monitoring Trump and relevant contemporary events

The audio, taken from a 2015 interview with Cohen and then-Daily Beast reporter Tim Mak and published by NPR - Mak's current employer - on Thursday, reveal Cohen making legal threats to Mak over a piece he was writing about a 1993 Trump biography.

The biography, written by former Newsweek reporter Harry Hurt III
and titled "The Lost Tycoon," details a sworn deposition from Trump's first wife, Ivana, who alleged during her divorce proceedings that Trump had raped her.

When he reached out to Trump's then-campaign spokesperson Hope Hicks for more information about the claim, Mak said he received an angry call from Cohen.

According to Mak, the lawyer initially attempted to convince him not to go through with the story by falsely claiming that spousal rape was not a crime.

"You're talking about Donald Trump, you're talking about the frontrunner for the GOP, presidential candidate, as well as private individual, who never raped anybody and of course understand that by the very definition you can't rape your spouse," Cohen said in one audio recording.

Spousal rape has been illegal in the state of New York, where Donald and Ivana Trump resided during their marriage, since 1984. The incident to which Ivana Trump's claim refers took place in 1989.

"Mark my words for it, I will make sure that you and I meet one day over in the courthouse and I will take you for every penny you still don't have, and I will come after your Daily Beast and everybody else that you possibly know," Cohen went on. "Do not even think about going where I know you're planning on going. And that's my warning for the day."

"Michael, besides the warning, do you have a substantive comment that I can include in the piece that reflects your views on this?" Mak responds.

"I have no views because there's no story," Cohen said before warning Mak to "tread very f---ing lightly because what I'm going to do to you is going to be f---ing disgusting."

"Do you understand me? Don't think you can hide behind your pen because it's not going to happen." Cohen said. "I'm more than happy to discuss it with your attorney and with your legal counsel because motherf---er you're going to need it."

The release of the audio recordings come amid Cohen's ongoing legal trouble.

Cohen is at the center of special counsel Robert Mueller's probe into Russian meddling in the 2016 election. His home and office were raided by the FBI last month as part of Mueller's investigation.

Republicans on Capitol Hill were fuming after the White House abruptly announced it would begin imposing steel and aluminum tariffs Friday on US allies Canada, Mexico and the European Union.

The move Thursday came after Republicans tried to convince the administration for months to target China with tariffs rather than US trading partners, and it could trigger Republicans on Capitol Hill to consider taking action against their own President on trade.

One Republican senator, who asked not to be identified, complained Thursday about President Donald Trump's decision to impose the tariffs, 25% on steel imports and 10% on aluminum imports.

"I don't like trade wars. There are no winners in trade wars. And this scares me," the senator said.

House Ways and Means Chairman Kevin Brady released a statement that said the tariffs "are hitting the wrong target."

"When it comes to unfairly traded steel and aluminum, Mexico, Canada, and Europe are not the problem—China is. This action puts American workers and families at risk, whose jobs depend on fairly traded products from these important trading partners. And it hurts our efforts to create good-paying US jobs by selling more 'Made in America' products to customers in these countries," the Texas Republican's statement said.

The news Thursday reinvigorated discussions about whether Congress would intervene, a point that had been put to rest months ago when the Trump administration announced it would impose new steel and aluminum tariffs across the board only to turn around and issue a wide list of exemptions to allies -- which Republicans applauded -- while it negotiated.
Still, congressional options are limited. Over the last several decades, Congress has outsourced key trading decisions to the executive branch, and taking back that power would require a serious, united front from GOP leaders in a midterm election year.

"I call on the administration to continue the exemptions and negotiations with these important national security partners to find a solution and address the damage caused to American exporters. And the administration will need to come to Capitol Hill to provide answers about the indiscriminate harm these tariffs are causing our local businesses," Brady said.

One Republican senator, who asked not to be identified, complained Thursday about President Donald Trump's decision to impose the tariffs, 25% on steel imports and 10% on aluminum imports.

