Trump Administration - Festering Skidmarks

[LFC]

The "Institute for Good Governance" involved in a plot to overthrow a fair, democratic election? How very Republican.

[goldenvalley]

Is it that this sort of BS happens all the time and we just don't hear about it because it is silly and no one takes it seriouslyor is it that Trump world takes it so seriously that it reaches daylight?

[LFC]

Jun 19, 2021 21:02:39 GMT Bact PhD said:

I wasn’t sure whether to put this beaut here, in the “Assault on…Reality” thread, or the “…Lost Its Mind” thread. Soooo many options…

I admit, I hadn’t heard about this one (paywalled)

And it keeps getting nuttier...

Much of the story still remains a mystery that’s been lost in the haze of the right-wing fever swamps, but TPM was able to identify several people and companies that played key roles in promoting the theory.

Among them is a Florida non-profit called Nations in Action, on whose board conservative lawyer and noted voter fraud alarmist Hans von Spakovsky served. Von Spakovsky told TPM that he resigned from the group two days after the Capitol insurrection, and did not reply to a further inquiry about what he did for Nations in Action. Two companies controlled by a Virginia realtor and onetime Somali hostage negotiator named Michele Ballarin also played key roles in promoting the theory.

It remains unclear how the theory went from Ballarin and Nations in Action to the White House, though the Nations in Action chief said in an emailed statement to TPM that she told Trump about the allegations at Mar-a-Lago on Christmas Eve. Emails released by Congress this week show then-White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows pushing senior DOJ officials to investigate the theory, sending along a YouTube video that elaborated on it as well as an Italian-language letter with a translated copy purporting to back up the allegations.

...and nuttier.

The story of Michele Ballarin, the Virginia realtor and Somali pirate hostage negotiator with ties to MAGAland’s bonkers “ItalyGate” conspiracy theory, just got even more bizarre somehow.

The Washington Post reports that the nearly $30 million mansion in Warrenton, Virginia that Ballarin claims belongs to her, uh, doesn’t.

The property is owned by a company of a deceased financier, David B. Ford, and his widow told the Post that she has no idea who Ballarin is.

“She’s in my house,” the widow said when the Post showed her a video of the realtor giving a televised tour of the 22-bedroom mansion with an Icelandic TV crew in November. “How is she in my house?”

In the interview that accompanied the tour, Ballarin insisted that the property belonged to her even though, as the interviewer pointed out, there aren’t any personal items that would indicate she actually lives there.

“I didn’t take you to every corner,” she told the reporter.

The mansion is still listed for sale as of Monday.

I swear that the GOP, intentionally or otherwise, is like a flame completely lit up NFL stadium for these whackjob moths. Remember that these people aren't just in their own little bunkers someplace. They are gaining access to the highest level of federal and state governments. Amon Bundy can be described as his own man nutjob. These people are a real part of the base.

[LFC]

The GAO reported on Trump's wall building. Let's just say the real figures and Trump's claimed figures don't exactly match as in not even close. (See this face? This is my shocked face.)

Donald Trump's record was again torched Saturday with some new Government Accountability Office (GAO) data showing that his administration fell far short of its claims about how much border wall it built -- and that it fudged the numbers as well.

But as Trump prepares to tour some of the small amount of wall he did build, perhaps just as humiliating was the rough treatment he got from the conservative Washington Times. His home team newspaper greeted its readers Monday with this large, top-of-Page-1 headline reading:

"Trump's claims on construction of border wall system undercut by GAO audit."

The body of the story wasn't any gentler:

"Congress' chief auditor sure knows how to rain on former President Donald Trump's parade.

"As Mr. Trump prepares to make his first post-presidency trip to the border next week, the Government Accountability Office has delivered a scorching report card on his border wall. It calculates that he completed only 69 miles of the wall system he promised Americans — not the more than 450 miles he claimed.

[andydp]

IOKIYAR: Cancel culture and snowflake anyone ?

Trump asked whether the DOJ and the FCC could investigate 'SNL' after it mocked him, report says


President Donald Trump asked advisors and lawyers to look into how "Saturday Night Live" and other late-night shows could be punished after they mocked him, The Daily Beast's Asawin Suebsaeng and Adam Rawnsley reported on Tuesday.

Two sources told the outlet that Trump had asked aides in 2019 to look at what the Federal Communications Commission, US courts, and the Department of Justice could do about "SNL" and other shows, like "Jimmy Kimmel Live."

Trump tweeted in March 2019 that he wanted federal agencies to investigate "SNL."


www.businessinsider.com/trump-asked-if-doj-fcc-could-punish-snl-after-mocking-report-2021-6

Looks like everywhere he looked the "Constitution Thingy" kept getting in the way.

