This is an actual official statement from the president of the United States.

A statement by the President: pic.twitter.com/cvzeQIIQfP

— Real Press Sec. (@RealPressSecBot) February 11, 2018

And remember kids "fake news" is any news that reports the truth about Donald Trump that he does not want you to hear.

So that would essentially just be the news.

Just unbelievable that this is actually a missive that comes directly from the guy living in the White House right now.

I cannot think of a better way to wrap up this extraordinary news day than with Donald Trump's statement eviscerating Steve Bannon.

Courtesy of the New York Times:

President Trump essentially excommunicated his onetime chief strategist, Stephen K. Bannon, from his political circle on Wednesday, excoriating him as a self-promoting exaggerator who had “very little to do with our historic victory” and has now “lost his mind.” 

In a written statement brimming with anger and resentment, Mr. Trump fired back at Mr. Bannon, who had made caustic comments about the president and his family to the author of a new book about the Trump White House. While Mr. Bannon had remained in touch with Mr. Trump even after being pushed out of the White House last summer, the two now appear to have reached a breaking point. 

“Steve Bannon has nothing to do with me or my presidency,” Mr. Trump said in the statement. “When he was fired, he not only lost his job, he lost his mind.” 

Mr. Trump berated Mr. Bannon for the loss of a Senate seat in Alabama and said the former adviser did not represent his base but was “only in it for himself.” Rather than supporting the president’s agenda to “make America great again,” Mr. Bannon was “simply seeking to burn it all down,” Mr. Trump said. 

“Steve pretends to be at war with the media, which he calls the opposition party, yet he spent his time at the White House leaking false information to the media to make himself seem far more important than he was,” he added. “It is the only thing he does well. Steve was rarely in a one-on-one meeting with me and only pretends to have had influence to fool a few people with no access and no clue, whom he helped write phony books.”

I love this so much I can barely stand it.

Watching these two arrogant assholes rip each other apart in public is almost like a second Christmas.

I think the last time I took such joy in reporting facts, which backed up what people had believed all along, was when I reported on the Palin Anchorage brawl.

We KNEW that Trump did not expect to win, and that is now confirmed.

We KNEW that he had no plan to implement policies if he won, and now that has been confirmed.

We KNEW that the Trump White House functioned like a badly written reality show full of drama and infighting among the "cast members," and now that has been confirmed.

And we KNEW that this White House would self destruct at some point, and now we are watching that happen in real time.

My only hope is that there is something left of the presidency for the Democrat who is going to be elected at some point to come in and clean up this mess.

So now Senator Al Franken has also been accused of being inappropriate with women. Update!

This is from Leann Tweeden's statement: 

On the trip was Tweeden's now-husband, an Air Force pilot, along with country music artists Darryl Worley, Mark Wills and Keni Thomas, Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders and Franken, who was the headliner for the show. 

Tweeden said Franken wrote skits for the show, and, like many USO shows before it and since, she says "the skits were full of sexual innuendo geared toward a young, male audience." 

She said, "As a TV host and sports broadcaster, as well as a model familiar to the audience from the covers of FHM, Maxim and Playboy, I was only expecting to emcee and introduce the acts, but Franken said he had written a part for me that he thought would be funny, and I agreed to play along." 

In the script, Franken wrote in a kiss between him and Tweeden, and, she says, he asked to rehearse the kiss before the show. Though she said they didn't need to rehearse the moment, since she planned to deny his advances for a laugh, he "continued to insist" and then "came at me, put his hand on the back of my head, mashed his lips against mine and aggressively stuck his tongue in my mouth." 

Tweeden wrote that she felt "disgusted and violated."

Later on the trip home Franken also acted inappropriately toward an unconscious Tweeden:

"I couldn’t believe it. He groped me, without my consent, while I was asleep. I felt violated all over again. Embarrassed. Belittled. Humiliated," she wrote. "How dare anyone grab my breasts like this and think it's funny?" 

First I would say that I am heartbroken by this revelation as I am a big fan of Senator Al Franken.

Secondly I would say that this young woman has every right to feel humiliated and victimized by what Franken did to her.

Having said that I am not certain that Franken's hands are making contact with her bullet proof vest, so I am not certain that "groping" is the appropriate term here. However once again she is quite right to have felt taken advantage of while she was unconscious.

For his part Al Franken issued a statement:  

“The first thing I want to do is apologize: to Leeann, to everyone else who was part of that tour, to everyone who has worked for me, to everyone I represent, and to everyone who counts on me to be an ally and supporter and champion of women. There’s more I want to say, but the first and most important thing—and if it’s the only thing you care to hear, that’s fine—is: I’m sorry. 

“I respect women. I don’t respect men who don’t. And the fact that my own actions have given people a good reason to doubt that makes me feel ashamed. 

“But I want to say something else, too. Over the last few months, all of us—including and especially men who respect women—have been forced to take a good, hard look at our own actions and think (perhaps, shamefully, for the first time) about how those actions have affected women. 

