Trump Tells Demonstrable Lies in Front of Entire World During International Press Conference

Leave a comment

President Donald Trump remained true to form by telling multiple demonstrable falsehoods on the international stage, claiming, among other things, that he has “record” approval among Republicans.

On Tuesday, Trump held a joint press conference in London with outgoing British Prime Minister Theresa May, and managed to cram several whoppers into the 13-minute question and answer period.

For example, he was asked about the possibility that congressional Republicans might block his most recent threatened tariffs against Mexico.

“I don’t think they will do that, I think if they do it’s foolish,” Trump said, and went on to add “I’ve had tremendous Republican support, I have a 90 percent, 94% approval rating as of this morning in the Republican Party.”

“That’s an all-time record, can you believe that? Isn’t that something?” he asked May. “I love records. But we have a 94% approval rating in the Republican Party.”

But as the Toronto Star’s Daniel Dale noted in real time, Trump’s actual approval rating among Republicans is actually not “94 percent,” and never has been, while former President George W. Bush repeatedly reached 99 percent among Republicans following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.

Trump was also asked for his impressions on Brexit, and could no resist making a familiar boast.

“Well I don’t like to positions in things that I’m not really, I understand the issue very well,” Trump said. “I really predicted what was going to happen. Some of you remember that prediction, it was a strong prediction made at a certain location on a development we were opening the day before it happened. and I thought it was going to happen because of immigration more than anything else.”

But Trump, who has told this lie repeatedly, actually visited his Turnberry, Scotland golf course the day after the Brexit results, and held a press conference praising the results.

[Mediaite]

Trump Marks UK Arrival By Calling for Boycott of AT&T to ‘Force Changes’ With CNN’s ‘Fake News’

Leave a comment

President Donald Trump has just arrived in the United Kingdom for a multi-day diplomatic visit to America’s longest and strongest ally, and what is his first message upon arrival? What else — the blaming of CNN’s coverage and questioning of their new corporate owner, AT&T.

Trump tweeted:

Shortly after he followed with a strong suggestion of boycotting AT&T because of CNN’s coverage:

What was happening on CNN just before Trump tweeted? A deep dive segment into Trump’s denial of calling Meghan Markle “nasty” despite audio existing in which he clearly says of Prince Harry’s wife “I didn’t know that she was nasty.”

NY Times reporter Maggie Haberman was featured in this segment from London, and mere minutes before Trump fired the anti-CNN salvo, she offered this analysis of the “nasty” dust-up:

This is a classic of the Donald Trump genre. He’ll say something that could be interpreted in two ways. He could say she’s personally nasty or her comments were nasty. He wasn’t clear. Instead of owning it he torches anyone who notes it and says he didn’t do it in the first place. Then people talk past each other as to what he meant. He clearly said it. He was responding to something she had said two and a half years ago that he appeared surprised by. He did use the word nasty. He has a habit of saying that things didn’t happen when there isn’t audio or video. Sometimes he does it when there is.

[Mediaite]

Trump Lands In U.K. For State Visit, And Insults London’s Mayor

Leave a comment

President Trump received a royal salute as he arrived in Britain for a state visit Monday, making his way to Buckingham Palace to greet Queen Elizabeth II and other members of the royal family. Scripted to the minute, the carefully choreographed visit also included a review of an honor guard at the palace.

Standing on Buckingham Palace’s west terrace, Trump and first lady Melania Trump watched as rows of redcoated soldiers arrayed themselves across the palace’s garden. As a military band played the U.S. national anthem, he then walked with Prince Charles down to the lawn to inspect the guard of honor, stopping occasionally to talk with service members.

Accompanying the president was an entourage that included his daughter and adviser Ivanka Trump and her husband, the senior adviser Jared Kushner, along with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, presidential counselor Kellyanne Conway and immigration adviser Stephen Miller.

