Trump 62: Jack Smith Is Hot On Grandpa Ranty's Case

[GreyhoundFan]

I’m sure she’ll still yammer like an idiot on RW media:

 

[GreyhoundFan]

A Chatty Cathy doll with dementia. Great description. 

 

[GreyhoundFan]

Grandpa Ranty is whining again.

 

[GreyhoundFan]

He lives in his own world…

 

[Xan]

I'm really amused that he always says he won the vote or won a poll "by a lot".  It sounds like something a five-year-old would say.

[Dandruff]

9 hours ago, GreyhoundFan said:

Grandpa Ranty is whining again.

 

Stay classy, Donald.  I'm sure your parents would be proud.

[Alisamer]

22 hours ago, GreyhoundFan said:

Grandpa Ranty is whining again.

 

I'm sorry, but if he thinks Hunter snorting a little nose candy makes Joe Biden look bad, Trumpster needs to take a close look at his own sons. Junior especially. Plus his own history. And his own adderall abuse. And...

[GreyhoundFan]

"All the ways Trump, not his foes, sought to ‘weaponize’ the government"

Quote

The House GOP’s effort to rip the lid off what it sees as the “weaponization” of the U.S. government hasn’t exactly gone well. The theories remain thinly constructed. The allegations have often gone well beyond the available evidence or even been contradicted by it. Conservative grumbling about the work product began early on.

The good news is that, to the extent that the House Judiciary Committee’s new “weaponization” subcommittee and Oversight Committee are intent on good-faith efforts to root out examples of the government being turned against political adversaries, there remain some great and still-unexplored targets dating back just a few years — from the Trump administration.

On Friday came merely the latest evidence of President Donald Trump possibly wielding the levers of the government against his foes. The New York Times reported that Trump’s former White House chief of staff John F. Kelly said in a sworn statement that Trump had floated having the IRS investigate two key figures in the investigation into Russia’s interference in the 2016 presidential election.

Peter Strzok and Lisa Page were best known for exchanging anti-Trump text messages while the Russia probe was unfolding. This, of course, was hailed by Trump and his allies as being proof positive that the Russia investigation was politically motivated — the original “weaponization” of the government against Trump.

But neither the Justice Department inspector general nor special counsel John Durham found evidence that these private sentiments amounted to politically tainting the investigation.

Inspector General Michael Horowitz found no evidence “that political bias or improper motivation influenced the decisions” to open the investigations (while finding many other problems). Durham’s probe was repeatedly hailed by Trump. But rather than citing political bias, Durham cited “a serious lack of analytical rigor” and “confirmation bias,” while noting that the latter is a “common human tendency” that is “mostly unintentional.”

What we instead have with regard to Strzok and Page is arguably even more compelling evidence that Trump wanted to weaponize the federal government — against them. Indeed, unlike the Russia probes, it’s difficult to understand this as having to do with anything but a political vendetta. (We stand waiting for evidence that Trump had some inside knowledge of alleged tax misdeeds by Strzok or Page.)

This is a significant legal matter, given it’s illegal for a president to “directly or indirectly” request an IRS audit. We don’t know yet whether Trump’s actions amounted to that; he made a habit of suggesting such things rather than ordering them. But it would sure seem worth digging into, given that his former chief of staff has now said this in a sworn statement and that there is other evidence of Trump wanting to turn the IRS and Justice Department against his foes (which we’ll get to).

It’s a situation that epitomizes the selectiveness of the GOP’s “weaponization” crusade. For years, Republicans have decried the weaponization of the government. Since winning back the House, they’ve launched investigations. But even as their theories have failed to come to fruition, on the flip side, we have continued to learn more about how Trump at the very least sought to wield the levers of power for his political ends.

To wit:

