Robert Mueller hones in on fake story put out by Trump team about meeting with Russian lawyer in Trump Tower.

Courtesy of the New York Times:  

Aboard Air Force One on a flight home from Europe last July, President Trump and his advisers raced to cobble together a news release about a mysterious meeting at Trump Tower the previous summer between Russians and top Trump campaign officials. Rather than acknowledge the meeting’s intended purpose — to obtain political dirt about Hillary Clinton from the Russian government — the statement instead described the meeting as being about an obscure Russian adoption policy. 

The statement, released in response to questions from The New York Times about the meeting, has become a focus of the inquiry by Robert S. Mueller III, the special counsel investigating Russian interference in the 2016 election. Prosecutors working for Mr. Mueller in recent months have questioned numerous White House officials about how the release came together — and about how directly Mr. Trump oversaw the process. Mr. Mueller’s team recently notified Mr. Trump’s lawyers that the Air Force One statement is one of about a dozen subjects that prosecutors want to discuss in a face-to-face interview of Mr. Trump that is still being negotiated.

We all know this story, right?

Claim is made that Russian lawyer has dirt on Hillary,  meeting happens in Trump Tower which includes, Junior, Michael Flynn, and Jared Kushner, when meeting is exposed Trump team makes up story that it was about Russian adoptions.

But here's a new wrinkle:

The latest witness to be called for an interview about the episode was Mark Corallo, who served as a spokesman for Mr. Trump’s legal team before resigning in July. Mr. Corallo received an interview request last week from the special counsel and has agreed to the interview, according to three people with knowledge of the request. 

Mr. Corallo is planning to tell Mr. Mueller about a previously undisclosed conference call with Mr. Trump and Hope Hicks, the White House communications director, according to the three people. Mr. Corallo planned to tell investigators that Ms. Hicks said during the call that emails written by Donald Trump Jr. before the Trump Tower meeting — in which the younger Mr. Trump said he was eager to receive political dirt about Mrs. Clinton from the Russians — “will never get out.” That left Mr. Corallo with concerns that Ms. Hicks could be contemplating obstructing justice, the people said.

Uh oh, not Trump's Girl Friday.

 Of course the lawyer for Hicks has already said this is, altogether now, "fake news." 

However let's keep in mind that Mr. Carallo will be testifying under oath, will Hope Hicks do the same?

Does anybody else get a kick that this always seems to go back to emails?

The Senate Judiciary Committee chairman announces that he will release transcripts of interviews with Donald Trump Jr. and others who attended that notorious Trump Tower meeting.

Courtesy of Politico:  

The Senate Judiciary Committee will soon release the transcript of its interview with Donald Trump Jr. as well as other witness testimony related to a controversial 2016 meeting at Trump Tower with a Kremlin-linked lawyer, Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) said Thursday. 

Grassley's comments Thursday come the day after two Democrats on the committee publicly pressed for the release of the panel's closed-door interview transcripts to special counsel Robert Mueller. Even as partisan disputes roil the House's Russia investigation, Grassley's alignment with Democrats on releasing the transcripts signals that the Senate — for now, at least — remains in a more collaborative mode. 

The committee is finished with work related to the June 2016 Trump Tower meeting, attended by President Donald Trump's eldest son and his son-in-law Jared Kushner as well as campaign chairman Paul Manafort, Grassley said. "So, now it’s time to start releasing the transcripts of all witness interviews we have done related to that meeting. Let’s get them out there for everyone to see." 

In addition to Trump Jr., who sat for an interview in September, the committee also has received written responses from Natalia Veselnitskaya, the Kremlin-connected Russian lawyer who said the Trump team pressed her for negative information about Hillary Clinton during the 2016 meeting.

Well this should prove to be some interesting reading, assuming of course all the juicy parts have not be redacted.

Apparently the committee has still not managed to get Jared Kushner locked down for an interview, which is too bad because somehow I think he would crack the minute somebody turned off the air conditioning.

Robert Mueller's investigation may now also involve Ivanka Trump.

Courtesy of the LA Times:  

Special counsel Robert S. Mueller III has recalled for questioning at least one participant in a controversial meeting with a Kremlin-connected Russian lawyer at Trump Tower in June 2016, and is looking into President Trump's misleading claim that the discussion focused on adoption, rather than an offer to provide damaging information about Hillary Clinton. 

Some defense lawyers involved in the case view Mueller's latest push as a sign that investigators are focusing on possible obstruction of justice by Trump and several of his closest advisors for their statements about the politically sensitive meeting, rather than for collusion with the Russians. 

