Day 716 of NO EVIDENCE produced by Trump that his phones were tapped by Obama.
The FISA warrant Trump referenced targeted Carter Page. #TrumpLies
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Day 504 since the deadliest mass shooting on U.S soil in Las Vegas that killed 58, injuring 546.
Although a bump stock ban takes effect in 28 days, Congress must take action to prevent future mass shootings. #NeverForget #NeverAgain #EnoughIsEnough
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According to @GunDeaths database, there have been 43 mass shootings in 19 different U.S. states (and Washington, D.C.) in the 49 completed days of 2019.
gunviolencearchive.org/reports/mass-s…
As of yesterday, America has now witnessed over 200 unintentional (accidental) shootings so far in the new year — an approximate average of 4 per day.
gunviolencearchive.org/reports/accide…
Trump campaign announces 2020 hires: Tim Murtaugh as Director of Communications, Kayleigh McEnany as National Press Secretary and Marc Lotter, of Pence world, as Director of Strategic Communications.
White House deputy press secretary Lindsay Walters plans to leave in April bloom.bg/2DTf1xD
FYI: The Trump admin has quietly resumed separating immigrant families at the border.
At one agency, the children were put into temporary foster care and shelters with little or no indication that they arrived at the border with their parents: propub.li/2QcsPvY
Reminder: The Trump administration is systematically locking up thousands of children at unheard of rates - now almost 15,000 are in U.S. custody.
The government classifies these children as "unaccompanied"
n.pr/2BdhcL8
Thousands more kids may have been separated from their parents at the border under the Trump administration than was previously thought, according to an internal government report.
abcn.ws/2DmTr5t
@JoaquinCastrotx: "These were young, hopeful kids. These are not invaders."
A group of House Democrats paid a visit to a shelter for migrant children on Tuesday:
North Korea's Kim Jong Un exiles, jails or executes 50 to 70 people as he seeks to eliminate critics of his outreach to the U.S. and shore up his regime’s finances in the face of sanctions on.wsj.com/2SNAfHA
Trump reportedly tried to arrange for an allied prosecutor to oversee his own hush-money case.
In a normal political era, this alone would be a stop-the-presses revelation.
In 2019, it's just Tuesday. on.msnbc.com/2GVTo2Z
Trump raised with acting AG Whitaker the idea of getting the U.S. attorney in New York to "unrecuse" himself from Cohen investigations.
nytimes.com/2019/02/19/us/…
Trump asked Whitaker if Trump-ally Geoffrey Berman could "unrecuse" himself from the SDNY probe into Michael Cohen.
nytimes.com/2019/02/19/us/…
Trump has repeatedly tried to use his power to obstruct the criminal investigations into his business, campaign, foundation, transition, inauguration, and White House.
These are high crimes.
nytimes.com/2019/02/19/us/…
Whitaker on Feb. 8: "At no time has the W.H. asked for nor have I provided any promises or commitments concerning the special counsel investigation or any other investigation."
NYT reports Trump asked Whitaker to influence the SDNY investigation
Asked if he directed @MattWhitaker46, in response to reporters, Trump says: “No, not at all, I don’t know who gave you that. That’s more fake news.”
Reminder: Trump has admitted that he refers to news critical of him as "fake news".
There's a remarkably revealing moment buried in the big NYT expose of Trump's attacks on law enforcement.
A top Trump ally, @mattgaetz, openly admits that putative Republican "oversight" on intel agencies actually aided Trump's legal defense.
washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/…
Did you tell the “Gang of Eight” that you had opened a counterintelligence investigation into Trump? @savannahguthrie asks Andrew McCabe
McCabe: yes and no one objected.
McCabe says concerns about Trump had been building "for some time." He was convinced the FBI was justified in opening a case against Trump.
"We felt like we had credible, articulable facts to indicate that a threat to national security may exist." theatlantic.com/politics/archi…
McCabe: "So do I think the case into Trump is open or closed? There’s absolutely no reason for me to believe that it’s closed."
Robert Mueller "is doing exactly what we would do with the investigation of a cartel or an organized-crime family." theatlantic.com/politics/archi…
The FBI, concerned about firings, built a secret haven for Russia evidence, AP reports. apnews.com/eda560d7427e48…
Dems on the House Oversight Committee have released an interim report based on multiple whistleblowers who say the Trump administration is rushing to transfer sensitive U.S. nuclear technology to Saudi Arabia in violation of federal law. n.pr/2BEwXM4
“whistleblowers warned about efforts inside the WH to rush the transfer of highly sensitive US nuclear technology to SA in potential violation of the Atomic Energy Act & w/out review by Congress as required by law - efforts that may be ongoing”
n.pr/2BEwXM4
House Democrats said on Tuesday they would begin a full-scale inquiry into White House involvement in a proposed venture to bring nuclear power facilities to Saudi Arabia nyti.ms/2Ei5AZQ
“We’ll soon get to the point where the Saudis can’t fly their planes anymore.”
washingtonpost.com/world/2019/02/…
@KarenAttiah and @IgnatiusPost receive Special @PolkAwards for their writing on the murder of Jamal Khashoggi washingtonpost.com/pr/2019/02/19/…
Day 5 since Trump declared a national emergency in response to a manufactured crisis to seize power and subvert the Constitution.
