Conservative Blogger
Monday, January 29, 2018
Democrat hits Pelosi over 'make America white again' comment
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| House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi addresses the media last week. She has been criticized over her recent comment on immigration. |
Sen Joe Manchin, D-WVa., criticized House Minority
Leader Nancy Pelosi for her response to President Trump’s immigration
plan that she called a blue print to “make America white again.”
Trump’s proposal would offer a path
to citizenship for 1.8 million so-called “Deamers.” He would insist on
$25 billion in funding for a border wall and security. The proposal also
called for a crackdown on chain migration and the diversity visa
lottery program.
Pelosi wrote in a statement on Friday that the 50
percent cut to legal immigration and the “recent announcements to end
Temporary Protected Status for Central Americans and Haitians are both
part of the same cruel agenda. They are part of the Trump
administration’s unmistakable campaign to make America white again.”She tweeted the comment.
Manchin, who was on CNN’s ‘State of the Union,’ said we “don’t need that type of rhetoric on either side, from Nancy, (Speaker) Paul Ryan or anybody else.”
Reuters reported that Manchin is a leader of a bipartisan Senate group that is working on an immigration solution.
The Senate's top Democrat, Chuck Schumer of New York, dismissed Trump’s plan Friday as a "wish list" for hard-liners. He acknowledged the bipartisan common ground on protections for the immigrants now shielded by the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA.
But he accused Trump of using them as "a tool to tear apart our legal immigration system and adopt the wish list that anti-immigration hardliners have advocated for years."
John Kerry makes fun of Trump's weight, asks for 'girth certificate'
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| Look who's Talking! |
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| Lurch :-) |
Former Secretary of State John Kerry could not
resist poking fun at President Trump’s weight during a speech Saturday
in Washington.
The Hill reported
that Kerry, who was defeated by President George W. Bush in 2004, was
giving a speech at the Alfalfa Club dinner and brought up Trump’s recent
medical exam that listed the president's weight at 239 pounds.
Kerry, 74, said, “Personally, I just won’t believe him until he produces his long-form girth certificate.”Kerry’s speechwriter apparently keeps a close eye on social media because the joke went viral shortly after Trump’s examination results were released. Sports Illustrated compiled a list of athletes who weigh the same as Trump to make a comparison.
Dr. Ronny Jackson, the president’s physician, said in a statement earlier this month that Trump’s exam went “exceptionally well.” Trump, 71, stands at 6’3 and weighed 239. Trump is known to enjoy fast food and steaks.
The “girther” comment is a response to Trump’s push to obtain Obama’s birth certificate, which became known as the “birther” movement. In 2016, Trump said Obama was born in the U.S. “period.”
Trump blamed the Clinton campaign in 2008 for starting the controversy.
Republicans weigh proposals to protect Mueller from firing
Republicans on the Hill appear to be divided on
whether or not to agree on legislation that would help protect Special
Counsel Robert Mueller from being fired by President Trump.
There have been conversations about protecting Mueller in the past, but last week’s report
by The New York Times, claiming that Trump wanted to fire the
investigator last summer, brought new attention to the matter, even
though Trump denied the report and called it “fake news.”
“I have got legislation protecting Mr. Mueller,” Sen
Lindsey Graham told ABC’s “This Week with George Stephanopoulos” on
Sunday. “I’ll be glad to pass it tomorrow.”The Washington Post reported that Graham has a bi-partisan proposal—joined by Sen. Cory Booker—that calls for a panel to approve any call to fire Mueller.
“Everybody in the White House knows it would be the end of President Trump’s presidency if he fired Mueller.”
The report said House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R.-Calif., turned down calls to pass such a proposal, claiming that there is no need for the safeguard. He said Trump and his team “have fully cooperated” with Mueller’s investigation into possible Russian collusion with Trump’s staff.
The Times reported last week that Trump ordered for Mueller’s firing in June and only backed down after his White House counsel refused to carry out the instruction and threatened to resign.
Trump was asked about the report in Davos, where he was participating in the World Economic Forum, and denied the report and called it “typical” of the paper to run the report.
