The White House is expected to announce that Trump will nominate Kelley Eckels Currie to serve as an ambassador-at-large for global women’s issues. That position, established under President Barack Obama’s administration, had been vacant since Trump took office. Currie currently serves as the representative to the United Nations Economic and Social Council.

Lynne Patton, a long time Trump family associate who made a controversial appearance at last week’s House hearing with Michael Cohen, says she has the President’s blessing to follow in his footsteps as a reality TV star, even as she serves as a high-ranking federal housing official. She will appear on a still-developing show about black Republicans.

The latest to jump the trump ship is White House deputy chief of staff and de facto communications director Bill Shine, who has stepped down to join the Trump campaign. He is the sixth to have the job in just over 2 years. But scuttlebutt said that Trump had questioned Shine’s judgment on a number of issues in recent months, from the midterm election to the government shutdown.

Shine had been slated to travel with Trump to Vietnam for the second North Korea summit but unexpectedly dropped off the trip two days before. Shine was wandering the halls of the Conservative Political Action Conference. Asked why he was there, he declined to answer. Dropping from communications director to a senior adviser is interesting.

In addition, Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson has resigned and plans to return to academia in the weeks ahead. Wilson had long been skeptical of Trump’s plans for a separate branch of the military devoted to space as much of the new organization would be formed from pre-existing Air Force units.

Trump did hire Kayleigh McEnany as national press secretary. She is an American political commentator and writer. She is also a former CNN contributor and a former national Spokesperson for the Republican National Committee.

The US National Security Agency (NSA) has ended the controversial phone call record surveillance program exposed by Edward Snowden. The program was launched under the USA Patriot Act of 2001, originally to permit the collection of call records from telecommunications providers to search for patterns of connections between persons of interest.

Even Trump 2020 campaign press secretary Kayleigh McEnany got into the act by saying “These desperate Democrats know they cannot beat President Trump in 2020, so instead they have embarked on a disgraceful witch hunt with one singular aim: topple the will of the American people and seize the power that they have zero chance at winning legitimately.”

White House press secretary Sarah “Simpleton” Sanders said “They continue to be a group totally taken by small radical leftist fringe of their party and they’re completely controlled by it, they know that’s not enough to beat this President so they’re going to look for other ways to do that.”

Trump doesn’t like to lose even when he wins when three weeks after winning the 2016 election [but lost the popular vote] he said “In addition to winning the Electoral College in a landslide, I won the popular vote if you deduct the millions of people who voted illegally.” It wasn’t considered a landslide.

Trump said he does not hold North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un responsible for American student Otto Warmbier’s death. He did however later said what he was “misinterpreted” but says he now hold North Korea responsible.

If Trump thought his so called Presidential Harassment is bad now, he hasn’t seen anything yet. Investigations into many of Trump’s cronies, former cronies and even family members are starting to take shape.

Trump tweeted “Presidential Harassment by “crazed” Democrats at the highest level in the history of our Country. Likewise, the most vicious and corrupt Mainstream Media that any president has ever had to endure – Yet the most successful first two years for any.” Considering that Trump invented the phrase “Presidential Harassment” how can you compare it against any level? And how do you measure it?

Trump’s former lawyer and fixer, Michael Cohen, is suing the Trump Organization, saying it failed to fulfill its contractual obligations to indemnify him or pay his attorneys’ fees relating to his work after he began cooperating with federal investigators. In his complaint, Cohen says his legal bills for the criminal investigations he faced totaled $1.9 million.

Trump claims now that Cohen wanted a pardon from Trump in person if convicted even though Cohen said under oath that he didn’t. So that could be a perjury charge. Problem is that it also sets up Trump that he would have to testify what Cohen had said – which could open up things.

The New York State Department of Financial Services has opened an inquiry into the Trump Organization’s insurance practices, sending a subpoena to the company’s long-time insurance broker.

GOP leaders and key committee chairmen are making clear that they believe there is no reason to probe whether Trump broke the law in engaging in a scheme to hide payments made to two women to keep their stories quiet in the days running up to the 2016 elections.

The US gained 20,000 more jobs but way less than the past few months. Trump touted growing wages, low unemployment and the stock market. On the stock market, Trump said, “Certainly since my election it’s up, getting close to 50%.” These statements are [of course] untrue as the stock market took a big tumble late last year and early this year and is slowly recovering.

It hasn’t reached its October 2017 peak and has tumbled since late February again. Dow Jones was at around 20,000 at the inauguration day and stands at around 25,000 at this time. [In comparison, with President Obama he started with about 8,200 and finished at around 20,000.]