May 22, 2018

So Trump's Lawyer's Lawyer Michael Cohen is (Was) Also a Foreign Agent for Qatar. Really.

This is perhaps my favorite bizarre nugget of information of the last 24 hours – and there are many. President Trump’s lawyer’s lawyer is a foreign agent for the government of Qatar. Or at least he was last year when a lot of the shenanigans we’re discussing were happening.

To be clear, here’s the chain of nonsense: Donald J. Trump is (or was?) represented by Michael Cohen. Cohen, in his current maze of allegedly criminal activities which are being investigated by the US Attorney’s Office in New York, is represented by Stephen Ryan. Ryan has also represented him in his testimonies to Congress and with the Special Counsel’s office.

Last year, Ryan and a colleague at his law firm registered with FARA to represent Qatar in “establishing and conducting liaison with executive branch officials and members of Congress” for $40,000 a month. The agreement is dated about three weeks after the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia led a regional blockade/boycott against Qatar. The representation apparently ended two months later.

Cohen repeatedly tried to sign Qatar up as a client and later represented a man with an unfinished nuclear power plant who was trying to get Qatar to invest.


https://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/trumps-lawyers-lawyer-is-was-a-foreign-agent-for-qatar
https://www.wsj.com/articles/michael-cohen-helped-trump-donor-seek-investment-from-qatar-fund-1526939401

May 22, 2018

"I want to demean/discredit you-so when you do negative stories about me-no one will believe you"

Lesley Stahl asked Trump in semi-private meeting why he’s always attacking the press. His answer: “I want to demean you and discredit you so that when you do negative stories about me, no one will believe you.”




https://twitter.com/vanessagezari/status/998733039642529792
https://twitter.com/maggieNYT/status/998978083066646534


UPDATED TO ADD VIDEO LINK:
https://twitter.com/RVAwonk/status/999008608938614784

May 22, 2018

Trump says planned Singapore summit with NK's Kim Jong Un "may not work out for June 12"

Trump says the planned Singapore summit with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un “may not work out for June 12” and is suggesting it could be delayed.




https://apnews.com/e4a86d8b51b1405f8c77db7f3510336c?utm_source=Twitter&utm_campaign=SocialFlow&utm_medium=AP

May 22, 2018

"I hereby demand"

May 22, 2018

WH Statement re: mtg with Rosenstein, Coats & Wray is troubling

JUST IN: White House releases statement on President Trump's meeting with Deputy AG Rosenstein, Director of National Intelligence Coats and FBI Director Wray.





https://twitter.com/NBCNews/status/998664044247740417


RepAdamSchiff

This statement raises two serious concerns:

First, if these are same materials DOJ warned could risk lives and investigations, why share them now?

Second, is Kelly attending? The President must not abuse his power to obtain investigatory materials for his legal defense team.

https://twitter.com/RepAdamSchiff/status/998709328126316545

May 21, 2018

Adam Schiff: If President is charged with a crime, he has a right to see the evidence. Not before.

@RepAdamSchiff
Giuliani removes all doubt – the White House effort to force DOJ to give investigatory materials to Congress is really about the defense team getting their hands on them. If the President is charged with a crime, he has a right to see the evidence. Not before.

https://twitter.com/RepAdamSchiff/status/998666438364860418

May 21, 2018

Mike Luckovich: What I learned in school.

May 21, 2018

"Nobody would even waste cup of coffee on him if it wasn't for who he is married to."

George Nader on Jared Kushner: “You have to hear in private my Brother what Principals think of ‘Clown prince’s’ efforts and his plan!” Nader wrote. “Nobody would even waste cup of coffee on him if it wasn’t for who he is married to.”


............



A SPIRAL OF MISFORTUNE

It was time for Broidy to visit the UAE and nail down his first contract. He and Nader had already discussed sharing the profits and begun setting up a UAE subsidiary of Circinus, Broidy’s company.

In late November, Broidy planned a visit to complete the contracts in the UAE, where MBZ was hosting a Formula One auto race.

But maybe that was too public.

“I think my friend not very wise for you to be seeing (sic) at this event,” Nader wrote to Broidy. “Many journalists and people from Russia and other countries will be around.”

Broidy met Trump once again on Dec. 2. He reported back to Nader that he’d told Trump the crown princes were “most favorably impressed by his leadership.” He offered the crown princes’ help in the Middle East peace plan being developed by Jared Kushner. He did not tell Trump that his partner had complete contempt for the plan — and for the president’s son-in-law.

“You have to hear in private my Brother what Principals think of ‘Clown prince’s’ efforts and his plan!” Nader wrote. “Nobody would even waste cup of coffee on him if it wasn’t for who he is married to.”


