Trump 44: Finally on Trial

[GreyhoundFan]

Great satire from Alexandra Petri: "Let’s get half-physical!"

Spoiler

The good news is that everything is completely normal. The president is just doing that unremarkable thing we know and love to do, where we have a free afternoon and decide, suddenly, on a whim, to do some but not all of our annual physical, just to get a jump on it. That classic thing, an option we have, and furthermore have always known we had. As he tweeted, “Also began phase one of my yearly physical. Everything very good (great!). Will complete next year.” Very good (great!).

And it went great. Stephanie Grisham, the shadow press secretary (if there were a press secretary, she would be that, but there haven’t been any press conferences yet) confirmed to Fox News that he is “healthy as can be. I put a statement out about that. He’s got more energy than anybody in the White House. That man works from 6 a.m. until, you know, very, very late at night. He’s doing just fine.”

Just to be certain that this was definitely a thing, I telephoned my primary care physician today and asked whether I could come in and do half my physical now and half later at a time of my own choosing, and amazingly she did not immediately clear a path for me, and furthermore I think my relationship with her receptionist may be permanently strained.

“Could you see me sooner if I just did half of it and then the other half later?” I asked, and the scheduler patiently began to explain that unfortunately this was not and had never been how physicals worked.

But just because my primary care physician was unaware that this was how things worked, that does not mean that Donald Trump is not aware. He just wanted to see half of what was wrong (nothing), and he will go back later when he has a free moment. He did the important half of the physical — the doctor banged his knee with the tiny hammer but did not check to see whether it made his leg kick, took his systolic but not his diastolic blood pressure, measured half his height, and discovered that he weighs just slightly over 120 pounds! That all seems great. The results are back, and half of him is 100 percent fine!

President Trump is healthy as a horse, or half a horse, a centaur. He is fit as a fiddle, a fiddle that has been attending regular SoulCycle classes. He is probably exactly as fit as a Stradivarius — not to say that he is very old and could shatter at any second, but that he is very valuable and was constructed by a master.

His being is so well that he cannot be examined directly or his results will ruin all the hospital equipment. Before, it was thought that the only way it would be possible to examine him was to have a doctor willing to take his great health on faith, but then Donald Trump realized (he has a great brain) that maybe they could do it in phases, a little bit at a time, so as not to overwhelm them with his glory. It was a great breakthrough, like the discovery that you could stare at an eclipse through a paper plate (Donald Trump does not need this protection, but it helps most people), and he decided to implement it immediately.

Although when Hillary Clinton coughed, ever, it meant that she was at the brink of death (this is medical science; her humors were out of balance, and her womb was roving through her body), Donald Trump’s sudden decision to just go to visit a doctor and do half his annual physical is not cause for concern. His word is good. He has as many white blood cells as he had people at his inauguration, and his blood pressure is as low as his poll numbers aren’t. He would never lie to us about something important. His tax returns are actually just a picture of his pancreas — an organ so beautiful that if he ever let us see it, the whole nation would lose its mind.

I am only half concerned.

 

[Xan]

Trump's doctor just released a letter that says the president* didn't have cardiac or neurological evaluations.  First he says that it was routine and planned.  Then he says that there were "scheduling difficulties" and that's why he went on the weekend.  Sounds fishy as hell.

What jumped out at me were the cholesterol numbers.  Supposedly, the total was 165 with the HDL at 70, the LDL at 84, and the "non-HDL" at 95.  There is only HDL and LDL (along with triglycerides).  There is NO "non-HDL".  If you add up the HDL and the "non-HDL" is equals 165, so the non-HDL is really LDL.  Trump must have insisted on that "84".  Furthermore, if his cholesterol is only 165, I'll eat my voter registration card.  

Either he had chest pain or else he started having a nervous breakdown.  And he's threatened to sue the doctor to keep him from saying anything.

