President Trump: I wouldn't have appointed Sessions if I knew he'd recuse himself on Russia

With this President, it's apparent that loyalty is a one-way street. I'm wondering how many of his staff will want to go in front of the cameras and defend him no matter what?

Look at Gov. Christie. That man was paraded around and had the A.G. position dangled in front of him like in the "Ohhhh you almost had it!" commercial. Then he was used, abused, and thrown away into a trash pile.
 
He's already stated that the Mueller of the F.B.I. had better NOT look into his or his family's finances. "That's a red line."

If he has zero to hide and is 100% innocent, why not let the investigation go where it goes?

Isn't that coercion to tell the F.B.I. that when you're the President?
Add it to the list.

And please Donald, tell Mueller all the other places he better not look, that's not suspicious at all!

"Don't you dare start digging where that X is!"
 
With this President, it's apparent that loyalty is a one-way street. I'm wondering how many of his staff will want to go in front of the cameras and defend him no matter what?

Look at Gov. Christie. That man was paraded around and had the A.G. position dangled in front of him like in the "Ohhhh you almost had it!" commercial. Then he was used, abused, and thrown away into a trash pile.
The tell alls are going to be kind of boring because it'll be stuff we already knew about him, just story after story of incredible pettiness.
 
The tell alls are going to be kind of boring because it'll be stuff we already knew about him, just story after story of incredible pettiness.
The story of the final nail in Christie's coffin is hilarious.


According to “Devil’s Bargain: Steve Bannon, Donald Trump and the Storming of the Presidency,” by Joshua Green, a senior national correspondent at Bloomberg Businessweek, Trump lashed out at Christie after the governor allegedly offered Trump his personal cell phone for the candidate to receive a congratulatory call from then-President Barack Obama.

Obama, the book reported, called Christie's cell phone to congratulate Trump, but Trump wanted to take the call on his own phone.

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/don...scolded-him-about-obama-election-call-n784211
 
It's so hilarious that butt hurt liberals still think Trump is just an idiot with an out of control ego. How long does he have to play you for fools? When will you learn That he's not dumb and that he's actually getting things done?

hes signed no major laws.

how far back must we go before you can say that about a first term pres?
 
hes signed no major laws.

how far back must we go before you can say that about a first term pres?

Immigration rates are plummeting. He's stopped training terrorists (putting an end to Obama's policy), has brought to light how dangerously biased the media is. That's my personal favorite aspect of Trumps presidency. The media has gone fully glibalist propaganda. Sickening to watch. Its just "opinion" and "bias." Its brute force propaganda for fools.

The list just goes on and on. How about that we aren't needlessly attacking Russia? The only move Trump has made that annoys me is the Cuba thing. Hell his administration has basically attacked Paul Ryan which I love as well.
 
Immigration rates are plummeting.

lol, it was already dropping, though the steepness of the decline may involve trump. before he even entered office, we had a net negative immigration from central america.

He's stopped training terrorists (putting an end to Obama's policy), has brought to light how dangerously biased the media is.

did you not watch fox and breitbart under obama? ohh....you still think its only biased in one direction? its consumer driven. if there are people out there who want to hear that trump is a martian, then a media outlet will seize that opportunity.

That's my personal favorite aspect of Trumps presidency. The media has gone fully glibalist propaganda. Sickening to watch. Its just "opinion" and "bias." Its brute force propaganda for fools.

its just capitalism, and you consume your own favorite brand. like a pepsi drinker smirking at the coke drinkers. good job.

The list just goes on and on.

lol does it now?! been a pretty short list so far. signed 0 major laws. name the most recent first term pres in that situation.

How about that we aren't needlessly attacking Russia?

what? how many people have really suggested that we attack russia? they deserve the sanctions theyve had laid on them, which is why trump has not removed them. congress all agreed to sustain them (very quietly i might add). did trump collude with them? who knows....but few dispute that they meddled in some way in our election.

