President Donald Trump quoted a Fox News appearance by his daughter-in-law to defend himself from an onslaught of document requests issued by House Democrats against his family and associates.
The president tweeted out a quote from Lara Trump’s appearance the previous evening on Sean Hannity’s program, where she said the widening congressional investigations into possible criminal wrongdoing simply showed Democrats feared her father-in-law.
“Democrats are frantic to throw something else at the president,” Lara Trump, a re-election campaign adviser to her father-in-law, who then tweeted out her remarks. “That’s why you saw those 81 subpoenas. It’s ridiculous. Just because you’re still upset over an election that happened 2 1/2 years ago, you should not be allowed to ruin people’s lives like this.”
“Democrats are frantic to throw something else at the President. That’s why you saw those 81 subpoenas. It’s ridiculous. Just because your still upset over an election that happened 2 1/2 years ago, you should not be allowed to ruin people’s lives like this.” Lara Trump, @FoxNews
The recipients have until March 18 to comply with the requests, and the committee plans to issue subpoenas if the requested documents aren’t turned over.
President Donald Trump is falsely asserting that the latest trial of his former campaign chairman proved there was no collusion with Russia. That’s twice in two cases that Trump claimed vindication that did not occur.
The ex-campaign chief, Paul Manafort, was sentenced to nearly 3½ years in prison Wednesday on top of a nearly four-year sentence given by another judge last week.
As if anticipating Trump would claim exoneration from the case, U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson reminded her courtroom during the sentencing hearing Wednesday that the case before her was unrelated to questions about whether the Trump campaign worked with Russians to tilt the 2016 election.
“The ‘no collusion’ mantra is simply a non sequitur,” she said, scolding Manafort’s lawyers for bringing it up during the trial. It’s not accurate, she continued, because “the investigation is still ongoing.”
She said pointedly: “Court is one of those places where facts still matter.”
The president was undeterred.
TRUMP: “I can only tell you one thing: Again that was proven today, no collusion.” — remarks to reporters at the White House.
THE FACTS: There was no such proof in either trial. Whether collusion happened was not a subject of the charges against Manafort. It’s one of the central issues in a separate and continuing investigation by special counsel Robert Mueller.
In the case that produced Manafort’s first prison sentence, he was convicted of tax and bank fraud related to his work advising Ukrainian politicians. Judge T.S. Ellis III neither cleared nor implicated the president, instead emphasizing that Manafort was “not before this court for anything having to do with collusion with the Russian government.”
Trump ignored that point afterward, tweeting Friday: “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.” He misquoted the lawyer as well as the judge.
On Wednesday, Jackson sentenced Manafort for misleading the government about his foreign lobbying work and for encouraging witnesses to lie on his behalf. Again, the case did not turn on his leadership of Trump’s campaign.
As with other Americans who were close to Trump and have been charged in the Mueller probe, Manafort hasn’t been accused of involvement in Russian election interference. Nor has he been cleared of that suspicion. The same is true of Trump.
President Trump in a new interview suggested that his supporters are tougher than Democrats, and that if they actually play tough things could get “very bad.”
Trump made the comments in the context of an interview with the conservative outlet Breitbart in which he argued that Democrats play a tough political game.
“You know, the left plays a tougher game, it’s very funny,” Trump said in the interview with Breitbart published on Wednesday. “I actually think that the people on the right are tougher, but they don’t play it tougher.”
“I can tell you I have the support of the police, the support of the military, the support of the Bikers for Trump – I have the tough people, but they don’t play it tough — until they go to a certain point, and then it would be very bad, very bad,” Trump said.
“But the left plays it cuter and tougher. Like with all the nonsense that they do in Congress … with all this invest[igations] — that’s all they want to do is — you know, they do things that are nasty. Republicans never played this.”
In his remarks, Trump traveled down territory he has visited in the past.
During a rally for then-Missouri Senate candidate Josh Hawley (R) in September, Trump said that his opponents “were lucky that we’re peaceful,” The Washington Post noted in a post on his more recent comments.
“Law enforcement, military, construction workers, Bikers for Trump … They travel all over the country …. They’ve been great,” Trump said at the time. “But these are tough people … But they’re peaceful people, and antifa and all — they’d better hope they stay that way.”