Investigators also are exploring the involvement of the president's daughter, Ivanka Trump, who did not attend the half-hour sit-down on June 9, 2016, but briefly spoke with two of the participants, a Russian lawyer and a Russian-born Washington lobbyist. Details of the encounter were not previously known. 

It occurred at the Trump Tower elevator as the Russian lawyer, Natalia Veselnitskaya, and the lobbyist, Rinat Akhmetshin, were leaving the building and consisted of pleasantries, a person familiar with the episode said. But Mueller's investigators want to know every contact the two visitors had with Trump's family members and inner circle.

I think that if Trump were to pull the trigger on trying to fire Mueller, it would be right about now. 

Going after Ivanka is probably the one thing that Trump simply cannot tolerate.

This will push him over the edge, if anything will.

Donald Trump Jr. refuses to reveal details of phone call to his father citing attorney client privilege. No such privilege exists in this case.

Courtesy of the New York Times:

Donald Trump Jr. refused on Wednesday to provide a congressional committee details of a July telephone conversation with his father about a meeting last year at which Trump campaign officials had expected to receive damaging information from the Russian government about Hillary Clinton. 

Testifying in a closed session before the House Intelligence Committee, Mr. Trump claimed that his conversation over the summer with his father, two days after The New York Times disclosed the June 2016 meeting at Trump Tower in Manhattan, was protected under attorney-client privilege because lawyers for both men were on the call. 

What, if anything, Donald J. Trump knew about the Trump Tower meeting as a presidential candidate — and his role in drafting a misleading statement about it once he was president and it became public — are key questions for the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, who is investigating Russian interference in the election.

The problem with that whole attorney client privilege thing is that it really does not protect Junior in this situation.

Here let the venerable John Dean explain it:

Donald Trump Jr. claimed attny-client privilege in today before the House Intel Committee re discussions with his father based on the apparent fact an attny was present. Problem: (1) Jr. has no such privilege; (2) Congress does not recognize the privilege even when it exists.

— John Dean (@JohnWDean) December 7, 2017

If anybody would know about the limitations of the attorney client privilege it would be John Dean.

And why is this important?

Courtesy of Mother Jones:  

During eight hours of questioning by the House intelligence committee on Wednesday, Donald Trump Jr. acknowledged that he and his father had discussed news of his controversial 2016 meeting with a Russian lawyer after the New York Times revealed the secret sitdown this summer. But he refused to disclose the contents of their conversations. 

Trump Jr. “acknowledged having discussed the June 9 meeting and the emails that went into establishing that meeting after those emails became public,” Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), the top Democrat on the intelligence committee, told reporters after Trump Jr.’s interview with the panel. 
“He acknowledged discussing that meeting with his father.” 

The admission by his Trump’s eldest son raises the question of how closely the Trumps coordinated on their response to the bombshell revelations and could bolster the case that President Trump participated in an effort to craft a false public explanation for the Trump Tower meeting. Trump Jr.’s initial statement about the meeting, reportedly dictated by his father on Air Force One during a July 8 flight from Germany, inaccurately claimed that the discussion focused on adoption. 

So finding out what was said during that phone call would likely prove that Trump and Junior conspired to cover up what that meeting was about, which of course we now know had really nothing to do with Russian adoptions.

And the kicker is that I would bet my house that Robert Mueller already knows exactly what Donnie and his son talked about that day, and is simply waiting for the proper moment to spring it on them in court.

Russian lawyer at center of that notorious Trump Tower meeting during the 2016 campaign, says that Donald Trump Jr. asked for dirt on the Clinton Foundation.

Courtesy of NBC News: 

Donald Trump Jr. asked a Russian lawyer at the June 2016 Trump Tower meeting whether she had evidence of illegal donations to the Clinton Foundation, the lawyer told the Senate Judiciary Committee in answers to written questions obtained exclusively by NBC News. 

The lawyer, Natalia Veselnitskaya, told the committee that she didn't have any such evidence, and that she believes Trump misunderstood the nature of the meeting after receiving emails from a music promoter promising incriminating information on Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump's Democratic opponent. 

Once it became apparent that she did not have meaningful information about Clinton, Trump seemed to lose interest, Veselnitskaya said, and the meeting petered out.

Now the only way that this Natalia Veselnitskaya, could have obtained any inside information about Hillary Clinton's campaign, or the Clinton Foundation, would be by way of those Russian hacks that Junior was well aware took place.

This means that Junior was asking for data illegally obtained by a long time foreign adversary in order to win an election.

I'm sorry, what is the definition of "collusion" again?