*Denotes illegitimate president

(Simplified:  HDL is the healthy cholesterol.  LDL is the bad stuff.) 

Edited November 19, 2019 by Xan

[Dandruff]

1 hour ago, Xan said:

Furthermore, if his cholesterol is only 165, I'll eat my voter registration card.

Base 15, maybe.

[fraurosena]

Why would he take the WH physician with him for half a physical exam in Walter Reed, where they weren't aware he was coming?

As far as I can tell (which admittedly isn't much) Trump hasn't been seen since he visited Walter Reed. Something's up.

[fraurosena]

The WH felt the need to issue another official statement. As they tend to state the exact opposite of the truth, we can now assume that Trump is having health issues that are serious enough that it's keeping him away from view for two, going on three days now. 

White House Denies Trump Health Emergency

Quote

The White House sought on Monday night to quell a torrent of speculation about President Trump’s health two days after a mysterious, unannounced visit to the hospital, denying that he was treated for an emergency and insisting that it was just “regular, primary preventive care.”

“Despite some of the speculation, the president has not had any chest pain, nor was he evaluated or treated for any urgent or acute issues,” Cmdr. Sean P. Conley, the president’s Navy physician, wrote in a memo released by the White House in an unusual late-night statement. “Specifically, he did not undergo any specialized cardiac or neurologic evaluations.”

Mr. Trump was taken on Saturday to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in his motorcade in a trip that had not been listed on his public schedule. He stayed for about two hours for what White House officials said were routine tests, but since the visit had not been revealed in advance and came only nine months after his last annual physical, it touched off much discussion about whether the president had an undisclosed health issue.

Mr. Trump, 73, is the oldest man ever sworn in for a first term as president, and he is not known for a healthy diet or exercise other than weekend golf. At his February checkup, he weighed in at 243 pounds, which is considered obese for a man of his reported height of 6-foot-3. He has been reported in the past to be taking rosuvastatin, a lipid-lowering drug, to control his cholesterol.

Dr. Conley reported that his latest test showed Mr. Trump’s cholesterol at 165, down from 196 in February. His LDL has fallen to 84, from 122, while his HDL was 70, up from 58. The doctor did not release results of any other tests, if conducted, including an updated weight.

In his memo, Dr. Conley called Saturday’s visit “a routine, planned interim checkup as part of the regular, primary preventative care he receives throughout the year.” He said it was not announced in advance “due to scheduling uncertainties,” without explaining further.

Dr. Conley also made no mention of whether Mr. Trump underwent a routine colonoscopy, which his physician at the time said in January 2018 would be conducted at his next regular exam. The president’s doctors did not say in February whether he had one then.

After the February exam, Dr. Conley described Mr. Trump as being in “very good health.” He made no characterization one way or the other in Monday night’s statement, but brushed off concerns generated by the Saturday visit.

“Primary preventative medical care is something that occurs continuously throughout the year, it is not just a single annual event,” Dr. Conley said. “As such, I will continue to monitor the president’s health, planning on a more comprehensive examination after the new year.”

Michael Moore calls bullshit.

[Xan]

Maybe he got fake tanner or hair dye in his eyes.  Maybe Melania finally hauled off and punched him in the nose.  Maybe he started acting even crazier than usual and they're trying to calibrate his medications.  With Trump, the list is endless...

[GreyhoundFan]

My guess is that he either experienced serious chest pains/signs of a heart attack or had a stroke. Either would play into his sudden disappearance from camera. 

I am not the world's best patient, but I can imagine he would be the world's worst. I picture whining, tantrums, pouting, threats, etc.

[GreyhoundFan]

"‘Was this a physical or a kitchen remodel?’: Trump mocked for his multi-phase health checkup"

Spoiler

The questions came pouring out of Trevor Noah on Monday night as the Comedy Central host struggled to make sense of President Trump’s mysterious weekend hospital visit, an unscheduled trip that has since renewed scrutiny on his health.