The only move Trump has made that annoys me is the Cuba thing.

yea lol. in one breath he and his supporters mock the liberals for "wanting to bring the cold war back with russia," and then he brings back another pointless cold war era policy against cuba, thats failed for 60+ years already. good job.
 
lol, it was already dropping, though the steepness of the decline may involve trump. before he even entered office, we had a net negative immigration from central america.



did you not watch fox and breitbart under obama? ohh....you still think its only biased in one direction? its consumer driven. if there are people out there who want to hear that trump is a martian, then a media outlet will seize that opportunity.



its just capitalism, and you consume your own favorite brand. like a pepsi drinker smirking at the coke drinkers. good job.



lol does it now?! been a pretty short list so far. signed 0 major laws. name the most recent first term pres in that situation.



what? how many people have really suggested that we attack russia? they deserve the sanctions theyve had laid on them, which is why trump has not removed them. congress all agreed to sustain them (very quietly i might add). did trump collude with them? who knows....but few dispute that they meddled in some way in our election.



yea lol. in one breath he and his supporters mock the liberals for "wanting to bring the cold war back with russia," and then he brings back another pointless cold war era policy against cuba, thats failed for 60+ years already. good job.

Attacking Russia has been the standard move. We've worked to surround them. Ever since the wall came down the west has pushed and pushed. I hope Trump ends the sanctions.

The rest of you said is typical. "But fox!" "It's just normal capitalism!" I don't care what it is. It's fake. It's dangerous. It's out of control. Trump calls it fake. He's right. Or wait o forgot, Pewdie pie is nazi! LOL
 
That's false.

He's in the 40's. Bush Jr was in the 20's. Nixon was down there too I believe. Try again.
Worth pointing out, he only has the lowest recorded approval rating at this time into office. Still a really awful number. He needs a war to pull out of this.
 
The tax returns are his birth certificate issue. He wants people to keep to demanding them and making up conspiracy theories about them. Then when the time is right, he'll drop them and it will be considered a big win for him.
That's incredibly optimistic and more than a little funny. But we'll see about that one either way.
 
Add it to the list.

And please Donald, tell Mueller all the other places he better not look, that's not suspicious at all!

"Don't you dare start digging where that X is!"
I've started marking posts that have high potential to look back on with major lulz, and this, this is one.
 


"Sessions should have never recused himself, and if he was going to recuse himself, he should have told me before he took the job and I would have picked somebody else," Trump said.

"How do you take a job and then recuse yourself? If he would have recused himself before the job, I would have said 'thanks, Jeff, but I'm not going to take you," he continued. "It's extremely unfair - and that's a mild word - to the president."



Also, goes into Mueller and says he felt Comey was holding dossier over him.


Donald needs to cool down. Sessions is his friend.
 
I've started marking posts that have high potential to look back on with major lulz, and this, this is one.
Here's a very speculative one that may give lulz in time.
I wonder if Manafort's $17 million debt to Russian oligarchs, who are known to be so forgiving to debtors...
I wonder if that's the motivation behind putting the trio in that meeting about nothing that nobody could remember full of forgettable Russians.
 
GOP senators dismayed at Trump's criticism of DOJ officials
Jake Tapper & Eli Watkins said:
Washington (CNN)A group of Republican senators criticized President Donald Trump on Thursday, a day after the President rebuked top law enforcement officials in an interview with The New York Times.

"The attorney general is America's top law enforcement official," one GOP senator said. "It's unclear if he understands that, and that's pretty disturbing."
The senator was referring to Trump's comment in the Times' interview that he would not have hired Attorney General Jeff Sessions had he known Sessions would go on to recuse himself from investigations related to the 2016 campaign. The senator said Trump seemed to be thinking of the law enforcement heads as his personal employees.

"One gets the impression that the President doesn't understand or he willfully disregards the fact that the attorney general and law enforcement in general -- they are not his personal lawyers to defend and protect him," one GOP senator told CNN. "He has (his) own personal lawyers, and of course, the White House has the White House counsel's office."
Trump's blast of Sessions has 'chilling' effect inside West Wing
That Republican senator and two others spoke on background with CNN to avoid prompting a fight with the President. Maine GOP Sen. Susan Collins was the only one of the four to speak on the record in response to Trump's comments about Sessions, acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe and former FBI Director James Comey as well as his venting about the special counsel investigation into Russian attempts to influence the 2016 election.
A second senator vouched for Sessions' integrity and backed Sessions' recusal decision, and a third senator said, "If you're Jeff Sessions, it's gotta be tough to come to work the next day."
Sessions said Thursday that he would stay on the job despite the President's public criticism.