Or have we now moved to the more appropriate definition, "conspiracy?"

Well Junior will get the opportunity to answer questions about this when he appears before various committees.

Courtesy of Mother Jones: 

Donald Trump Jr. will face questions from two congressional committees in coming weeks about his multiple meetings with Russian representatives and his efforts to obtain damaging information on Hillary Clinton from the Kremlin. 

Trump, the president’s eldest son, will meet Wednesday with members of the House Intelligence Committee. He is also scheduled to appear this month before the Senate Intelligence Committee, Senator Richard Burr (R-N.C.), the committee’s chairman, told Mother Jones. Committee aides declined to specify the date of the Senate interview. Alan Futerfas, Trump Jr.’s lawyer, did not respond to questions. 

The interviews, both of which will occur behind closed doors, come as investigations into the Trump campaign’s contacts with Russia last year accelerate in the wake of special counsel Robert Mueller’s charges against four Trump associates, including former national security adviser Michael Flynn and former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort. Trump Jr. will face questions on at least three aspects of the campaign’s suspected coordination with Russia.

I still do not have a lot of confidence in the House Intelligence committee, but the Senate committee seems popcorn worthy.

So now that Russian lawyer is saying that Donald Trump Jr. offered her a quid pro quo for information on Hillary Clinton.

Courtesy of Bloomberg:  

A Russian lawyer who met with President Donald Trump’s oldest son last year says he indicated that a law targeting Russia could be re-examined if his father won the election and asked her for written evidence that illegal proceeds went to Hillary Clinton’s campaign. 

The lawyer, Natalia Veselnitskaya, said in a two-and-a-half-hour interview in Moscow that she would tell these and other things to the Senate Judiciary Committee on condition that her answers be made public, something it hasn’t agreed to. She has received scores of questions from the committee, which is investigating possible collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign. Veselnitskaya said she’s also ready -- if asked -- to testify to Special Counsel Robert Mueller.

Veselnitskaya said she went to the New York meeting to show Trump campaign officials that major Democratic donors had evaded U.S. taxes and to lobby against the so-called Magnitsky law that punishes Russian officials for the murder of a Russian tax accountant who accused the Kremlin of corruption.

“Looking ahead, if we come to power, we can return to this issue and think what to do about it,’’ Trump Jr. said of the 2012 law, she recalled. “I understand our side may have messed up, but it’ll take a long time to get to the bottom of it,” he added, according to her.

Veselnitskaya also said Trump Jr. requested financial documents showing that money that allegedly evaded U.S. taxes had gone to Clinton’s campaign. She didn’t have any and described the 20-minute meeting as a failure.

According to the email that British publicist Rob Goldstone sent to Junior in order to set up this meeting, there was really no doubt that Veselnitskaya was representing the Kremlin and "its government’s support for Mr. Trump."

That means Junior knew he was communicating with a Russian government operative, and still he was offering to make a deal to change American policy in order to get information, that they likely discovered through illegal hacking, that the campaign could then use against his father's political opponent.

But remember, according to Donald Trump there is NO evidence of collusion.

Oh yeah, I think Robert Mueller is definitely going to want to talk to this woman.

The Russian lawyer who met with Junior in Trump Tower received her talking points from the Kremlin beforehand.

Courtesy of the New York Times:

Natalia V. Veselnitskaya arrived at a meeting at Trump Tower in June 2016 hoping to interest top Trump campaign officials in the contents of a memo she believed contained information damaging to the Democratic Party and, by extension, Hillary Clinton. The material was the fruit of her research as a private lawyer, she has repeatedly said, and any suggestion that she was acting at the Kremlin’s behest that day is anti-Russia “hysteria.” 

But interviews and records show that in the months before the meeting, Ms. Veselnitskaya had discussed the allegations with one of Russia’s most powerful officials, the prosecutor general, Yuri Y. Chaika. And the memo she brought with her closely followed a document that Mr. Chaika’s office had given to an American congressman two months earlier, incorporating some paragraphs verbatim. 

The coordination between the Trump Tower visitor and the Russian prosecutor general undercuts Ms. Veselnitskaya’s account that she was a purely independent actor when she sat down with Donald Trump Jr., Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law, and Paul J. Manafort, then the Trump campaign chairman. 

It also suggests that emails from an intermediary to the younger Mr. Trump promising that Ms. Veselnitskaya would arrive with information from Russian prosecutors were rooted at least partly in fact — not mere “puffery,” as the president’s son later said.