Sen. Chuck Schumer, D.- N.Y., said that the report calls for Republicans in Congress to act, The New York Times reported.
“The most important thing Congress can do right now is to ensure that Special Counsel Mueller’s investigation continues uninterrupted and unimpeded,” he said.
Schumer was not joined by all of his fellow Senate Democrats. Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., said it would be “premature for us to go down that road. Manchin, The Post pointed out, is up for re-election this year in a state where Trump easily won.
Hillary Clinton makes Grammys cameo to mock Trump by reading 'Fire and Fury'
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| Idiot |
Hillary Clinton surprised viewers by making an
appearance in a pre-taped segment for the 60th Annual Grammy Awards on
Sunday night -- and she mocked President Trump in the process.
"We know that our current president
does love winning awards and the good news he may just be the subject of
next year's winner [for Best Spoken Word Album]," host James Corden
said. "The question I've got is who'll be the narrator?"
In a pre-taped video, outspoken anti-Trump stars John
Legend and Cher then auditioned to be the narrator for Michael Wolff's
book "Fire and Fury" about Trump's White House.Snoop Dogg, DJ Khaled and Cardi B also read excerpts from the book during the fake auditions.
Finally, Clinton read from the book and Corden declared, "That's it! We've got it!"
Clinton said, "You think so? The Grammy's in the bag?"
Corden replied, "In the bag!"
The segment resulted in wild applause from the star-studded crowd. But not all were pleased. United States Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley slammed the bit. However, the harshest words came from Donald Trump Jr.
After the show, Grammys Execuitve producer Ken Ehrlich said getting Clinton to appear in the skit wasn't tough. However, he credited Corden with sealing the deal.
"She kind of took a couple of days to say 'yes,' but ultimately she saw the script, she knew what we were doing and she liked it."
Clinton recorded the segment near her home on Friday, the Grammys producer added.
He also admitted that he was aware the cameo was recieving some backlash, but said they stand by what they did.
Sunday, January 28, 2018
Illinois Democrat's retaliation case cost taxpayers $500G: report
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| Illinois gubernatorial candidate Bob Daiber, third from the right, settled a retaliation lawsuit at taxpayer expense, a newspaper reported. (John J. Kim/Chicago Tribune via Associated Press) |
Records of a 2010 retaliation lawsuit involving an
Illinois Democrat running for governor have resurfaced after he called
for passage of the Equal Rights Amendment and touted an 80 percent
female staff.
Madison County taxpayers paid nearly
$500,000 to settle the suit against Bob Daiber, who allegedly retaliated
against a former female employee by laying her off after she complained
about not being paid as much as a male coworker, the Chicago Tribune reported, citing court records.
Daiber, the Madison County Regional Office of Education
superintendent, “denied retaliating against the employee,” and said he
had tried to “work with her to find a resolution,” according to the
report.Mary Parker, a subordinate of Daiber's in the mid-2000s, had learned that male colleague with the same position was making more money than her, court records show.
The suit alleged that Parker had approached Daiber several times between 2007 and 2009 to ask for a remedy in the pay discrepancy. According to the Tribune, Daiber offered to give Parker a $4,000 raise as well as extend the job from 10 months to 12 months, both of which she rejected as unfair.
Daiber’s attorney said the male coworker had had higher qualifications and a contract that had been negotiated by the local teachers union, the Tribune reported.
Daiber later said in court he threatened Parker’s job because she had been insubordinate and not, as she claimed, for trying to negotiate a pay raise.
The jury rejected Parker’s claims of wage-based discrimination, but agreed with her claim that her position had been eliminated because she complained. A judge awarded her $432,145 to cover court costs and damages, the Tribune reported.
The verdict was appealed, but later settled for $487,500 out of fear that the cost would increase as the legal battle wore on at the expense of taxpayers.
The general primaries for 2018 Illinois gubernatorial election will take place March 20. Daiber's Democratic rivals include Kenilworth millionaire Chris Kennedy, a son of the late U.S. Sen. Robert Kennedy who has made gun control and reducing violence in Chicago a centerpiece of his platform.
