Archive for the ‘Donald Trump’ Category

Donald Trump Jr.’s fiance, Kimberly Guilfoyle, spent 9 hours talking to the House January 6 committee – Yahoo News

Kimberly Guilfoyle gives an address to the Republican National Convention on August 24, 2020 in Washington, DC.Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Kimberly Guilfoyle, the fiance of Donald Trump Jr., has met with the January 6 committee.

Guilfoyle was seen arriving for a meeting with the panel on Monday and left after more than 9 hours.

The panel wanted to learn about her conversations with Trump on January 6, 2021.

Kimberly Guilfoyle, the fiance of Donald Trump Jr., met with the January 6 panel investigating the Capitol riot for nine hours on Monday.

Guilfoyle arrived for a meeting with committee investigators at around 10 a.m. on Monday and left nine hours later, per CNN.

The January 6 panel subpoenaed the former Fox News personality and advisor to former President Donald Trump in March. This subpoena was issued after she backed out of a meeting with the panel in February, claiming that committee members "notorious for leaking information" were present at the meeting without her knowledge.

The committee already has Guilfoyle's phone records, obtained through subpoenas to communications companies.

In a March 3 letter to Guilfoyle, committee chairman Rep. Bennie Thompson said the panel wanted to speak to the former Fox News host about her conversations with the former president on the day of the riot and about her fundraising activities before the "Stop the Steal" Ellipse rally. Guilfoyle claimed to have raised $3 million for the former president's January 6 rally, an event that preceded the violent Capitol riot.

The letter also mentioned comments Guilfoyle made at the rally.

"You told the crowd, 'We will not allow the liberals and the Democrats to steal our dream or steal our elections,' and were filmed backstage prior to your speech telling people to 'Have the courage to do the right thing. Fight!'" it said.

"Ms. Guilfoyle met with Donald Trump inside the White House, spoke at the rally that took place before the riot on January 6th, and apparently played a key role organizing and raising funds for that event," said chairman Rep. Bennie Thompson in a statement at the time.

Story continues

Thompson added that the subpoena would compel Guilfoyle to testify after she "backed out of her original commitment to provide a voluntary interview."

To date, more than 800 people have spoken with the House January 6 committee.

Guilfoyle is the third Trump family member to have spoken to the panel in the last weeks. Trump's daughter, Ivanka Trump, and her husband, Jared Kushner, both voluntarily appeared before the January 6 panel for a combined 14 hours of closed-door testimony.

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Donald Trump Jr.'s fiance, Kimberly Guilfoyle, spent 9 hours talking to the House January 6 committee - Yahoo News

Donald Trump should be furious the RNC nixed presidential debates – Brookings Institution

On Thursday, the Republican National Committee voted to withdraw its partys candidates from participation in the official presidential debates. Their unanimous vote to separate from the Commission on Presidential Debates is historic and comes after months of suggestions by the RNC and its chairperson Ronna McDaniel that the party would do so. While it is unclear whether such a move would bar a Republican standard bearer from participating if he or she chose to do so, such a move is a serious threat to the democratic process. It should also infuriate any potential 2024 Republican nominee who believes they could win a debate against President Joe Biden.

The Commission on Presidential Debates sponsors the general election debates between the partys presidential nominees (typically in three sessions) and the partys vice presidential nominees (in one session). The RNCs decision to withdraw from participation would not impact debates in the party primaries, which are typically formed from agreements among media organizations, a political party, and the potential candidates from a given party.

Republican Party leadership has been voicing anger over the rules that the Commission on Presidential Debates maintains and has suggested bias in the process, specifically around choices over moderator selection. Those concerns also extend to the timing of debates, term limits for members of the board of directors, and codes of conduct for staff and moderators. The party has demanded that the process and the commission be reformed.

The scope of reforms and the ability to influence the debate process is important to dissect. There are certain aspects of presidential debates that are set by the commission such as sites, moderators, etc. Other aspects of the debates are negotiated between campaigns and the commission, including minutiae like the position of podiums and the temperature of the air. The bigger picture issues, that (as noted above) RNC complaints center on, are typically determined by the commissions board of directors. That board is bipartisan in nature and many members have deep experience in politics and presidential debate procedure and history.

For most presidential candidates, debates are valuable. They serve as a large-scale, long-format means of detailing their plans and policies to the American public. Thus, it is surprising that the Republican Party would opt out of these debates during this cycle. First, it is always challenging for a presidential challenger to get as much airtime as a sitting president. Because of the nature of the office and the committed press coverage to a sitting President, the incumbent already has a leg up on the competition when it comes to delivering their message to the public. While there have been rumors that President Biden may not seek a second term, the Republican Party must operate under the assumption that he will seek reelection. As a result, the presidential debates offer a challenger an opportunity to be on the same playing fieldin some sense literallyas the sitting president.