This almost gt lost in all of the talk about the Mueller investigation indictments yesterday, but it is a very important piece of the puzzle and deserves attention. 

Not only does this indicate that Veselnitskaya lied, which is to be expected, but that Don. Jr. also lied, which come to think of it should be expected as well I suppose.

However if Junior lied to investigators while under oath, this could be a very big deal indeed.

Now the question to ask is exactly WHAT did this Russian lawyer bring to Junior's attention, and why was it not used in the campaign? Or was it?

Robert Mueller now wants phone records pertaining to Air Force One statement.

Courtesy of Politico:

Special counsel Robert Mueller has sought phone records concerning the statement written aboard Air Force One defending a meeting between Trump campaign officials and Russians at Trump Tower last year that was set up by Donald Trump Jr., according to two people familiar with the investigation. 

Mueller has also asked the White House for documents and emails connected to a May 3 press briefing where Sean Spicer said the president had confidence in James Comey as FBI director, these people said. 

The request seeks to determine what White House officials – particularly Spicer – knew about the president’s plans to fire Comey in the days before it happened, according to one of the people familiar with it.The requests, first reported by the New York Times, are the latest indication that Mueller's probe of Russian meddling in the 2016 election is expanding to include what has happened in the White House since Trump took office, including questions of obstruction of justice. 

Most of the requests, one of these people said, focus on what happened inside the White House after Jan. 20.

The only reason that Mueller would want these records is to make a case that Trump purposefully released a false statement in order to deflect attention away from what really happened in those meetings.

These records could prove that Donald Trump was attempting to interfere in the Russia investigations, and to hide evidence from Mueller's team concerning Junior's Trump Tower meeting with the Russian lawyer.

That's obstructionism, and that is grounds for impeachment. 

Robert Mueller wants to interview White House staffers who witnessed Trump dictating that letter which provided false information about Junior's Trump Tower meeting.

Courtesy of CNN:

Special Counsel Robert Mueller's team has approached the White House about interviewing staffers who were aboard Air Force One when the initial misleading statement about Donald Trump Jr.'s meeting with a Russian lawyer at Trump Tower was crafted, three sources familiar with the conversations said. 

The special counsel's discussions with the White House are the latest indication that Mueller's investigators are interested in the response to the Trump Tower meeting. Mueller wants to know how the statement aboard Air Force One was put together, whether information was intentionally left out and who was involved, two of the sources said. 

Mueller's questions could go to the issue of intent and possible efforts to conceal information during an obstruction of justice investigation. The answers to Mueller's questions also could illuminate the level of anxiety surrounding the meeting and the decision-making that followed. 

The interviews with White House staffers who were aboard Air Force One have not begun, the sources said. They currently involve only a small number of people, but the sources cautioned that number could increase. At this time, Mueller has not asked to interview President Trump. 

I think that is where all of this is leading. To an interview with Donald Trump.

And that makes sense because we KNOW he is going to lie.

That is ALL he ever does. 

Once in that witness chair Trump will ignore the advice of his attorneys and start digging himself into a hole that no amount of presidential powers will be able to extricate him from.

Trump's only option to protect himself is to find a way to fire Mueller, and if he does THAT his chances of being impeached will only increase.

To put it simply, he is fucked!

Donald Trump Jr. testifies before the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Courtesy of the New York Times:

Donald Trump Jr. told Senate investigators on Thursday that he set up a June 2016 meeting with a Russian lawyer because he was intrigued that she might have damaging information about Hillary Clinton, saying it was important to learn about Mrs. Clinton’s “fitness” to be president. 

(Yes the son of perhaps the most unfit individual to ever sit in the Oval Office, was worried that a woman who served as the First Lady of the country, was elected to two terms in the Senate, and who also served as America's Secretary of State, was not fit for office. Seriously?) 


But nothing came of the Trump Tower meeting, he said, and he was adamant that he never colluded with the Russian government’s campaign to disrupt last year’s presidential election. 

In a prepared statement during an interview with Senate Judiciary Committee investigators, the younger Mr. Trump said he was initially conflicted when he heard that the lawyer, Natalia Veselnitskaya, might have damaging information about Mrs. Clinton. Despite his interest, he said, he always intended to consult with his own lawyers about the propriety of using any information that Ms. Veselnitskaya, who has ties to the Kremlin, gave him at the meeting. 

A copy of Mr. Trump’s statement was obtained by The New York Times.

Junior admitted that he sought legal counsel after the meeting which suggests that he knew what we was doing was wrong. 

