Trump: Day 551
-Ratchets Up Fight w/Michael Cohen
-Alters DT/Putin Video & Transcripts
-Bans CNN Reporter From WH Event
-Trying 2 Conceal Kavanaugh Docs
-Walk of Fame Star Destroyed Again
-Bolton Now Using "Witch Hunt" Line
-Emolument Lawsuit Moves Forward
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Day 656 since Donald Trump admitted to sexual assault — yet he’s still in the Oval Office
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Day 508 of NO EVIDENCE produced by Trump that his phones were tapped by Obama.
The FISA warrant Trump referenced targeted Carter Page. #fakenews #TrumpLies
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DOJ OFFICIALS: 31 lawmakers have viewed a largely unredacted version of the Carter Page FISA applications.
Devin Nunes, who has demanded Trump declassify large swaths, is *NOT* one of them.
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Day 295 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
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Gun control activist Lucy McBath, whose son was shot and killed in 2012, has won the Democratic nomination in Georgia's 6th Congressional District.
washingtonpost.com/news/morning-m…
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Day 117 without Trump publicly offering his condolences for Master Sgt. Johnathan Dunbar, the fallen American service member who lost his life after an IED bombing in Syria. Why?
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Day 117 Since Hope Hicks left as Trump’s 4th Communications Director after testifying to a Congressional committee that she had told "white lies" on Trump's behalf.
Trump has since been directing all White House messaging and communication.
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CNN says the W.H. took "retaliatory action" against Kaitlan Collins after she asked Trump questions during a photo op. Questions included:
"Did Michael Cohen betray you?"
"Why is Vladimir Putin not accepting your invitation?"
money.cnn.com/2018/07/25/med…
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Reminder: In 2012, a Daily Caller writer interrupted a president during a speech (which never happens), wasn't punished by the WH or WHCA. politico.com/blogs/politico…
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Statement from WHCA President Olivier Knox:
We strongly condemn the White House's misguided and inappropriate decision today to bar one of our members from an open press event after she asked questions they did not like.
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Day 44 since Trump made specific commitments to end military exercises with South Korea & eventually withdraw US forces from the peninsula without NO specific commitments on timing or verification of denuclearization from Kim Jong-un.
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Donald Trump's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame was destroyed (again) with a pickaxe.
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Man who vandalized Trump's Walk of Fame star bailed out by person who did it years ago: report
Pay it forward!
hill.cm/bpSHCck
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Trump, as he ratchets up his fight with Cohen, not addressing the substance on the tape - the discussion of a scheme to silence a model over their alleged affair and the fact that his campaign lied to the press on this just days before election
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In light of Trump's complaints about Cohen, remember this from 2017: Trump has a long history of secretly recording calls, according to former associates. wapo.st/2LDRGWD
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Michael Cohen planned to use a Delaware shell company he created in Sept. '16 to buy the rights to Karen McDougal's story of having an affair with Trump.
Cohen's plan to use the company to buy McDougal's story hasn't previously been reported.
wsj.com/articles/trump…
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In a previously unreported interaction, execs from the publisher of the National Enquirer contacted Michael Cohen after paying ex-Trump-apartment doorman Dino Sajudin for the rights to his story alleging Trump had fathered a child with an employee. on.wsj.com/2LxIEdP
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Omarosa Manigault-Newman has been interviewed by federal investigators.
In 2011, Omarosa threatened to sue American Media Inc. After Michael Cohen's intervention, the organization hired her as an editor. Unclear if the two are related.
on.wsj.com/2LxIEdP
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The Justice Department is examining whether American Media at times acted more like an extension Trump and his campaign, a person familiar with the matter. The legal bar is high to strip any media organization of its constitutional protections. on.wsj.com/2LxIEdP
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If Michael Cohen should testify that the proposed payment on that audio recording was election-related, the case for campaign fraud would be much stronger than the case against John Edwards.
nbcnews.com/politics/elect…
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Michael Cohen lawyer Lanny Davis said that the tape's release sends the message: "I am no longer the previous Michael Cohen that you knew — taking a bullet for Donald Trump, saying anything to defend him, being a good soldier. ... That is over." axios.com/newsletters/ax…
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Cohen lawyer Lanny Davis: "I've used this line too many times, but who talks about cash like that besides drug dealers and mobsters?"
axios.com/newsletters/ax…
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George Stephanopoulos: "There are more tapes of Donald Trump?"