“For instance, that picture. I don’t know what was in my head when I took that picture, and it doesn’t matter. There’s no excuse. I look at it now and I feel disgusted with myself. It isn’t funny. It’s completely inappropriate. It’s obvious how Leeann would feel violated by that picture. And, what’s more, I can see how millions of other women would feel violated by it—women who have had similar experiences in their own lives, women who fear having those experiences, women who look up to me, women who have counted on me. 

“Coming from the world of comedy, I’ve told and written a lot of jokes that I once thought were funny but later came to realize were just plain offensive. But the intentions behind my actions aren’t the point at all. It’s the impact these jokes had on others that matters. And I’m sorry it’s taken me so long to come to terms with that. 

“While I don’t remember the rehearsal for the skit as Leeann does, I understand why we need to listen to and believe women’s experiences. 

“I am asking that an ethics investigation be undertaken, and I will gladly cooperate. 

“And the truth is, what people think of me in light of this is far less important than what people think of women who continue to come forward to tell their stories. They deserve to be heard, and believed. And they deserve to know that I am their ally and supporter. I have let them down and am committed to making it up to them.”

I think that Senator Franken should be given at least some credit for taking responsibility for his actions, and for supporting an ethics investigation.

That is certainly a lot more than Roy Moore or Donald Trump have been willing to do.

Unfortunately for Franken another woman has just come forward with a similar allegation, and I would not be surprised if there are more to come.

I think at this point all of us should brace themselves for more allegations, and to see some of our favorite people, in politics and entertainment, facing their own accusations.

After all if people like Al Franken, George Takei, and George H. W. Bush are capable of this kind of thing, it stands to reason that there are a whole lot of other men out there, in positions of some power, who demonstrated poor judgement as well.

I sort of feel obligated to make an attempt to recognize that some of these incidents are far more egregious than others, but ultimately I am not sure that it makes any real difference in the perception of the people being accused.

Which brings me to my next point.

2018 and 2020 are going to be tough election cycles for men in both parties.

ANY male candidate for office is going to have to have a VERY serious conversation with themselves and really ask if there are ANY women, or men, in their past who may make an accusation of inappropriate sexual contact.

In 2020 for instance Al Franken was one of my fantasy football picks for either a Presidential or VP candidate, but now that is simply not going to happen.

People are talking about a potential run by Joe Biden, but with all of these pictures out there clearly that idea needs to be quietly smothered in its sleep.

No, the Democratic candidate for President in 2020 is going to HAVE to be female in my opinion.

At this point I am not sure WHICH female candidate would be the best choice (And no not Hillary.), but whoever she it she will have to be squeaky clean and very pro-woman and anti-sexual harassment.

Update: Well this is somewhat troubling.

Roger Stone appeared to know Franken allegation was coming https://t.co/gvbOe8CI1q pic.twitter.com/V66oDFQP9H

— The Hill (@thehill) November 16, 2017

Not sure if this means this is a set up, or if this story from Leann Tweeden was talked about before she came forward.

Update 2: Unbelievably Roy Moore actually weighed in on these Franken allegations.

Al Franken admits guilt after photographic evidence of his abuse surfaces.

Mitch: "Let's investigate."

In Alabama, ZERO evidence, allegations 100% rejected.

Mitch: "Moore must quit immediately or be expelled."

— Judge Roy Moore (@MooreSenate) November 16, 2017

Of course he was destroyed on Twitter.

Remember that letter from Trump Junior claiming that his meeting with the Russian lawyer was all about adoptions? Yeah, The Donald wrote that.

Courtesy of WaPo: 

On the sidelines of the Group of 20 summit in Germany last month, President Trump’s advisers discussed how to respond to a new revelation that Trump’s oldest son had met with a Russian lawyer during the 2016 campaign — a disclosure the advisers knew carried political and potentially legal peril. 

The strategy, the advisers agreed, should be for Donald Trump Jr. to release a statement to get ahead of the story. They wanted to be truthful, so their account couldn’t be repudiated later if the full details emerged. 

But within hours, at the president’s direction, the plan changed. 

Flying home from Germany on July 8 aboard Air Force One, Trump personally dictated a statement in which Trump Jr. said that he and the Russian lawyer had “primarily discussed a program about the adoption of Russian children” when they met in June 2016, according to multiple people with knowledge of the deliberations. 

The statement, issued to the New York Times as it prepared an article, emphasized that the subject of the meeting was “not a campaign issue at the time.” The claims were later shown to be misleading.

It should be pointed out that this was immediately after Trump took that meeting with Vladimir Putin, during which Putin apparently talked to Trump about "adoptions." 

In other words Trump used language provided by Putin to issue a false statement about a meeting that his son, and other campaign personnel, had with Russian operatives during the 2016 campaign.

And this was after he fired James Comey for refusing to halt an investigation into his campaign's ties to Russia.

Like I said before, the evidence for collusion can literally be found everywhere. 

Jared Kushner: "I did not collude with Russia."

So that was Jared "Screech" Kushner claiming that all of this talk is a mistake and he is innocent of any wrong doing. Because you know if he was guilty he would totally tell us.