“To the extent they had information concerning the fitness, character or qualifications of a presidential candidate, I believed that I should at least hear them out,” he said. “Depending on what, if any, information they had, I could then consult with counsel to make an informed decision as to whether to give it further consideration.”

Junior also claims that the meeting was  disappointing: 

“As it later turned out, my skepticism was justified. The meeting provided no meaningful information and turned out not to be about what had been represented.”

I guess he felt it would have been so much more productive if he received illegally obtained dirt on Hillary instead.

Junior also stated that his response "I love it" was simply a colloquial way of saying that he appreciated the fact that his friend, Rob Goldstone, had reached out to him.

He did not elaborate to explain why he would love it even more in the summer.

The Post also mentions that Junior's story about this meeting has changed multiple times, the difference this time is that this version is being told to the Senate Judiciary Committee, so if Trump is lying or changed his story later, he could be looking at some jail time.

And that is important to remember, since according to CNN Junior also provided this response: 

Trump Jr. was explicitly asked whether he either took any of the Russian participants in the June 2016 Trump Tower meeting to see his father -- now President Donald Trump -- or whether he told his father about the meeting after, sources said. He insisted he did neither. 

Asked why his father promised the next day that dirt was coming on Hillary Clinton, Trump Jr. told Senate staffers that's just the way his father talks.

I think that is evidence that he already perjured himself right there. 

Notes that Paul Manafort took during that infamous Trump Tower meeting between Junior and the Russians may indicate illegal donations to either the Trump campaign or the RNC.

Courtesy of NBC News:

Paul Manafort's notes from a controversial Trump Tower meeting with Russians during the 2016 presidential campaign included a mention of political contributions near a reference to the Republican National Committee, two sources briefed on the evidence told NBC News. 

The contents of the note, which have not been previously disclosed, elevated the significance of the June 2016 meeting for congressional investigators, who are focused on determining whether it included any discussion of donations from Russian sources to either the Trump campaign or the Republican Party. 

It is illegal for foreigners to donate to American elections. The meeting happened just as Trump had secured the Republican nomination for president, and he was considered a longshot to win. Manafort was the campaign chairman at the time.

Manafort's notes, typed on a smart phone and described by one source briefed on the matter as cryptic, were turned over to the House and Senate intelligence committees and to Special Counsel Robert Mueller. They contained a reference to political contributions and "RNC" in close proximity, the sources said.

The original reporting included the word "donation" as being present in these notes, but that is now in dispute.

Of course Manafort's spokesman dismisses all of this as ridiculous and claims that this is "100 percent false." And since nobody connected to the Trump campaign or this Russia probe has ever been caught telling a lie I don't see why we should not believe them.

I swear with these Russia investigations it's like everyday is Christmas. 

Though probably not so much for this guy.

Your Tuesday morning Russia investigation news dump. So much to see here.

I already wrote about that deal for another Trump property in Russia yesterday, which also featured this Felix Slater fella.

However that was only the tip of the bad news iceberg for Donald Trump.

Courtesy of the New York Times: 

The associate, Felix Sater, wrote a series of emails to Mr. Trump’s lawyer, Michael Cohen, in which he boasted about his ties to Mr. Putin. He predicted that building a Trump Tower in Moscow would highlight Mr. Trump’s savvy negotiating skills and be a political boon to his candidacy. 

“Our boy can become president of the USA and we can engineer it,” Mr. Sater wrote in an email. “I will get all of Putins team to buy in on this, I will manage this process.” 

(Okay if this is not proof of collusion with Russia I will eat my hat.)


The emails show that, from the earliest months of Mr. Trump’s campaign, some of his associates viewed close ties with Moscow as a political advantage. Those ties are now under investigation by the Justice Department and multiple congressional committees.

Sater also apparently arranged special access for Trump's daughter Ivanka. 

Yeah, I have not heard of too many people who can brag that they sat in Vladimir Putin's chair.


However Trump has downplayed the friendship with his rather powerful associate for years, even walking out of an interview in 2013 when questioned about it:

Back in 2013, British program BBC Panorama directly asked Trump why he was still doing real estate deals with Sater, and Trump frantically tried to deflect the question before walking out of the interview all together. 

“Well, first of all, we were not in business together, that was a licensing deal,” Trump said. 

“But your name’s on it, Mr. Trump!” replied reporter Jon Sweeney. 

“Excuse me, but I don’t know, you’re telling me things that I don’t even know about,” Trump replied. “I mean, you’re telling me about Felix Sater. I know who he is…” 

Sweeney then interrupted him. 

“But for a year, you stayed in bed with Felix Sater, and he was connected with the mafia!” Sweeney pressed. 

