Donald Trump

[Rico1304]

I remember Mattis getting a lot of stick on here. This is interesting 

 

 

[Bjornebye]

This is unreal. The cloak and dagger stuff behind the scenes keeping this man in his job and stopping him being sent down must be epic

 

https://edition.cnn.com/2019/11/08/politics/donald-trump-press-conference/index.html

 

(CNN)Donald Trump has had a week! 

Transcripts of closed-door testimony from a series of witnesses in front of the House Intelligence Committee seem to affirm the idea that a quid pro quo was in place between the US and Ukraine. He was ordered by a judge in New York to pay $2 million as restitution for using his Trump Foundation charity as a slush fund for his political interests. Elections in Kentucky and Virginia suggested Democratic momentum in 2018 hasn't worn off. He lost an appeal to keep his taxes from being released. And on and on it goes.

And so it was a very frustrated President who greeted reporters Friday morning before jetting off to Atlanta. I went through the transcript of Trump's remarks -- they stretched for almost a half hour -- and took note of some of his more outlandish lines. They're below.

 

 

1. "I just told them I've got to come over and see the fake news. Let's go."

I feel like this suggests Trump reads my recaps of his press conferences and speeches. Speaking of which: And away we go!

2. "I'm not concerned about anything."

Same.

3. "I mean, for the most part, I never even heard of these people. I have no idea who they are."

This is, of course, an outlandish statement. Trump "has never even heard" of the former US ambassador to Ukraine? Give me a break.

4. "They're some very fine people. You have some never-Trumpers. It seems that nobody has any firsthand knowledge. There is no firsthand knowledge."

Ok, two things here. First, there is ZERO evidence that any of the people who testified in the House impeachment hearings are "Never Trumpers." Second, National Security Council Ukraine expert Alexander Vindman, whose testimony was released Friday, was on the July 25 call between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. And he immediately reported the call as inappropriate to his superior. 

5. "And all that matters is one thing: the transcript. And the transcript is perfect."

(Narrator voice) It isn't.

6. "Well, they shouldn't be having public hearings. This is a hoax. This is just like the Russian witch hunt. This is just a continuation."

Trump never elaborates on why he believes the House shouldn't have public hearings on impeachment. (Those hearings are slated to start next week.) But, if he truly believes they are a "hoax" and a "witch hunt" wouldn't he want that to be exposed by public hearings?

7. "I saw he said very nice things about me last night. But we'll have to see. I'll have to see."

Trump, asked about Jeff Sessions' just-announced Senate bid, proves -- yet again -- that all he does is watch cable TV news.

8. "I had a very good call with the President of Ukraine. I assume that's what you're talking about. The call was perfect."

I know I have been over this ground before but ... what, exactly, constitutes a "perfect" phone call? Is it about the contents of the call? The execution? The connection clarity?

9. And all you have to do is take a look at Biden and you will see tremendous corruption because what he did is quid pro quo times 10."

There is zero evidence of any wrongdoing by Joe Biden vis a vis the removal of a Ukrainian prosecutor. Biden, in his service as vice president, was the face of a broad coalition effort to have the prosecutor dismissed due to concerns about his unwillingness to investigate corruption. Those are the facts.

10. "Be quiet. Quiet. Quiet. Quiet."

Just the President of the United States telling a reporter to stop asking a question. Very normal stuff! Nothing to see here, folks!

11. "Alabama is a place where my approval numbers are very good. I think I won by 42 points."

(Narrator voice) It was 28 points.

12. "We'll see what happens. I mean, we'll see what happens."

This is Trump on whether there will be a China trade deal. Also, he says "we'll see what happens" when he has no idea what to say. 

13. "Well, now, you've really shaped my behavior, because from the day I came in here, I've had problems with phony stuff, like a phony dossier that turned out to be false, like false investigations that I've beaten. So a lot of my behavior was shaped by the fake news and by the other side. That was a lot of my behavior."

This is demonstrably false. Even a cursory look at Trump's life before politics shows the same pattern of behavior he's shown in office: Bullying, vindictive and always, always spinning things in his favor.

14. "I caught the swamp. I caught 'em all."

(Stifles laughter)

15. "I caught all of this corruption that was going on, and nobody else could have done it."