Trump's anger with Sessions in the Times' interview appeared to stem in part from his belief that Sessions' recusal had led to Sessions' deputy, Rod Rosenstein, appointing former FBI Director Robert Mueller to lead a special counsel investigation into any alleged collusion between Trump campaign associates and Russia. In the interview, Trump claimed it would be a "violation" for Mueller to look into his family's finances as part of the investigation into his associates' potential contacts with Russians and left open the possibility of trying to fire Mueller.

The third Republican said he was stunned by Trump's remark on Mueller, although he said "at this point" perhaps it shouldn't surprise him.
"This one seemed to go a little further," the senator said. "Any thought of firing the special counsel is chilling. It's chilling. That's all you can say."
The senator said Trump removing Mueller would cause Congress to put in place its own special investigation "somehow."

Collins said the ramifications for Trump firing Mueller would be huge.

"It would be catastrophic if the President were to fire the special counsel," Collins said.

The first two Republican senators said that, like Trump, they were concerned about the special counsel, but still criticized Trump's comments about potentially drawing a line for Mueller's investigation.
"That's just making the bad situation he's in worse," the first senator said.

The second said, "You've got a special counsel. Let the individual do his work. Don't comment. Don't interfere."
Yeah, turns out they don't like it so much when you keep doing that. As I wrote in another thread, people that Trump has betrayed, alienated, or abandoned at the highest levels; senior advisors, GOP-ranking politicians, Department bureaucrats, and lawmen Trump has already thrown under the bus (plus a few other comrades!):
  • Corey Lewandowski (flip-flopped again!)
  • Paul Manafort
  • Doug Christie
  • Mike Flynn
  • James Comey
  • All of his own intelligence agencies, but the big four in particular (FBI, NSA, CIA, Office of the Director of National Intelligence)
  • Rod Rosenstein
  • Reince Preibus
  • Paul Ryan
  • Sean Spicer
  • Mitch McConnell
  • All of the GOP Senators
  • Julian Assange
  • Jeff Sessions
  • Robert Mueller
  • Vladimir Putin -- Donny just can't quit you!
He has flirted with double-crossing Bannon several times, at one point allowing a headline cycle unchallenged where Bannon was marginalized in the administration by the more gifted political operator in Kushner, and perhaps that's why Bannon chose not to push back harder against these latest developments in the Russian saga. That's the sort of environment that leadership like that begets: infighting and scheming. It's pure dark side politics; let the strongest and most evil adviser rise.

George Will, Charles Krauthammer, Joe Scarborough, Sam Shepard, and Chris Wallace all are examples of Republicans who have abandoned him and what he has made of the Republican party. Is it really surprising?:
OPINION | GOP must force Trump to stop acting like Putin's lapdog
Brian Klaas said:
Have you heard the one about the Kremlin-connected lawyer, the suspected money launderer and the ex-Russian intelligence officer walking into Trump Tower? Ah yes, Donald Trump Jr., replies: “I love it!”

President Trump may or may not be compromised in some form by the Russian government. Despite many salacious allegations, we don’t yet have all the facts. But Trump is behaving like someone who is squirming under the heel of Putin’s boot — and that is serious cause for concern for America’s national security.

In six months, Trump has repeatedly acted as an apologist for Putin — a murderous despot who conducted a cyberattack against American democracy. Trump divulged top-secret intelligence to Russians that he invited into the Oval Office. He reportedly tried to lift sanctions on Russia shortly after taking office. Now, the White House is trying to water down a bill that (rightly) locks those sanctions in place.

Trump proposed forming a cybersecurity task force with the world’s chief architects of cyberattacks. Trump’s State Department is reportedly now considering closing its only office that deals with cybersecurity, inviting further attacks ahead of the 2018 election.

After meeting with Putin face-to-face at the G-20 summit, Trump suggested that we just “move forward,” not even giving a slap on the wrist for a major foreign policy crime. Then, Trump met with Putin again in an undisclosed one-on-one meeting at a dinner — without any other Americans present.

The White House is now considering returning spy havens on U.S. soil to the Russian government, seemingly rewarding them for their election meddling.