Second, presidential campaigns are always a clash and contrast of ideas, and there is no grander stage for that to be played out than in a debate. There are no other opportunities for presidential (and vice presidential) candidates to face off, directly, across from one another, than in the commission sponsored debates. If a candidate is confident that they are a better candidate, with a more electable set of ideas, and would bring to the office a style and approach far superior to that of their opponent, they should clamor for the opportunity.

Third, Republicans have been quite confident in their debate performances in recent elections. On July 2, 2019, President Donald Trump tweeted his own opinion of the 2016 Commission on Presidential Debate-sponsored events stating, As most people are aware according to the Polls I won EVERY debate including the three with Crooked Hillary Clinton. In the following election cycle, the sitting president claimed to have won both debates once again.[1] After the first debate, he told the press corps, [b]y every measure, we won the debate easily last night. He even went on to suggest that despite his own desire for more debates, then-former Vice President Joe Biden wanted to opt out. Days after the second debate, President Trump tweeted about his winning, Debate Poll Average: 89% Trump. 11% Sleepy Joe Biden! Although, it should be noted it was not clear what poll average or specific polling the president was referencing with that claim.

Even the Republican National Committee chairperson praised Trumps debating in 2020. Ms. McDaniels statement tweeted by the official GOP account insisted that President Trump dominated tonights debate by aggressively highlighting that he accomplished more for the American people and the following day noted, President Trumps stellar performance in the second debate. Given this confidence, former President Trumps flirtation with another run in 2024, and polling suggesting he would be the Republican frontrunner, he should be embracing the opportunity to face off against the man who beat him in the 2020 race.

Fourth, withdrawing candidates from the commission-sponsored debates will not guarantee that those debates will be canceled. If the debate is not canceled and the Republican standard bearer opts not to attend, the event could provide President Biden or whoever is the Democratic nominee in 2024 if he were not to run, unfettered access to the American public. Those types of debates have happened in House and Senate races in which a candidate opts not to participate and either multiple candidates get more time than they would have otherwise, or a single candidate gets the entirety of the airtime.

Presidential debates are an important part of the democratic process in the United States. Failure to appear at one robs the American public from having a better understanding of what a candidate believes on a variety of issues, what that candidates demeanor and temperament as president would be like, and what management style he or she would bring to the Oval Office. In a country the size of the United States, the public does not have frequent access to the president or to presidential candidates, and so making an informed decision at the ballot box should require as much factual information about each candidate as is possible. Commission-sponsored debates allow for that possibility. Additionally, presidential candidates these days are kept in carefully protected bubbles in which surprises and curveballs rarely appear. It is at the commission-sponsored presidential debates when the public has the rare opportunity to see a president and/or a presidential candidate forced from that bubble and required to face the public directly.

Particularly in an era of misinformation, disinformation, questionable attack advertising, a social media environment fostered by woefully inept leadership, and a huge cadre of Americans across the political divide who consume news in echo chambers, the commission-sponsored debates serve a vital democratic value. The Republican National Committee should reconsider its decision to withdraw or at least make public that it would take no punitive action against a candidate who sought to participate in the forums. And finally, the Commission on Presidential Debates is not immune from reform or criticism. Where genuine and reasonable reforms or changes can be enacted, the commission should consider them insofar as the integrity of the process is maintained, the changes do not bias a single candidate or party, and the American public gets to hear from the partys standard bearers.

[1] As a reminder, during the 2020 cycle, there were three presidential debates scheduled. The initially scheduled second debate was canceled because President Trump contracted COVID-19. The final and second debate was held on October 22nd.

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Donald Trump should be furious the RNC nixed presidential debates - Brookings Institution

The verdict is in: The Trump slandering is a pack of lies – New York Post

In case you need more proof that the conspiracy theory about Donald Trump that obsessed the press and congressional Democrats for four years was made up by Hillary Clinton and her campaign, here comes another piece of evidence: John Durham reveals that the A secret Trump server is communicating with a Russian bank claim is bunk.

In a new filing, Durham reveals that the CIA concluded that cellphone data and Internet traffic provided by Clinton attorney Michael Sussmann was not technically plausible and user created. Just like the Christopher Steele dossier, they made it all up. Wish the CIA could have told us that.

Robert Mueller said as much, yet many on the left continued to ignore his absolution, just as they will likely ignore or paper over the special counsels conclusions. Clintons team invented a story, forged evidence, and then presented it to the FBI and CIA as if it was something worth pursuing, derailing a presidency for years.

Lets review:

ALLEGATION: Trump had a secret computer server in communication with a Russian bank, and a Russian-made phone followed him wherever he went.

VERDICT: False. The CIA concluded the data, presented by Clinton lawyer Sussmann, who lied to agents that he was working independently, wasnt plausible. Many computer experts have since dismissed it as baloney.