'All She Wanted Was an Apology': 'Scandalous' Chronicles Paula Jones' Accusation Against Bill Clinton
Paula Jones' former attorney joined Bill Hemmer on "America's Newsroom" to reflect on the "extraordinary time" being chronicled in the Fox News Channel documentary series "Scandalous."
The seven-episode series gives a riveting, up-close look at the Clinton scandals of the 1990s.
The second episode, which airs Sunday night at 8:00pm ET, follows Jones' sexual harassment lawsuit against former President Bill Clinton and the high-stakes political drama that ensued.
Jones alleged that then-Arkansas Gov. Clinton propositioned her and exposed himself at a conference in Little Rock in 1991. He denied the allegation.
"She was a woman that really just wanted to have her good name cleared. All she wanted was an apology," said Joseph Cammarata, who represented Jones.
When that didn't happen, they filed a lawsuit, eventually reaching a $850,000 settlement with Clinton in 1999.
"It was an extraordinary time," Cammarata said. "It was amazing to have a case that attracted so much attention, nationally and internationally. It was a very, very good learning experience for me professionally. It was quite an important case to be on, and I'm glad I was on it."
He added Jones was a "wonderful client" who just wanted to have her reputation restored.
Tune in to "Scandalous" Sunday night at 8:00pm ET on Fox News Channel, and revisit last week's episode on the Whitewater scandal.
Justice Ginsburg to skip State of the Union, signals she has no plans to retire
Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg will not be attending President Donald Trump's State of the Union address on Tuesday.
Instead, she will be at Roger Williams University in Rhode Island, for a talk that was announced in August, the Providence Journal reported.
Ginsburg, 84, also has sent signals recently that she intends to keep her seat on the bench for years to come.When asked how long she intends to serve, she said she will stay as long as she can go “full steam,” drawing inspiration from her model, Justice John Paul Stevens, who stepped down in 2010 at age 90.
This year marks the 25th anniversary of Ginsburg's nomination by President Bill Clinton and her confirmation as the second woman on the court -- following former Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, who was nominated by President Ronald Reagan in 1981.
“She is so spry,” said friend Ann Claire Williams, a newly retired federal appeals court judge, adding that Ginsburg’s mind is also sharp and her recall on cases “extraordinary.”
Ginsburg also did not attend last year’s presidential address, after attending to all eight of former President Barack Obama’s addresses, the Hill reported. Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas also didn’t attend President Trump’s address last year.
Other justices have skipped out on the annual address, so the practice is not abnormal, the report said.
Anti-Trump celebs plan 'People's State of the Union'
Democrats are not interested in Border Safety & Security or in the
funding and rebuilding of our Military. They are only interested in
Obstruction!
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| They do not care if America is great again. |
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| They do not care if America is great again.
Actor Mark Ruffalo, center, is among
the celebrities participating in an evening of speeches and music in
New York City on Monday, Jan. 29, 2018, a day before President Trump's
State of the Union address.
(Associated Press)
A cabal of Hollywood elites,
progressive groups and social activists are planning a “People’s State
of the Union” as a “public alternative” on the eve of President Donald
Trump’s first State of the Union address.
Notable participants in Monday's
scheduled event in New York City include filmmaker Michael Moore, actors
Mark Ruffalo, Alyssa Milano, Rosie Perez and Whoopi Goldberg.
They'll congregate at the Town Hall in Manhattan, the
venue where suffragists met in the 1920s. Singer Andra Day and rapper
Common will be performing the song, “Stand Up for Something,” from the
biopic film "Marshall," about the late Supreme Court Justice Thurgood
Marshall.Tickets were still available Saturday at $47 each. The event, coordinated by unions, organizers of the Women’s March and Planned Parenthood, is being marketed as a celebration of the “resistance,” closer to “the people’s point of view,” USA Today reported. Ruffalo, an inveterate progressive and vocal critic of President Trump, told People magazine, “I think it’s important because we have a president who has a difficult time with the truth, who has a radical, divisive agenda, and spends an enormous amount of time focusing on the negative and hopelessness and despair.” Monday’s event also will serve as a platform for the launch of "We Stand United," the lead organizing group of the "People’s State of the Union." The group’s campaign director, Julia Walsh, said, “We’re all going to work together across all different movements to make sure that we win back Congress in 2018 and hold this president in check.” |
Saturday, January 27, 2018
Pres. Trump Backs Long-Term ‘Strong Dollar’ Policy
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| Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin showing his wife, Louise Linton, a sheet of new $1 bills, the first currency notes bearing his and US Treasurer Jovita Carranza’s signatures. |
The U.S. dollar bounces back after a two day slide as President Trump says he backs the “strong dollar” policy.