In foreign affairs, Trump praises Putin uncritically while simultaneously slamming key European allies. He has splintered NATO and driven a wedge between America and its transatlantic partners — the Kremlin’s chief foreign policy goal for decades.

In short, Trump is acting an awful lot like someone who is beholden to the Russian government, because he is making Vladimir Putin’s wildest dreams come true. The big question, of course, is why?

When Trump’s own son wrote, “I love it,” in response to the promise of “high-level, sensitive” dirt on Hillary Clinton as “part of Russia and its government's support for Mr. Trump,” he blew up claims that the Russia scandal was a “hoax,” a partisan “witch hunt,” or “fake news.” There is now clear evidence: The top brass of the Trump campaign sought to collude with Russia’s government, the chief foreign state adversary of the United States, in order to win an election. In terms of intent to collude (and possibly conspiracy), Trump Jr.’s e-mail chain is the smoking gun.

Now, we don’t yet know whether Trump was aware of the email or that meeting. But we need to find out — fast. Anyone who had even the slightest whiff of that meeting and failed to report it to the FBI should not be president. What's more, if Trump was aware of the meeting, and the Russians know he was aware, he is vulnerable to blackmail from a foreign power — a disqualifying trait for a commander-in-chief.

Yet, over the last two weeks, the official narrative from the White House shifted faster than Jared Kushner’s security clearance form.

For 13 months, Trump and his surrogates called the suggestion of collusion “disgusting,” “a hoax,” “fake news,” “inaccurate and false” and “dangerous.” Implicit in all those aggressive denials is the acceptance of a simple truth: Colluding with a foreign adversary to win an election would be a major, horrifying, disqualifying scandal. After all, if collusion was normal and proper, why would the accusation of doing it be “disgusting” or “dangerous?”

Then, with Fox News leading the charge, the White House began to brace itself for revelations that Trump’s team had tried to collude. The narrative shifted to: “Collusion isn’t illegal,” (though it likely is).

Finally, after the New York Times caught Trump Jr. in “lie after lie after lie” about the meeting, he grudgingly released the full damning email correspondence. Suddenly, the “disgusting” hoax morphed into, “That’s politics!

However, due to extreme partisan tribalism and the absurd lengths that Trump’s base will go to defend the indefensible, the revelation of the meeting hasn’t crippled Trump the way it should. That’s because we’re still mistakenly giving the benefit of the doubt to a group of people who have repeatedly lied and deceived the American people — until they are caught red-handed.

At every turn, we have been asked to disregard all other facts that suggest a conspiracy or a cover-up and instead, take each fresh piece of evidence in isolation. Moreover, the Trump administration expects us to accept the rosiest possible explanation of every single new revelation — even when it’s grossly implausible.

We’re supposed to believe that Donald Trump had no idea about a high-level meeting in Trump Tower — while he was in the tower — that his campaign chairman, son-in-law and son attended.

We’re supposed to believe that it was a coincidence that Trump promised a major press conference detailing fresh dirt on Clinton, including accusations related to Russia, just over three hours after the meeting was confirmed.

We’re supposed to believe that nothing improper came from a meeting that promised “high-level, sensitive” dirt on Hillary Clinton and that it was just a quick, harmless chat about adoptions.

We’re supposed to believe it was coincidence that Trump began speaking about Clinton’s 33,000 deleted e-mails the same day as the meeting.

We’re supposed to believe it was coincidence that the Russian hackers’ pseudonym, Guccifer 2.0, started posting hacked DNC materials just six days after the meeting.

Finally, we’re supposed to believe that all of these stunning coincidences are completely unrelated to the shifting denials, the amended security clearance forms, the attempts to open a secret backchannel to Moscow and President Trump’s wholesale embrace of Vladimir Putin’s foreign policy goals.

Of course, it could be that the Trump team is just breathtakingly stupid and has allowed itself to become victim of the largest series of coincidences in political history. But that’s highly unlikely and extremely implausible.

As Trump limps forward, unable to shake the Russia scandal, Republicans must join Democrats in pressing for faster answers. If Trump is innocent of the most damning accusations, then it would be in their interest to clear his name. In the meantime, though, Republicans should press him to stop behaving like Putin’s lapdog — and pass laws like the pending sanctions bill that limit his wiggle room.