The latest remarks were seized upon in some quarters as another example of Trump seeming to offer threats toward his political opponents.
Trump has faced scrutiny in the past for directly calling on his supporters to use violence. He once said at a 2016 rally in Las Vegas that he’d like to punch a protester in the face.
“I promise you, I will pay for the legal fees,” Trump said.
Trump has repeatedly denounced his political opponents during his time in the White House. He has also continually referred to the media as the “enemy of the people.”
The White House Correspondents’ Association in February called on Trump to make it “absolutely clear to his supporters that violence against reporters is unacceptable.”
Donald Trump, who is president despite receiving 2.87 million fewer votes than Hillary Clinton, complains that “the Electoral College is a big advantage for Democrats, not for Republicans.”
This is a repeated claim by Trump, last said in Helsinki during the same press conference where he bowed down to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The reality is the last Republican who was elected to office with a larger popular vote than his opponent was George H. W. Bush in 1992. The Electoral College has been an advantage for Republicans for over 20 years.
Trump, who is president despite receiving 2.87 million fewer votes than Hillary Clinton, complains that "the Electoral College is a big advantage for Democrats, not for Republicans." pic.twitter.com/rGUwil2DyN
President Donald Trump on Wednesday attacked New York Attorney General Letitia James by promoting analysis by loyal supporters Diamond and Silk.
“AG Letitia James of New York is abusing her power by targeting the POTUS,” the social media duo wrote on Twitter Tuesday night. “Using the Attorney General office as a weapon to deliberately target the President because of Political Bias should be against the Law and a violation of the Hatch Act!”
Trump subsequently retweeted Diamond and Silk, a seeming endorsement of their analysis of the Hatch Act, which says that most executive branch employees are prohibited from engaging in certain political activities. It is unlikely that James’ activity would fall under the Hatch Act since she is the attorney general for the state of New York, rather than a federal employee covered by the Hatch Act.
James this week subpoenaed Deutsche Bank and Investors Bank asking them for records on their dealings with the Trump Organization, which potentially opens up a new avenue of investigation against the president, who already faces probes from Congressional Democrats, special counsel Robert Mueller, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York.
Donald Trump has suggested that modern planes are too complex in the wake of two deadly crashes in the past five months.
The US president said that the additional “complexity creates danger” and hinders pilots from making “split second decisions” to ensure their passengers’ safety.
“Airplanes are becoming far too complex to fly. 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,” Mr Trump wrote on Twitter.
He added: “Split second decisions are… needed, and the complexity creates danger. All of this for great cost yet very little gain. I don’t know about you, but I don’t want Albert Einstein to be my pilot. I want great flying professionals that are allowed to easily and quickly take control of a plane!”
The aircraft crashed in Indonesia last year and in Ethiopia on Sunday, killing all 157 people on board.
Airplanes are becoming far too complex to fly. 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….
Mr Trump participated in a signing ceremony for a $15 billion (£11 billion) deal between US-based Boeing and the Vietnamese government during his trip to Hanoi for a summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un last month.
The lucrative deal includes Vietnam’s Bamboo airways agreeing to purchase ten 787-9 Dreamliners worth about $3 billion, while airline VietJet’s order is for 100 737 Max planes valued at $12.7 billion, Boeing said.
The 737 series is one of Boeing’s most popular planes but the Max 8 model has raised safety concerns for possibly hindering pilots’ ability to overpower automated functions.
America’s Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) said on Monday that it believes the Boeing 737 Max is airworthy.
Boeing has also said no new safety guidance is planned for the moment. “The investigation is in its early stages, but at this point, based on the information available, we do not have any basis to issue new guidance,” the company said in a statement.
However three senators have called for Mr Trump to take action as a precautionary measure.
Republican senator Mitt Romney said on Tuesday: “Out of an abundance of caution for the flying public, the @FAANews should ground the 737 MAX 8 until we investigate the causes of recent crashes and ensure the plane’s airworthiness.”
Democrats Dianne Feinstein and Richard Blumenthal have also raised concerns.
Boeing also announced late on Monday night that it has been developing a flight control software enhancement for the 737 MAX, developed in light of the Indonesian crash.