ALLEGATION: Trump used moles in the DNC to hack Hillary Clintons emails.

VERDICT: False. Mueller found no evidence of this, nor did anyone else. The emails were hacked, likely bya Russian group, and the Trump campaign had no knowledge it was going to happen, reporting has found.

ALLEGATION: The Russians had kompromat on Trump, including videos of him with prostitutes.

VERDICT: False. Agents and reporters found no evidence. Nothing was ever released. Trump deniedit and there was no support for the allegation. In fact, Durham alleges a Democratic operative was the source for Steele, meaning it was rumor-fueled, and likely made up, by people in Clintons orbit.

ALLEGATION: Trump will help lift sanctions and boost Russia because he is compromised.

VERDICT: False. Trump increased sanctions as president and, though he wanted to forge a new relationship with Russia, gave Vladimir Putin nothing that he wanted.

ALLEGATION: Trump officials regularly met with Russian officials secretly.

VERDICT: False. The dossier says that Trump lawyer Michael Cohen met with Russian agents in Prague. That was denied repeatedly by Cohen and others and debunked by the Mueller report. After the election, Russian officials tried to contact Trump and inquire about top aide positions, information they should know about if Trump was really compromised.

We could go on and on, but much of the dossier and DNC allegations against Trump are He likes Russia. Trump never made his ambitions to try to warm Russian-American relations secret. If he was naive, it wasnt compromised its called political differences.

Yet not technically plausible and user created became the bywords of the day. Durham is chipping away at the conspiracy. And it is a conspiracy. The evidence is obvious.

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The verdict is in: The Trump slandering is a pack of lies - New York Post

Letters | What would Trump have done? – Palm Beach Post

Faulty Trump assumption on Ukraine

Your guest columnist from April 16 talked about the assumption that if Donald Trump were still president that Ukraine would have quickly become part of Russia. Are you serious?When Trump was in office Russia did not attemptany invasions, Afghanistan was stable, China was in check. And this guy has the gall to say that Trump would have let Ukraine become part of Russia.He talks about how Biden's support of Ukraine is so great.Why didn't he enforce sanctions on Russia when 190,000 Russian troops were amassing on the Ukraine border before the invasion?Why has this administration been so slow to act on almost everything?The answer is simple, Biden shows American weakness where Trump showed strength.

Harry Tanen,Wellington

Thank you Jim Broadhurst for calling out Mr. Trump and his ridiculous boast about stopping Mr. Putin's brutal, sadistic and otherwise horrific invasion of Ukraine, before it ever started.Not only does Mr. Broadhurst hit the nail on the head with his description of how Mr. Trump would have folded like a cheap suit in the face of Mr. Putin's attack, he does it while making us laugh at the same time.We now see a man who once described himself as a stable genius, calling the Russian invader a genius for this "special military operation."That in itself is mind-boggling.

Harvey Glassman, Boynton Beach

I disagree with a recent letter writer that Trump would have turned Ukraine over to Russia.In fact I wonder if Putin would have even tried.Trump had closed the Russian pipeline in Europe and with our energy independence we were selling to our allies. Biden shut Keystone and opened the Russian pipeline giving Putin greater control of Europe.I believe NATO caved to Putin when Ukraine asked for membership.

Lois Henrion, Jupiter

Your article is misleading when it says that the war inUkrainenever would have happened ifPresident Trump had been in power to stop it. Had Trump been in office Putin never would have had the ambition or the financing to back this war. Putin knew Biden would stop the U.S. from drilling oilandgas that would give the Russians the money to go forward with the war. Had the U.S. been supplying oil andgas to the world, including the Europeans, thousands would be alive, Ukraine wouldn't be in rubble andPutin would not be another Hitler.

Leonard Shapiro,Boynton Beach

I read with admiration Jim Broadhursts excellent letter on the tragic genocide in Ukraine by the heartless war criminal Putin and one of his biggest fans, Donald Trump. By calling this genocidal animal a genius.Trump, the insurrectionist, can be considered a visionary for trying to overthrow our government. Unfortunately our brothers and sisters in democratic Ukraine face not only a change in government but total annihilation.

Robert Briskin,Jupiter

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Letters | What would Trump have done? - Palm Beach Post

SNL Offers Easter Wishes From Elon Musk, Donald Trump and More – The New York Times

The Easter holiday is a period for rebirth and renewal and also an opportunity for Saturday Night Live to pack as many celebrity impersonations as possible into a single sketch.

This weekends S.N.L., which featured Lizzo as its host and musical guest, opened with its cast members performing a grab-bag of impressions, starting with Bowen Yang as the Easter bunny.

He explained that although he may not be the most popular holiday mascot, I am the freakiest: a man-sized bunny with no back story.

