“Think of it this way: The Access Hollywood tape didn’t break Donald Trump. It broke the Republican party’s willingness to insist that character matters.”
@JVLast weeklystandard.com/jonathan-v-las…
Stormy Daniels' ex-lawyer Keith Davidson approached Michael Cohen in September 2016 about buying the silence of Daniels.
Cohen initially balked, but a day after the Access Hollywood tape dropped, Cohen said that he was open to a deal, WSJ reports.
wsj.com/articles/as-ac…
Day 530 of NO EVIDENCE produced by Trump that his phones were tapped by Obama.
The FISA warrant Trump referenced targeted Carter Page. #TrumpLies
Day 317 since the deadliest mass shooting on U.S soil in Las Vegas that killed 58, injured 546 and Congress has taken NO action to prevent future mass shootings. #NeverForget
The Trump administration urged a federal judge on Wednesday not to block the online distribution of blueprints for untraceable 3-D printed guns, arguing that there's no need for them to be regulated. bloomberg.com/news/articles/…
U.S. officials were deceived into digging up remains that the North Koreans took out of storage and planted at former battle sites, a practice known as “salting” recovery sites. washingtonpost.com/opinions/globa…
Russia says U.S. sanctions over North Korea risk undermining peace process reut.rs/2BhL507
A judge in Malaysia has ruled there's enough evidence of a "well-planned conspiracy" to move a case forward against two women accused of killing the half-brother of North Korea's dictator. npr.org/2018/08/16/639…
The jury retired to deliberate in the Manafort bank and tax fraud trial.
Judge told them to take as much or as little time as they need, but there are a lot of exhibits so they've asked and gotten OK to use a bigger room. Earlier: politico.com/story/2018/08/…
No verdict: Manafort jury asked questions; will continue deliberations tomorrow.
The jury asked 4 questions including: Asking judge to "redefine" for them "reasonable doubt” - as well as questions about Manafort’s tax filing and foreign bank account disclosure charges.
About 350 U.S. newspapers have editorials today telling Trump that the media is not the "enemy of the people." apnews.com/bc8b3670f92841…
"The greatness of America is dependent on the role of a free press to speak the truth to the powerful. To label the press 'the enemy of the people' is as un-American as it is dangerous to the civic compact we have shared for more than two centuries."bostonglobe.com/opinion/editor…
Trump labeled media the "opposition party" after newspapers respond to his attacks hill.cm/6GH4FMw
The Senate passed a resolution with unanimous consent that "affirms that the press is not the enemy of the people," "reaffirms the vital & indispensable role that the free press serves" & "condemns the attacks on the institution of the free press."
washingtonexaminer.com/news/senate-re…
Trump's military parade is estimated to cost $92,000,000 — $80,000,000 more than earlier estimated, CNBC reports. cnbc.com/2018/08/16/tru…
Pentagon says military parade proposed for Veterans Day delayed at least until 2019.
cnn.com/2018/08/16/pol…
Sarah Sanders back in February on security clearances: "This is a process that doesn't operate within the White House. It's handled by our law enforcement and intelligence community and we support that process." politico.com/story/2018/02/…
Brennan: "Trump has become more desperate to protect himself & those close to him, which is why he made the politically motivated decision to revoke my security clearance in an attempt to scare into silence others who might dare to challenge him."
nytimes.com/2018/08/16/opi…
Brennan: "Trump's claims of no collusion are, in a word, hogwash. The only questions that remain are whether the collusion that took place constituted criminally liable conspiracy, whether obstruction of justice occurred to cover up any collusion." nytimes.com/2018/08/16/opi…
Ex-Deputy CIA Director John McLaughlin: "There is a process when they are to be revoked. It’s written in an executive order. There are 13 reasons why you can revoke a clearance and the president has cited none of them in his action on John Brennan." @MSNBC
Asked if CIA Dir. Gina Haspel approved of Trump revoking Brennan's security clearance and if she had known about it or advised Trump, a CIA spokesman only said: "CIA does not comment on individual security clearances."
thedailybeast.com/cia-chief-gina…
Bill McRaven, the ret. U.S. Navy admiral who oversaw operation that killed Osama bin Laden, writes that he would "consider it an honor" for Trump to revoke his security clearance in solidarity with John Brennan.
washingtonpost.com/opinions/revok…
Trump has told advisers that he's eager to strip more security clearances as part of an escalating attack against people who've criticized him or played a role in the Russia investigation, two White House officials tell WaPo.
washingtonpost.com/politics/trump…
Two lobbyists tell The Daily Beast that a little-known Trump campaign staffer told them he was trying to help one of Russia's richest men find a lobbyist to help shield him from U.S. sanctions. thedailybeast.com/trump-staffer-…
Omarosa released a new secret tape to MSNBC of Lara Trump offering her a $15,000-a-month job on the Trump re-election campaign. The offer was apparently made just days after she was fired from the administration.
nbcnews.com/politics/white…
Omarosa asserts that the tape shows "an attempt to buy my silence, to censor me, and to pay me off … by the campaign" after she was fired.
nbcnews.com/politics/white…
@OMAROSA: “I am not going anywhere. I’m not going to be bullied. I’m not intimidated and I’m going to go toe to toe with him…Donald Trump has met his match.”
msnbc.com/craig-melvin/w…
Major Trump donors are bothered the campaign may have been used as a slush fund to pay fired or troublesome employees.