“Was it a health emergency or did he need to get a marble removed from his nose again?” Noah asked. “We don’t know.”

News of Trump going to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Md., on Saturday sparked a flurry of speculation and rumors that has continued despite the White House and the president himself downplaying the impromptu visit over the weekend. Late Monday, White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham attempted to quell concerns by releasing a memo from Trump’s doctor, Sean Conley, who stressed that the president had not been experiencing “urgent or acute issues,” and noted that the trip was “a routine, planned interim checkup as part of regular, primary preventative care.”

But the official memo, which was shared shortly before 10 p.m. Monday, did little to silence the various theories about the 73-year-old’s health. Instead, it only fueled more biting commentary as many accused the White House of again attempting to obscure the president’s medical information, likening the memo to recent statements that have touted Trump’s physical condition and offered confusing explanations for the hospital visit.

“If something was horribly wrong with Trump, the White House would just pretend like everything was normal,” Noah said Monday night. “Trump could come back with both arms amputated and his press secretary would come out like, ‘This was just a standard checkup. The president’s arms have always been brooms. He uses them to clean up Washington, D.C.’”

Noah’s skepticism was echoed across late-night television on Monday as fellow comics joined him in mocking the official story of Trump’s weekend visit. On Saturday, Grisham told Fox News’s Jeanine Pirro that Trump had wanted to take advantage of a “down day” and “get a head start with some routine checkups as part of his annual exam,” stressing that the president is “healthy as can be.” Trump later tweeted that he “began phase one of my yearly physical. Everything very good (great!). Will complete next year.”

“Next year?” an incredulous Jimmy Kimmel asked on his ABC show. “Was this a physical or a kitchen remodel?”

Meanwhile on CBS, Stephen Colbert was already looking forward to the next installment of the checkup.

“Yes, Trump’s first part of his physical’s going to be such a hit that next year they’re coming out with a sequel,” Colbert joked. “Colonoscopy 2: 2 Blocked 2 Scope.”

After playing a clip of the press secretary explaining what Trump chose to do on his rare free weekend, Colbert remarked, “Okay, that’s the saddest thing I’ve ever heard.”

“Let’s see, I got the day off,” the host said, impersonating Trump. “I could spend it with my children — not really my thing. With my wife — no she hates me. My friends — all in jail. Tell you what, I’ll just go to the hospital. Stick me with needles just to feel something.”

Both Colbert and Kimmel pushed back against Grisham’s glowing assessment of Trump’s health. During her Fox News appearance, Grisham crowed that Trump has “more energy than anybody in the White House,” prompting Pirro to respond, “He’s almost superhuman.”

“He is a 73-year-old insomniac who eats nothing but fast food and who is afraid to go down stairs,” Colbert said.

Kimmel was equally dubious.

“Right, he’s faster than a tweeting bullet,” the ABC host said. “He’s able to bankrupt tall buildings in a single bound.”

Back on Comedy Central, Noah only had more questions about the secretive doctor’s visit.

“Did Trump have a heart problem or a stroke?” Noah asked. “And if he did have a stroke how would you even be able to tell?”

The host quickly answered himself.

“No, because the symptoms of a stroke are slurred speech, confusion and erratic behavior,” he said. “For Trump, that’s a Tuesday.”

But while Noah had just been joking about the possibility of Trump having a stroke, David Scheiner, who used to treat former president Barack Obama, told CNN’s Erin Burnett the danger of that happening may be more likely than people think.

“His inability to say words sometimes worries me tremendously,” Scheiner said of Trump on Monday. “He is having trouble word-finding. These aren’t slips of the tongue.”

Scheiner added that the “peculiar” symptom may point to a “neurological issue that is not being addressed.”

“The worry that I have is that maybe he’s having small strokes,” the physician said.

In Monday night’s memo, Conley, Trump’s doctor, made it a point to note that the president “did not undergo any specialized cardiac or neurologic evaluations,” denying “speculation” that there had been a medical emergency.