The Trumps will spend much of the day at Buckingham Palace, eating lunch with the queen and having tea with Prince Charles and Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall. A state banquet will follow, around 7:40 p.m. local time.

Much like last summer, Trump’s visit comes as the U.K. struggles to find a way to exit the European Union. And on Tuesday, he will meet with Prime Minister Theresa May, who will leave office this month after failing to reach a deal that was politically palatable in both the U.K. and the EU.

On Wednesday, the Trumps will take part in a D-Day ceremony in Portsmouth, England. From there, they are scheduled to make a stop in Ireland before flying to France for a brief visit with French President Emmanuel Macron.

The goal of the U.K. visit, the White House says, is to “secure a stronger and more prosperous international relationship.” It adds that while in England, Trump plans to discuss a new trade agreement with the U.K. as it negotiates the severing of ties with the European Union.

Another chief topic will be security, from the fight against ISIS to America’s contentious relationship with China and Iran, as well as the situation in North Korea.

The state visit might be more officious and formal than Trump’s tour of the U.K. last summer, but that didn’t stop the president from insulting London Mayor Sadiq Khan on Twitter as he arrived — just as he did last June.

“He is a stone cold loser who should focus on crime in London, not me,” Trump said. The president added that Khan “reminds me very much of our very dumb and incompetent Mayor of NYC, de Blasio, who has also done a terrible job — only half his height.”

The clash started over the weekend, when Khan said the U.K. was being “un-British” in hosting and celebrating Trump. Writing in The Observer newspaper, the mayor cited Trump’s response to a white supremacist rally in Virginia, his immigration policies and other factors.

The U.S. president, Khan said, is part of a global threat that sows dangerous divisiveness and wins power through fear.

As NPR’s Frank Langfitt reports from London, “Khan said Trump’s electoral tactics — along with leaders such as Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán — recall the quote: ‘divisive tropes of the fascists of the 20th century.’ “

After arriving for his multiday state visit, Trump also complained that because Fox News was not available, he had to watch CNN.

The president tweeted:

“Just arrived in the United Kingdom. The only problem is that @CNN is the primary source of news available from the U.S. After watching it for a short while, I turned it off. All negative & so much Fake News, very bad for U.S. Big ratings drop. Why doesn’t owner @ATT do something?”

[NPR]

Kushner unsure whether he’d alert FBI if Russians request another meeting

Leave a comment

On “Axios on HBO,” Jared Kushner said he doesn’t know whether he’d call the FBI if he were to receive an email today like the one before the campaign’s Trump Tower meeting, which had the subject line: “Re: Russia – Clinton – private and confidential.”

  • Kushner said this after a tense exchange about the email he received to set up the infamous Trump Tower meeting. 

Why this matters: Kushner is now in the West Wing as senior adviser to the president. Shouldn’t an email with an offer of help from Russians trigger a mental alarm? This bolsters the perception that President Trump’s inner circle still doesn’t fully recognize the ongoing threat of Russian interference in American elections. 

  • Kushner’s response comes after FBI Director Christopher Wray said in congressional testimony that he would recommend that in the future, people contact the FBI if a foreign government offers campaign support.

What he’s saying: Kushner said people are being “self-righteous” and playing “Monday morning quarterback” by asking him why he didn’t call the FBI when he saw the email offering help for the Trump campaign from Russia.

  • “Let me put you in my shoes at that time. OK, I’m running three companies, I’m helping run the campaign. I get an email that says show up at 4 instead of 3 to a meeting that I had been told about earlier that I didn’t know what the hell it was about.”

Asked if he’d call the FBI if it happened again, Kushner said: “I don’t know. It’s hard to do hypotheticals, but the reality is is that we were not given anything that was salacious.”

[Axios]

Media

Trump denies calling Meghan ‘nasty’ despite audio recording

Leave a comment

US President Donald Trump has denied calling the Duchess of Sussex, Meghan Markle, “nasty” despite the comments being recorded.