"It's diverting donor money that could be used to wage the midterm election battle ... instead, it's an elongated hush payment."
nyti.ms/2nINXcD?smid=n…
Linda Chavez, who held Omarosa's job in the Reagan admin: "fact that a reality TV personality was appointed by Trump is astonishing to me & frankly, I sometimes think that maybe I ought to take it off my resume, she may have ruined that position."
msnbc.com/andrea-mitchel…
Sarah Sanders said yesterday that the media needed to stop "elevating" Omarosa and ignore her book.
Meanwhile, Trump continues to tweet about Omarosa. #BeBest
Omarosa's book publisher to the Trump campaign: "My clients will not be intimidated by hollow legal threats and have proceeded with publication of the Book as schedule."
cnn.com/2018/08/16/pol…
"Your client does not have a viable legal claim merely because unspecified truthful statements in the Book may embarrass [him] or his associates...your letter is nothing more than an obvious attempt to silence legitimate criticism of [Trump]." cnn.com/2018/08/16/pol…
Trump is fuming privately that @OMAROSA should be “arrested” per person briefed on conversations. vanityfair.com/news/2018/08/d…
The Omarosa tapes have rattled the W.H. in a way few things other than Mueller's investigation have.
Trump's aides have been concerned that they'll make appearances on other tapes, of which Omarosa is believed to have as many as 200.
nytimes.com/2018/08/16/us/…
The Trump admin has requested the restart of thousands of deportation cases that immigration judges previously had suspended, according to statistics provided by DOJ's Executive Office for Immigration Review, which oversees the immigration courts.
buzzfeednews.com/article/hameda…
A bipartisan Senate report says no federal agency takes responsibility for making sure migrant children aren't abused or used in human trafficking once the government places them with sponsors, who sometimes aren't their parents or close relatives.
wapo.st/2PcGQG4?tid=ss…
Aretha Franklin passed away today.
In 1973, The Times said she was "the finest singer in the world" and wrote that "she knows more than we do about so many, many sectors of human experience." nyti.ms/2BhfPOB
Aretha Franklin singing at President Obama's inauguration.
RIP the Queen of Soul.
Trump began his comments on Aretha Franklin's death: "I want to begin today by expressing my condolences to the family of a person I knew well. She worked for me on numerous occasions."
No explanation by the White House in what capacity.
Trump said in today's cabinet meeting that “we actually got rid of Obamacare except for one vote."
That one vote means you did not get rid of Obamacare.
Trump's speeches feature unidentified mystery allies that he uses to back his policies.
The White House won't identify the people Trump describes in remarks.
"When he doesn’t have real anecdotes, it appears that he finds his own." bloomberg.com/news/articles/…
Trump nominee refuses to say whether he supports funding the agency he would run hill.cm/Y4DqZt3
Schumer on the floor today said that Bush lawyers are not providing to Judiciary a log of the Kavanaugh documents they withheld and on what grounds they are being withheld. He said another third of the documents are deemed “committee confidential” and can’t be released.
Schumer and Blumenthal says they are prepared to sue the National Archives if a Kavanaugh-related FOIA request isn't honored.
feinstein.senate.gov/public/index.c…
A new report finds that the CEO-to-worker compensation ratio is 312-1.
Trump says the economy is doing great.
@paulwaldman1 on the basic difference this reveals between Trump/GOP and Dems:
wapo.st/2w8QII5
A federal court just issued a nationwide injunction against the Trump admin’s attempt to suspend clean water protections under the #WOTUS rule.
This is yet another example of Trump's blind pursuit of environmental rollbacks that break the law.
82 Days until midterm elections.
We've got great candidates, great energy, and great issues. Take nothing for granted -- we can't let up.
To power a 🌊 this November, make SURE you're registered, help others register & vote early!
IWillVote.com
In case you missed yesterday's thread:
Trump has tapped billionaire Steve Feinberg to serve as a member & chair of the Intelligence Oversight Board. Feinberg, who's been in talks to join the admin since last year, in 2016 gave $1.5M to a pro-Trump super PAC—including $975K five days before the election.
“who I must now ask to represent our Country as a great patriot hostage”
Aretha Franklin frequently bashed Trump, according to The Daily Beast, and one source says that after Trump won the election, she confided to associates that "no amount of money" could convince her to perform at his inauguration. thedailybeast.com/aretha-frankli…
Flashback - Sen John McCain on @RandPaul: "The Senator from Kentucky is now working for Vladimir Putin."
Mueller's office is proposing using more than 1,000 proposed exhibits for Paul Manafort's pending D.C. trial. cnbc.com/2018/08/16/mue…
Spend, spend, spend...
Pentagon Spending $34M to Make Presidential Jets More Posh defenseone.com/business/2018/…