Until then, though, if you sent an email to Vladimir Putin itemizing all the goals of Russian foreign policy that Trump has already delivered, his reply would be simple: “I love it.”
It shouldn't be a surprise that Republicans are coming to grips with what a stunted, hollow, short-term victory they will share if they stay saddled to Trump plummeting comet:
GOP fears Trump will take the Republican Party down with him
Washington Examiner said:
Republicans in Congress fear President Trump could torpedo their majorities if he doesn't save his White House from constant crisis and pivot to the issues voters elected him to deal with.

Trump has been besieged by his handling of the firing of James Comey, reports he had previously pressured the FBI director to drop the investigation of national security adviser Mike Flynn, and the discovery that he shared classified information with Russian officials in an Oval Office meeting.

Republicans have grown accustomed to Trump's tumult, tending to downplay it because the president has weathered past challenges that might have sunk conventional politicians. But this is different, lawmakers and GOP strategists conceded Tuesday, in interviews with the Washington Examiner.

"You have this White House that is lurching from crisis to crisis, the image is of disarray – they can't get their hands around the basic day-to-day agenda, and define the progress they have made" Republican pollster David Winston said. "One of the things that the president has is the bully pulpit; the bully pulpit lets you drive the agenda and these crises haven't let the White House effectively get there."

"This is concerning and alarming," Rep. Charlie Dent, R-Pa., said flatly. "We're going to have to confront these issues as a Congress."

Republicans see red flags because foreign policy and national security are at the center of the crises that have engulfed Trump over the past seven days.

Concerns about Trump's fitness to serve as commander-in-chief has been a weak spot with independents and GOP voters outside of his loyal base. These voters form the backbone of the coalition that elected the president and Republican majorities in the House and Senate in November.

They had long ago resigned themselves to the constant tweeting and other uncomfortable aspects of Trump's unusual style.

But a belief that he is not competent to conduct foreign policy as fallout especially from his sharing classified intelligence with the Russians, could sunder the party's electoral coalition heading into 2018.

That could cost Senate Republicans an opportunity to profit from a favorable map and pick up seats. House Republicans, who are protecting a 24-seat majority and defending 23 seats that Hillary Clinton won in November, could find themselves in even worse shape.

"The last couple weeks have left a mark," a GOP consultant said, requesting anonymity in order to speak candidly. "The risks of going down the present path include diminished enthusiasm in the base, low fundraising and candidate recruitment problems in down ballot races."

If Republicans on Capitol Hill begin to fear that outcome, they'll abandon Trump, depriving him, and themselves, of the legislative wins they need to give soft Republicans and independents a reason to show up to vote next year — and vote GOP.

Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn of Texas said that Republicans are going to have to fight through White House "distractions" and deliver a legislative agenda. The former chairman of the Senate Republican campaign arm, the NRSC, acknowledged the difficulty Trump is creating for his party.

"It's challenging; it's challenging," he said. "We need to be productive."

Trump's job approval in the RealClearPolitics average stood at 40.7 percent, dangerous territory for House and Senate Republicans if the president can't bring his chaotic White House under control.

Democrats hold a 46.2 percent to 39.5 percent lead over Republicans in the generic congressional ballot. Combined with Trump's crisis-a-minute leadership, numbers like these will encourage liberal fundraising and Democratic recruiting, and could leave Republicans dispirited.

An adviser to a Republican being recruited for a marquee congressional race in 2018 said the president's behavior was concerning. "I'd be a fool if I said it wasn't causing us at least a little heartburn," this individual said. "I mean, seriously, when is this shit going to stop?"

A Republican lobbyist who is actively raising money for the party said the complaints have been piling up from donors. They don't think that the problem is media persecution or Democratic obstruction, they think the problem is the president.

"People are feeling – it's disgust, it's shame, it's you name it, all of the above," the lobbyist said. Asked for examples of the complaints fielded, the lobbyist added: "When is this going to end? How can we recover? These are clowns."
Trump is killing the Republican Party
Joe Scaroborough said:
I did not leave the Republican Party. The Republican Party left its senses. The political movement that once stood athwart history resisting bloated government and military adventurism has been reduced to an amalgam of talk-radio resentments. President Trump’s Republicans have devolved into a party without a cause, dominated by a leader hopelessly ill-informed about the basics of conservatism, U.S. history and the Constitution.