It will be put into effect in the coming weeks, to “make an already safe aircraft even safer”. It includes changes to “flight control law, pilot displays, operation manuals and crew training”.
The announcement came after the FAA said it would mandate “design changes” no later than April.
In his latest Fox & Friends live-tweeting session, President Donald Trumpapplauded former Greenpeace president Patrick Moore for saying the planet’s climate crisis is “fake news” and “fake science.” This comes after Trump echoed a segment of the show where one of his former campaign staffers called on Jews to abandon the Democratic Party.
Patrick Moore, co-founder of Greenpeace: “The whole climate crisis is not only Fake News, it’s Fake Science. There is no climate crisis, there’s weather and climate all around the world, and in fact carbon dioxide is the main building block of all life.” @foxandfriends Wow!
Moore was invited onto Fox & Friends because he called Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortes (D-NY) a “pompous little twit” for her latest defense of the Green New Deal. Sure enough, he used his segment to call the proposal “completely ridiculous” and push his denial of climate change.
Moore went on to bash the majority of the scientific community for their concerns about climate change, saying Greenpeace has been “hijacked by the extreme left” to sell “sensationalism, misinformation, and fear.” He also suggested that global warming could be a good thing, saying that burning fossil fuels and releasing more greenhouse gases will “fertilize” the planet, resulting in a net positive for the environment.
As it were, Greenpeace has responded to Trump, saying that contrary to Moore’s claim, he did not co-found the organization, and they essentially renounced him ever since he started operating as a lobbyist and an advocate for polluters and corporate energy industries.
Patrick Moore was not a co-founder of Greenpeace. He does not represent Greenpeace. He is a paid lobbyist, not an independent source. His statements about @AOC & the #GreenNewDeal have nothing to do with our positions. https://t.co/u0chD1Ne0Hpic.twitter.com/TfwtwYZ98R
It’s worth noting the Trump Administration released a report from multiple federal agencies last year that determined global climate change could have extreme long-term consequences for the United States. Then again, Trump has made his skepticism of man-made climate change perfectly clear in the past, so his parroting Moore could just be confirmation bias on his part.
President Donald Trump touted the Fox & Friends appearance of an activist calling for Jewish Americans to walk away from the Democratic party.
“Jexodus,” clearly inspired by Candace Owens‘s “Blexit” gimmick, was announced in the wake of controversial comments from Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) that were condemned by members of her own party as anti-Semitic.
Elizabeth Pipko, a former Trump campaign staffer and a spokesperson for Jexodus, joined Fox & Friends host Steve Doocy in criticizing Democrats for passing a general anti-hate resolution instead of a specific resolution condemning anti-Semitism.
“They are the party of anti-Semitism,” Pipko said, echoing the president.
And the president was watching. He tweeted a fake quote from Pipko, which was really just a selective collection of her comments poorly transcribed and smashed together:
“Jewish people are leaving the Democratic Party. We saw a lot of anti Israel policies start under the Obama Administration, and it got worsts & worse. There is anti-Semitism in the Democratic Party. They don’t care about Israel or the Jewish people.” Elizabeth Pipko, Jexodus.
In Pipko’s interview, Doocy pointed out that in 2016, Hillary Clinton got 71% of the Jewish vote, while Trump got 24%. He asked if she saw that changing in 2020.
Pipko replied that Jexodus is realistic but optimistic. When pressed by Ainsley Earhardt as the why Jews don’t support Trump, Pipko made a confession about Jewish Democrats: “I don’t think they’re going to change.”
Donald Trump takes great pride in his golf game. Shinzo Abe and Tiger Woods and countless others can tell you about that. He once tweeted “I don’t cheat at golf” but added that Samuel L. Jackson does and “with his game he has no choice.” The president’s official USGA handicap index is listed as 2.8, though he seldom posts scores. Any visitor to the ornate men’s locker room at his club here, Trump International Golf Club, can see small rectangular brass plaques on his locker, recognizing him as the 1999, 2001 and 2009 club champion, and the 2012 and 2013 senior champion.
And now there’s a new plaque on his locker, screwed into its stained wood with two small Phillips head screws, to commemorate his latest title. It reads:
President Trump’s locker at Trump International in West Palm Beach, Fla.
