President Trump is in Washington. He has no publicly scheduled events.
As of now, I am in control here, in the White House
Hillary: Tulsi Gabbard to be Putin’s Candidate in 2020
This bitter woman. She will never let it go. And the stuff she says just helps blow up the Democrats.
According to the Washington Examiner:
Hillary Clinton said that Rep. Tulsi Gabbard is being groomed by Moscow to run as a third-party spoiler candidate in 2020 to help President Trump win reelection.
The former secretary of state pushed the theory on the Campaign HQ podcast hosted by David Plouffe, President Barack Obama’s campaign manager in 2008.
Plouffe and Clinton discussed hurdles the Democratic nominee would face and compared the 2020 race to Clinton’s loss to Trump in 2016. Plouffe asked Clinton about the part third-party candidates, such as Jill Stein of the Green Party, played in 2016, allowing Trump to secure key states.
“They are also going to do third party again,” Clinton said. “I’m not making any predictions, but I think they’ve got their eye on somebody who is currently in the Democratic primary and are grooming her to be the third-party candidate,” Clinton said, referring to Gabbard, without mentioning the Hawaii representative by name.
“She is a favorite of the Russians. They have a bunch of sites and bots and other ways of supporting her so far. That’s assuming Jill Stein will give it up, which she might not because she is also a Russian asset.
“They know they can’t win without a third-party candidate, a
Trump Schedule || Friday, October 18, 2019
This is What Happens When You Don’t Have an Impeachment War Room
White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney went out to the press room today and admitted what the White House has been denying, that there was any “quid pro quo” involved in withholding funding for Ukraine.
He gave Democrats part of what they wanted, an admission that Trump was keeping money back in exchange for Ukraine investigating whether it has the DNC server that was hacked. Later he tried to walk it back. Sorry, too late.
The big prize would be an admission that the money was withheld to get Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden. But Mulvaney denied that was the case.
What Mulvaney admitted strikes me as something everyone already knew, which is evidenced by the transcript of Trump’s phone call with the Ukrainian President Zelensky. Trump brings up money, then he brings up the server.
Is that so bad? He’s not probing a political opponent. He’s trying to get to the bottom of what happened in 2008, which benefits him mildly in that it takes away the notion that he was colluding with Russia. But that already has been disproven, or at least proven unprovable. And as Trump suggested in the call, there were other problems with giving Ukraine aid, including the need to investigate corruption in Ukraine and the failure of other European nations to pony up any money. I think Trump is just obsessed with the server and the possibility it was Ukraine, and not Russia, that was behind the hacking.
It was Zelensky who brought up Biden in the call, not Trump.
But now Trump’s problem and his public relations situation has worsened. The White House has proudly touted its lack of a “war room,” an organized effort to combat impeachment. They say Trump can do it alone, and no doubt Trump thinks so too.
I covered the Bill Clinton impeachment. It was the incredible organization of the White House effort, including a consistent message, coordination with Congress and outside allies, and extraordinary game planning, that saved him. All run through a “war room.”
If Trump had allowed this, Mulvaney would never have wandered off the reservation. Now there is alarm both in the White House and among Republicans on Capitol Hill.
I still think it will take more for the Senate to convict Trump after he is impeached by the House, which he will be. But after this, it takes a little less.
Video || Remy: Horrifying Tweets Resurface!
Mulvaney Says With a Straight Face that Trump Hotel Chosen for G7 on the Merits
White House acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney told reporters Thursday that President Trump has decided to hold the 2020 G7 meeting at the Trump National Doral Miami.
Incredibly, he appeared to maintain a straight face when saying the White House had selected the Doral because it was the best place to hold the conference and that the place would not earn a profit.
This is such sad and obvious self-dealing. Pretty gross, and pathetic of them to try to even defend it. And so unnecessary, to give Democrats something to pound Trump over just to promote this hotel.
According to the Washington Examiner:
“They are doing this at cost … it will be dramatically cheaper for us to do it at Doral,” Mulvaney said.