[pnwguy]

Jun 22, 2021 17:14:53 GMT andydp said:

IOKIYAR: Cancel culture and snowflake anyone ?

Trump asked whether the DOJ and the FCC could investigate 'SNL' after it mocked him, report says

I'm sure Dumpster's thoughts were along the lines of "what good is it being king if I can't behead anyone?"

[AnBr]

Jun 22, 2021 17:14:53 GMT andydp said:

IOKIYAR: Cancel culture and snowflake anyone ?

Trump asked whether the DOJ and the FCC could investigate 'SNL' after it mocked him, report says


President Donald Trump asked advisors and lawyers to look into how "Saturday Night Live" and other late-night shows could be punished after they mocked him, The Daily Beast's Asawin Suebsaeng and Adam Rawnsley reported on Tuesday.

Two sources told the outlet that Trump had asked aides in 2019 to look at what the Federal Communications Commission, US courts, and the Department of Justice could do about "SNL" and other shows, like "Jimmy Kimmel Live."

Trump tweeted in March 2019 that he wanted federal agencies to investigate "SNL."


www.businessinsider.com/trump-asked-if-doj-fcc-could-punish-snl-after-mocking-report-2021-6

Looks like everywhere he looked the "Constitution Thingy" kept getting in the way.

[LFC]

In response Trump denies (lies) that he did it and says he should have been allowed to do it. What a man-baby.

Ex-President Donald Trump insisted on Tuesday night that he didn’t ask the Justice Department to go after SNL and late-night comedians for dunking on him.

But, he added, comedians being mean to him should be “illegal.”

“The story that I asked the Department of Justice to go after ratings-challenged (without Trump!) Saturday Night Live, and other late-night Losers, is total Fake News,” Trump fumed in a statement issued through his Save America PAC, adding that Alec Baldwin, who impersonates him on SNL, “has no talent.”

“With all of that being said, however, I do believe that the 100% one-sided shows should be considered an illegal campaign contribution from the Democrat Party,” Trump added.

Anybody want to place a bet that he'd hold Faux News, Newsmax, and OAN to the same standard? Anybody? ANYBODY? Hello? Is this thing on?

[goldenvalley]

Jun 23, 2021 18:42:54 GMT LFC said:

In response Trump denies (lies) that he did it and says he should have been allowed to do it. What a man-baby.

Ex-President Donald Trump insisted on Tuesday night that he didn’t ask the Justice Department to go after SNL and late-night comedians for dunking on him.

But, he added, comedians being mean to him should be “illegal.”

“The story that I asked the Department of Justice to go after ratings-challenged (without Trump!) Saturday Night Live, and other late-night Losers, is total Fake News,” Trump fumed in a statement issued through his Save America PAC, adding that Alec Baldwin, who impersonates him on SNL, “has no talent.”

“With all of that being said, however, I do believe that the 100% one-sided shows should be considered an illegal campaign contribution from the Democrat Party,” Trump added.

Anybody want to place a bet that he'd hold Faux News, Newsmax, and OAN to the same standard? Anybody? ANYBODY? Hello? Is this thing on?

The only consistent behavior to expect from Trump is that he will lash out if his feelings get hurt.  

[Bact PhD]

Rudy’s NY law license gets suspended (paywalled):

www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/rudy-giuliani-law-license-suspended/2021/06/24/037f3f4c-d502-11eb-a53a-3b5450fdca7a_story.html

New York state suspended Rudolph W. Giuliani from practicing law on Thursday, months after the former New York mayor battled to overturn the settled results of the presidential election on behalf of President Donald Trump.


The committee of First Department Appellate Division judges that made the determination said Giuliani is not fit to continue practicing law after he “communicated demonstrably false and misleading statements to courts, lawmakers and the public at large in his capacity as lawyer for [Trump] and the Trump campaign in connection with Trump’s failed effort at reelection in 2020.” The panel issued a 33-page opinion on the matter.

[pnwguy]

Jun 24, 2021 16:51:23 GMT Bact PhD said:

Rudy’s NY law license gets suspended (paywalled):

It goes along with his intelligence being suspended years ago.

[goldenvalley]

Some inside stuff about William Barr in his final days with the Trump Administration.  As always with the crew around Trump they wait until maximum damage is done and then come out to say "here's really what happened." It's all too late now so I can only surmise that the damage was just fine with them even if they were a little uncomfortable about it in retrospect.

Barr told me that Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell had been urging him to speak out since mid-November. Publicly, McConnell had said nothing to criticize Trump’s allegations, but he told Barr that Trump’s claims were damaging to the country and to the Republican Party. Trump’s refusal to concede was complicating McConnell’s efforts to ensure that the GOP won the two runoff elections in Georgia scheduled for January 5.