The president said he supports a longer-term strength of the dollar against its major competitors.
He added, Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin’s “weaker dollar” comments have been misunderstood, suggesting there’s no disagreements within the administration over the economic policy.
The president made his remarks in an interview at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
Previously, Secretary Mnuchin said short-term dollar weakness will boost U.S. economy.
“We are doing so well, our country is becoming so economically strong again, and strong in other ways too, by the way, that the dollar is going to get stronger and stronger, and ultimately I would wanna’ see a strong dollar,” said President Trump.
Following the president’s comment, the dollar bounced-back from its three year slide against the Euro.
Ex-chairman of Missouri Democratic Party pleads guilty in corruption case
A former Democratic Party chairman and prosecutor
in Missouri was convicted of wire fraud Friday after admitting he
exploited campaign funds for personal use, such as trips to California's
wine country and Las Vegas.
The Kansas City Star
reported that Mike Sanders pleaded guilty to the federal corruption
charge, along with his aide and chief of staff, Calvin Williford, who
also pleaded guilty to the same charge at a separate hearing that same
day.
Williford also testified that the pair had a scheme
involving a printing company that would create phone invoices and
distribute the money to Williford and other workers on Sanders’
campaigns to bypass the Missouri Ethics Commission.Sanders admitted to converting roughly $62,000 in campaign funds for personal use through a kickback scheme using an old high school friend named Steve Hill.
Hill told the Star in December that Sanders delivered checks to him for campaign work that he never performed, and would keep 10 percent while Sanders pocketed the rest for what he said was political purposes. Authorities later found that not to be the complete story, according to the paper.
For example, in one instance Sanders’ used $4,550 in kickback money he obtained from Hill in 2012 to pay his federal taxes from 2010, the paper reported.
Sanders, who served as the chairman of the Missouri Democratic Party from 2010 to 2013, cut off the checks in late 2013 after Hill told him the FBI was investigating, the paper reported. He also worked as a Jackson County prosecutor starting in 2002, prior to becoming county executive in 2007.
Williford and two other unidentified conspirators were also tied to the kickback scheme.
Both Williford and Sanders, who were released on signature bonds pending sentencing, could face up to five years in prison, as well as a fine of up to $250,000, according to the paper.
French Oil Company CEO Tells Pres. Trump Company Will Invest More Due to Tax Reform
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| U.S. President Donald Trump, addresses a plenary session during the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum, WEF, in Davos, Switzerland, Friday, Jan. 26, 2018. (Laurent Gillieron/Keystone via AP) |
One of the world’s biggest oil companies is making a big investment in the U.S. in response to the new tax law.
French oil giant Total made the announcement on Thursday at the World Economic Forum.
The company’s CEO told President Trump he is working on a big project in the Gulf of Mexico, and is investing two billion dollars into the renewable energy sector.
Total is the world’s fourth largest oil company and already invests around one billion dollars into the U.S. each year.❄️🏔 Happy to represent French companies at the #Davos diner hosted by President @realDonaldTrump. It was very interesting and casual. That’s what Davos is for: share ideas, exchange views, work on issues and make things go forward. @Total #WEF18 #WEF pic.twitter.com/HmKYUYrOBn— Patrick Pouyanné (@PPouyanne) January 25, 2018
This comes as numbers show the U.S. economy ending 2017 on a high note, growing 2.6 percent in the fourth quarter.
The economy grew a total of 2.3 percent last year, well ahead of the 1.5 percent growth in 2016.
Economists say President Trump’s newly passed tax law will continue to create more jobs and boost economic growth through the end of this year.