“I never called Meghan Markle ‘nasty’,” he tweeted on Sunday, adding: “Made up by the Fake News Media, and they got caught cold!”

Mr Trump made his remarks about the duchess in a Sun newspaper interviewahead of his state visit to the UK.

The US former actress has been a vocal critic of Mr Trump.

She supported his Democratic challenger, Hillary Clinton, in the 2016 election and has referred to him as “divisive” and a “misogynist”.

Told of her comments during his interview with the Sun, President Trump said it was the first time he had heard them.

“I didn’t know that. What can I say? I didn’t know that she was nasty,” he said.

He went on to say that he was glad she had joined the royal family and he believed she would make a “very good” princess.

“It is nice, and I am sure she will do excellently,” he said.

On Saturday the Sun posted an audio recording of the interview on its website.

Following Mr Trump’s denial on Twitter the day after the interview was published, several commentators pointed out that the remarks were on tape.

The duchess, married to Britain’s Prince Harry, gave birth to the couple’s first child in May. She is on maternity leave and not expected to meet President Trump during his visit from 3 to 5 June.

[BBC]

Trump Retweets a Dozen Posts About Franklin Graham Calling Americans to Pray for Him

Leave a comment

President Donald Trump put out a slew of retweets Saturday night, many of them focused on evangelist Franklin Graham’s recent call for Americans to pray for the president.

Graham said he plans to name Sunday, June 2 as a “special day of prayer” to protect Trump from his “enemies.”

“We’re on the edge of a precipice,” Graham told CNN. “Time is short. We need to pray for God to intervene. We need to ask God to protect, strengthen, encourage, and guide the President.”

[Mediaite]

Trump calls Meghan Markle ‘nasty’ ahead of London visit

Leave a comment

President Trump said Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, was “nasty” ahead of his state visit to the United Kingdom.

“I didn’t know that she was nasty,” Trump told The Sun.

The American actress called Trump “misogynistic” and said she would consider remaining in Canada where she was filming if he won the 2016 presidential election. She married Prince Harry in May 2018 and gave birth to their first child earlier this month.

President Trump said Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, was “nasty” ahead of his state visit to the United Kingdom.

“I didn’t know that she was nasty,” Trump told The Sun.

The American actress called Trump “misogynistic” and said she would consider remaining in Canada where she was filming if he won the 2016 presidential election. She married Prince Harry in May 2018 and gave birth to their first child earlier this month.

Meghan, who is still on maternity leave, is not expected to meet with Trump during his visit.

[Washington Examiner]

Navy says it was asked to ‘minimize visibility’ of USS McCain for Trump visit

Leave a comment

The Navy has acknowledged receiving a request to “minimize visibility” of the USS John S. McCain during President Trump‘s visit to Japan earlier this week but said the ship remained in its normal configuration.

“A request was made to the U.S. Navy to minimize the visibility of USS John S. McCain, however, all ships remained in their normal configuration during the President’s visit,” Rear Adm. Charlie Brown, chief of Navy information, told CNN in a statement late Friday. “There were also no intentional efforts to explicitly exclude Sailors assigned to USS John S. McCain.”

The spokesman said that the Navy is “fully cooperating with the review of this matter.” Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan said earlier this week that he had directed his chief of staff to look into the incident because he never authorized any “action around the movement of activity regarding that ship.”

Shanahan maintained Friday that the U.S. military would not “become politicized” amid questions over a White House order to keep the USS John S. McCain “out of sight” during Trump’s visit to Japan.

The ship is currently under repair, with one Navy official telling CNN that the White House request was impractical.

“Our business is to run military operations and not to become politicized,” Shanahan told reporters during a news conference in Singapore on Friday when asked if he shared Trump’s assessment that whoever gave the order was “well-meaning.”

“I’ll wait until I get a full explanation of the facts before I’ll pass judgment on the situation, but our job is to run the military. And I would not have moved the ship. I would not have given that direction,” he added.

