Idiocracy

The Hill reports: President Trump on Monday accused former President Obama of colluding or obstructing with the actions he took during the 2016 presidential election. His tweet comes after Trump in an interview that aired last week criticized Obama over Russia’s interference in the 2016 presidential election, accusing the former president of doing “nothing” before the election. “Well I just …

Politico reports: After more than five months as president, Donald Trump is still talking about the 2016 election. On Sunday morning, the president tweeted that Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton “colluded with the Democratic Party” to beat Bernie Sanders. It’s not clear why the president chose to revisit the 2016 campaign this morning or where his newfound sympathy for Sanders came …

The New York Times reports: The opportunity to take over behind the White House briefing room lectern would be the apex of a political operative’s career in any other presidency, a path to riches, fame and power. But after weeks of fitful efforts to sell a job that for decades people have plotted to get, no one has jumped at …

“The personal wreckage suffered by many people during the Clinton years is well documented. Just ask Paula Jones, Jim and Susan McDougal, Kathleen Willey and many others. However, in my discussion about Loretta Lynch and Vince Foster, I took the accusations a step too far. I regret my choice of words. The fact remains Hillary Clinton broke the law, violated …

The Washington Examiner reports: President Trump slammed the Democratic Party Wednesday morning for what he described as a failure to work with Republicans in Congress. Trump late Tuesday also mocked Democrats for losing five special elections since he was elected president. On Tuesday night, Republican Karen Handel beat Democrat Jon Ossoff in the special election for Georgia’s 6th congressional district, …

USA Today reports: Jeff Sessions, the nation’s chief law enforcement officer and top prosecutor, has private lawyer of his own. Attorney Charles “Chuck” Cooper, a longtime advocate for conservative causes, has been providing counsel to the attorney general, most recently in preparation for his appearance last week before the Senate Intelligence Committee, which is investigating possible collusion between President Trump’s …

The Atlantic reports: Instead of canceling them entirely, the White House has appeared to embrace a different strategy: simply downgrading them bit by bit, from “briefings” to “gaggles,” and from on-camera to off-camera. Guidance for the briefings have begun to include a note that audio from them cannot be used. Additionally, though Trump has held short press conferences when foreign …

Politico reports: White House press secretary Sean Spicer is leading a search for his own replacement at the briefing room podium as part of a larger plan to shake up the White House communications operations, according to two people with knowledge of the effort. Last week, Spicer and White House chief of staff Reince Priebus reached out to Fox News …

The right wing Daily Caller reports: CNN’s Jim Acosta is incredibly frustrated with the communications team in Trump’s White House, arguing on Monday that the non-answers, off-camera briefings, and stonewalling does a disservice to the American people. On Monday, press secretary Sean Spicer opted to hold a press gaggle off-camera with no audio, leaving correspondents to work only with transcripts. …

The Independent reports: Donald Trump has claimed his approval rating is higher than that of Barack Obama – despite the data he is referring to suggesting the opposite is true. “The new Rasmussen Poll, one of the most accurate in the 2016 Election, just out with a Trump 50% Approval Rating. That’s higher than O’s #’s,” he wrote in an …

ABC News reports: The senior Justice Department official with ultimate authority over the special counsel’s probe of Russia’s alleged meddling in the 2016 election has privately acknowledged to colleagues that he may have to recuse himself from the matter, which he took charge of only after Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ own recusal, sources tell ABC News. Those private remarks from …

Mediaite reports: Kellyanne Conway appeared on Fox & Friends Friday morning, and was quick to link media coverage of President Donald Trump to the shooting at a House GOP baseball practice that wounded Rep. Steve Scalise and four others. After delivering those comments — with the incendiary rhetoric dialed up to 11 — Conway noted that since the tragedy there …

The Washington Examiner reports: President Trump confirmed Friday morning he is under investigation over his decision to fire FBI Director James Comey. “I am being investigated for firing the FBI Director by the man who told me to fire the FBI Director! Witch Hunt,” he said on his Twitter account. News surfaced this week that Trump is being investigated for …

The New York Daily News reports: She’s arranged tournaments at Trump golf courses, served as the liaison to the Trump family during his presidential campaign, and even arranged Eric Trump’s wedding. Now President Trump has appointed longtime loyalist Lynne Patton — who has zero housing experience and claims a law degree the school says she never earned — to run …

Raw Story reports: White House Deputy Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said on Thursday that she was forbidden from discussing things that President Donald Trump has written on Twitter. In a tweet on Thursday morning, Trump accused Special Counsel Robert Mueller of conducting a “witch hunt” after news reports suggested that the president may be under investigation for obstruction of …

The Washington Post reports: Attorney General Jeff Sessions’s testimony has been marked by some heated moments, including tense debates over whether he is “stonewalling” the committee. And then came Sen. Tom Cotton, Republican of Arkansas. The first-term senator opened by suggesting Democrats on the committee were going down “rabbit trails,” invoked the novels of John le Carré and the James …

The Hill reports: President Trump appears to have blocked a veterans group that has been critical of his time in office on Twitter. “The Commander in Chief can block @VoteVets, the voice of 500k military veterans and families, but we will NOT be silenced,” VoteVets.org wrote on Twitter, including a screenshot that shows Trump had blocked the organization’s account. The …

The Washington Examiner reports: President Trump criticized former Attorney General Loretta Lynch on Tuesday morning, saying Lynch’s actions during her time leading the Justice Department were “totally illegal.” Trump appeared to be referencing a revelation from former FBI Director James Comey’s testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee last week. During the hearing, Comey said Lynch asked him to refer to …

The Week reports: President Trump’s supporters are nearly evenly split on whether it’s “appropriate” for a politician to body-slam a journalist, a Public Policy Polling survey released Monday revealed. While 45 percent of Trump supporters said that it was not acceptable for a politician to use physical force against a reporter, 42 percent said it was. The poll was released …

Another day, another meltdown: Hours before his attorney general is expected to answer tough questions from the Senate intelligence committee on Russia’s involvement in the U.S. president election, President Donald Trump fired off a hostile tweet about the media’s alleged “agenda of hate.” Attorney General Jeff Sessions is scheduled to testify Tuesday afternoon. President Trump did not mention this specifically …