Many remained unconvinced.

“'routine, planned interim checkup as part of the regular, primary preventative care’ really seems like they’re trying too hard,” one person tweeted.

Another described the document as “a really weird, defensive statement.”

“The first sentence alone has roughly four synonyms for ‘routine,’” the Twitter user wrote. “It then tells us all the medical problems Trump is definitely not having. It’s a good thing this White House has developed a reputation for honesty and transparency.”

At least one critic pointed out that this isn’t the first time Trump has been accused of getting a doctor to issue evaluations that benefit him.

“Ever since Trump came down with a bad case of bone spurs during the Vietnam War, he’s managed to get his physicians to lie for him,” the person wrote. “Who knows if any of this is true.”

 

[formergothardite]

27 minutes ago, GreyhoundFan said:

My guess is that he either experienced serious chest pains/signs of a heart attack or had a stroke. Either would play into his sudden disappearance from camera. 

I am not the world's best patient, but I can imagine he would be the world's worst. I picture whining, tantrums, pouting, threats, etc.

I think the stress is getting to him and it was giving chest pains. He is either still in the hospital or they are treating him in privacy at the white house. Whatever is going on they have been unable to present him to the public. As the days go on and if he doesn't appear then they are going to have to work hard to explain why he is staying hidden. 

I suspect they will trot him out briefly as soon as they can, possibly today, and then take him back to privacy. 

I bet he is awful as a patient. Screaming, cussing, complaining about everything. 

[thoughtful]

It's going to be tough to pull a Prisoner of Zenda/Dave, because who else looks like that?

Also, can we call the next thread simply 45 45?

[GreyhoundFan]

 

[Dandruff]

Has he still been tweeting?

[fraurosena]

1 minute ago, Dandruff said:

Has he still been tweeting?

There have been tweets from his account. That's not evidence though, that he's tweeting. 

[Dandruff]

14 minutes ago, fraurosena said:

There have been tweets from his account. That's not evidence though, that he's tweeting. 

Does he sound like his usual little self?

[GreyhoundFan]

CSPAN just showed an excerpt of him in a cabinet meeting, making nasty comments about Vindman. He slammed the Lt. Colonel for wearing his dress uniform. I guess he's jealous, since you don't get a dress uniform for having bone spurs.

[formergothardite]

16 minutes ago, GreyhoundFan said:

CSPAN just showed an excerpt of him in a cabinet meeting, making nasty comments about Vindman. He slammed the Lt. Colonel for wearing his dress uniform. I guess he's jealous, since you don't get a dress uniform for having bone spurs.

So he has been seen! I figured they would make sure people saw him today. Keeping him hidden past today would be very hard to explain. 

[SassyPants]

He was just on TV. Again he doesn’t know Vindman or any of these people, and he actually had the audacity to slam Nancy Pelosi as being incompetent. I do wonder if has suffered a neurological accident, and whether he has been having mini episodes. Maybe he truly doesn’t remember meeting these folks. He wouldn’t be our first dinged Republican President in recent times.

[fraurosena]

2 hours ago, Dandruff said:

Does he sound like his usual little self?

To be honest, no, he does not. The last thing in his account typed up is a message on the Nasdaq doing well. That was posted five hours ago. The one before that is much too eloquent to have been typed by him. The one before that is from 15 hours ago. 

Today the account consists of twenty to twenty five reposts, mostly about the hearing (all trumplicans, of course). 

42 minutes ago, SassyPants said:

He was just on TV. Again he doesn’t know Vindman or any of these people, and he actually had the audacity to slam Nancy Pelosi as being incompetent. I do wonder if has suffered a neurological accident, and whether he has been having mini episodes. Maybe he truly doesn’t remember meeting these folks. He wouldn’t be our first dinged Republican President in recent times.

