Monday, May 15, 2017

Donald Trump may not be bluffing about a recording of his discussion with James Comey, because he has a history of recording such conversations.

Donald Trump and James Comey.
Courtesy of WaPo: 

Throughout Donald Trump’s business career, some executives who came to work for him were taken aside by colleagues and warned to assume that their discussions with the boss were being recorded. 

“There was never any sense with Donald of the phone being used for private conversation,” said John O’Donnell, who was president of the Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino in the 1980s. 

For O’Donnell and others who have had regular dealings with Trump through the years, there was something viscerally real about the threat implied by the president’s tweet Friday morning warning that fired FBI director James B. Comey “better hope that there are no ‘tapes’ of our conversations before he starts leaking to the press!” 

“Talking on the phone with Donald was a public experience,” said O’Donnell, author of a book about his former boss, “Trumped: The Inside Story of the Real Donald Trump.” “You never knew who else was listening.”

Here's more from Raw Story:  

According to ex-Trump employees who spoke to the Wall Street Journal, President Donald Trump has historically recorded business calls — an accusation that makes the existence of the so-called “Comey tapes” seem more likely. 

“He recorded virtually everything in the office,” a former Trump Organization official told the Journal. “I know many of my conversations when I called him were recorded before and after I was working there.” 

While some sources who spoke to the Journal claimed they never saw Trump recording, former business rival named William Weidner said that he knew Trump recorded him because conversations the two had over the phone were presented in court during a legal dispute with Weidner’s former casino employer. 

New York realtors told the Journal that recording calls is “uncommon but not unheard of in the world of high-stakes New York real estate”. In New York and Washington, D.C., it’s legal to record calls as long as one party is aware — often, the party doing the recording.

And remember this from Buzzfeed:  

At Mar-a-Lago, the Palm Beach resort he runs as a club for paying guests and celebrities, Donald Trump had a telephone console installed in his bedroom that acted like a switchboard, connecting to every phone extension on the estate, according to six former workers. Several of them said he used that console to eavesdrop on calls involving staff.

BuzzFeed News spoke with six former employees familiar with the phone system at the estate. 

Four of them — speaking on condition of anonymity because they signed nondisclosure agreements — said that Trump listened in on phone calls at the club during the mid-2000s. They did not know if he eavesdropped more recently. 

They said he listened in on calls between club employees or, in some cases, between staff and guests. None of them knew of Trump eavesdropping on guests or members talking on private calls with people who were not employees of Mar-a-Lago. They also said that Trump could eavesdrop only on calls made on the club’s landlines and not on calls made from guests' cell phones. 

Each of these four sources said they personally saw the telephone console, which some referred to as a switchboard, in Trump’s bedroom. 

So does any of this prove that Trump recorded his conversation with Comey?

No, not quite.

However it does strongly suggest that he would be more than likely to have done so.

And if he did, he may live to regret that decision,

Courtesy of WaPo: 

Lawmakers in both parties said Sunday that President Trump will need to hand over any recordings of conversations in the White House if such a taping system does exist.

Well I for one certainly hope that a recording of that conversation DOES exist, because I would like to hear it. AND if one does exist, that means others exist, and I think we would ALL like to hear those as well. 

34 comments:

  1. Anonymous7:03 AM

    Trump is a NY mobster and filthy pig. He will be impeached and charged with money laundering and crimes beyond imagination. He is a LIAR.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous8:14 AM

      ON 5TH Ave.>"I could 'shoot somebody and I wouldn't lose voters"
      That was his initiation dare INTO the mob.
      He DID IT ALREADY and got away with it......

      Delete
    2. O/T but very good news: supreme-court-refuses-to-review-north-carolina-voter-id-law

      In its double-negative court-speak, this decision to to hear case, DOES strike down voter suppression, but adds, in a very mealy-mouthed way, "...that the court’s refusal to hear the case isn’t a judgment on its merits."

      And these have merit? The law required voters to present an approved form [only] of photo identification before casting a valid ballot; reduced the early voting period from 17 to 10 days; eliminated out-of-precinct voting; eliminated same-day registration and voting; and eliminated preregistration by 16-year-olds.

      http://thehill.com/homenews/333401-supreme-court-refuses-to-review-north-carolina-voter-id-law-report?rnd=1494856615

      Delete
    3. Anonymous8:52 AM

      Yeah probably not 7:03.

      Fantasy promoting blogs mostly devoid of rational thought and reality, like this one, probably aren't good for a persons like yourself that have difficulty parsing fact vs fiction.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous10:37 AM

      8:52am, you sure say a lot for someone with nothing to contribute.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous12:01 PM

      Lol okaaay 10:37.

      Just out of curiosity, what are "crimes beyond imagination", and what are the penalties?

      I mean, I can't even imagine what they are, because well, they are beyond imagination.

