Trump promises to get back to work and stop obsessing over ‘Rigged Russia Witch Hunt’

President Donald Trump offered a false apology Tuesday morning and promised to stop obsessing over the special counsel investigation — after tweeting four times about the probe in one hour.

The president accused “Angry Democrats” of “meddling” in the upcoming midterm elections with a sprawling investigation of his 2016 presidential campaign’s ties to Russia and other foreign governments, which has resulted in five guilty pleas and 17 indictments.

He tweeted twice more about the investigation before promising to get back to work.

“Sorry, I’ve got to start focusing my energy on North Korea Nuclear, bad Trade Deals, VA Choice, the Economy, rebuilding the Military, and so much more, and not on the Rigged Russia Witch Hunt that should be investigating Clinton/Russia/FBI/Justice/Obama/Comey/Lynch etc.,” the president tweeted.

[Raw Story]

Trump says, without proof, that Mueller team will meddle in midterm elections

President Donald Trump alleged Tuesday — without providing any evidence — that special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation will meddle in the midterm elections to benefit Democrats.

Trump’s claim is his latest attack on the credibility of the Russia investigation as being politically motivated, though it’s a significant new step in his attacks on what is intended to be an independent probe working to get to the bottom of Russia’s efforts to interfere in the 2016 election.

“The 13 Angry Democrats (plus people who worked 8 years for Obama) working on the rigged Russia Witch Hunt, will be MEDDLING with the mid-term elections, especially now that Republicans (stay tough!) are taking the lead in Polls,” Trump tweeted. “There was no Collusion, except by the Democrats!”

Trump’s use of the word “rigged” invokes a line he frequently employed in 2016 — often when he was trailing Hillary Clinton in the polls — to raise doubts about the election outcome. At the time, he appeared to be suggesting that the election would be out of the hands of voters.

Although CNN has reported that several members of Mueller’s team have donated to Democrats, Russia’s meddling in the 2016 election has also been the subject of several Republican-led congressional inquiries. Mueller is a Republican who was appointed as FBI director by President George W. Bush, and the man who appointed him as special counsel, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, was appointed by Trump and is also a registered Republican.

Tuesday’s conspiracy theory was accompanied by a barrage of Trump tweets on the Russia probe, which repeated his previous requests for investigations into his political enemies.

“Why aren’t the 13 Angry and heavily conflicted Democrats investigating the totally Crooked Campaign of totally Crooked Hillary Clinton. It’s a Rigged Witch Hunt, that’s why! Ask them if they enjoyed her after election celebration,” Trump tweeted.

Another tweet read: “Sorry, I’ve got to start focusing my energy on North Korea Nuclear, bad Trade Deals, VA Choice, the Economy, rebuilding the Military, and so much more, and not on the Rigged Russia Witch Hunt that should be investigating Clinton/Russia/FBI/(Department of) Justice/(President Barack) Obama/(former FBI Director James) Comey/(Former Attorney General Loretta) Lynch etc.”

In an interview on CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday, Trump’s attorney Rudy Giuliani called the Mueller probe “illegitimate” and acknowledged that a political strategy to discredit the investigation was part of an effort to sway public opinion to Trump’s side in case he faces impeachment.

“They are giving us the material to do it,” Giuliani told CNN’s Dana Bash. “Of course, we have to do it in defending the President. We are defending — to a large extent, remember, Dana, we are defending here, it is for public opinion, because eventually the decision here is going to be impeach, not impeach.”

Trump himself has escalated his attacks on Mueller’s investigation in recent weeks. Last week, he demanded the Justice Department look into whether the Obama administration planted a “spy” in his campaign, although US officials have told CNN that the confidential source was not planted inside the campaign.

The Justice Department responded to Trump’s demand by asking its inspector general to look into the matter.

[CNN]

Trump again tweets support of Cox, who hopes to capitalize on the president’s endorsement with new TV ad

President Trump reiterated his support for gubernatorial candidate John Cox on Monday as the GOP hopeful plans to launch a television ad touting the endorsement in a bid to consolidate the Republican vote.

“California has a rare opportunity to turn things around and solve its high crime, high tax, problems – along with so many others. On June 5th., vote for GOP Gubernatorial Candidate JOHN COX, a really good and highly competent man. He’ll Make California Great Again!” Trump tweeted.

Trump first tweeted his endorsement on May 18, and his campaign last week put out a video about the nod that was widely shared on social media.

The moves come as Republican leaders have grown increasingly concerned that if a GOP candidate does not make one of the top two spots in the June 5 primary, it could damp

[Los Angeles Times]

Reality

Let’s take a look at each claim by Trump.

High Crime

Crime in California is at an all-time low.