"I didn't need to do this"
More than 40 national security professionals are set to declare that the border does not meet the test of an emergency.
msnbc.com/deadline-white…
Connecticut A.G. William Tong on CNN: "[Trump] is breaking the law and he's shredding the Constitution. He's declared a national emergency where there is none. On the border, we have the lowest level of illegal border crossings in 45 years ... This just isn’t happening."
NJ A.G. Gurbir Grewal: "We have an obligation to push back against the admin when they violate the rule of law, when they violate our Constitution ... The money being pulled for this ... is being pulled from money we could use for public safety." MSNBC
The ACLU filed a lawsuit against Trump's emergency declaration on behalf of the Sierra Club, claiming his plan to circumvent Congress to acquire necessary funding to build a border wall is unconstitutional.
bloom.bg/2DXHH8D
61% of Americans disapprove of Trump's emergency declaration, according to PBS/NPR/Marist.
Nearly 6-in-10 don't believe there's an emergency at the border and that Trump is misusing his presidential authority. They also believe his decision should be challenged in court.
Trump has a long history of burning things down in his business and political life, particularly when he’s cornered — and then trying to spin success out of failure.
The border wall fight and his “national emergency” are just the latest episodes: bloomberg.com/opinion/articl…
Reminder: Trump cites the @washingtonpost Fact Checker when Pinocchios are given to Democrats
One possible reason for that Trump tweet? An updated WaPo Fact Checker:
759 days in office.
8,718 false or misleading claims from Trump.
That's an average of 11.49 false claims a day washingtonpost.com/graphics/polit…
Despite Trump’s claims US taxes are high, these countries held the top spots on OECD's ranking of tax revenue as a % of GDP:
🇫🇷 France: 46.2%
🇩🇰 Denmark: 46%
🇧🇪 Belgium: 44.6%
🇸🇪 Sweden: 44%
🇫🇮 Finland: 43.3%
The U.S. tax burden was 27.1% of GDP
bloom.bg/2DWP4NB
Another Nunes/HPSCI alum has gone to the WH. Scott Glabe, former HPSCI deputy staff director, has moved to the WH Counsel's Office, per two sources familiar
thedailybeast.com/devin-nunes-al…
Ruth Bader Ginsburg is expected to be on the bench today for the first time since her recent cancer surgery when the Supreme Court returns from its winter break and resumes hearing cases. wapo.st/2DYH7Ya
NYT v. Sullivan is the landmark Supreme Court case that has defined libel laws in the U.S. for more than 50 years.
Clearance Thomas now wants to reconsider that ruling.
Adam Jentleson: The Senate could provide critical counterweight...Instead, we have a man who put his self-interest first...We should enter this chapter with clarity & finally see McConnell for what he is…The man who surrendered the Senate to Trump.
nytimes.com/2019/02/18/opi…
More than 800 pages of emails show Elaine Chao and her husband, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, have been using their positions to possibly provide political favors to people for each other, including large grants. politico.com/story/2019/02/…
The @OfficeGovEthics has declined to certify @SecretaryRoss' personal financial disclosure @MKTWgoldstein reports.
Reason: Ross said he divested of stock, but he actually hadn't
marketwatch.com/story/office-o…
"Richard Painter, a former ethics attorney for President George W. Bush, told CNN he has never seen a Cabinet member's financial disclosure form rejected in this way."
cnn.it/2EjuR5Z
Dems say they have evidence that the Education Department tried to oust the department’s independent watchdog after she pushed back on an attempt to interfere in an active investigation of Secretary Betsy DeVos nbcnews.com/politics/polit…
For two years, Democrats have been questioning Besty DeVos’s every move. Now that they’ve taken back the House, they want answers.
nytimes.com/2019/02/19/us/…
Trump signs directive to establish a "Space Force" as the newest branch of the military
hill.cm/4eVmcLw
Pence proposed redirecting $55M of $75M earmarked for a UN program restoring basic services in cities freed from ISIS in Iraq to instead rebuild Iraq’s Christian community & other minority groups—which make up 3% of the mostly Muslim population. wsj.com/articles/with-…
Caught off guard, Europe pushes U.S. for caution in Afghanistan withdrawal as it grapples with Trump’s doubt about NATO's relevance
on.wsj.com/2SMkl04
"ExxonMobil plans to pump 25% more oil and gas in 2025 than in 2017. If the rest of the industry pursues even modest growth, the consequence for the climate could be disastrous." economist.com/leaders/2019/0…
Egypt detains @nytimes correspondent @ddknyt after he arrives in Cairo, seizes his phone, holds him incommunicado for seven hours without food or water and then expels him from the country.
nytimes.com/2019/02/19/wor…
Donald Trump has derided CNN as a leading purveyor of “fake news,” and now, a recently departed administration official is joining the network in a senior role
politi.co/2DRZCOa
Every president since Nixon has voluntarily given their tax returns. Trump hasn’t.
There’s a reason for that, he has a lot to hide.
In case you missed yesterday's thread:
Trump has nominated Deputy Transportation Secretary Jeffrey Rosen to replace Rod Rosenstein as deputy attorney general at the Justice Department. axios.com/trump-names-je…
Trump’s nominee for Deputy Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen is an odd pick. His background includes serving twice in the Department of Transportation and briefly, 10 years ago, in OMB. Never a prosecutor. Never a U.S. Attorney. No experience at DOJ.