Self-proclaimed feminist stars keep attacking Sarah Sanders for her looks
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| Iconic singer Cher made fun of White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders' fashion choices on Twitter comparing Sanders to a "sister wife." Defenders were quick to call Cher out, claiming she was hypocritical for bullying another woman. |
Hollywood women have banded together like never
before on issues including pay inequality and sexual harassment,
declaring that women all over the world need to stick together and be
supportive of one another. But experts say several stars aren't
practicing what they preach when it comes to Donald Trump's press
secretary, Sarah Sanders.
Self-proclaimed activist Chelsea
Handler wrote in an op-ed for Thrive in Dec. 2016: "Let's stop it with
the dialogue about how women look or what they wear, or if they've
gained or lost weight. We are more guilty of this with each other than
most men are."
Cher has often spoken out about the sexualization of women, declaring at the Women's March on Jan. 20 that she "believe[s] in this movement."But both stars recently attacked Sanders solely over her looks.
Cher tweeted to Sanders on Tuesday to "stop dressing like a sister wife." After fans slammed Cher for the hurtful tweet, she followed up by admitting it was "kinda mean" but "so funny."
Handler has gone even further than Cher by mocking Sanders' "summer whore lipstick" and calling her a "harlot" on her Netflix show. Comedian Fortune Feimster even wore exaggerated makeup to play Sanders for a skit on Handler's now-defunct series.
Penny Nance, President and CEO of Concerned Women for America, told Fox News Cher's recent insults proves Hollywood feminists don't play by their own rules when it comes to conservative women.
"Cher's attack on Sarah is yet another example of how liberal women in all types of powerful positions stand up for only those women who adhere to their ideology," Nance told Fox News. "If you're a conservative woman, prepare to be thrown out of the feminist tent. Their message is that some women will be supported. That some women will be empowered. That some women will [be] trusted. But they don't support all women and especially those of us who support life."
Dan Gainor, vice president of business and culture at the Media Research Center, echoed Nance's comments adding that the recent attacks on Sanders' looks are "especially offensive.""They don't just attack her for being conservative. They dare to treat her as if she's not a woman"
"They don't just attack her for being conservative. They dare to treat her as if she's not a woman. They blast her clothes and say she dresses like a 'sister wife,'" Gainor said. "...Chelsea Handler called her a 'harlot' with 'summer whore lipstick.' And these are women doing this. Imagine the media outrage if conservatives dared to treat a liberal woman with such disgust."
He added, "Liberals hate anyone who doesn't side with them."
"An awful lot of women in America look more like Sarah Sanders than the Hollywood starlets who are bashing Trump and his supporters on all the award shows," Pinsker explained. "If you want to disagree with Ms. Sanders' political positions, that's perfectly legitimate, but mocking her for being normal-looking isn't exactly empowering to women."
Friday, January 26, 2018
FBI officials worried about being too tough on Hillary Clinton during email investigation, texts show
FBI officials Peter Strzok and Lisa Page were
concerned about being too tough on Democratic presidential candidate
Hillary Clinton during the bureau’s investigation into her email
practices because she might hold it against them as president, text
messages released on Thursday indicated.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman
Chuck Grassley released new messages between bureau officials Page and
Strzok, who were having an affair and exchanged more than 50,000 texts with each other during the election.
“One more thing: she might be our next president,” Page
texted Strzok on Feb. 25, 2016, in the midst of the presidential
campaign, in reference to Clinton.
Strzok replied that he “agreed” and he had relayed their discussion with someone named “Bill.”
Strzok not only worked on the Clinton case, but was assigned to the special counsel’s probe into Russia and the Trump campaign after a number of anti-Trump texts were discovered on his phone. Page also briefly worked on the special counsel investigation.
DOJ RECOVERS MISSING TEXT MESSAGES BETWEEN ANTI-TRUMP FBI AGENTS STRZOK AND PAGE
Grassley, an Iowa Republican, said Thursday in a letter to FBI Director Christopher Wray that the exchange, among others, concerned him.
“The text messages that were provided raise serious concerns about the impartiality of senior leadership running both the Clinton and Trump investigations,” Grassley said.