Yang added that, unlike Santa Claus, I dont use enslaved elves to make my Easter baskets. I get them on Etsy. Because I support women.

Yang was followed by Kate McKinnon, in her recurring role as Dr. Anthony S. Fauci. Trust me, Im not here to give you any more Covid guidance, McKinnon said. Im not stupid enough to think youre actually going to follow it. All Ill say is that Covid cases are a lot like Jesus: Theyve risen again.

Cecily Strong played Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, who said she had been aggressively wishing a happy Easter to her Jewish and Muslim colleagues. Chris Redd played Mayor Eric Adams of New York, who shared some good news with the audience:

We got him: We got the shooter, Redd said, a reference to the man accused of opening fire in a subway car in Brooklyn on Tuesday. Sure, it took 30 hours, and the suspect turned himself in, but we got him. Case closed. Subways fixed. Ride without fear.

Mikey Day appeared as the billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk and announced that he planned to buy Easter. I am offering 43 billion Peeps, he said. After some stilted laughter, Day added: That was a joke. Ha ha ha. Do you get it? Thats why, afterwards, I say, That was a joke.

Chloe Fineman portrayed Britney Spears, who was celebrating her recent release from a yearslong conservatorship. Dont worry; Im finally free, and Im having a baby, she said. I just pray my baby is born happy, healthy and with the power of attorney.

Next, Kyle Mooney appeared in long hair and a beard, identifying himself as Jesus Christ. Just kidding Im Jared Leto, he said. He added that his Easter message this year was to encourage positivity. So if you go to see my new movie, Morbius, please dont review it, he said.

Just as Yang appeared to be wrapping up the sketch, he was interrupted by James Austin Johnson, playing former President Donald J. Trump. Johnson, as Trump, complained that his omission was another example of how whites are being treated horribly in this country.

He went on to give a rambling, discursive monologue about Capn Crunch, Seabiscuit and Little Caesar (whom Johnson claimed he taught to say, Pizza, pizza). He then marked the holiday by observing: Ive told America Covid would be over by Easter. I just didnt say which one.

This was the week that S.N.L. realized it had the ideal distribution of cast members to play the members of the Black Eyed Peas for a sketch in which two producers in 2008 (played by Lizzo and Aidy Bryant) help the bandmates (Kenan Thompson, Strong, Redd and Yang) spin their none-too-complex insights and emotions into hit singles like Boom Boom Pow and I Gotta Feeling.

And if that sketch wasnt enough to satisfy your desire to be transported back to a more innocent time of, like, 13 or 14 years ago, there was also this segment in which several performers played Mr. Six, the inexplicably spry former mascot of Six Flags theme parks.

Lizzos musical talents were put to productive use in a few sketches this week, most notably this filmed segment in which she and the Please Dont Destroy team frantically attempt to brainstorm a new hit single for her in 10 minutes, resulting in the hilariously disastrous song (and music video) Horny Zookeeper. (A close runner-up would be this sketch that casts Lizzo as a twerking flutist whose unconventional methods inspire an entire orchestra.)

Lizzo was pretty successful, too, when it was time to be a legitimate, non-comedic musician: Her performance of her new song About Damn Time is probably the first time weve seen the S.N.L. audience go nuts for a flute solo.

Over at the Weekend Update desk, the anchors Colin Jost and Michael Che riffed on President Bidens political woes and Elon Musks offer to buy Twitter.

Jost began:

A new poll shows that President Bidens approval rating has fallen to an all-time low of 33 percent. For a perspective, thats less the half the approval rating of Sonic the Hedgehog 2. Sonic 2 features the characters Tails and Knuckles, which are also the names of two gang members Joe Biden claims he fought in the 1960s. A video has also gone viral of President Biden finishing a speech in North Carolina, then apparently turning to shake hands with an invisible person. Hey, her name is Kamala.

Che continued:

President Biden, seen here trying to remember where he left his mask, announced new federal regulations for ghost guns. I mean, look, I dont like the idea of people having ghost guns, either. But if theres something strange in your neighborhood, who ya gonna call? [His screen showed the cast of Ghostbusters.] Elon Musk offered to buy Twitter for over $40 billion so he can loosen its free speech rules. Thats how badly white guys want to use the N-word.

Jost added to this thread:

Honestly, I dont understand why Elon even wants to own Twitter. It used to be something that seemed important and even fun, and now you look at it and its confusing and depressing. Its the Giuliani of apps. And come on, Elon built electric cars, hes going to Mars. Why is he even involving himself with Twitter? It would be like if the prince of England gave it all up just to marry an actor from Suits. Plus, Ive got to say, Twitters not even profitable anymore. It just feels like a bad business decision. And I say that as someone who bought a Staten Island Ferry with Pete.

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SNL Offers Easter Wishes From Elon Musk, Donald Trump and More - The New York Times