High Tax

California does have some high taxes:

  • Per capita, Californians pay $1,991 annually in state income taxes, which ranks fourth highest in the country.
  • Taxes its wealthy higher than anywhere else, at 13.3 percent.
  • California has the highest-in-the-nation sales tax rate of 7.25 percent.
  • California’s average effective property tax rate is among the lowest in the nation, at 0.72 percent, or 36th among states.
  • California’s State-Local Tax Burden is ranked sixth highest in the country, at 11 percent.

But nobody moves to California for the taxes, which people are still doing.

Problems
  • Traffic
  • Kardashians

Trump live tweets Fox News to push claims of campaign surveillance

President Trump on Monday tweeted quotes from George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley’s appearance on “Fox & Friends” to bolster his claims of surveillance on his presidential campaign.

Trump also quoted Turley, a constitutional law professor and contributor to The Hill, to slam former Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates, whom Trump fired last year.

“I think the president has raised a legitimate issue. I don’t agree with how he did it but to say that we shouldn’t investigate this matter is rather bizarre,” Turley said on the Fox News show prior to the president’s tweets.

“We now find out that the Obama administration put the opposing campaign’s presidential candidate, or his campaign, under investigation,” he continued. “That raises legitimate questions.”

Turley also criticized Yates for her decision to not defend the first iteration of Trump’s travel ban on refugees from several majority-Muslim countries. The president fired her over the decision when she was serving as acting attorney general.

The law professor was responding to Yates saying that Trump has “taken the assault on the rule of law to a new level.”

“I’m afraid that it’s a rather ironic statement because she is part of the concerns people have raised about bias in the Justice Department,” Turley said.

“She told an entire department to stand down and not to defend the president’s first immigration order,” he said. “I said at the time that she was fired for good cause, I still believe that. I find her actions to be really quite unbelievable.”

Trump has repeatedly claimed that the FBI spied on his campaign during the 2016 election.

[The Hill]

Trump on Memorial Day: Those who died for US ‘would be very happy’ with how country is doing

President Trump marked Memorial Day in a tweet on Monday claiming that the nation’s fallen heroes “would be very happy and proud at how well our country is doing today.”

“Best economy in decades, lowest unemployment numbers for Blacks and Hispanics EVER (& women in 18years), rebuilding our Military and so much more.” Trump tweeted. “Nice!”

Memorial Day is held annually to honor service members who died for the U.S.

Trump had tweeted a video in honor of the holiday earlier Monday.

The president is scheduled to participate in a wreath-laying ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery later Monday morning.

He has often used Twitter to brag about the state of the economy under his administration. The black and Hispanic unemployment rates both reached record lows last month, according to statistics from the Department of Labor.

[The Hill]

Reality

Black unemployment rate:

Hispanic unemployment rate:

Trump: Obama didn’t want to ‘upset the apple cart’ by investigating Russians

President Trump on Sunday accused former President Obama of knowing about Russian meddling in the 2016 election and not doing anything to stop it — despite reports that the Obama administration made multiple attempts to stave off interference from the Kremlin.

Trump took to Twitter Sunday afternoon, alleging that Obama was informed of the meddling by the FBI, but chose not to act on that information because he thought Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton was going to win the election.

“Why didn’t President Obama do something about the so-called Russian Meddling when he was told about it by the FBI before the Election?” Trump asked in a tweet. “Because he thought Crooked Hillary was going to win, and he didn’t want to upset the apple cart!”

Trump has lodged a number of accusations at Obama for not doing anything about Russia’s efforts to influence the 2016 election. However, the administration did take action against Russia.

Intelligence officials under Obama warned Russian intelligence officers against becoming involved in the election and Obama told Russian President Vladimir Putin not to interfere.

After the election, Obama imposed new sanctions of Russian and expelled a number of Russian diplomats.

Rudy Giuliani Admits White House Is Trying To Discredit Russia Investigation

President Donald Trump’s lawyer flatly admitted that the White House is waging a fierce information campaign against special counsel Robert Mueller and his investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election.

The aim: to delegitimize the probe in the eyes of voters and lawmakers in Congress.

Rudy Giuliani, asked about the near-daily attacks on the probe, said on CNN’s “State of the Union” Sunday, “They are giving us the material. I couldn’t do it if I didn’t have the material. … It is for public opinion.”

“Because eventually, the decision here is going to be: impeach, [or] not impeach,” he continued. “Members of Congress, Democrats and Republicans, are going to be informed a lot by their constituents. So our jury … is the American people. And the American people … Republicans largely, independents pretty substantially, and even Democrats now question the legitimacy of it.”

Trump in recent days has ratcheted up his attacks against the Russia investigation, the Justice Department and the FBI. He has claimed that the FBI had “infiltrated” and “spied” on his 2016 presidential campaign when the agency reportedly used an informant to make contact with Trump campaign advisers who allegedly had suspicious contacts linked to Russia. He also demanded the Justice Department investigate the accusations and turn over any relevant documents to Congress.