Lots more HERE:
https://apnews.com/a3521859cf8d4c199cb9a8567abd2b71
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/the-princes-the-president-and-the-fortune-seekers

May 21, 2018

Trump "resembles a suspect at a crime scene screaming at the police not to go into the attic."

And now that attic is looking awfully interesting.”

Why Is Trump Freaking Out Now?
May 21, 2018 at 12:10 pm

Jonathan Chait: “This weekend, the New York Times revealed that, in August 2016, Donald Trump Jr. met in Trump Tower with representatives of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, who offered campaign help… The deeper question is how closely related the Gulf story is to the heart of the Russia question. Was it just another one of Donald Jr.’s legal misadventures? Or did Nader, Prince, and the Gulf States play a central role in facilitating a corrupt deal with Russia?”

“Trump’s furious lashing out, including his reckless escalation of a crisis with the Department of Justice this weekend, provides interesting clues. Trump has no poker face, no chill. The closer the investigators get to incriminating evidence, the more intensely he rages. He resembles a suspect at a crime scene screaming at the police not to go into the attic. And now that attic is looking awfully interesting.”

First Read: “Don’t get distracted — that reporting of a second Trump Tower meeting in 2016 was the biggest news from the weekend.”


https://politicalwire.com/2018/05/21/why-is-trump-freaking-out-about-the-gulf-meeting/

May 21, 2018

"I wouldn't trust his silly ass to pour piss out of a boot if instructions were written on the heel"

At 91, John Dingell doesn't get around the way he used to, so he's letting his fingers do the walking — and the talking.

The legendary Michigan congressman has turned himself into the self-styled "dean of Twitter," tapping tart tweets for 239,000 followers.

One thing hasn't changed: Just as he did during his record-setting 30-term run in the House of Representatives, Dingell speaks his mind.

"When something needs to be said," the gravelly-voiced Dingell declared in an interview from his home in Dearborn, Mich., "I say it."

In his book, "The Dean: The Best Seat in the House, from FDR to Obama," slated to come out in early July, Dingell will spin tales of his more than 59 years on Capitol Hill. He's also sounding the alarm about the Trump administration's handling of energy and environmental issues.


...............



If you look at what Trump has done, Trump has not filled hardly a job. The end result is you have this huge array of empty jobs in every area of government, I don't care if it's law enforcement or environment or Food and Drug [Administration] or NEPA or the handling of the different problems that they've got on immigration or whatever it might happen to be.

Let's talk about climate change.

Nobody understands how the hell this is going to be addressed. This is one of the most complex scientific problems that we've got in the world. It covers every nation, it covers the oceans, it covers the land masses, it covers different kinds of economies and nations, and everybody's trying to deal with it, but nobody knows exactly what in the hell they have to do to make the situation come to a head and get it done to the point where there's a decision.

You've said the Clean Air Act was not intended to regulate greenhouse gases. Do you still believe that?

It was not the intention of the Congress to have greenhouse gases be regulated by the Clean Air Act. Republicans and Democrats and everybody in the Congress was of clear decision that it could not be used to regulate, the Clean Air Act. It will have a huge impact on clean air, and that's very, very important because you reduce CO2 or methane or any of these other things other than things that are the product of global warming. The courts came up with some crazy idea that it did cover these substances as pollutants when in fact they're not.

Is there a policy solution for tackling climate change?

First of all, we haven't got a policy. Second of all, we don't know what we all have to do. Third of all, developing countries all want to develop the lands so they can have the good things you and I have got.

If you had been chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee in 2008, would we have cap and trade?

Well, cap and trade was a suggestion. I got to say cap and trade was not done in a way or a fashion which enabled it to be enacted into law. The Congress tries occasionally to write legislation that protects the country against sloppily written legislation.

And now we no longer have regular order, we no longer have the committee system, and you've got guys like Trump coming who know nothing about anything. He knows more about making a shoe than he does about writing a tax law. But he's writing tax laws. I wouldn't trust his silly ass to pour piss out of a boot if the instructions were written on the heel.




the rest:
https://www.eenews.net/stories/1060082125?mkt_tok=eyJpIjoiWkRSaE9EaG1NekZtTTJObCIsInQiOiJrekR2KzVVY09pOEFjZFljNXpmMmNXZzZud3EydlNoNEpkaVNtMFJBRXNcL3pNWXVzbnBTbDBHS21OVEVjSGw4bjJvZ0R6Vk1cL3RKNlwvNndJelVIMmZ1Y3dIQXVuVEREYjRqTk1tS3k1WFhuXC80cm9oWW9ZdkpsUkF1TXF0MWo4czUifQ%3D%3D