“It's clear that [Strzok and Page] did not want her charged,” Rep. Trey Gowdy, a member of the House Intelligence Committee, told “Tucker Carlson Tonight.” He added, “They wanted her to be the president of the United States.”
Republicans, arguing some top officials at the FBI are politically biased against Trump, have seized on the texts, including one where Strzok and Page spoke of a “secret society” within the Department of Justice and the FBI and Strzok spoke of an “insurance policy” against a Trump win.
“The fix was in even before they interviewed the target of the investigation,” Gowdy, R-S.C., said.
New texts released by Grassley on Thursday also indicated that FBI officials believed FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe should be recused from the Clinton investigation because of his family’s ties to Virginia Democratic Gov. Terry McAuliffe, who is close with the Clintons.
In an October 28, 2016 text exchange, Page told Strzok that then- FBI Chief of Staff James Rybicki thought McCabe should not have participated in the probe.
“Rybicki just called to check in,” she wrote. “He very clearly 100% believes that Andy should be recused because of the ‘perception.’”
“God,” Strzok replied.
McCabe eventually recused himself from the Clinton probe one week before the election.
“If McCabe eventually recused himself one week before the election, why did he not do so sooner?” Grassley asked Wray in the letter.
Grassley also told Wray he was concerned that Page and Strzok were transmitting government records on personal systems inappropriately. In a June 2017 message, Strzok wrote of typing a document on a “home computer.”
The senator said Page and Strzok also referenced other conversations “via iMessage, presumably on their personal Apple devices.”
“It appears that Strzok and Page transmitted federal records pertaining to the Clinton investigation on private, non-government services,” Grassley said. “It is important to determine whether their own similar conduct was a factor in not focusing on and developing evidence of similar violations by Secretary Clinton and her aides.”
The new messages surfaced the same day the Justice Department’s inspector general said he recovered a number of missing text messages between Strzok and Page.
Fox News has learned from U.S. government officials that the inspector general recovered the texts by taking possession of "at least four" phones belonging to Strzok and Page.
Congressional Black Caucus tried to bury 2005 Obama-Farrakhan photo, photographer says
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Obama with Farrakhan in 2005: The hidden pic |
Photojournalist Askia Muhammad released a photo
this week showing former President Barack Obama and the controversial
Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan from Obama's years as a state
senator -- and the photographer revealed Thursday that the Congressional
Black Caucus had pressured him for more than a decade to keep it
hidden.
Muhammad told the Trice Edney News
Wire last week that he believed that the image “absolutely would have
made a difference” in the 2008 presidential campaign had it been made
public.
The image taken in 2005 at a Congressional Black Caucus
meeting on Capitol Hill showed then-Senator Obama, a young Democrat
from Illinois, smiling side-by-side with Farrakhan.Muhammad told Fox News’ Tucker Carlson that the same day he snapped the photo, the CBC contacted him.
“A staff member from the black caucus called me and said ‘we have to have the picture back,’ and I was kind of taken aback. And we talked a couple of times on the phone after that, and I said ‘Okay, I will give the picture back to Minister Farrakhan’s chief of staff,’” he said on “Tucker Carlson Tonight.”
He added that after he gave the original copy to Farrakhan’s staff, he kept his own copy but remained quiet.
“I gave the original disk to him and in a sense swore myself to secrecy because I had quietly made a copy for myself,” Muhammad said. “It’s my picture, it’s my art, and it’s my intellectual property. I owned it and I wanted to keep it.”
He said the CBC called him while he was still on Capitol Hill and he believed that it was because “they sensed the future.”
“Minister Farrakhan and his reputation would hurt someone trying to win acceptance in the broad cross-section,” he said, referring to the possibility at the time that the young senator was being considered for a presidential run.
Muhammad also said that Obama had, at some point, people from the Nation of Islam working on his staff and in his offices.
“In fact he had people from the Nation of Islam working on his staff and in his office in the Chicago, his Senate staff. The members of the Nation of Islam helped him in his Senate campaign and on the South Side of Chicago.”
The Congressional Black Caucus did not immediately reply to Fox News’ request for a comment.