Trump said Thursday that he “didn’t know anything” about the request to hide the guided missile destroyer during his visit to the Yokosuka Naval Base on Memorial Day. However, he went on to chastise the late Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) over his vote that helped torpedo GOP efforts to repeal ObamaCare in 2017, saying he “was not a big fan of John McCain.”

“But I would never do a thing like that,” he added. “Now, somebody did it because they thought I didn’t like him. And they were well-meaning, I will say.”

[The Hill]

Trump Plugs Hannity’s Program: ‘DEEP STATE SHOW’ Tonight With ‘Tremendous Guests’

Leave a comment

President Donald Trump once again plugged Sean Hannity’s show on Twitter today, promising “tremendous guests” on a “must see” episode.

Hannity talks nightly on his show about the real corruption that will come to light, but Trump tweeted that the Fox host’s show tonight will be a big “DEEP STATE SHOW”:

On Wednesday, after Robert Mueller spoke, Hannity said the special counsel is “full of crap.” That night, before Hannity’s TV show aired, Trump tweeted praise for a “great show tonight” and said, “That’s why you’re Number One (by far)!”

Sean Hannity assembled a big panel of regular guests to rail against the “deep state” and the investigation into President Donald Trump, saying the “day of reckoning” is coming for the real criminals.

Hannity asked where the “media hysteria” is over “real obstruction, real crime” from Hillary Clinton, said there must be equal application of the law, and brought up the infamous Steele dossier.

“Night after night, we have literally been unpeeling the layers of this onion and ripping the mask off all of this corruption trying to get to the truth to expose what has happened here,” he said. “This was an attempt to literally fix a presidential election and destroy a duly-elected president. There is a deep state, and now their day of reckoning has come.”

Hannity then brought on his big panel, which included several familiar faces: Gregg Jarrett, Sara Carter, John Solomon, Victoria Toensing, Joe diGenova, Matt Schlapp, Pam Bondi, Geraldo Rivera, Tom Fitton, and Doug Schoen.

Hannity started by telling them, “We wouldn’t be here today––they probably would have succeeded had it not been for every single one of you, and I applaud all of you for your deep digging, your investigative reporting, the hard work, the tough analysis.”

[Mediaite, Mediaite]

Donald Trump Spends Morning Live-Tweeting Made-Up Quotes From CONCATENATED Fox News Chryons

Leave a comment

President Donald Trump, loyal cable news viewer, tweeted out a quote he saw on Tucker Carlson’s Fox News show Thursday night regarding the Mueller investigation.

The quote was attributed to Sean Davis, a writer at The Federalist who appeared on Carlson’s show to criticize Robert Mueller for his press conference this week.

Weirdly enough, Davis never said that quote on Carlson’s show. As it turns out, Trump just cobbled together a series of Fox’s chyrons from the segment to fabricate a quote he attributed to Davis.

If you thought Davis would take issue with the president of the United States fabricating a quote and attributing it to him, you don’t know The Federalist. Davis celebrated Trump’s made up quote with a retweet:

When a Media Matters editor pointed out that Trump invented the quote, Davis responded, claiming the president was actually quoting an article he wrote on the subject.

Davis is correct that the first part of Trump’s Franken-Quote is inspired by his headline, which was used in a Fox News chyron. But the rest of the quote — “Still ZERO evidence of Trump-Russia Collusion, and no new evidence from Mueller” — is pulled directly from Fox News chyrons.

Mediaite reached out to Davis to confirm that he does not care about the president making up quotes and attributing them to him. He did not respond.

UPDATE 2:29 p.m. EST: Davis stood by the president’s made up quote in an email to Mediaite:

“The president accurately quoted the headline of an article I wrote, you’re a clown for having a temper tantrum over this, and I’m so sorry this is happening to you.”

[Mediaite]

1 … 74 75 76 77 78 … 375