Mulvaney said the event would not be a free marketing opportunity for Trump, arguing “Donald Trump’s brand is probably strong enough as it is.”
The G-7 is comprised of seven economically powerful democracies and rotates annual summits among members, including Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and the United Kingdom.
The last U.S. summit was hosted in 2012 by then-President Barack Obama at the presidential retreat in Camp David, Maryland. In 2004, George W. Bush presided over a summit on Sea Island, Georgia.
Mulvaney said the Trump-owned property was considered after Trump recommended it to him, but that upon review of a dozen site options, “Doral was by far and away far and away the best physical facility.”
White House Admits Ukraine Quid Pro Quo, But Not Over Biden
According to the Washington Examiner:
Acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney admitted Thursday that President Trump withheld military aid to Ukraine in part because the president wanted the country to investigate a debunked conspiracy theory about the hack of the Democratic National Committee’s servers.
“As vocal as the Europeans are about supporting Ukraine, they are really, really stingy when it comes to lethal aid. And they weren’t helping Ukraine and that’s still to this day are not. And the president did not like that … So those are the driving factors,” Mulvaney said. “Did he also mention to me in the past the corruption related to the DNC server? Absolutely. No question about that. But that’s it, and that’s why we held up the money.”
Trump directly referred to a “favor” he wanted from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in the July 25 conversation that is the subject of a whistleblower complaint, but it apparently related to the 2016 election, not Joe Biden or his son, Hunter. According to the transcript, Trump asked Zelensky to look into cybersecurity company CrowdStrike’s conclusion that Russia hacked the DNC in 2016.
Jonathan Karl of ABC News followed up with Mulvaney today, asking, “So the demand for an investigation into the Democrats was part of the reason that he ordered to withhold funding to Ukraine?”
Mulvaney defended Trump’s decision to withhold the funding. “The look back to what happened in 2016 certainly was part of the things that he was worried about in corruption with that nation, and that is absolutely appropriate,” he said.
Trump Schedule || Thursday, October 17, 2019
10:30 am || Departs White House
12:45 pm CT || Arrives Fort Worth, Texas
1:45 pm CT || Holds two fundraisers; Fort Worth
3:40 pm CT || Departs Fort Worth
4:00 pm CT || Arrives Alvarado, Texas
4:20 pm CT || Tours Louis Vuitton Workshop – Rochambeau; Alvarado
4:45 pm CT || Delivers remarks at and participates in the ribbon cutting at the Louis Vuitton Workshop – Rochambeau Opening; Alvarado
5:50 pm CT || Departs Alvarado
6:15 pm CT || Arrives Dallas, Texas
7:05 pm CT || Delivers remarks at Keep America Great Rally; Dallas
8:35 pm CT || Departs Dallas
12:35 pm || Arrives White House
All times Eastern except as noted
Schiff Tried To Get Volker to Give Him the Answer He Wanted
This is why you should not impeach a president in secret. Look at these tactics. With a less strong-spited witness, this kinds of questioning, which one expects on a police state, would not occur. According to Byron York in the Washington Examiner: In a secret interview, Rep. Adam Schiff, leader of the House Democratic effort… Continue Reading
U.S. Responded to Attack on Saudi Oilfield with Secret Cyber Op Against Iran
It’s just the opposite of how President Trump gets portrayed, you know? People figured he’d be a bloodthirsty warmonger. But it turns out he’s been very measured, if direct, in some of his responses to world events. He genuinely sees military operations as a last resort. Turns out that while many were demanding we blow… Continue Reading
Trump Schedule || Wednesday, October 16, 2019
Wednesday, October 16, 2019 10:25 am || Holds a joint press conference with the Italian president; East RoomNoon || Lunch with Vice President Pence12:45 pm || Lunch with Secretary of State Pompeo3:00 pm || Meets with the congressional leadership; Cabinet Room6:30 pm || Delivers remarks at a reception in honor of Italy; East Room All times Eastern Facebook Twitter Reddit… Continue Reading