(Snorts)

16. "My charity was great. I gave a lot of money away."

Former New York Attorney General Barbara Underwood said that her investigation of the Trump Foundation produced "a shocking pattern of illegality involving the Trump Foundation — including unlawful coordination with the Trump presidential campaign, repeated and willful self-dealing, and much more." So, yeah -- "great."

17. "New York is a corrupt state. It's a corrupt state, it's a shame."

Wait, wait. Isn't Trump President of all 50 states? Including New York? 

18. "I gave $19 million away. And what happened is, instead of saying, 'Thank you, great,' they hit me with a lawsuit and it was started by a man who had to get out because he beat up women."

The man in question here is former New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman. Schneiderman resigned his post in May 2018 amid allegations by several women that he assaulted them. Worth noting here that Trump faced a slew of allegations of sexual harassment from more than a dozen women in the run-up to the 2016 election.

19. "I had a call. I'm sure it was fine. I mean, you know, I have to -- I make a lot of calls."

Honestly, same.

20. "I'm very transparent. Nobody is more transparent than I am."

Donald Trump was the first major party candidate in modern memory to refuse to release any of his past tax returns. He is also the first president post-Watergate to refuse to do so. So, yeah.

21. "And if I wasn't and if I didn't release it, it would have been a problem, because the fake whistleblower said something about the call, many things that were wrong."

Nothing that has come out publicly disputes the original eight-page complaint by the whistleblower. In fact, everything we have learned since has bolstered the initial complaint.

22. "Let -- let me just tell you, I -- I hardly know the gentleman."

Ha, ha, ha...oh wait, he isn't joking. Trump is talking here about Gordon Sondland. Yes, the same Sondland who donated $1 million to Trump's inaugural committee and was rewarded with an posting as the US ambassador to the European Union. Never heard of him!

23. "Everybody that's testified, even the ones that are Trump haters, they've all been fine. They don't have anything."

So many ways to go with this but I'll head down this path: There is NO evidence that any of the people have testified are "Trump haters" or have feelings either way about the President. He is just making stuff up. 

24. "And if I asked Bill Barr to have a press conference I think he'd do it, But I never asked him to have a press conference. Why should I?"

Truly amazing stuff here. Trump didn't ask the attorney general to hold a press conference to clear him of any wrongdoing in the Ukraine matter -- as the Washington Post has reported he did. But, if he had asked, Barr would have done it. Sure!

25. "They lost an election and they lost it big."

(narrator voice) Hillary Clinton won the popular vote by almost 3 million.

26. "And, interestingly, if you look at the polls that just came out, my polls are up."

This is, again, simply false.

27. "And I'll tell you, the whistleblower, I call him the fake whistleblower. He gave a fake report of my phone call."

I am going to record myself saying: "Nothing the whistleblower alleged has been proven incorrect or inaccurate in any way." And then just hit "PLAY" over and over and over again.

28. "My phone call was perfect. He made it sound bad. That's why I had to release."

The transcript just doesn't say what Trump thinks it says.

29. "So the whistleblower is a disgrace to our country. A disgrace. And the whistleblower, because of that, should be revealed."

This is truly stunning stuff. The whistleblower followed procedures put in place for just this thing. And (hits PLAY) "Nothing the whistleblower alleged has been proven incorrect or inaccurate in any way." And yet Trump is saying the person is a "disgrace" and urging his or her identity be revealed. Chilling stuff.

30. "And his lawyer, who said the worst things possible two years ago, he should be sued. And maybe for treason. Maybe for treason."

The whistleblower's lawyer should be charged with treason?!?! For what, exactly? Oh, Trump doesn't explain.

31. "(Schiff) made up a speech and he put my voice in it. He made up a speech, had nothing to do with what I said."

Trump has latched onto this argument, which is so dumb and so easily proven false. Please read this about that. I beg you. 

32. "They've gone out and they've gone out of their way to find the people that hate Donald Trump, President Trump, the most."

No. Evidence. Any. Witnesses. Hate. Trump.

33. "We are winning so big. My polls are the highest they've ever been, I'm leading in all of the states, every swing state."

(Head explodes)

34. "Nancy Pelosi should go back to her district, which is horrible. It's filthy. It's drug-infested. The stuff's being flown out to the ocean -- it's being wiped out to the ocean through their drainage systems."