America’s first Republican president reportedly said , “Nearly all men can stand adversity. But if you want to test a man’s character, give him power.” The current Republican president and the party he controls were granted monopoly power over Washington in November and already find themselves spectacularly failing Abraham Lincoln’s character exam.

It would take far more than a single column to detail Trump’s failures in the months following his bleak inaugural address. But the Republican leaders who have subjugated themselves to the White House’s corrupting influence fell short of Lincoln’s standard long before their favorite reality-TV star brought his gaudy circus act to Washington.

When I left Congress in 2001, I praised my party’s successful efforts to balance the budget for the first time in a generation and keep many of the promises that led to our takeover in 1994. I concluded my last speech on the House floor by foolishly predicting that Republicans would balance budgets and champion a restrained foreign policy for as long as they held power.

I would be proved wrong immediately.

As the new century began, Republicans gained control of the federal government. George W. Bush and the GOP Congress responded by turning a $155 billion surplus into a $1 trillion deficit and doubling the national debt, passing a $7 trillion unfunded entitlement program and promoting a foreign policy so utopian it would have made Woodrow Wilson blush. Voters made Nancy Pelosi speaker of the House in 2006 and Barack Obama president in 2008.

After their well-deserved drubbing, Republicans swore that if voters ever entrusted them with running Washington again, they would prove themselves worthy. Trump’s party was given a second chance this year, but it has spent almost every day since then making the majority of Americans regret it.

The GOP president questioned America’s constitutional system of checks and balances. Republican leaders said nothing. He echoed Stalin and Mao by calling the free press “the enemy of the people.” Republican leaders were silent. And as the commander in chief insulted allies while embracing autocratic thugs, Republicans who spent a decade supporting wars of choice remained quiet. Meanwhile, their budget-busting proposals demonstrate a fiscal recklessness very much in line with the Bush years.

Last week’s Russia revelations show just how shamelessly Republican lawmakers will stand by a longtime Democrat who switched parties after the promotion of a racist theory about Barack Obama gave him standing in Lincoln’s once-proud party. Neither Lincoln, William Buckley nor Ronald Reagan would recognize this movement.

It is a dying party that I can no longer defend.

Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Jon Meacham has long predicted that the Republican and Democrats’ 150-year duopoly will end. The signs seem obvious enough. When my Republican Party took control of Congress in 1994, it was the first time the GOP had won the House in a generation. The two parties have been in a state of turmoil ever since.

In 2004, Republican strategist Karl Rove anticipated a majority that would last a generation; two years later, Pelosi became the most liberal House speaker in history. Obama was swept into power by a supposedly unassailable Democratic coalition. In 2010, the tea party tide rolled in. Obama’s reelection returned the momentum to the Democrats, but Republicans won a historic state-level landslide in 2014. Then last fall, Trump demolished both the Republican and Democratic establishments.

Political historians will one day view Donald Trump as a historical anomaly. But the wreckage visited of this man will break the Republican Party into pieces — and lead to the election of independent thinkers no longer tethered to the tired dogmas of the polarized past. When that day mercifully arrives, the two-party duopoly that has strangled American politics for almost two centuries will finally come to an end. And Washington just may begin to work again.
The signs are already showing in the huge deficits versus historic splits in the runoff elections, and in Trump's historically WOAT approval ratings. Yet for now there is still that 25% of hardcore supporters who are satisfied to see the world through the wise eyes of Dominic Toretto: an inch or a mile-- doesn't matter.

Meanwhile, the GOP on Capitol Hill is clearly catching on. Health care is losing more support, not gaining it following its failure. They're in complete disarray, and they know it.
 
Immigration rates are plummeting. He's stopped training terrorists (putting an end to Obama's policy), has brought to light how dangerously biased the media is. That's my personal favorite aspect of Trumps presidency. The media has gone fully glibalist propaganda. Sickening to watch. Its just "opinion" and "bias." Its brute force propaganda for fools.

The list just goes on and on. How about that we aren't needlessly attacking Russia? The only move Trump has made that annoys me is the Cuba thing. Hell his administration has basically attacked Paul Ryan which I love as well.
Do you watch Fox news?
 
Back
Top