Meanwhile, Democrats who attended a classified briefing about the informant with top DOJ officials last week said they saw “no evidence to support any allegation that the FBI or any intelligence agency placed a spy in the Trump campaign.” Top Republicans who also attended the briefing have remained silent, however.

Asked Sunday by CNN’s Dana Bash whether he believed the Russia probe is legitimate, Giuliani said, “Not anymore.”

“I did when I came in, but now I see Spygate,” Giuliani said, using Trump’s preferred term for describing revelations that an FBI informant made contact with two of his campaign advisers as part of the investigation into Russia’s meddling.

“I know 50 years of investigatory experience tells me they don’t have a darn thing because they would’ve used it already and they wouldn’t be off on collusion, they wouldn’t be off on Manafort, they wouldn’t be off on Cohen,” Giuliani added.

[Huffington Post]

Media

Trump lashes out at ’13 angry Democrats’

President Trump on Sunday lashed out on Twitter at special counsel Robert Mueller‘s investigation, referring to the “13 Angry Democrats” on the probe and writing that they should have been working to investigate Hillary Clinton controversies.

The Sunday tweet comes as the president has expressed anger and frustration about the FBI’s use of an informant in its investigation of Russia’s meddling in the 2016 election. Trump and his allies have claimed the use of the informant was an act of politically motivated espionage.

“Why didn’t the 13 Angry Democrats investigate the campaign of Crooked Hillary Clinton, many crimes, much Collusion with Russia?” he tweeted. “Why didn’t the FBI take the Server from the DNC? Rigged Investigation!”

Trump has used the “13 angry Democrats” term to refer to people on Mueller’s probe who he believes are biased against him.

The president, most recently, sent a pair of tweets Saturday night lashing out at those members and casting doubt on Mueller’s investigation into reported ties between Trump’s campaign and Moscow.

“This whole Russia Probe is Rigged. Just an excuse as to why the Dems and Crooked Hillary lost the Election and States that haven’t been lost in decades. 13 Angry Democrats, and all Dems if you include the people who worked for Obama for 8 years. #SPYGATE & CONFLICTS OF INTEREST!” Trump wrote.

Mueller, a lifelong Republican, is in talks with Trump’s legal team to set up a potential interview with the president, which could lead to the investigation’s conclusion.

The use of the informant predated his appointment, though Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani on Sunday said it still “tainted” Mueller’s probe.

[The Hill]

Trump Rails Against ‘Young and Beautiful’ Lives ‘Destroyed’ By Russia Probe: ‘They Went Back Home in Tatters!’

President Donald Trump has been busy on Twitter this Sunday morning. As part of a series of holiday weekend dispatches, the Commander-in-Chief railed against what he deems to be the ruination of people’s careers as a result of the Russia investigation.

“Who’s going to give back the young and beautiful lives (and others) that have been devastated and destroyed by the phony Russia Collusion Witch Hunt?” Trump wrote. “They journeyed down to Washington, D.C., with stars in their eyes and wanting to help our nation…They went back home in tatters!”

Many on Twitter mused that the “young and beautiful” Trump was referring to was Hope Hicks — the 29-year-old former White House Communications Director who left her post in March.

[Mediaite]

Trump tweets lie: Why didn’t FBI tell me about ‘phony Russia problem’ during campaign

President Trump questioned on Saturday why the FBI never informed him that it was examining Russian interference in the 2016 election when the bureau began using an informant to meet with his campaign advisers.

“With Spies, or ‘Informants’ as the Democrats like to call them because it sounds less sinister (but it’s not), all over my campaign, even from a very early date, why didn’t the crooked highest levels of the FBI or ‘Justice’ contact me to tell me of the phony Russia problem?” Trump tweeted.

Earlier this month, The Washington Post reported that a top-secret FBI informant met with at least three Trump campaign advisers in 2016. The meeting took place in the early days of the bureau’s counterintelligence investigation into Russian efforts to meddle in the presidential election.

Trump and his allies have suggested in recent days that the informant was used to spy on his campaign for political reasons. No evidence has surfaced to suggest that that was the case.

Former intelligence officials, including former CIA Director John Brennan and former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, have pushed back on Trump’s allegations, saying that the informant was deployed as the intelligence community sought to determine whether Russia was taking active measures to influence the election.

It was also reported in late 2017 that the FBI did, in fact, warn the Trump campaign of possible Russian meddling.

Select lawmakers met with top Justice Department officials this week in a pair of classified meetings to discuss the use of the informant, who has been identified in media reports as American professor Stefan Halper.

The U.S. intelligence community concluded in a report released last year that Russia did, in fact, meddle in the presidential election and sought to help Trump’s campaign.

That conclusion has become the subject of a criminal investigation by special counsel Robert Mueller. Trump has denounced that probe as a “witch hunt” and a “hoax” intended to undermine his presidency.

[The Hill]

1 … 194 195 196 197 198 … 383