“Again, Jon, maybe you’re thick, but when you have a signed contract, you can’t, in this country, just break it,” Trump replied. “And by the way, Jon, I hate to do this, but I do have that big group of people waiting, so I have to go.” 

Trump at that point got up and walked out of the interview.

Touchy, touchy.

I am not buying that one licensing deal gets your daughter access to the chair of the most powerful man in Russia. But nice story bro.

In other Russia investigation news, Mueller is looking at what Trump knew about that meeting in Trump Tower between Junior and the Russian lawyer:

Federal investigators working for Special Counsel Robert Mueller are keenly focused on President Donald Trump's role in crafting a response to a published article about a meeting between Russians and his son Donald Jr., three sources familiar with the matter told NBC News. 

The sources told NBC News that prosecutors want to know what Trump knew about the meeting and whether he sought to conceal its purpose.

As you may remember Trump supposedly helped draft a letter which explained the meeting away as just a talk about Russian adoptions.

Later of course we learned that it was really about Russian sanctions and sharing dirt on Hillary Clinton, which made Trump's letter a complete lie.

ANOTHER complete lie. 

This of course is only one of many avenues being explored by Mueller and his team of investigators, which seems to be moving ever closer to obtaining the evidence needed to start impeachment proceedings against Trump.

Perhaps that is why there is one GOP lawmaker looking to pull the rug out.

Rep. Ron DeSantis.

Courtesy of Politico: 

Rep. Ron DeSantis (R-Fla.) is pushing an amendment to severely curtail special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into the Trump campaign’s ties to Russia. DeSantis has put forward a provision that would halt funding for Mueller’s probe six months after the amendment’s passage. 

It also would prohibit Mueller from investigating matters that occurred before June 2015, when Trump launched his presidential campaign.

Of course the reasoning DeSantis uses for pushing this amendment is that he does not want this investigation to become a "fishing expedition."

Makes sense, after all this is not about something important like the Benghazi investigation or looking into Hillary Clinton's emails, right?

Sadly for DeSantis it appears that many of his colleagues, including Paul Ryan, are supportive of the Mueller investigation so it does not appear that his amendment will find much support.

It seems like just about every day we learn something explosive about Trump's ties to Russia. If this were a disaster movie, right around now the Trump character would be hanging by his fingertips from the edge of the crevasse just moments before he fell to his doom.

Let's see how long he can hang on shall we?

Don't feel outraged enough? Well this rundown of Trump family expenses compiled by Newsweek should remedy that.

Who needs to repair roads and build infrastructure when we can spend taxpayer money on these assholes?

Courtesy of Newsweek:  

President Trump's trips to Mar-A-Lago 

Total cost for security in Palm Beach: $3.7 million 
Roundtrip flights from Joint Base Andrews, Maryland to West Palm, Florida: $700,000 
Overtime for local law enforcement during Trump’s trips: $60,000/day 
Total golf cart rentals ordered by the Secret Service "for POTUS visit": $35,185 
Loss to business due to airport closure: -$30,000/weekend 

Keeping the first family in Trump Towers 

Request for additional Secret Service funding to secure Trump Towers: $60 million 
New York Police Department security costs: $127,000-$146,000/day 
"Elevator services" ordered by the Secret Service: $64,000 
Air Force One flights to New York City: $180,000/hour 

The Trump children's trips around the world with Secret Service 

Eric Trump’s hotel costs in Uruguay: $97,830 
Eric Trump’s hotel costs in the U.K. this week: $11,261 
Eric Trump’s limousine services in Dublin: $4,029.85 
Rental ski equipment and clothing for secret service during Ivanka Trump's trip to Aspen: $12,208 
Donald Trump Jr., Eric Trump and Tiffany Trump’s hotel costs in Vancouver: $53,155 
Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump’s hotel costs in Dubai: $16,738 

The provided costs don't even include airfare rates for Secret Service agents taking each trek with the Trumps, nor does it include the data on those agents’ salaries and other expenditures taxpayers may be footing the bill for. 

I think we all know that this is really only a fraction of what is being spent on this gold plated white trash family.

So not only is this the worst presidency in American history, by far.

It is also the most expensive presidency in American history, by far. 

I'm confused. Was the "Make America Great Again" slogan supposed to actually be interpreted as "Make America Bankrupt Again?"

Just asking.

Donald Trump defends White Nationalists and claims that the "Alt-Left" started the violence in Charlottesville, Virginia.

(The Nazi support starts around the 7:10 mark.)