 Here is more courtesy of WaPo:

Jared Kushner, President Trump’s senior adviser and son-in-law, spent about two hours Monday answering questions from Senate investigators about his contacts with Russian officials, insisting he had not colluded with foreign agents before or after the 2016 presidential campaign. 

After his closed-door questioning, Kushner spoke briefly to reporters outside the White House. 

“Let me be very clear: I did not collude with Russia, nor do I know of anyone else in the campaign who did so,” Kushner said. “I had no improper contacts. I have not relied on Russian funds for my businesses and I have been fully transparent in providing all requested information.” 

“Since the first questions were raised in March, I have been consistent in saying I was eager to share whatever information I have with investigating bodies and I have done so today,’’ he said. “All of my actions were proper.’’ 

He dismissed outright the idea that Russia could be responsible for his father in law’s election victory. 

“Donald Trump had a better message and ran a smarter campaign and that is why he won. Suggesting otherwise ridicules those who voted for him,’’ Kushner said. 

Actually, ridiculing those who voted for Trump is kinda my thing.

As for Trump having a better message, and running a smarter campaign, that is only true if you believe that a better message was pandering to the racists and xenophobes and if you think a smarter campaign means working with Russia to steal our election.

I am sure that this pampered little shit thinks that he has managed to get the investigative hounds off his scent, but I would be willing to bet that his dog and pony show has only revealed even more inconsistencies for them to follow up on, and that this whole thing is just now revving up.

Jared Kushner releases statement hoping to put an end to questions about Russian contacts. Fat chance.

The entire statement can be read here at CNN.

In it Kushner calls into question news reports of contacts he had with the Russian ambassador, which he claims he cannot remember and has no records of ever making.

Kushner also claims that of course he had multiple contacts with representatives of foreign governments during the campaign since that was the job assigned to him by his father-in-law: 

My father-in-law asked me to be a point of contact with these foreign countries. These were not contacts that I initiated, but, over the course of the campaign, I had incoming contacts with people from approximately 15 countries. To put these requests in context, I must have received thousands of calls, letters and emails from people looking to talk or meet on a variety of issues and topics, including hundreds from outside the United States. While I could not be responsive to everyone, I tried to be respectful of any foreign government contacts with whom it would be important to maintain an ongoing, productive working relationship were the candidate to prevail. To that end, I called on a variety of people with deep experience, such as Dr. Henry Kissinger, for advice on policy for the candidate, which countries/representatives with which the campaign should engage, and what messaging would resonate. In addition, it was typical for me to receive 200 or more emails a day during the campaign. I did not have the time to read every one, especially long emails from unknown senders or email chains to which I was added at some later point in the exchange.

Kushner also claims that when he submitted his initial paperwork for his security clearance that it was submitted prematurely by his assistant and did not include his contacts with ANYBODY from a foreign government, not just the Russians.

He further denies working to establish a back channel to communicate with the Russians, and claims that was a misrepresentation of a meeting he had with Russian Ambassador Kislyak. (At least this is one contact he admits to.)

As for that infamous meeting with Junior and the Russian attorney, this is how Kushner characterized it:

In June 2016, my brother-in-law, Donald Trump Jr. asked if I was free to stop by a meeting on June 9 at 3:00 p.m. The campaign was headquartered in the same building as his office in Trump Tower, and it was common for each of us to swing by the other's meetings when requested. He eventually sent me his own email changing the time of the meeting to 4:00 p.m. That email was on top of a long back and forth that I did not read at the time. As I did with most emails when I was working remotely, I quickly reviewed on my iPhone the relevant message that the meeting would occur at 4:00 PM at his office. Documents confirm my memory that this was calendared as "Meeting: Don Jr.| Jared Kushner." No one else was mentioned.

So essentially Kushner's claim is that he and Junior invited each other to meetings all of the time, and that he did not know what this was about, and did not read the top of the email with said  "Russia-Clinton-private and confidential."

Uh huh.

Kushner then claims that the Russian attorney started talking about "adoptions," which we now know is code for "sanctions," and that he was uninterested and secretly emailed his secretary to call his cell phone in order to give him an excuse to leave the meeting early.

He then forgot all about this meeting until he was reminded about it by his attorneys.

One interesting side note is that Kushner claims that he received an email from someone referring to themselves as "Guccifer400" who claimed to have Trump's tax returns and tried to blackmail him into paying 52 bitcoins.

Kushner characterized this as a hoax. 

At the end of the statement Kushner writes:

I did not collude, nor know of anyone else in the campaign who colluded, with any foreign government. I had no improper contacts. I have not relied on Russian funds to finance my business activities in the private sector. I have tried to be fully transparent with regard to the filing of my SF-86 form, above and beyond what is required. Hopefully, this puts these matters to rest. 

Actually I seriously doubt this puts anything to rest. And I would suggest that once the various investigative bodies get a look at some of this Kushner paperwork they will have even more questions for him to answer.

Also keep in mind that Mr. Transparent is refusing to testify to any of this under oath.

Even though doing so is typically how people with nothing to hide, prove they have nothing to hide.