To McConnell, the road to maintaining control of the Senate was simple: Republicans needed to make the argument that with Biden soon to be in the White House, it was crucial that they have a majority in the Senate to check his power. But McConnell also believed that if he openly declared Biden the winner, Trump would be enraged and likely act to sabotage the Republican Senate campaigns in Georgia. Barr related his conversations with McConnell to me. McConnell confirms the account.

“Look, we need the president in Georgia,” McConnell told Barr, “and so we cannot be frontally attacking him right now. But you’re in a better position to inject some reality into this situation. You are really the only one who can do it.”

“I understand that,” Barr said. “And I’m going to do it at the appropriate time.”

On another call, McConnell again pleaded with Barr to come out and shoot down the talk of widespread fraud.

“Bill, I look around, and you are the only person who can do it,” McConnell told him.

Levi, the Justice Department chief of staff, had also been urging Barr to contradict Trump’s assertions. But Barr had said nothing publicly to indicate that he disagreed with the president about the election. In fact, the week after the election, he gave prosecutors the green light to investigate “substantial allegations” of vote irregularities that “could potentially impact the outcome” of the election. The move overturned long-standing policy that the Justice Department does not investigate voter fraud until after an election is certified. The theory behind the policy is that the department’s responsibility is to prosecute crimes, not to get involved in election disputes. Barr’s reversal of the policy was interpreted by some as a sign that he might use the department to help Trump overturn the election.

Note McConnell in this quote and note that Trump kept up with the election stolen thing so that what McConnell feared would happen in Georgia happened anyway. Two Democrats won the two Senate seats while Trump's people continued to complain about fraud in Georgia.  

[LFC]

Moscow Mitch once again proved himself one of the greatest enemies of American democracy in our nation's history. Power, power, power is all he cares about. He sees a senior position for himself in the Fascist States of America and he's spent most of his political career pushing for it.

[goldenvalley]

I'm more focused on the fact that Barr ordered some sort of investigation even though 1) it was against long standing policy that said no election is examined until after it's been certified and 2) he didn't believe there was anything to the claims.   Once again he does what was in service of his own or Trump's agenda...those claims that he is an institutionalist are just not correct.  These subtle things are as important as the Big Lie because they show corruption and erode public trust in anyone who holds the office of Atty Gen.

As too McConnell...we all knew he'd do whatever he could to maintain power.

[LFC]

This amused me.

White House staffers sought second-floor offices because Trump hated climbing stairs

[Deleted]

I don't suppose chair lift makes big enough chairs for Trumpian derriere.

[LFC]

Mnuchin continues to suck up tax dollars like a tick.

Former Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin is no longer a government employee. But he’s still under the watchful eye of the Secret Service, thanks to ex-boss Donald Trump’s unexpected decision to grant six extra months of protection beyond the end of his term to 13 family members and at least three appointees, including Mnuchin. But that full-time security comes with a price, and taxpayers are the ones footing the bill. After springtime jaunts to Jerusalem and Doha that cost Americans about $60,000 in hotel bills alone for Mnuchin’s Secret Service detail, the erstwhile Trump cabinet member returned to Doha for another trip during his final weeks as a Secret Service protectee and once again stayed at the St. Regis—with his detail’s hotel charges running at least $13,000, according to federal spending data reviewed by The Daily Beast. (The figures do not include salaries, transportation costs, overtime, and so on.)

Mnuchin, a multimillionaire financier, is in the process of launching an investment fund focused on the Persian Gulf region; Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund is considering partnering with the former U.S. Treasury chief, according to sources cited by Axios.

“t any point in time, any of these individuals can decline protection,” retired Secret Service agent Don Mihalek told ABC News in January. In the first month after Trump left office, his adult children cost taxpayers some $140,000 in Secret Service travel expenditures, according to D.C. watchdog nonprofit Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington.

[goldenvalley]

Jun 30, 2021 17:48:35 GMT LFC said:

Mnuchin continues to suck up tax dollars like a tick.

Former Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin is no longer a government employee. But he’s still under the watchful eye of the Secret Service, thanks to ex-boss Donald Trump’s unexpected decision to grant six extra months of protection beyond the end of his term to 13 family members and at least three appointees, including Mnuchin. But that full-time security comes with a price, and taxpayers are the ones footing the bill. After springtime jaunts to Jerusalem and Doha that cost Americans about $60,000 in hotel bills alone for Mnuchin’s Secret Service detail, the erstwhile Trump cabinet member returned to Doha for another trip during his final weeks as a Secret Service protectee and once again stayed at the St. Regis—with his detail’s hotel charges running at least $13,000, according to federal spending data reviewed by The Daily Beast. (The figures do not include salaries, transportation costs, overtime, and so on.)