• Trump also wanted the IRS to investigate former FBI director James B. Comey and former deputy director Andrew McCabe, along with Hillary Clinton, former secretary of state and Trump’s presidential challenger, and other perceived foes, Kelly said last year. Comey and McCabe were audited, the odds of which happening randomly is infinitesimal. (An inspector general report last year found no connection between Trump and the audits, but raised concerns that warranted further investigation.)
• Trump publicly and repeatedly pushed for McCabe’s firing before McCabe was due to receive full retirement benefits, ultimately succeeding mere hours before that would have taken place.
• Trump told his White House counsel that he wanted to order probes of Clinton and Comey, per the Times. (His press secretary in late 2017 also said prosecuting Comey was “something that certainly should be looked at” at the Justice Department.)
• Trump said publicly in late 2020 that former president Barack Obama and former vice president Joe Biden should be indicted and indicated he had made such a case to his attorney general, William P. Barr.
• He said in 2019 that it would be “appropriate” for him to ask for an investigation of Biden.
• He withheld security assistance from Ukraine while seeking to have the country say it was opening an investigation involving Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, releasing the aid only when the situation became public. Acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney effectively confirmed this was the arrangement before backing off those comments. Trump was impeached for this, and many Republicans acknowledged it was at least improper. A key figure — European Union Ambassador Gordon Sondland — indicated it was probably illegal.
• A Justice Department office was tasked with investigating former secretary of state John F. Kerry in 2018, two days after Trump tweeted about Kerry’s “possibly illegal” activities and the same day Trump said Kerry “should be prosecuted,” according to former U.S. attorney Geoffrey Berman’s book.
• A Trump political appointee in 2018 asked Berman to prosecute a prominent Democratic lawyer, Gregory Craig, and to do so before the midterms, Berman also said. (When Berman declined, it was prosecuted in Washington, where the jury acquitted Craig of lying to the Justice Department.)
• Berman recalled several other examples of political influence seeping into the Justice Department. “Throughout my tenure as U.S. attorney,” Berman wrote, “Trump’s Justice Department kept demanding that I use my office to aid them politically, and I kept declining — in ways just tactful enough to keep me from being fired.”
• Trump repeatedly applied public pressure on the Justice Department to take it easy on his allies, prompting Barr to remark that Trump’s comments “make it impossible for me to do my job.”

This is a necessarily incomplete list. It doesn’t include, for example, Trump’s pardoning of political allies at a historic rate. This was his prerogative as president, but it certainly plays into the idea that Trump intended to wield the government for political benefit.

Some of these instances have also been investigated to some extent, and they might not necessarily involve criminality. Trump certainly benefited from being insulated from criminal consequences as president.

But the picture that is crystal clear is one of Trump, at the very least, wanting to weaponize the government against his foes.

“He was always telling me that we need to use the FBI and IRS to go after people,” Kelly told the Times last year, adding that “it was constant and obsessive and is just what he’s claiming is being done to him now.”

In addition to Kelly, we have Berman, Barr and Trump’s former national security adviser John Bolton all pointing to Trump’s own sins on this front.

Congressional Republicans give away the game when the committee charged with rooting out such official, political misdeeds deems them unworthy of investigation — or even opprobrium.

 

[Xan]

He's now calling Biden a crackhead.

Lately I just wish he'd shut the hell up.  Everything he says makes the world worse.

[Xan]

I've finally decided which daydream makes me the happiest about Donald Trump.  If he keeled over from a heart attack, the MAGAts would just blame the deep state.  If he fled the country, they'd still love him and say the Democrats were unfairly accusing him.  If aliens landed and took him hostage, the rightwingers would swear it was staged by the Hollywood liberals.

Nope.  What I wish is that someone would sneak into his bedroom and shave his head.  He's have to get a wig but that dead ferret mess would be gone.  He would hide out for days since he's so vain.  Even the MAGAts would notice his changed appearance.  Yeah.  I just wish some rogue Secret Service agent would do us all a solid and get rid of that hair.  The thought of a bald Donald just makes me smile.

[GreyhoundFan]

2 hours ago, Xan said:

I've finally decided which daydream makes me the happiest about Donald Trump.  If he keeled over from a heart attack, the MAGAts would just blame the deep state.  If he fled the country, they'd still love him and say the Democrats were unfairly accusing him.  If aliens landed and took him hostage, the rightwingers would swear it was staged by the Hollywood liberals.

Nope.  What I wish is that someone would sneak into his bedroom and shave his head.  He's have to get a wig but that dead ferret mess would be gone.  He would hide out for days since he's so vain.  Even the MAGAts would notice his changed appearance.  Yeah.  I just wish some rogue Secret Service agent would do us all a solid and get rid of that hair.  The thought of a bald Donald just makes me smile.

Or if someone dyed all his wigs pink. 

[WatchingTheTireFireBurn]

Losing hair sucks (said as I, a person who used to be complimented on my long thick hair, look in the mirror at the increasing alopecia each morning). I can't really fault him for that. I was never vain, til I had nothing left.

But I do wish he'd shut up and just go away. We're going to be listening to his whining and bitching and moaning for years to come. And for some reason a significant chunk of the country believes it. I dunno. Sometimes I feel like I've had a psychotic break how can a b list tv "star" who has an absolutely horrid personality actually have become president - and then he attempted a coup....which seems to have been almost successful...and he's going to run again.....and this is all real?? this actually happened? is happening? It seemed so preposterous before and now I'm like I dunno. Maybe calling Biden a crackhead will actually get Trump a 2nd term. We're now ok with just calling the president a crackhead.  Not a soul is sitting there going "oh my! how could anyone talk about THE PRESIDENT in such a way" and in fact the people I would most expect to say "hey you respect the office!" are probably spreading the crackhead comment around.

 

[GreyhoundFan]

Watch for a series of screaming 2am “truths”.

 

[47of74]

Oh joy, look who’s coming to Iowa next week. 