Lanny Davis: "There are certainly more tapes..." (via ABC)
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New details about the more than 100 Michael Cohen recordings seized by the government. Some are of conversations with Trump, others with reporters.
Wait. More than 100 recordings?
washingtonpost.com/politics/im-no…
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Newsweek cover, 45 years ago this week:
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Speaking of anniversaries...
Happy 2nd anniversary to this tweet.
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The first American to introduce Maria Butina's handler to the NRA is a Republican operative. And he has such deep ties to Moscow that he says he'd rather have Putin run the U.S., according to The Daily Beast. thebea.st/2uOgLVc
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@maddow shows how the White House transcript and video of the Trump-Putin press conference in Helsinki has been edited to remove the question asking Putin if he wanted Trump to win the election.
on.msnbc.com/2AaX9j8
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As comparatives, here are Vox, Kremlin, and WH transcripts.
Vox is unaltered. Kremlin omits whole exchange. WH omits question.
To be clear:
"Did you want Trump to win elex & did you direct your officials to help him?"
"Yes I did. Yes I did."
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Reminder: last year John Bolton called the Russian election interference "an act of war."
Now as national security adviser he puts out an official statement calling investigation of said act of war "witch hunt."
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The soccer ball that Putin gave to Trump in Helsinki reportedly contains a chip that can transmit data to cell phones, according to Bloomberg. It's a feature on that type of soccer ball. bloomberg.com/news/articles/…
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Bob Menendez in Pompeo hearing: "I recognize the president considers himself to be a masterful deal maker and a very stable genius, but we need to call the president's statements out for what they are. At this point, I find them to be misleading and untruthful."
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In his opening statement, Bob Corker runs through a list of "the most fundamental norms" that Putin has violated, then says, "In the face of these hostilities, in the summit’s aftermath, we saw an American president who appeared submissive and deferential."
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Republican @SenBobCorker got @SecPompeo to acknowledge in hearing that NATO countries do not owe money to the US as Trump frequently suggests.
Their contributions to defense are NOT paid to the U.S.
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"Trump did more damage to the West at Brussels than Putin could have hoped for."
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Amazon says Spicer’s book is no 1 in “Russian & former Soviet Union politics”
Interesting.
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Last night Trump Hotel DC hosted:
-Fox News's Jeanine Pirro's book signing
-Turning Point USA's high school summit's dinner
-dinner for the Committee to Unleash Prosperity
Is Trump "monetizing" off his role?
(via @Politico)
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Federal judge gives go-ahead to lawsuit alleging Trump is violating the Constitution by doing business w/foreign governments. This could crack the secrecy of Trump Org, which has kept its customers private even as its owner sits in the Oval Office.
washingtonpost.com/politics/feder…
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For the 1st time, a federal judge has defined the word "emoluments" (which the Founding Fathers said federal officials shouldn't take from foreign govts).
He sides against Trump, who said in effect that it should just mean "bribes" -- outright gifts, given to corrupt.
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From today’s ruling: judge says @realDonaldTrump’s biz dealings w/foreign governments are the kind of thing Founding Fathers worried about.
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D.C. AG Karl Racine: "Today's historic ruling is a substantial step forward to ensure Trump stops violating our nation's original anti-corruption laws.
The Constitution is clear: the president can't accept money or other benefits from foreign or domestic governments."
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@ZephyrTeachout, NY AG candidate, who proposed an emoluments-clause case against Trump after '16 election.
She believes today's ruling could lead (eventually) to Trump giving up DC hotel: "It’s hard to imagine this won’t lead to divestiture."
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Grassley is literally trying to conceal the records from MORE THAN HALF of Kavanaugh's years in the Bush White House.
This is an egregious violation of past practice.
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In 2017, Dick Durbin wrote to Rosenstein raising concerns over Brian Benczkowski's ties to Russia's Alfa Bank.