Mnuchin, a multimillionaire financier, is in the process of launching an investment fund focused on the Persian Gulf region; Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund is considering partnering with the former U.S. Treasury chief, according to sources cited by Axios.

“t any point in time, any of these individuals can decline protection,” retired Secret Service agent Don Mihalek told ABC News in January. In the first month after Trump left office, his adult children cost taxpayers some $140,000 in Secret Service travel expenditures, according to D.C. watchdog nonprofit Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington.

These rich dudes get away with everything.  

[pnwguy]

Jul 1, 2021 0:18:44 GMT goldenvalley said:

Jun 30, 2021 17:48:35 GMT LFC said:

Mnuchin continues to suck up tax dollars like a tick.

These rich dudes get away with everything.  

Wealth is the demonstration of God's blessings to the righteous.  Any government that tries to limit wealth is against God's holy order.

[LFC]

Rudy has now lost his law license, is named in two suits by Dominion, is under federal investigation, and has turned himself into such a complete and total joke that even the MAGAts don't seem to be interested in him. At least he's got his big fat paycheck for representing Trump in his fight to steal the election. What? Oh. Never mind.

Former President Trump has reportedly cut ties with his former personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani, and has been annoyed with Giuliani’s requests for financial compensation in his efforts to overturn the election results.

An excerpt of “Landslide: The Final Days of the Trump Presidency” by Michael Wolff published in The Times of London on Monday documents Trump’s frustration over his fruitless attempts to challenge his loss to Joe Biden after the 2020 presidential election.

The excerpt adds to Giuliani’s reportedly unsuccessful attempts at getting paid for legal work amid Trump’s refusal to concede and falsehoods of a stolen election.

“Trump is annoyed that he tried to get paid for his election challenge work,” Wolff wrote, according to The Times.

Giuliani reportedly has “gotten only the cold shoulder” when asking Trump for payment, and has been “cast out, cut off” by Trump’s family.

[goldenvalley]

Jul 6, 2021 14:13:27 GMT LFC said:

Rudy has now lost his law license, is named in two suits by Dominion, is under federal investigation, and has turned himself into such a complete and total joke that even the MAGAts don't seem to be interested in him. At least he's got his big fat paycheck for representing Trump in his fight to steal the election. What? Oh. Never mind.

I didn't have to be Michael Wolff to figure out that Rudy would not be paid for unsuccessful attempts to overturn the election, especially after the video of the brown gunk streaking down his face at the press conference in November. 

[LFC]

Jul 6, 2021 15:22:56 GMT goldenvalley said:

[I didn't have to be Michael Wolff to figure out that Rudy would not be paid for unsuccessful attempts to overturn the election, especially after the video of the brown gunk streaking down his face at the press conference in November. 

How can you say that after Rudy's incredible presentation at the Four Seasons Total Landscaping?

[Deleted]

Is Giuliani going to sue Trump over unsettled bills? Please, please, oh please Rudy don't let $20k/day slip through your fingers.

[LFC]

If I were a better man I wouldn't feel so much schadenfreude but f*** it, this is just so yummy. Rudy waged war on American democracy and now he's reaping what he sowed. Bold mine.

After raising a paltry sum of money from supporters and attracting little interest from former President Donald Trump, a web page created to fundraise for Rudy Giuliani’s legal defense fund has vanished.

According to a cached version of that webpage, the sluggish fundraising vehicle was taken offline at some point between Wednesday morning and Thursday. As of early Thursday evening, the “Rudy Giuliani Legal Defense Fund” page had yet to return.

Bernie Kerik, another Trump loyalist and a close Giuliani associate who is spearheading the former New York mayor’s fundraising efforts, did not immediately respond to questions from The Daily Beast. On Thursday evening, Giuliani’s lawyer Robert Costello said he had “no knowledge” on the matter.

The Fundly account, established in Rudy’s name a day before Kerik launched a website for the legal defense fund in late June, raised $9,798 before the page disappeared—far short from its goal of raising $5 million in two months. While the landing page for the Fundly account is gone, the Giuliani account still shows it’s in possession of its nearly $10,000 donor haul, with the website inconspicuously archiving donor names and amounts given. But links to the legal defense fund page they gave to now automatically redirect to Fundly’s general landing page for “politics and public policy” causes. In addition to the now-MIA Fundly page, portals at credit card processors Square and Rallypay are also advertising donations for the Giuliani fund.

[Deleted]

There are only 24 hours in a day. There are only so many grifts one can execute without dropping the facade. One has to choose between grifts. It pays to make the hard decisions. Even the pet ones sometimes have to go. Opportunity cost is too damn high.Fail fast is today's management mantra, you see.