Quote

Former President Donald Trump will be in Cedar Rapids next week for a Town Hall hosted by Fox News’ Sean Hannity.

Tickets are available via Eventbrite, with doors opening at 1:45 p.m.

I reported the event to Eventbrite on the grounds they’re just giving tickets for a fuck face klan rally. 

[Xan]

I see that Donald is pushing Newt Gingrich's new book about the "Republican revolution of 1994".  I see that nasty Newty has hitched himself to Donny and is hoping to finally revive his dead political life.  Ain't gonna happen, Newt.  After some Republicans buy up a bunch of your books, it's back to irrelevancy you go.  Newt was the original Ted Cruz -- albeit not quite as unlikeable.  Then again, even Ted hasn't gone to the hospital to ask his wife (undergoing cancer treatment) for a divorce.

Donny also gave a big shout out to James Comer as a thanks for having his lips securely fastened to Donny's backside.  

Edited July 13, 2023 by Xan

[GreyhoundFan]

"Trump reveals new details about $1 billion in earnings in revised filing"

Quote

Former president Donald Trump disclosed new details about roughly $1 billion in earnings in a revised financial filing covering much of his post-presidency, including money from foreign ventures, speaking fees and a Florida golf course.

Trump reported several hundred sources of income in an initial April financial disclosure but provided only broad ranges for the income he received from each source. The revised Trump filing provides new details, such as a dollar amount for nearly a hundred sources of income, including his largest ones, which sum to over $1.2 billion, according to a Washington Post tally.

The polling leader for the Republican nomination in 2024 disclosed more specific earnings from speaking fees than previously known, including at least $2 million for speaking at events hosted by Hak Ja Han Moon and a group she co-founded with her husband Sun Myung Moon, the late leader of the Unification Church, and $2.5 million to comment on a boxing match. In addition, he disclosed that his wife, Melania Trump, earned $1.2 million from speaking fees.

Under disclosure rules, candidates typically show a broad view of their finances by providing ranges of valuation for their income and liabilities, as Trump did on his initial filing. In the new filing, Trump provided ranges for some items but also put in a number of specific larger amounts.

In two cases in the revised filing, Trump disclosed earnings outside the range he had previously indicated, according to the Post tally. In reporting income from a golf resort in Ireland, Trump went from saying his earnings were less than $201 to saying he received an amount in euros that today would be equal to $6.2 million. In another instance, Trump initially reported income between $1,001 and $2,500 from a carousel in New York’s Central Park, but revised the amount to $2,873 in the July filing.

Trump also added in the new report that he paid off an additional loan held by Deutsche Bank, a mortgage on his Doral, Fla., golf club valued at between $25 million and $50 million.

The revised filing was provided by the Office of Government Ethics after the agency noted the existence of the updated paperwork in an online database accessible to the public. The new filing was certified on July 6 by the office’s director, Emory Rounds, whose term expired on July 12. Rounds could not be reached for comment.

Don Fox, former general counsel and acting head of the OGE during the Obama administration, said it’s not unusual for the office to ask for clarification from filers with complicated finances.

But he said “the fact that Emory Rounds did not sign it in April would tell me that he was not satisfied that all the disclosures required by law had been made at that time. Those are pretty wild swings in valuation.”

Patrick Shepherd, an OGE spokesman, asked to comment on the revised filing, said via email that the agency is “committed to transparency and citizen oversight of government. However, OGE does not respond to questions about specific individuals.”

A Trump campaign spokesman did not respond to a request for comment.

Fox said Trump, in revising the filing with specific amounts, went beyond the requirement of providing information in ranges by disclosing the exact amount he earned. It is not typical for a candidate to go beyond the ranges, and it is not clear why Trump went beyond the requirement.

The report is required under guidelines from the Office of Government Ethics that say a presidential candidate is required to file within 30 days of becoming a candidate and on or before May 15 of each year of candidacy. Trump, after receiving two extensions, filed his initial report on April 14. The filing mainly covers part of 2021 and all of 2022, and at least one reference to 2023, for a payment of $100,000.

The new filing contains an array of updates that offer further insight into Trump’s finances and his complex domestic and international business interests. In one of the most substantial revisions, Trump had reported in his April filing that he made more than $5 million in income from a golf course at his Doral resort in Florida, while the revised filing said he earned $159 million. While those statements don’t conflict, they do provide another example of why the new filing has a larger valuation.

Trump’s detailing of the more than $1 billion came from sources including hotel sales, golf revenue and licensing fees in the July disclosure. His April filing, which did not provide exact numbers on his income, reported more than 25 sources of income over $5 million.

In the July filing, Trump reports three sources of income over $100 million, including $284 million from the sale of the Trump International Hotel in Washington, $159 million from his Miami golf resort and $199 million across four partnerships with Hudson Waterfront Associates.

