monitoring Trump and relevant contemporary events

If I were Trump,

....our system(Constitution). The very concepts in that document should make your day.

Report: Trump played key role in coordinating hush money payments to Daniels, McDougal

Tal Axelrod 32 mins ago


President sending lawyers to Fla.; Dems dig in fors According to the Wall Street Journal, Donald Trump was heavily involved in payment deals with Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal.
President Trump was heavily involved during his presidential campaign in silencing the stories of women who claimed to have extramarital affairs with him, according to a report from The Wall Street Journal that contradicts years of denials from Trump.
Federal prosecutors have gathered evidence that Trump worked with his friend and media executive David Pecker to use the National Enquirer tabloid to buy the silence of adult-film star Stormy Daniels and former Playboy model Karen McDougal, according to interviews the Journal did with three dozen people with knowledge of the transactions.
Trump was involved in nearly every step of the process to prevent Daniels and McDougal from publicizing their stories and worked with his longtime lawyer and fixer, Michael Cohen, to coordinate the deals.
This summer, Cohen pleaded guilty to multiple federal charges related to the payments, including campaign finance and bank fraud violations. In his plea, he implicated Trump without specifically naming him.

Just snother campaign crime violation for him.

Outlawing the Democratic Party in America is the best way to stop them from ruining innocent people with their witch hunts.

Those god damn grade school teachers and their perversions of basic decency.

President Trump is facing a new round of accusations that he is prejudiced against minorities after a series of confrontations with three black women reporters.

Trump on Friday disparaged White House reporter and CNN contributor April Ryan as “a loser” who “doesn’t know what the hell she’s doing.”

The outburst came at a press “gaggle” outside of the White House before leaving on a trip to Europe, an apparent reaction to Ryan having shouted out questions to Trump at a press conference Wednesday when she had not been called on.

“She gets publicity and then she gets a pay raise or she gets a contract, I think, with CNN, but she’s very nasty and she shouldn’t be,” Trump said. Ryan was not present for Trump's remarks.

During that same gaggle Friday, Abby Phillip, also with CNN, asked Trump about his new acting attorney general, Matthew Whitaker, who the president’s opponents say is too eager to defend the president from any legal scrutiny.

“Do you want him to reign in Robert Mueller,” asked Phillip, referring to the special counsel charged with investigating Russia’s interference in the 2016 election.

“What a stupid question that is," Trump replied. "What a stupid question. But I watch you a lot, you ask a lot of stupid questions.”

He reacted similarly to a question posed at Wednesday’s press conference by PBS White House reporter Yamiche Alcindor.

Alcindor had asked him about critics who say Trump and his Republican allies are “seen as supporting white nationalists” in their rhetoric.

Trump said he doubted that and then called the question “racist.”

“Excuse me. But to say that — what you said is so insulting to me. It's a very terrible thing that you said,” he said.

Trump tangled with other reporters this week including CNN’s Jim Acosta, who is Cuban, and NBC’s Peter Alexander, who is white. But some singled out his interactions with the black reporters.

“And Trump today attacked another black reporter, Abby Phillip,” tweeted Keith Boykin, a liberal author and CNN commentator and author.

Noting Trump’s remarks about Ryan and Philip, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution tweeted, “Besides being Trump targets, what do they have in common?”

E.J. Dionne, a columnist for the Washington Post, said Friday on Twitter, “[H]ow about conservatives condemning #Trump's racist attacks on @AprilDRyan and @Yamiche Alcindor?”

The Republicans are not committing atrocities against innocent people.

I'm always horrified when I see people deny atrocities. It really is shameful behavior.

The Republicans are not committing atrocities against innocent people. That's an important difference between Republicans and Democrats.

President Donald Trump has defended his new acting attorney general, Matthew Whitaker, as opponents call for his recusal from the Russia investigation.

Mr Whitaker was named to replace former attorney general, Jeff Sessions, who was fired by Mr Trump on Wednesday.

Controversy arose over Mr Whitaker's previous comments about ending the probe into alleged Russian meddling in favour of Mr Trump's election in 2016.

As the top law enforcement official, Mr Whitaker could take over the inquiry.

Special Counsel Robert Mueller is investigating alleged collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia on behalf of the Department of Justice.

Currently, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein is overseeing Mr Mueller's investigation - a role he took on when Mr Sessions recused himself.

Critics have pointed to some of Mr Whitaker's remarks on CNN last year on curtailing Mr Mueller's investigation as reason to remove him from any oversight role.

Speaking to reporters on Friday, Mr Trump called Mr Whitaker a "very well respected man" whose selection "was greeted with raves", though he made sure to distance himself from his new appointee.

"I don't know Matt Whitaker," Mr Trump said while fielding questions of how he might influence the Russia investigation.

But the president has probably interacted with Mr Whitaker numerous times, US media pointed out, as he was Jeff Sessions' chief of staff.

"Making comments on shows doesn't mean you're unqualified," Mr Trump added. "You didn't have any problems with him when he worked for Sessions."