 Courtesy of the New York Times:

President Trump angrily defended himself on Tuesday against criticism that he did not specifically condemn Nazi and white supremacist groups following the weekend’s deadly racial unrest in Virginia, and at one point questioned whether the movement to pull down statues of Confederate leaders would escalate to the desecration of George Washington. 

In a long, combative exchange with reporters at Trump Tower in Manhattan, the president repeatedly rejected a torrent of bipartisan criticism for waiting several days before naming the right-wing groups and placing blame on “many sides” for the violence on Saturday that ended with the death of a young woman after a car crashed into a crowd. 

He said that “before I make a statement, I like to know the facts.” 

And he criticized “alt-left” groups that he claimed were “very, very violent” when they sought to confront the nationalist and Nazi groups that had gathered in Charlottesville, Va., to protest the removal of a statue of Robert E. Lee from a park. He said there is “blame on both sides.” 

“Many of those people were there to protest the taking down of the statue of Robert E. Lee,” Mr. Trump said. “This week, it is Robert E. Lee and this week, Stonewall Jackson. Is it George Washington next? You have to ask yourself, where does it stop?” 

He noted that the first American president had owned slaves. 

Mr. Trump defended those gathered in the Charlottesville park to protest the statue’s removal, saying, “I’ve condemned neo-Nazis. I’ve condemned many different groups. Not all of those people were neo-Nazis, believe me. Not all of those people were white supremacists by any stretch.”

(Uh..that was a white nationalist protest march. Of course they were white nationalists.)


Again and again, Mr. Trump said that the portrayal of nationalist protesters in the city were not all Nazis or white supremacists, and he said it was unfair to suggest that they were. “Not all of those people were neo-Nazis, believe me. 

Not all of those people were white supremacists by any stretch,” he said, adding that blame for the violence in the city – which also took the lives of two Virginia state troopers when their helicopter crashed – should also be on people from “the left” who came to oppose the nationalist protesters. 

“You had a group on one side and the other, and they came at each other with clubs, and it was vicious and horrible. It was a horrible thing to watch,” the president said. “There is another side. There was a group on this side, you can call them the left. You have just called them the left, that came violently attacking the other group. You can say what you want. That’s the way it is.”

You know I often talk about watching Donald Trump speak with my jaw hanging on the floor in disbelief.

And that is certainly how I watched this.

Trump's attempts to blame the counter protesters and suggest that THEY were the ones who started the violence was, simply put, stunning.

He provided cover for the neo-Nazis, Klan members, and White Supremacists who beat peaceful protesters and murdered a young woman.

Thank you President Trump for your honesty & courage to tell the truth about #Charlottesville & condemn the leftist terrorists in BLM/Antifa https://t.co/tTESdV4LP0

— David Duke (@DrDavidDuke) August 15, 2017

And clearly they both heard and appreciated that.

Secret Service vacates Trump Tower over dispute about cost.

Courtesy of WaPo: 

The Secret Service has vacated its command post inside Trump Tower in Manhattan following a dispute between the government and President Trump’s company over the terms of a lease for the space, according to two people familiar with the discussions. 

Previously, the Secret Service had stationed its command post — which houses supervisors and backup agents on standby in case of an emergency — in a Trump Tower unit one floor below the president’s apartment. 

But in early July, the post was relocated to a trailer on the sidewalk, more than 50 floors below, a distance that some security experts worry could hamper the agency that protects the president’s home and family. 

The command post appears unlikely to move anytime soon back inside Trump Tower, where the president and his family have rarely gone since moving to the White House. 

On Thursday, a spokeswoman for the Trump Organization said the government should seek space in another location.

Apparently the brouhaha is over the fact that the Trump folks are charging the taxpayers too goddamn much for the space.

And good for them for standing up for the American taxpayer.

Remember we have already learned that it costs in excess of $300,000 a day to protect this building. 

Personally I would not pay fifty cents toward the protection of Cheeto Hitler and his family.

As far as I'm concerned if the Trump Organization cannot make a better deal on the rent, then Donald Trump can pay private contractors to protect his family and employees.

The US Military is paying $130,000 a month to stay in Trump Tower and protect a president who is never there.

Courtesy of CNBC:

The United States government is paying more than $130,000 a month to rent a space in Trump Tower for a military office that supports the White House, the Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday. 

Lease documents obtained by the Journal showed the government agreed to pay $2.39 million for a 3,475 square foot space from April 11, 2017 to Sept. 30, 2018 — above market rate for similarly sized high rise luxury apartments, the report said. 