Reminder: Donald Trump is President of the people in Nancy Pelosi's district too!

35. "We're doing very well with African Americans."

In a CNN national poll in September, 9% of African Americans approved of the job Trump was doing as compared to 86% who disapproved.

36. "I know Michael. He became just a nothing. He was really a nothing. He's not going to do well, but I think he's going to hurt Biden, actually. But he doesn't have the magic to do well."

Michael Bloomberg: he just doesn't have the magic.

37. "Little Michael will fail. He'll spend a lot of money. He's got some really big issues. He's got some personal problems and he's got a lot of other problems."

Modern day presidential.

38. "There is nobody I'd rather run against than Little Michael."

Trump, for what it's worth, has said this same thing about Joe Biden, Elizabeth Warren and virtually the entirety of the Democratic field.

39. "Just so you know, we have the highest poll numbers. We have the most energy."

Uh huh.

40. "I have to do what the lawyers say, to a certain extent; not always, but, you know, to a certain extent."

Oh yeah. I get it -- to a certain extent. This feels like a good place to end.

[niallers]

The yanks are so divided now,I really don't think he could do anything good or bad and not be pilloried or exonerated for either by both sides. There's the far left and far right,and a minority they maybe, they've sucked all the oxygen out of the room.

The 2 party system is not fit for purpose as everything now is binary and nothing in life, let alone political life, is binary.

If a Democrat wins, they'll just face the exact same years of crap that Obama faced and nothing will get done.

[TheHowieLama]

49 minutes ago, niallers said:

 

If a Democrat wins, they'll just face the exact same years of crap that Obama faced and nothing will get done.

If a Democrat wins the Presidential election I would expect Dems to flip the Senate as well.

That is a different story.

[Rico1304]

Needs more meth

 

https://twitter.com/libsinamerica/status/1193937500269662208?s=21

[magicrat]

1 hour ago, Rico1304 said:

Needs more meth

 

https://twitter.com/libsinamerica/status/1193937500269662208?s=21

Form an orderly queue 

[Red Phoenix]

Trump on Syria : “We’re keeping the oil. We have the oil. The oil is secure. We left troops behind only for the oil.”

 

Holy fucking shitehawks you're at least supposed to lie and say they're there for some other reason. Some honesty is good though I guess after all these years rampaging around the Middle East with bullshit excuses as to why.

 

From The Guardian :

 

Quote

However, seizing or benefiting from oil on a foreign territory, without permission from the sovereign authority, would be a violation of international law. Several US officials had sought to interpret the president’s remarks as the US meant to meaning that the denying Isis access to the oil.

The US special envoy on Syria, James Jeffrey, said on Monday: “US forces in north-eastern Syria are there under an authorisation to fight terrorism, specifically to ensure the enduring defeat of Isis. That is their overall mission.”

 

 

"Sought to interpret", haha. "Meant to meaning that the denying Isis access to the oil." What? Maybe there's so much bullshit there that the Guardian writer could no longer even write properly trying to explain otherwise. Great bit about "international law" and the US there too, those two things don't really go together very well and I think we realise that at this point.

 

[aRdja]

4 minutes ago, Red Phoenix said:

Trump on Syria : “We’re keeping the oil. We have the oil. The oil is secure. We left troops behind only for the oil.”

 

Holy fucking shitehawks you're at least supposed to lie and say they're there for some other reason. Some honesty is good though I guess after all these years rampaging around the Middle East with bullshit excuses as to why.

 

From The Guardian :

 

 

"Sought to interpret", haha. "Meant to meaning that the denying Isis access to the oil." What? Maybe there's so much bullshit there that the Guardian writer could no longer even write properly trying to explain otherwise. Great bit about "international law" and the US there too, those two things don't really go together very well and I think we realise that at this point.

 

Standard right wing politics really.. Law and order for you but not for me.

[cloggypop]

US President Donald Trump's adviser Roger Stone has been convicted on all counts of lying to Congress, obstruction and witness tampering.

The court heard he lied about his efforts to learn more about when WikiLeaks would publish damaging emails about Hillary Clinton in 2016.

The jury returned its verdict on day two of deliberations in Washington DC.