Rosenstein declined to say whether Alfa is under investigation. The Judiciary Cmte. never got that info before voting on Benczkowski. theatlantic.com/politics/archi…
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Trump's conservative allies in Congress just filed articles of impeachment against Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein:
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Impeachment hasn't been carried out against an executive branch employee in 122 years & the constitution defines it as punishment for “treason, bribery or other high crimes and misdemeanors."
R’s are mad because he didn’t produce the documents they wanted quickly enough.
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Reminder: The U.S. did not "lose" $817 billion last year on trade. Such language would earn an F in Economics 101.
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Pretty amazing the extent to which Trump talks about doing trade deals that look a lot like ones he junked. TTIP (EU) and TPP (Asia).
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Trump's senior economic advisers believe he plans to impose a 25% tariff on close to $200 billion in foreign-made autos this year, WaPo reports.
Trump wants to move forward despite numerous warnings from GOP leaders and business executives.
washingtonpost.com/business/econo…
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General Motors has become the highest-profile U.S. company to fall victim to Trump's trade wars by cutting its profit forecast for this year on surging steel and aluminum prices.
Shares were on course for their steepest one-day plunge in 7+ years. bloomberg.com/news/articles/…
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Pat Toomey: "We are compounding government errors. It was a failed government policy in the 1st place, that's in the form of these unnecessary tariffs...Now we're going to offset that by forcing taxpayers to send the check to these farmers. I can't agree with this." @MSNBC
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Paul Ryan became Speaker of the House weeks after fiscal year 2015 ended with a deficit of $439 billion.
Trump OMB deficit projection this year: $890 billion.
Next year: $1,085 billion.
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The DOJ has instructed US attorneys offices to not use the term "undocumented" immigrants & instead refer to someone illegally in the US as "an illegal alien."
Serves no purpose other than intentional demonization and dehumanization of migrants.
cnn.com/2018/07/24/pol…
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ACLU says Trump admin forced parents separated from children at border to sign documents they couldn't read hill.cm/IMv5oO1
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Musicians announce tour to support families hurt by Trump immigration policies hill.cm/9BnVOQb
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Trump administration was warned ending TPS could strengthen MS-13.
They did it anyway.
cnn.com/2018/07/25/pol…
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Trump job rating, per new NBC/Marist polls:
MI: 36% approve, 54% disapprove
MN: 38% approve, 51% disapprove
WI: 36% approve, 52% disapprove
July 15-19, RVs
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HUGE majorities of upper Midwest voters in new NBC poll say Trump doesn't deserve reelection -- and Trump won, or nearly won, all these states. Numbers like these are a mortal threat:
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#SharkWeek - Wednesday:
1) average fewer than 1 “daily” press briefing a week
2) announce vague “agreements” with world leaders, providing no info to back it up
3) ban reporters whose questions they don’t like
4) stop releasing public records of foreign leader calls
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Daily reminder...
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In case you missed yesterday's thread:
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Trying to imagine a world where House conservatives take Trump’s lying, his interference with the Russia investigation, and his emoluments clause violations as seriously as they take, you know, Rod Rosenstein sending them heavily redacted documents. huffingtonpost.com/entry/house-co…
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4 GOP governors decline to sign letter backing Trump Supreme Court pick hill.cm/dIcYh0J
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And on the 10th day of #OccupyLafayettePark there were 10 sharks.
Happy #SharkWeek
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@MaddowBlog: Update on last night's A block: The White House admits the question about Putin supporting Trump is missing from its online transcript. The White House hasn't corrected it. Hasn't fixed the video either.
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Idea of significantly more LNG shipments to EU absurd. It's not price competitive with piped gas. In TTIP we had already agreed to eliminate 97pc of tariffs including all industrial tariffs — nothing new though Trump of course will take credit.
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A source in Brooklyn sent this video of Sean Spicer getting heckled at a book signing in NYC tonight
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North Korea making bomb fuel despite denuclearization pledge: Pompeo reut.rs/2LSQETH
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When Paul Ryan got to Congress, the budget had a $125 billion surplus. The year he leaves, it will be a $1.1 trillion deficit.
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