A spokeswoman at the General Services Administration said the space is owned by someone not affiliated with the Trump Organization, suggesting the rent money isn't going to President Donald Trump, according to the report. 

The GSA is the agency that negotiates office space agreements for the government. 

An office like the one in Trump Tower is used by the U.S. military to provide services that need to be close to the president at all times. That includes medical, food, transportation, communications and a briefcase that allows the president to authorize a nuclear attack, the Journal said.

But here's the kicker.  

The president, however, hasn't spent a night at the skyscraper since taking office, it added.

So to be clear, the American taxpayers are paying Donald Trump for the services needed to protect Donald Trump, which he never actually needs because the taxpayers are also paying to protect Donald Trump on one of Donald Trump's many golf course.

Which are also being paid to house those protective services. 

Does that about sum this up?

Artists shame Donald Trump by projecting the truth on his own building.

Being projected on Trump Hotel in DC right now. #resist pic.twitter.com/RJEAqOnGgp

— Tim Hogan (@timjhogan) May 16, 2017

Well. This tour bus stopped in front of Trump Hotel, taking in some Presidential history. #open24hrs #TrumpRussia@bellvisuals & co pic.twitter.com/maOXbyMXbO

— Adrian Parsons (@adrian_parsons) May 16, 2017

Courtesy of the New York Daily News:  

Artists in Washington D.C. briefly blasted the Trump International Hotel with a projection instructing guests to drop off their foreign cash inside. 

Robin Bell said he kicked off the colorful display from a van parked across the street around 9:15 p.m. Monday. 

It lasted 10 minutes before a security guard for the Old Post Office stood in front of the projector, blocking its feed. 

“We had a couple great moments. A tour bus pulled up, people started clapping and taking photos,” Bell told the Daily News. “Everyone on the street, except for the security guard, seemed really happy.”

Okay that's just brilliant. 

(H/T to Democratic Underground.)

Taxpayers could pay over 3 million dollars annually to house Secret Service in Trump Tower.

Courtesy of the New York Post:  

The Secret Service is in negotiations with the Trump Organization to take over two vacant floors in the gilded 68-story Fifth Avenue tower, law enforcement sources told The Post. 

The federal agency and the NYPD plan to run a 24/7 command post out of the space that would be housed at least 40 floors below Trump’s $90 million penthouse triplex, where wife Melania and their 10-year-old son Barron will continue to reside at least through the spring, sources said.

So we already know that protecting Trump and his family in New York is currently costing over a million dollars a day.  

How much  more will it cost to house these Secret Service agents in the Trump Tower?The lease deal alone could cost more than $3 million a year, based on prevailing rates in the building. 

The Post reported earlier this week that the 17th floor at Trump Tower is available. The floor is currently being marketed in three, 3,000- to 5,000-square-foot parcels at up to $105 per square foot. 

At that rate the federal government would be paying $1.5 million a year for just one floor and double that for two levels of Trump Tower offices.

So not only will Trump refuse to put his financial holdings in a blind trust, because apparently conflict of interest laws don't apply to him, but now taxpayers are expected to directly pay one of his companies to house his security detail?

This guy is actually turning the presidency, which has long been considered the pinnacle of public service, into a crass money making operation.

You know these Trump voters are a special kind of stupid aren't they?

Melania Trump will not be accompanying her husband to live in the White House. Cites family responsibilities.

Courtesy of the New York Post:  

Future First Lady Melania Trump and son Barron will not be moving to the White House after Donald Trump’s inauguration in January, The Post has learned. 

The president-elect’s 46-year-old wife and their 10-year-old son are staying put at the family’s glitzy Trump Tower penthouse so that Barron can continue attending his Upper West Side private school, sources told The Post. 

“Melania is extremely close to Barron, and they have become closer during the campaign,” said a source close to Trump’s transition team. “The campaign has been difficult for Barron, and she is really hoping to keep disruption to a minimum.” 

Another source said Melania Trump will travel to the White House as needed, but that her primary focus is on Barron. 

“Melania is very supportive of her husband and is fully on board of doing everything that’s needed as first lady,” said the second source familiar with the Trump transition.

Yeah except sleep with her husband every night.

Of course doing so takes the phrase "Doing it for your country" to a whole new, and disgusting place. 

Gee moving to separate states and using a child as a shield against criticism.

Hey you little bitch, don't forget who's in charge here.

Where have I seen all of that before.

Hey perhaps I am being too suspicious and Melania Trump is NOT just looking for an excuse to spend less time with her stubby fingered, orange tinted, morbidly obese sugar daddy.

Anybody buy that?