      Delete
  2. Anonymous7:21 AM

    Tapes! Golden $hower? "Kellyanne CONway used to say she needed a shower after defending Donald Trump on air."
    "“‘But first I have to take a shower because it feels so dirty to be saying what I’m saying.’ "“‘My client,'” Scarborough said. “Separating. ‘I don’t believe in this guy. He’s just my client. It’s just a paycheck.'” WHORE! who like$ tiny dick$.

    http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/morning-joe-conway-used-to-say-she-needed-shower-after-defending-trump

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous7:23 AM

    Do you really think any tapes Trump turned over wouldn't be doctored?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous8:05 AM

      Forensics can tell whether a recording is altered.

      Bird Brain

      Delete
    2. Anonymous8:55 AM

      Forensics can tell whether papers have been altered as well. No win for criminals.

      Delete
  4. Anybody else picture him as Chuck from "better Call Saul?" Sitting in a tin-foil covered room, hiding a tape recorder he can only touch with a stick?

    ReplyDelete
  5. Anonymous7:27 AM

    Of course he taped the conversation. This is how bribery, extortion and threats work. Don John is a con man and has used this tactic his entire nasty dirty life. He kids must be so proud as they go down with him.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Anonymous7:31 AM

    Trump was trying to intimidate Comey. LOYALTY? Same game,different day. This time it will backfire on him if there's a recording.

    ReplyDelete
  7. O/T
    Just tried to call MSNBC to protest the non-renewal of Lawrence O' Donnell's contract. The Last Word is the No. 2 news show right behind Rachel Maddow. Trump has been gunning for O' Donnell for years. Protest on the web site with an email as the operators are all unavailable or busy? (Huh?)
    First phase of autocracy is to discredit and dismantle the press and media.

    Lawrence is a national treasure and has valued experience inside the Beltway from his years in D.C.

    Now is not the time to be silent.
    Palin's friend Greta is nauseating enough to watch.
    Or not.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous8:47 AM

      How do you reach MSNBC other than telephone... the only contact I could find is a Help line for errors. I sent my protest on it anyway.

      Delete
  8. Anonymous7:37 AM

    Trump won't hand over anything that might incriminate him just as he's never going to release his tax returns. He thinks he can get away with everything and the GOP keeps reassuring him in this belief.
    Beaglemom

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous8:58 AM

      He must have consulted with Sarah during that visit.
      Oh sure Donny just do it until the courts say no.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous2:54 PM

      Poor Sarah is probably scrambling to try and remember how many treasonous ideas she talked about with little donnie and poopy pants during their visit.

      The GOP is going to have to decide very soon on which side they are on: the country or their party.

      Little donnie is going to find out he isn’t in trumpland any longer, he is no longer a private citizen that can do as he pleases with “employees”.

      Of course he isn’t going to hand over the tapes, they will have to get a subpoena and if they “disappear” he will be in big trouble, if they don’t exist he will be shown to be the liar that he is. He loses either way !!

      Delete
  9. Trump can't follow through on that threat. If he had tapes of every conversation with Comey it would follow he taped ALL of his conversations. Then he would have to produce them all. He can't explain why he just taped Comey, especially before he decided to "fire" him.

    Trump may be sly but he's also stupid. (Just like Sarah.) It is his stupidity, vanity and ego that will be his downfall. Considering the amount of dirt he is hiding, he was supremely stupid to run for president in the first place because there was always a possibility he would win. Now he has no privacy and his entire life, business and private, are under a microscope. Again, very Stupid.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Anonymous7:41 AM

    "[W]hen four economists who advised Trump during the campaign — Steve Forbes, Larry Kudlow, Arthur Laffer and Stephen Moore — wrote in a New York Times op-ed that “now is the time to move it forward with urgency,” someone in the White House flagged the piece for the president.

    Trump summoned staff to talk about it. His message:
    Make this the tax plan, according to one White House official present.

    The op-ed came out on a Wednesday. By Friday, Trump was telling the Associated Press, “I shouldn’t tell you this, but we’re going to be announcing, probably on Wednesday, tax reform,” startling his own aides who had not yet prepared such a plan. Sure enough, the next Wednesday Trump’s economic team was rolling out a tax plan that echoed the op-ed."the One Direction of Reaganomics—wormed their way into Trump’s brain like this."they include stories that make him FEEL better:"

    http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2017/05/15/let_s_take_a_look_at_trump_s_wildly_unhealthy_media_diet.html

    "some of Trump’s supporters, have learned to doubt his claims. So Trump and his aides have figured out a way to shore up his credibility: quoting other, more trusted public figures. You can believe what Trump is saying, the argument goes, because some independent, well-respected official has confirmed it."

    http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2017/05/the_trump_administration_s_guide_to_twisting_words.html

    ReplyDelete
  11. Anonymous8:03 AM

    http://crooksandliars.com/2017/05/rojo-trump-meant-comey-recorded-their

    "Sen. Johnson then explained he disagreed that President Trump was trying to suggest he may have recorded those conversations.