Trump apologizes for Britain First retweets in interview, host says
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| President Trump attends a dinner with business leaders and heads of state during the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. (Reuters) |
President Donald Trump apologized for retweeting content from a far-right group called Britain First, according to Piers Morgan.
Morgan, the former CNN talk show host
who conducted the interview for the U.K. television channel ITV, posted
a photo Friday of their meeting in Davos, Switzerland, and said Trump
claimed he did not know about Britain First.
“I don’t want to be involved with these people,” Trump
told Morgan, according to the host’s tweet. “If you’re telling me
they’re horrible racist people. I certainly apologize.”The furor erupted after Trump, who has almost 48 million Twitter followers, in November retweeted three anti-Muslim videos posted by a leader of Britain First. The tiny group regularly posts inflammatory videos purporting to show Muslims engaged in acts of violence, but without providing context or supporting information.
British Prime Minister Theresa May and Trump traded criticism at the time over the retweets and British lawmakers labeled the U.S. leader a hate peddler.
Trump told Morgan that he is “often the least racist person that anybody is going to meet. Certainly I wasn’t endorsing anybody.”
The full interview with Trump is scheduled to air Sunday on ITV.
Trump was talked out of firing Mueller last June, source says
President Trump told top officials this past June
that he wanted to fire special counsel Robert Mueller, but was talked
out of doing so by White House counsel Don McGahn and other aides, a
source close to the White House told Fox News late Thursday.
The source could neither confirm nor deny a New York Times report :-) that Trump ordered Mueller's dismissal, but backed down when McGahn threatened to resign instead.
However, the source added that then-White House chief
of staff Reince Priebus and chief strategist Steven Bannon believed last
summer that Trump would fire Mueller and were very worried about the
political fallout.TRUMP OPEN TO TALKING TO MUELLER
"They said, 'This is going to blow up,'" the source recounted to Fox.
White House lawyer Ty Cobb declined to comment on either the source's account or the New York Times report "out of respect for the Office of the Special Counsel and its process."
According to the Times report, which cited "four people told of the matter," Trump claimed that Mueller had three conflicts of interest that disqualified him from overseeing the investigation into alleged collusion between the Trump campaign and Russian officials.
Those conflicts included the fact that Mueller had been interviewed to replace the fired James Comey as FBI Director the day before he was appointed special counsel in May. Another alleged conflict Trump cited was that Mueller had once resigned his membership at Trump National Golf Club in northern Virginia in a dispute over fees.
The Times also reported that McGahn told White House officials that Trump would not carry out Mueller's firing on his own.
The Times also reported that Trump considered firing Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and elevating Associate Attorney General Rachel Brand to oversee Mueller's investigation. The report did not say what Trump's rationale for dismissing Rosenstein would be.
TRUMP SETS RED LINE FOR MUELLER ON RUSSIA PROBE, WARNS HE'LL EXPOSE 'CONFLICTS'
The response from Democrats was nearly immediate. Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., vice chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, said that if the report in The Times is true, Trump has crossed a "red line."
"Any attempt to remove the Special Counsel, pardon key witnesses or otherwise interfere in the investigation would be a gross abuse of power, and all members of Congress, from both parties, have a responsibility to our Constitution and to our country to make that clear immediately," Warner said.
Attorney General Jeff Sessions recused himself from the Russia investigation in early March after acknowledging that he had two previously undisclosed encounters with the Russian ambassador during Trump's 2016 presidential campaign.
On Wednesday, Trump told reporters that "I'd love to" talk to Mueller as part of the investigation, subject to his lawyers' approval. The president has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing and told reporters that there was "no collusion whatsoever" and "no obstruction whatsoever."
In a July interview with The New York Times, Trump warned Mueller against expanding the special counsel investigation to his family's financial affairs.
"I think that's a violation. Look, this is about Russia," said Trump, who added that Mueller had "many other conflicts" in addition to his interview to run the FBI.
Fox News' Samuel Chamberlain contributed to this report, along with The Associated Press.
Ed Henry currently serves as FOX News Channel’s (FNC) chief national correspondent. He joined the network in June 2011.
Thursday, January 25, 2018
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