Yes, Trump was president of the United States for all of 2018.
Yes, Trump turned 72 last year, which would be an impressive age to win even a senior club championship.
But there the plaque is, identifying Trump as the reigning club champion at his spectacular Trump International course.
His most recent win brings Trump’s club-championship haul — all won at clubs bearing his name — to an even 20. That includes senior and super-senior titles, too.
But to be precise about it, the plaque on his locker is two letters short of accurate. Trump is not actually the men’s champion at the club. He’s the co-champion. While that distinction is not found on his locker, it is made elsewhere at the club.
As for Trump’s path to No. 20, it was not conventional.
Originally, a man named Ted Virtue, the 58-year-old CEO of a New York investment firm called MidOcean Partners, had the 2018 club championship title all to himself.
Virtue, a member of Winged Foot and Westchester Country Club in New York and Lost Tree and Trump International in South Florida, won a series of matches en route to his title. He played football and basketball at Middlebury College in Vermont in the early 1980s and his golf is more athletic than poetic. His index is listed as 3.3 and his 20 most recent scores, all from 2018 and this year, range from 73 to 83. Trump has posted only two scores since 2016.
After Virtue won the championship, Trump ran into him at the club, according to multiple sources who recounted the story. Having some fun with him, Trump said something like, “The only reason you won is because I couldn’t play.” The president cited the demands of his job, although he was able to make 20 visits to the club in 2018, according to trumpgolfcount.com. Trump then proposed a nine-hole challenge match to Virtue, winner-takes-the-title.
You could say there wasn’t much in it for Virtue, and you could argue that this is not how these matters are typically, if ever, settled. But consider these factors:
1. Trump owns the course;
2. Trump is the president of the United States;
3. Trump is not your typical golfer.
Virtue said yes.
They played match play (each hole as its own contest) and straight up (no shots were given). As in nearly all amateur golf rounds, no rules official was on hand. Golf’s tradition calls for players to police themselves and, if necessary, one another.
Trump won.
In victory a magnanimous Trump said to Virtue something like, “This isn’t fair — we’ll be co-champions.”
The crowning of co-champions in golf is rare, but it does happen, at every level. In the 1949 Motor City Open, Lloyd Mangrum and Cary Middlecoff each shot 273 for 72 holes and then matched scores for 11 straight sudden-death playoff holes, playing through sunset. They were declared co-champions.
And that is how Trump and Virtue are reportedly listed on a large club-championship plaque on a clubhouse wall, as co-champions. That would mean Trump’s name is now on that plaque four times. Or five, if you include the appearance of his surname on the gold crest at its top.
Several club employees said they were not allowed to discuss club matters. Eric Trump, who runs the Trump golf-course empire for his father, did not respond to messages. Neither did Virtue.
Regardless of the outcome of that short match, 2018 was a good year for Virtue. A movie he helped get made, Green Book, was released, and on Feb. 24 it won the Academy Award for Best Picture. Virtue, tall and tanned, was standing on the stage when the movie’s director, Peter Farrelly, hoisted the bronze statuette at the Dolby Theater in Hollywood.
Virtue’s co-champion, who has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, was otherwise occupied that night, as the host of the Governors Ball at the White House.
There was no immediate word on the president’s plans, if any, to defend the championship he co-owns.
President Donald Trump’s 2019 budget proposal has come under much scrutiny. A portion of the budget requests $20 million to go towards Trump’s golf buddy Jack Nicklaus’s mobile children’s hospital project.
The money will go towards expanding Miami’s Nicklaus Children’s Hospital to offer mobile services, which Nicklaus has long lobbied for.
“The $20 million increase will continue support for the pediatric disaster care pilot initiative which aims to improve pediatric care during emergencies,” the budget proposal reads.
“Nicklaus had lobbied Trump on the golf course in Florida, and he met with HHS Secretary Alex Azar and then-OMB Director Mick Mulvaney in Washington, D.C., to request funds. Trump personally directed HHS to earmark the funds to help Nicklaus develop mobile children’s hospitals, one individual said,” Politico reported.
Trump and Nicklaus have constantly golfed together since November the report said.
Nicklaus Children’s Hospital and HHS did not respond to Politico’s requests for comment.
