4590 replies to this topic

[pnwguy]

LFC, on 25 January 2021 - 02:51 PM, said:

More like National Enema.

Except the colon remains blocked and the discharge was vomited out instead. There seems to be 74 million obstructions in the bowel that will ensure the disease remains virulent for some time.

[LFC]

pnwguy, on 25 January 2021 - 03:56 PM, said:

There seems to be 74 million obstructions in the bowel that will ensure the disease remains virulent for some time.

Shall we refer to them as Parler Polyps?

[LFC]

The Pentagon has blocked some of Trump's last-minute appointees. Good. Let's hope they all just slink away.

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The Pentagon has suspended the processing of a number of former President Donald Trump’s last-minute appointees to defense advisory boards as the new administration looks to weed out loyalists to the former president.

The move effectively prevents a number of Trump allies, including his 2016 campaign manager Corey Lewandoski and deputy campaign manager David Bossie, from actually serving on panels tasked with providing advice to the defense secretary, at least for the time being.

The news came in an email to advisory board members on Wednesday. The message was obtained by POLITICO and confirmed by two people familiar with the discussions.

The effort is aimed at scrubbing the members of the advisory boards “to determine if appointments were politically motivated vice professionally made,” said one of the people.

The freeze announced on Wednesday pertains only to appointees who have not yet been sworn in or have completed all the required paperwork, the people said. Several new board members, including Earl Matthews and Anthony Tata, were sworn in on Jan. 19 after pressure from the White House to push through as many appointees as possible before President Joe Biden’s inauguration. But others, including Lewandowski and Bossie, were still undergoing a lengthy financial disclosure and security clearance process that normally takes weeks or months, according to the people familiar.

It was not immediately clear whether the Pentagon planned to take any action against those who have been onboarded, but the Biden team is looking into whether it can replace dozens of Trump’s last-minute appointments to boards and commissions across the U.S. government.

[LFC]

Rudy is all on his own. Trump doesn't like losers and Rudy failed at nearly everything he tried to do for Dear Leader. Unless it's a payoff to keep his mouth shut and take a fall he can't expect any money for his defense in any upcoming legal matters. I'm just waiting for him to get angry and desperate enough to sue Trump for legal fees while working to overthrow the elections. He better have an airtight contract. I seriously doubt he does.

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Rudy Giuliani is “not currently representing” former President Trump “in any legal matters,” senior Trump adviser Jason Miller told CNN and Reuters on Tuesday.

Trump’s dumping of the former New York City mayor, who emerged as the talking head of Trump’s unsuccessful attempt at overturning the presidential election results, comes on the heels of the former president signaling his frustration with his longtime ally following the House’s vote last month to impeach Trump for the second time.

A person familiar with the matter previously told CNN that Trump instructed his staff to stop paying Giuliani’s legal fees. CNN noted that aides were unclear if the former president was serious about his request to financially cut off Giuliani.

Fresh off of the Senate voting to acquit him for inciting the mob behind the deadly Capitol insurrection last month, Trump’s decision to cut ties with Giuliani on legal matters comes amid the former president and his now-former personal lawyer facing a slew of legal battles.

Earlier Tuesday, Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS) filed a civil lawsuit alleging Trump and Giuliani violated an anti-KKK law in conspiring to incite the Capitol insurrection.

Last week, Georgia officials launched two investigations into Trump over his attempts to bully election officials into overturning the battleground state’s election results.

Additionally, Trump faces a criminal investigation in New York, with the Manhattan district attorney’s office is proving whether the Trump Organization violated state laws.

[golden_valley]

LFC, on 17 February 2021 - 10:19 AM, said:

Rudy is all on his own. Trump doesn't like losers and Rudy failed at nearly everything he tried to do for Dear Leader. Unless it's a payoff to keep his mouth shut and take a fall he can't expect any money for his defense in any upcoming legal matters. I'm just waiting for him to get angry and desperate enough to sue Trump for legal fees while working to overthrow the elections. He better have an airtight contract. I seriously doubt he does.

Trump's making a bad move. Trump didn't do any pardoning of him that we know of. Not paying Rudy might drive Rudy into cooperating with investigations into Trump activities. He'll cut a deal and spill everything he knows or thinks he knows.

[LFC]

golden_valley, on 17 February 2021 - 11:34 AM, said:

Trump's making a bad move. Trump didn't do any pardoning of him that we know of. Not paying Rudy might drive Rudy into cooperating with investigations into Trump activities. He'll cut a deal and spill everything he knows or thinks he knows.

From your lips to a prosecutor's ears.

[LFC]

I wondered how Steve Mnuchin was going to cash in on his stint with Trump. Now we know.

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Former Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin is reportedly launching a new investment fund that is expected to be partially backed by reserves in the Persian Gulf region.

The Washington Post reported the plans Tuesday, citing two people familiar with the project.

The sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the private planning, added that the former Trump administration official had begun hiring for the Washington-based investment fund, which they added will be centered around financial technology, entertainment and other potential sectors.

The report comes after Mnuchin in his final weeks in office organized a round of trips in the Middle East and North Africa, with visits to Sudan, Egypt, Israel, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Saudi Arabia and Qatar.

Mnuchin also planned to visit Kuwait, but cut his trip short amid the aftermath of the deadly Jan. 6 Capitol riot.

According to the Sovereign Wealth Fund Institute, which analyzes public asset owners, the UAE, Kuwait, Qatar and Saudi Arabia control some of the region’s largest investment funds.

The Post reported that Mnuchin did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The reported move by Mnuchin, who previously worked as a Goldman Sachs banker and hedge fund manager prior to joining the Trump administration in 2017, has prompted questions from some on the ties between former Trump officials and private businesses.