Him having mini episodes could be very possible. My mom has had a few last year, and she recovers from them very quickly, sometimes within hours, sometimes within a couple of days (depending on where the bleed occurs in the brain). They have left her with memory issues which seem a bit like early stages of dementia -- it's not, but it looks similar. I can't say that whatever Trump is the same (especially not from afar via the internet and certainly not because of my non-existent medical expertise), but there are similarities and I don't think the possibility should be discounted. It would certainly explain a lot.

Edited November 19, 2019 by fraurosena

[LearningtoFly]

It had to be something because he apparently didn't golf this weekend.

I agree with the posters who think he had chest pains. 

[JMarie]

Anyone else reminded of the storyline of Dave?

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0106673/?ref_=fn_tt_tt_1

Good luck finding a lookalike.

[GreyhoundFan]

I think he's underestimating how many people here who would like to see him dead and gone:

 

[GreyhoundFan]

"Trump took credit for opening a Mac factory. It’s been open since 2013."

Spoiler

While Washington was aflame with some of the most dramatic testimony of the ongoing impeachment inquiry on Wednesday, President Trump was in Austin taking credit for the launch of a Mac factory that opened three years before his election.

Standing on the floor of Apple’s Mac Pro facility, Trump said, “We’re seeing the beginning of a very powerful and important plant.” He later tweeted that he himself opened “a major Apple Manufacturing plant in Texas that will bring high paying jobs back to America.” Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Ivanka Trump joined him on the tour.

But Apple has been assembling computers in Austin since 2013, at a plant that’s owned by Flex, one of its contractors. Trump made his remarks as the company’s chief executive, Tim Cook, stood by without setting the president straight.

On Thursday morning, Trump tweeted that during his visit to Austin “for the start-up of the new Mac Pro … I asked Tim Cook to see if he could get Apple involved in building 5G in the U.S.” Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment on those discussions.

Apple does have plans for a new center in Austin, but that facility isn’t Trump’s handiwork, either. On Wednesday, the company announced it had broken ground on a $1 billion, 3 million-square-foot campus that is expected to open in 2022 and initially house 5,000 employees. Apple currently has about 7,000 employees in Austin.

Trump’s ongoing trade war with China cast doubt earlier this year on whether Apple’s top-of-the-line computer would be assembled in the Lone Star State. Trump has publicly urged the company, which makes the vast majority of its products in China, to build on home soil. In July, he tweeted that “Apple will not be given Tariff waiver, or relief, for Mac Pro parts that are made in China. Make them in the USA, no Tariffs!”

But in September, the White House exempted certain Chinese-made components used in the Mac Pro from the levies. The exemption allowed Apple to assemble the Mac Pro within the United States.

Still, Trump’s at times contradictory and impossible-to-anticipate trade policies with China have jostled Apple’s stock price. And the lack of a trade deal leaves Apple’s other products, including the iPhone, vulnerable to other restrictions.

Cook and Trump have clashed on issues like the environment and immigration. But Cook has been able to shield Apple from Trump’s trade agenda. At the Austin facility, Trump described Cook as “a very special person,” and Cook later thanked the president and his advisers for their “support in pulling today off and getting us this far. It would not be possible without them.”

And, yet, perhaps it would. In December 2013, Cook tweeted that Apple had “begun manufacturing the Mac Pro in Austin. It’s the most powerful Mac ever. Orders start tomorrow.” Rick Perry, then the governor of Texas and now the nation’s soon-to-be former energy secretary, tweeted back with his own congratulations.

Trump was tweeting that day, too. He typed out a line from his book, “Trump: Think Like a Billionaire: Everything You Need to Know About Success, Real Estate, and Life.”

“If you want the best, you’d better be the best — in all aspects of business,” Trump wrote.

There was no mention of Apple.

 

[GreyhoundFan]

"Secret Service spent quarter of a million dollars at Trump’s properties in first five months of his term, records show"

Spoiler

The U.S. Secret Service paid more than $250,000 to President Trump’s private businesses in just the first five months of his presidency — paying Trump’s company an average of nearly $2,000 per day, according to Secret Service records.