Some of this income had been previously known but not described in detail on his initial filing. For example, while he reported in April that the Washington hotel sale brought in more than $5 million, it had already been widely reported that the sale price was around $284 million — the amount he declared in the July filing.

But some of the other newly disclosed details had not been known.

The new report says Trump Media & Technology Group, which runs the social network Truth Social, reported receiving about $1.2 million in advertising, a paltry sum compared with the ad revenue of Twitter and other social media rivals Trump has long said it would supplant.

In late 2021, the company said a planned merger with a special purpose acquisition company would raise its value to up to $1.7 billion. That merger remains frozen amid a federal investigation, and in the financial disclosure, Trump said the company was worth no more than $25 million.

The new filing also sheds light on the money that Trump received as part of fundraising events.

In one example, Trump was paid $900,300 for participating in a Dec. 3, 2021, event in Florida, and his wife, Melania Trump, was paid $250,000 for what appears to be the same event, according to the filing. Before the event, the New York Daily News reported that Trump was “set to pose for 90 photos with guests” at $10,000 a pop.

“Trump does get a piece of the pie, but the lion’s share will go to charity,” organizer Brad Keltner told the outlet. Keltner did not respond to a request for comment.

Trump also reported more than a dozen speaking engagements, including two at Universal Peace Federation World Summits. The events, which amounted to $2 million, were hosted by the Universal Peace Federation and its co-founder Hak Ja Han Moon, whose late husband Sun Myung Moon co-founded the group and also founded the Unification Church. Church and federation spokesmen did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Trump’s single most lucrative speaking engagement was $2.5 million in fees from Triller Legends II LLC in Hollywood, Fla., on Sept. 11 and Sept. 12, 2021. After this story posted online, a lawyer for Triller confirmed that was Trump’s payment for commentating a fight between Evander Holyfield and Vitor Belfort on the 20th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Trump previously called the payment amount “obscene,” TMZ reported, but the exact amount does not appear to have been known until Trump’s new filing.

Triller said in a statement that “The payment made to Trump for his commentary was consistent with the fees typically received by celebrity commentators," and cited what it called Trump’s “successful hosting” of previous boxing events.

Fox, the former acting OGE head, said such filings as the one Trump submitted are essential for voters to examine before the election. “It all comes back to the integrity of the executive branch and confidence that the person holding executive branch office is conducting the people’s business, not personal business,” Fox said. “As a president is not subject to conflict-of-interest laws, the only real remedy for dealing with potential conflicts is complete transparency.”

Jordan Libowitz, a spokesman for the watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, applauded the OGE for pushing Trump to provide more detailed information, saying it is crucial for voters to understand potential conflicts of interest.

“When we have exact numbers, you get a much better look of seeing what his actual net worth is, and where potential conflicts of interest exist,” Libowtiz said. “We haven’t had a president making millions of dollars from overseas business before. These disclosures show exactly where money is pouring in, and that’s something Americans need to know.”

 

[GreyhoundFan]

Every time I think his stupidity and crazy can't get worse, it does.

[fraurosena]

It's remarkable how he's ending most of his posts with "MAGA!" like it's a greeting between cult members. It has the feel of "Heil Hitler!"

[apple1]

On 7/11/2023 at 4:03 PM, Xan said:

Lately I just wish he'd shut the hell up.  Everything he says makes the world worse.

That. So much that.

[Ozlsn]

On 7/14/2023 at 1:48 AM, Xan said:

Then again, even Ted hasn't gone to the hospital to ask his wife (undergoing cancer treatment) for a divorce.

Yet.

22 hours ago, GreyhoundFan said:

“As a president is not subject to conflict-of-interest laws, the only real remedy for dealing with potential conflicts is complete transparency.”

I'm curious as to why the President isn't subject to COI law? It's something that would seem to be more important given the power involved and the potential for abuse. Federal politicians here are required to disclose, and a popular option for things like stock in portfolios that they have power over is putting those stocks (in a lot of cases it's all interests that could be seen to have a COI) in a blind trust which manages assets but where the decisions around purchase/sale are not controlled by the owner.

[GreyhoundFan]

I see Grandpa Ranty is panicked. 

 

[Xan]

Somebody is feeling the teensiest bit anxious tonight.  I wonder if he heard about any new indictments coming his way.

[Dandruff]

2 hours ago, Xan said:

Somebody is feeling the teensiest bit anxious tonight.  I wonder if he heard about any new indictments coming his way.

I'm not sure he could stop complaining at this point.  The indictments aren't disappearing and his followers haven't tried to start another revolution.  Maybe he should wrap his fingers around some extra hamberders instead.

[fraurosena]

He's nervous alright...

 

[GreyhoundFan]

Since everything TFG accuses others of is an admission of his own guilt, I guess he’s admitting to being a “stone cold criminal “ who is a very stupid person.”