Lamar Alexander, the chairman of the Senate's Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, put it simply: "This is a big mistake."
"These tariffs will raise prices and destroy manufacturing jobs, especially auto jobs, which are one-third of all Tennessee manufacturing jobs. I have urged President Trump to focus on reciprocity -- do for our country what our country does for you -- instead of imposing tariffs, which are basically higher taxes on American consumers," the Tennessee Republican said.
Ben Sasse, a Republican from Nebraska, released a statement that said the move was "dumb."

"This is dumb. Europe, Canada, and Mexico are not China, and you don't treat allies the same way you treat opponents. We've been down this road before -- blanket protectionism is a big part of why America had a Great Depression. 'Make America Great Again' shouldn't mean 'Make America 1929 Again,'" Sasse said in the statement.

"Bad news that @POTUS has decided to impose taxes on American consumers buying steel and aluminum from our closest allies--Canada, the EU, and Mexico (with whom we run a trade surplus on steel). In addition to higher prices, these tariffs invite retaliation," tweeted Sen. Pat Toomey, a Pennsylvania Republican.

He is like a spoiled destructive child playing building blocks.

Cohen is at the center of special counsel Robert Mueller's probe into Russian meddling in the 2016 election. His home and office were raided by the FBI last month as part of Mueller's investigation.

New NSC chief of staff is from group that believes Muslims are plotting to take over U.S.

Obama Allies Scheme to Kneecap Trump’s New National Security Team

Activists from CAIR, the SPLC, and the Anti-Defamation League, or ADL—a civil rights organization currently helmed by a former Obama administration official—are engaged in a coordinated campaign to smear Fleitz and force his ouster from the NSC. The smears have been picked up by sympathetic media outlets who worked closely with these groups while the Obama administration's so-called "echo chamber" was running at full steam, sources said.

35 seconds in, and she's type-casting and abusing people she's never me

You’ve probably had a bad boss or two, but have you ever had a boss who repeatedly told the entire world he wished he had never hired you? That’s the position Attorney General Jeff Sessions is in, and the reason is simple: By recusing himself from the investigation into the Russia scandal, he has rendered himself unable to aid President Trump in obstructing justice.

I say that because we may be thinking of the question of whether Trump has in fact obstructed justice in too narrow a way. If we’re asking “Will Trump be indicted for, and convicted of, this crime?” then the answer is probably no. While scholars are not united on this question, many believe that a sitting president can’t be indicted, and it’s highly unlikely that special counsel Robert S. Mueller III will issue an indictment for Trump, no matter what the investigation produces.

The better question is: What has Trump done to obstruct this investigation? The answer to that question is that he has done an extraordinary amount.

The answer to that question is that he has done an extraordinary amount.

Italy: Mass Deportation Of Migrants May Start Soon As Populists Reach Deal to Form New Govt

to put your head in the sand

Samantha Bee vs. Roseanne Barr: Double standard? Twitter reacts

And just like that, America turned Thursday from harrumphing about Roseanne Barr's racist Twitter twaddle to sputtering about Samantha Bee's profane TV patter. Once again, judging from Twitter, the nation divided itself into warring camps.

Barr posted a shocking tweet early Wednesday and within a few hours ABC fired her, cancelling her hugely popular re-boot of Roseanne despite the potential loss of zillions in ad dollars and eyeballs.

On Wednesday night on her TBS late-night comedy show, Full Frontal, Bee criticized Ivanka Trump for her father's immigration policies by calling her "feckless" attached to the most offensive vulgar term for a female in the English language.

By Thursday afternoon she apologized but she was not fired nor was her show cancelled. "It was inappropriate and inexcusable. I crossed a line, and I deeply regret it," she tweeted. "Those words should not have been aired," TBS added in a statement. " It was our mistake too, and we regret it.”

Cue the baying tweet choruses of whataboutism! Need to discredit an opponent's position without directly confronting it? Start tweet-shouting hypocrisy and "double standard" with lots of exclamation points.

What #RoseanneBarr said was racist an inexcusable. What Samantha Bee said was also inexcusable, but was not racist. That's not a double standard. Stop with the "What about"-ism. Both things can be wrong, while also different, and therefore treated differently.

Michigan: Palestinian Dem tax fraudster running for Congress claims a “blue Muslim wave” coming