Those records, obtained by the group Property of the People after an open-records lawsuit, detail some of the revenue that Trump derives from U.S. taxpayers.

The president has set up an extraordinary arrangement: He kept ownership of his businesses — and then visited them repeatedly, bringing along aides and security officials and charging the government for what they bought.

Documents released previously had shown $84,000 in federal spending at Trump properties in the first months of Trump’s time in office. These new records, detailing spending on Secret Service credit cards, show another $254,000 by the Secret Service alone.

The documents do not give much detail about the spending: They list only the dates of the purchases, and the name of the Trump property that received the payments. Adding to the confusion: Trump has multiple properties called “Trump National Golf Club,” and this list does not distinguish among them.

But in some cases, the spending appears to match up with Trump’s visits to his own properties. On April 2, 2017, for instance, Trump played golf at his club in suburban Virginia — a short drive from the White House.

That day, the records show, the Secret Service made five separate payments to “Trump National Golf Club” totaling $26,802, the records show.

Between May 31, 2017, and June 5, 2017, Trump played golf twice at the Virginia course, according to news reports — including once with former NFL quarterback Peyton Manning and then-Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.). The Secret Service reported paying $29,000 to the Trump golf club then.

On May 7, Trump was staying at his golf club in Bedminster, N.J. The Secret Service records show $16,000 in spending at “Trump National Golf Club” that day.

The records do not show what the Secret Service payments are for.

But Secret Service agents often spend multiple days securing a property and planning on-site before a president’s arrival, even if it isn’t the president’s first time going there. It’s unclear how the Secret Service would do that at Trump properties where there are little or no overnight accommodations, including the Virginia golf course.

Some expenditures do not seem to correlate to Trump’s public schedule.

On March 17, Trump was at his Mar-a-Lago Club in Florida. But on that day, the Secret Service recorded spending $40,000 at a Trump property thousands of miles away: the Trump hotel in Las Vegas.

That spending could relate to a visit by someone else: The Secret Service protects other top officials and Trump family members.

The White House declined to comment for this story. The Trump Organization and the Secret Service did not respond to requests for comment Thursday.

Ryan Shapiro, the executive director of Property of the People, said the figures showed “Donald Trump views the American public as a bunch of marks waiting to be fleeced.”

“Due to his overt self-dealing and refusal to divest from his sprawling business empire, Donald Trump has turned the American presidency into a racket,” Shapiro said.

His group had submitted a public-records request to the Secret Service in June 2017 for “any and all records reflecting charges to a Government Travel Charge card or other government charge card for expenditures at Trump businesses,” according to Secret Service records. The group then sued after the records were not provided.

The Constitution prohibits presidents from taking “emoluments,” or payments, from the U.S. government beyond their official presidential salary. Trump has said this does not prohibit him from charging his own government for services rendered.

Eric Trump, the president’s son, is one of those running the Trump Organization while Trump is in the White House. He has said the Trump Organization only charges the taxpayers “at cost” for federal employees but has not said more about how that “cost” figure is calculated.

Previously, other records have shown that taxpayers covered the cost of Trump aides staying in the guest suites at Mar-a-Lago, at $546 per night. Taxpayers also paid for a $1,000 liquor tab rung up by Trump aides in a Mar-a-Lago bar.

The Secret Service records released Thursday cover only the first five months of Trump’s term, during which he made 21 visits to Trump properties, by The Washington Post’s count.

Since then, Trump has made more than 100 additional visits to his properties. The Secret Service has not released records about those visits.

 

[GreyhoundFan]

"Kentucky governor’s stay at Trump hotel could carry legal implications for president"

Spoiler

When Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin came to Washington in January for two nights — one of many visits the Republican had made to the nation’s capital — he stayed at President Trump’s D.C. hotel. Kentucky taxpayers initially footed the $686 bill, records obtained by The Washington Post show.