Noah Bookbinder, president of nonprofit watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, told the Post, “The fact that there were policies that were favorable to countries that now might benefit him in a business matter is troubling, and does raise questions about whether even the prospect of future business interests might have impacted decision-making, even if there were no specific plans in place.”

Trump throughout his presidency adopted policies toward Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries that were largely viewed as transactional, including promoting arms sales and aligning himself with the nations to counter the influence of Iran in the region.

Mnuchin himself traveled to the region in October with a delegation to expand the commercial ties after the signing of the Abraham Accords by Bahrain, Israel and the UAE. During that time, Mnuchin joined officials on the first direct commercial flight from Israel to Bahrain.

[golden_valley]

LFC, on 26 February 2021 - 12:27 PM, said:

I wondered how Steve Mnuchin was going to cash in on his stint with Trump. Now we know.

I wonder if Jared somehow gets of piece of that action...a finders fee or something.

[LFC]

Just another data point about the shitbags in Trump's orbit.

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The Defense department’s inspector general found in a soon-to-be-released report that Rep. Ronny Jackson (R-TX) verbally abused his staffers, became intoxicated during trips with the President, and sexually harassed his female subordinates while serving as White House physician under the Obama and Trump administrations, CNN reports.

The inspector general’s report, which will be publicly released on Wednesday, describes several instances of Jackson allegedly consuming alcohol while on duty during presidential trips, according to CNN. A witness reportedly told investigators that in one of those instances, he saw the doctor “pounding” on a female subordinate’s hotel door, then telling her “I need you” and “I need you to come to my room” when she opened it.

The episode reportedly marked one of several moments in which Jackson harassed a female staffer or made comments about her body; the report alleges that the doctor told a female subordinate that he would “like to see more of her tattoos” and that he commented to a male staffer that another female subordinate had “great tits” and “a nice ass.”

Investigators also reportedly found that Jackson frequently hurled abuse at his employees, saying in the report that a jaw-dropping 56 witness “told us they personally experienced, saw, or heard about him yelling, screaming, cursing, or belittling subordinates.”

Many of those witnesses called Jackson a “tyrant” and a “dictator” while using words like “meltdowns,” “rages” and “tantrums” to describe his behavior in the workplace, the report says, according to CNN.

[LFC]

I suspect stories of corruption will just keep oozing out of what was the Trump administration. Here's another one who burned through taxpayer dollars. This dirtbag spent millions that weren't his to spend on legal fees to investigate employees of the VOA he didn't like.

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Last summer, an appointee of former President Donald Trump was irate because he could not simply fire top executives who had warned him that some of his plans might be illegal.

Michael Pack, who was CEO of the U.S. Agency for Global Media that oversees Voice of America, in August suspended those top executives. He also immediately ordered up an investigation to determine what wrongdoing the executives might have committed.

Instead of turning to inspectors general or civil servants to investigate, Pack personally signed a no-bid contract to hire a high-profile law firm with strong Republican ties.

The bill — footed by taxpayers — exceeded $1 million in just the first few months of the contract.

Government Accountability Project, a nonprofit that represents federal whistleblowers accusing Pack and some of his inner circle of breaking U.S. laws and regulations, shared an analysis it conducted of documents related to the contract between Pack and the law firm.

The documents, obtained under the federal Freedom of Information Act, are likely to add to Pack's troubles even out of government; his actions have inspired numerous rebukes from federal and Washington, D.C., judges and in findings from official government investigators, and he remains the subject of other formal reviews.

The group's analysis of the new documents, shared with NPR, found the law firm McGuireWoods charged more than $320 per hour for 3,200 billable hours from August through October alone. It devoted five partners, six associates, two lawyers "of counsel," two staff attorneys, seven paralegals, three case assistants, 14 other timekeepers, and 11 "outsourced attorneys" to the work.

(According to exchanges between USAGM staffers reviewed by NPR, November and December charges from the law firm exceeded $1.2 million. Those exchanges were not part of the documents released on Thursday.)

The invoices reflect that McGuireWoods' legal team, among other duties, reviewed social media posts, "news articles relating to Michael Pack" and an "[Office of Inspector General] audit on Hillary Clinton's email breach."

It was not immediately apparent what the controversy involving the former Secretary of State had to do with the investigation of the suspended USAGM executives. Clinton by then had already been out of office for more than seven years.

"The engagement constitutes gross mismanagement, gross waste of taxpayer dollars and abuse of authority," David Seide of the Government Accountability Project, wrote in a letter Thursday to congressional committees with oversight of the USAGM.

"The 'deliverables' provided by McGuireWoods are — always were — of questionable value," he wrote. "The investigations produced nothing that could justify the kind of discipline Mr. Pack sought to impose on current USAGM employees he did not like — he wanted them fired (they have since been reinstated). Investigations of former employees also yielded nothing."

[LFC]

Uh, oh. Trouble in paradise.

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Donald Trump and Jared Kushner are reportedly not on good terms—but their respective allies can’t agree on who is to blame. According to CNN, Kushner, once Trump’s ever-present chief adviser, was not part of the team that helped the former president plan out his political comeback at the Conservative Political Action Conference last week, and sources told the network that the two men have fallen out. Some who spoke with CNN said the tiff was started by Trump, who has reportedly been telling his inner circle that he’s furious with Kushner over the election loss. Others said that Kushner is trying to create distance between himself and Trump since the disgraceful events of his final month in office. “Right now, he’s just checked out of politics,” one person told CNN. Another source familiar with Kushner’s plans reportedly remarked: “The drama of politics wore him down. Eventually, Trump wears everyone down.”

He's checked out of politics because there's no more money to grift. Trump himself has that all sewn up for himself through his PACs.