Thread by @BBuchman_CNS

White House acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney will brief reporters at the White House at 12:30PM ET.
Stay tuned.
@CourthouseNews

@CourthouseNews Mulvaney now speaking. First offers condolences re: Cummings. Says he was a "classy" man.
Then mins later he jokes about wearing his Expo's hat here in D.C. but says "that would be foreign interference in the World Series. And we can't do that either."

It was a joke. But my god man - read the room.

Fielding Q's about Trump using Doral resort for G7 summit. next year. "He's not making a profit," he says to Q about possible emolument violation.
But what about it being a branding opportunity?

"Whenever we go to Mar-a-Lago, it's a huge branding opportunity...I ask you to consider that Donald Turmp's brand is strong enough as it is and he doesn't need any help on that. It's the most recognizable name in the English language and around the world right now." - Mulvaney

"I was skeptical for doing it at Doral but the advance team called back and said it was the perfect physical location to do this. He would be criticized regardless of what he chooses to do," he says.

What's the difference between this use of Doral and the claim that Trump makes suggesting the Bidens are engaged in self-deal.
"There's clearly no profit here.... the Trump family made their money before going into politics."

Says other places don't have transportation accommodations necessary, less convenient. They looked at 12 sites but "this was by far and away the best choice."
He notes: Doral can be sequestered from rest of the city and all operations can be on that one piece of property.

On the "appearance of impropriety" of holding G7 at Doral -
"He knows he is going to get these questions. He's willing to take that. Same way he treats it when he goes to Bedminster etc."
Says "we get" that people won't like it, but he "got over that a long time ago."

Mulvaney says "Climate change will not be on the agenda" at G7, the meeting of the world's most powerful and influential leaders.

Earlier Mulvaney mentioned that inviting Putin to G7 would be a step to bringing Russia into the fold, making it G8, but this is unclear. Trump said in August he would "certainly" invite him.

Re: Ukraine - There are near zero dollars from any other country supporting Ukraine for lethal aid, he says. European countries "are really stingy" and the president "did not like that.

Did Trump mention corruption related to DNC server? "Absolutely, that's it and that's why we held up the money.
The look back to what happened in 2016 was part of what he was worried about re: corruption concerns.
"That is absolutely appropriate."

Mulvaney says there is going to be money held up at times when negotiating foreign policy. "It's part of politics. Get over it," he says.

So is it OK for US to hold up foreign aid to investigate opponent in an election?
Mulvaney says because it wasn't about Biden, but about corruption concerns playing out in Ukraine, it was legitimate to withhold.

But Mulvaney *also concedes* it was Trump's wish to investigate origins of Russia probe that stopped the flow of money to Ukraine.

What was the role he played in getting Ukraine to investigate the Bidens? He says "Yeah, none."
What were preconditions of the meeting? Was Burisma ever brought up?
Mulvaney: "No, not to me and not to anyone I know of. Never in a conversation that had the word Burisma in it."

Trump never even wanted the meeting with Zelensky at the White House, Mulvaney now says.

Mulvaney: Giuliani is the president's personal lawyer.

You heard that? Just checking.

If there was no quid pro quo, Trump didn't want to meet and all is above board, why put anything on the SCIF?
Mulvaney: I'm not going to talk about how we handle classified information. There's only one reason people care about that. They think there's a cover up.

"They hope there is a cover up. Oh my goodness gracious, there must have been something so duplicitous and underhanded. Always a good cover up when we have an impeachment." - Mulvaney

"If we wanted to cover this up, would we have called the DOJ and had them look at transcript of tape? Would we have released it to the public?

Again, what came out was edited, but that is his response.
Story coming up.

Mulvaney really planted that flag of defense for Trump's actions. This is was Mulvaney's narrative in a nutshell, "Get over it."

Regret the typo: This *is* the narrative.

DEVELOPING. In a stunning pair of press conf. reveals acting WH Chief of Staff M. Mulvaney said 2020 G-7 summit will be held at Doral Resort & confirmed Trump withheld military aid to Ukraine because he wanted an invstgn into interference in '16 election.
courthousenews.com/trump-to-host-…

Story updated. courthousenews.com/trump-to-host-…

Schiff popped out of House Intelligence to tell reporters, in light of Mulvaney's comments: POTUS engaged in a "phenomenal breach of duty." Says he hopes every lawmaker will condemn his actions.

Story updated to reflect Mick Mulvaney trying to put the toothpaste back into the tube.
courthousenews.com/trump-to-host-…