Although Kentucky’s Republican Party reimbursed the state for Bevin’s stay two months later, the transaction may still run afoul of an anti-corruption provision of the Constitution barring the president from receiving any “emoluments,” or payments, from the states, legal experts say.

In two cases wending their way through federal court, plaintiffs have alleged that Trump — by retaining his financial interest in his companies and doing business with state governments — has violated the Constitution’s domestic emoluments clause. A central example cited by plaintiffs has been visits to the hotel by fervent Trump supporter and Republican Paul LePage, while he was governor of Maine.

Bevin’s previously unreported stay at the hotel is now likely to become another example for plaintiffs in one case as soon as three weeks from now. Attorneys general for D.C. and Maryland plan to argue in federal appeals court that the president must receive approval from Congress to accept payments from states or from foreign governments.

Attorneys defending Trump have argued in court that the emoluments clauses do not bar the president from accepting market-rate hotel room payments and that Trump has not violated either of the emoluments clauses.

As governor, Bevin has been a close ally of Trump, running a campaign spot saying that Trump "is taking America to new heights” and that “together our changes are working.” He has been a regular White House visitor, attending events on workforce development and criminal justice. Earlier this month, Trump campaigned in Kentucky on behalf of Bevin’s reelection bid, which failed when Bevin lost to Democrat Andy Beshear last week.

Other guests have acknowledged staying at the hotel as a way of trying to curry favor with the president. Trump’s company is now considering selling the property, citing the difficulty of maximizing profits while Trump is in office.

The documents detailing Bevin’s stay were provided to The Post by the government watchdog group American Oversight, which acquired them through a public documents request. Austin Evers, executive director of American Oversight, said the hotel represented "the president’s mixing of business, politics, and public service, which it seems Matt Bevin may have chosen to emulate as well.”

Spokespeople for Bevin and the Kentucky Republican Party did not respond to requests for comment.

Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh and D.C. Attorney General Karl A. Racine, Democrats suing Trump over the constitutional provisions, said through spokespeople that such a state-funded stay — even though it was later reimbursed by a political party — would strengthen their case.

“As we alleged in our complaint, we believe that instances like this are taking place regularly and we are not surprised to learn of this development,” Frosh spokeswoman Raquel Coombs said.

Judges on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit are scheduled to hear arguments in the case Dec. 12 in Richmond, and legal experts expect that because no court has ever previously ruled on the emoluments provisions, the case is likely to reach the Supreme Court.

In a separate case, business owners are suing Trump over the emoluments clause, alleging that he has used the presidency to unfair advantage over competing restaurants and hotels. That case is with the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals in New York. A third case, brought by congressional Democrats, focuses on foreign spending at Trump properties.

Deepak Gupta, an attorney for the plaintiffs, said that “it’s quite possible that this payment constitutes a violation of the domestic emoluments clause.”

“To prevent domestic corruption, that clause strictly limits the president to a fixed salary and bars him from accepting ‘any other emolument’ from any of the States,” he said.

William S. Consovoy, a private attorney for Trump, did not respond to a request for comment. Consovoy has argued that the president cannot be investigated for any crime while he is in office.

The Justice Department, which is also defending Trump in the cases, declined to comment. Officials at the Trump Organization did not respond to a request for comment.

It is unclear why Bevin was in Washington Jan. 29-31, 2018, or whether other state officials, such as support staff members or security personnel, stayed at the Trump hotel with him.

 

[Xan]

In a Fox News interview, Trump complains that Yovanovitch wouldn't hang his picture in the embassy.

“This ambassador that everyone says is so wonderful, she wouldn’t hang my picture in the embassy,” he said. “This was not an angel, this woman, okay? And there were a lot of things that she did that I didn’t like.”

Holy shit. This is beginning to veer into Kim Jong-un territory.