Witness tampering carries a sentence of up to 20 years in prison. The other counts can carry five years each.

The court heard Stone lied in September 2017 during his testimony to the House of Representatives Intelligence Committee's inquiry into alleged Russian interference in the US elections a year earlier.

He was asked about WikiLeaks' release of damaging emails about Mrs Clinton - President Donald Trump's Democratic rival in the vote.

US intelligence officials and Department of Justice Special Counsel Robert Mueller later concluded those messages had been stolen by Russian hackers.

The trial heard Stone had told five lies under oath, including about his conversations with Trump campaign officials and a supposed "intermediary" with WikiLeaks in early August 2016.

He also lied about the existence of certain texts or emails.

Prosecutors told the court that Stone had made the false statements to protect Trump's image.

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-50438196

[TheHowieLama]

#stoned

[cloggypop]

 

[TheHowieLama]

 

[magicrat]

7 minutes ago, TheHowieLama said:

 

Except he wont be free for many years !

[Guest Pistonbroke]

1 hour ago, cloggypop said:

US President Donald Trump's adviser Roger Stone has been convicted on all counts of lying to Congress, obstruction and witness tampering.

The court heard he lied about his efforts to learn more about when WikiLeaks would publish damaging emails about Hillary Clinton in 2016.

The jury returned its verdict on day two of deliberations in Washington DC.

Witness tampering carries a sentence of up to 20 years in prison. The other counts can carry five years each.

The court heard Stone lied in September 2017 during his testimony to the House of Representatives Intelligence Committee's inquiry into alleged Russian interference in the US elections a year earlier.

He was asked about WikiLeaks' release of damaging emails about Mrs Clinton - President Donald Trump's Democratic rival in the vote.

US intelligence officials and Department of Justice Special Counsel Robert Mueller later concluded those messages had been stolen by Russian hackers.

The trial heard Stone had told five lies under oath, including about his conversations with Trump campaign officials and a supposed "intermediary" with WikiLeaks in early August 2016.

He also lied about the existence of certain texts or emails.

Prosecutors told the court that Stone had made the false statements to protect Trump's image.

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-50438196

 

That's better. 

[cloggypop]

Just now, Pistonbroke said:

 

That's better. 

Ta. Blame Dave for the sizing. 

[Guest Pistonbroke]

2 minutes ago, cloggypop said:

Ta. Blame Dave for the sizing. 

 

I use the PC, can't you change the font size when using other devices? 

[cloggypop]

40 minutes ago, Pistonbroke said:

 

I use the PC, can't you change the font size when using other devices? 

Sometimes. The site decided to make that post tiny though for some reason. 

[Guest Pistonbroke]

1 minute ago, cloggypop said:

Sometimes. 

 

Ta, just wandered mate. 

[magicrat]

2 hours ago, cloggypop said:

Sometimes. The site decided to make that post tiny though for some reason. 

Tiny hands Trump approves of tiny fonts 

[Guest Pistonbroke]

9 minutes ago, magicrat said:

Tiny hands Trump approves of tiny fonts 

 

You have the joy of another Trump visit just before the GE. Odds on Trump and BJ using the NATO summit for a final Tory propaganda push? 

 

Words like USA won't make any post Brexit deals with a Corbyn Gov't incoming. 

[A Red]

3 hours ago, cloggypop said:

Ta. Blame Dave for the sizing. 

He's £12 short 

[TheHowieLama]

 

 

 

 

[cloggypop]

Going well for the orange blert

[Red Phoenix]

This impeachment hearing can be some serious fucking borecore but for some reason I'm kind of hooked watching it at times too.

[TheHowieLama]

9 minutes ago, Red Phoenix said:

This impeachment hearing can be some serious fucking borecore but for some reason I'm kind of hooked watching it at times too.

This part of it is not really helpful imo.

 

What they should do as they know that there is more than enough evidence of a couple of wrongdoings at this stage is to box it up and send it to the Senate. Unfortunately Dems realize that the Senate will flush this at any cost to whoever was involved except Trump.

 

So what should not look like a trial has now become one, to the point that it even seems sitting Senators are questioning due process at this stage. Due process is the next stage where, you know, Senators are jurors in the trial.