    "No, he said that Comey HAD better not have recorded it,"" saying the important thing is that a credible FBI director be appointed to replace Comey and continue the investigation into Russian collusion.

    You read that right."
    "RoJo thinks Comey had secretly had secretly recorded the conversations between he and Trump. Unfortunately, RoJo refused to explain how, if that were true, the tapes would be a threat to Comey." CRAZY double down!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Anonymous8:08 AM

    WTF is that 'pink thing' on@ dRUMPf's elbow?
    a 'dick head' thumbs up?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Probably a bit of someone's hand in the foreground.

      Look at the body posture of Trump and Comey. Trump still doesn't know how to shake hands properly. He has his left hand on Comey's shoulder and is using his right to pull Comey's arm toward him. Yank it out of the socket more like.

      Delete
  13. Anonymous8:28 AM

    45 is giving a speech for police officers and it is windy. 45 is standing without a hat and you can see that shit on his bald head waving in the wind revealing his pink head.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous8:59 AM

      I watched that and for a bit he almost seemed human.
      Then he tossed the hat like a toddler. Shake of head. IDIOT.

      Delete
  14. Anonymous8:46 AM

    Gryph, I don't know what this is about. Maybe you can figure this out?


    Column:Trump's recorded conversations with Comey...REVEALED

    http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/huppke/ct-trump-comey-russia-tapes-huppke-20170514-story.html

    ReplyDelete
  15. Anonymous9:25 AM

    He's taping the oval office? Quick! Get Rose Mary Woods to do the transcribing.....

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous1:15 PM

      She would have to delete a lot more than a few minutes.

      Yeah little donnie's ego and temper took over and got him into another mess:)

      Delete
  16. Anonymous9:51 AM

    "A liar is “ethically challenged,” someone for whom “the truth is temporarily unavailable.” Deceiving others becomes a challenge, a game, and ultimately a habit."
    "As the volume of strangers and acquaintances in our lives rises, so do opportunities to improve on the truth. The result is a widespread sense that much of what we’re told can’t be trusted." we’re no longer sure whom exactly we’re dealing with. Deception has become a routine part of the mating dance."feel a need to embellish their personal history? This question arises every time prominent figures are unmasked as fabulists: businesspeople, politicians, journalists, judges, military officers, police chiefs, beauty queens, newspaper reporters, South Carolina’s governor, the head of the United States Olympic Committee, and the manager of the Toronto Blue Jays. Branches are grafted onto their family trees."the motives of such dissemblers by examining the sea in which they swim. Trends ranging from the postmodern disdain for “truth” to therapeutic non-judgment encourage deception. There is much incentive and little penalty for improving the “narrative” of one’s life."

    http://www.ralphkeyes.com/the-post-truth-era/

    ReplyDelete
  17. Anonymous10:49 AM

    If he claims there are no tapes and refuses to turn them over, he will not be able to claim their exsistence later. Withholding evidence.
    If there truly are no times, he will look like the petulant bully he is.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous1:20 PM

      Yes, he really did himself in on this one :) Only problem is the justice dept is run by trump.

      Delete
  18. Anonymous11:04 AM

    New York Times:
    POLITICS

    Trump’s Youngest Son to Attend Maryland Prep School

    Barron Trump, the president’s fifth and youngest child, will attend St. Andrew’s Episcopal, a preparatory school in Potomac, Md., in the fall, affirming the first family’s plans to reunite in Washington after living apart since President Trump took office.

    Barron, 11, and his mother, Melania Trump, the first lady, have been living in Trump Tower in Manhattan so he could finish the academic year at his Upper West Side private school. Mrs. Trump has expressed reservations about bringing Barron closer to the Washington spotlight, although Mr. Trump said in aninterview with Bloomberg News this month that his wife and youngest son still planned to join him in Washington.

    Mrs. Trump confirmed the decision.

    “We are very excited for our son to attend St. Andrew’s Episcopal School,” she said in a statement. “It is known for its diverse community and commitment to academic excellence. The mission of St. Andrew’s is ‘to know and inspire each child in an inclusive community dedicated to exceptional teaching, learning, and service,’ all of which appealed to our family.”

    The choice of St. Andrew’s in suburban Montgomery County is a break from tradition for first families’ school-age children. Many presidential families, including the Obamas, Clintons, Nixons and Roosevelts, sent their children to the prestigious Sidwell Friends, a Quaker school in Washington. Jimmy Carter sent his daughter, Amy, to public school in the city....

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous1:18 PM

      They will send him there, tuition is $38K/year, just as soon as Betsy DeVos can arrange tax payer vouchers for private schools.

      Too bad for Barron, he will just be starting a new school and have to move back to NYC after the impeachment.

      Delete
  19. Anonymous6:19 PM

    Dump just fired comey because comey is so tall compared to fat jabba the dump.

    ReplyDelete

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