Axios reports: White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany tweeted Monday that President Trump will hold a coronavirus press briefing, after announcing earlier in the day that the White House would cancel its scheduled briefing. The big picture: As Axios’ Jonathan Swan reported last week, the Trump administration has moved to limit the briefings, fearing President Trump is overexposed and hurting …
Read More »Trump Blames Dems For Late Unemployment Checks, Claims He Wanted To Use Nonexistent Federal System
The Hill reports: President Trump blamed Democrats on Monday for any delays Americans see in receiving additional unemployment funds provided under coronavirus relief legislation. Trump said Democrats “insisted” that states issue the checks, adding that he knew delays would occur. “I wanted the money to be paid directly, they insisted it be paid by states for distribution,” he added. “I …
Read More »REPORT: Trump Moving To Block Cohen’s Tell-All Book
Raw Story reports: According to a report from the Daily Beast, Donald Trump was very displeased that his former lawyer and “fixer” Michael Cohen was given an early release from jail due to the coronavirus pandemic. Cohen, who had been serving three years as part of a plea deal over making hush-money payments in the service of the president, has …
Read More »Trump Makes Conference Call With Catholic Leaders, Calls Himself “Best President In History Of The Church”
The Catholic news magazine Crux reports: President Donald Trump identified himself as the “best [president] in the history of the Catholic Church” in a conference call for Catholic leaders and educators Saturday, where he warned that issues at stake in the upcoming presidential election, particularly on abortion and religious liberty, “have never been more important for the Church.” In an …
Read More »Ex-FDA Head: Ouster Of Vaccine Chief “Sets Us Back”
The Hill reports: Former Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Scott Gottlieb said Sunday that the ouster of federal vaccine chief Richard Bright will “set us back” in combating the coronavirus pandemic. “I know Rick Bright well … he was effective. He was a vaccine expert, so I was sorry to see him go,” Gottlieb said on CBS’ “Face the …
Read More »Trump Lies Again About Not Leaving The White House: People Say I’m The “Hardest Working President” Ever
CNN fact-checked this lie earlier this week: During an exchange with “PBS NewsHour” White House correspondent Yamiche Alcindor, Trump claimed he hadn’t “left the White House in months” except to send off the USNS Comfort, a hospital ship sent from Virginia to aid New York. When Alcindor reminded him that he had campaign rallies in February and March, he suggested …
Read More »President Body Bags: Briefings Aren’t Worth My Time
The Guardian reports: After more than a month of near-daily White House coronavirus press briefings, Donald Trump stayed behind closed doors on Saturday after advisers reportedly warned the president that his appearances were hurting his campaign. Trump himself referenced his absence when he wrote on Twitter that the briefings are “not worth the time & effort”. The president wrote the …
Read More »Trump Battles Oversight Of COVID Relief Spending
The Hill reports: The Trump campaign hammered Congress for setting up a committee to oversee the implementation of the $2.2 trillion coronavirus relief package, casting the panel as the embodiment of a “WITCH HUNT.” “First, the Democrat’s Russian Collusion Delusion FAILED because WE fought back,” the campaign said in a fundraising email it says was penned by President Trump, referring …
Read More »Chicken Shit Trump Runs Out Of WH Briefing Room To Avoid Any Questions About Injecting Bleach [VIDEO]
Axios reports: President Trump plans to pare back his coronavirus press conferences, according to four sources familiar with the internal deliberations. He may stop appearing daily and make shorter appearances when he does, the sources said — a practice that may have started with Friday’s unusually short briefing. Why this matters: Trump’s daily press conferences — televised to a largely …
Read More »Tapper: Trump’s Sarcasm Claim Is A “Bald-Faced Lie”
Mediaite reports: CNN anchor Jake Tapped called out White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany as well as “the president’s factotums in the right wing media” for claiming the media took POTUS out of context, before noting how Trump “made their empty defenses of him even less rooted in fact when he claimed he had been sarcastic and he was posing …
Read More »Trump: No Bailout For USPS Unless Prices Are Raised For Package Delivery (Actual Intent Is To Hurt Amazon)
The Washington Post reports: President Trump on Friday said he would not be approving an emergency loan for the U.S. Postal Service if it did not immediately raise its prices for package delivery, confirming a recent Washington Post article that said he planned to exert more control over the agency. “The Post Office is a joke,” Trump told reporters. “The …
Read More »Trump: I Was Being Sarcastic On Injecting Disinfectant
The Week reports: President Trump claimed Friday that he was only joking when he theorized about the medical benefits of injecting household disinfectants as a treatment for COVID-19. “I was asking it sarcastically to reporters just like you to see what would happen,” he said. Trump’s comments, though, had not been interpreted as a joke at the time, prompting companies …
Read More »Trump Organization Owes $211 Million To Bank Of China
Politico reports: Donald Trump is warning “China will own the United States” if Joe Biden is elected president. But Trump himself is tens of millions of dollars in debt to China: In 2012, his real estate partner refinanced one of Trump’s most prized New York buildings for almost $1 billion. The debt includes $211 million from the state-owned Bank of …
Read More »USPS Crisis Gives Opening For Trump To Hurt Amazon
The Washington Post reports: The Treasury Department is considering taking unprecedented control over key operations of the U.S. Postal Service by imposing tough terms on an emergency coronavirus loan from Congress, which would fulfill President Trump’s longtime goal of changing how the service does business. Officials working under Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, who must approve the $10 billion loan, have …
Read More »Billionaire Donor Prodded Trump On Malaria Drug
NBC News reports: A top HHS official who said he was transferred from his post for pushing back on “efforts to fund potentially dangerous drugs promoted by those with political connections” felt pressured to rush access to chloroquine treatments for coronavirus after Trump had a conversation about it with a mega-rich donor, a source close to the doctor told NBC …
Read More »MAGA Firm Gets $7.6M Contract For 800 Feet Of Wall
The Daily Beast reports: Last Wednesday, while the country strained under a nationwide lockdown, the Army Corps of Engineers found time to award another border-wall contract to a company Trump personally championed—even as it’s under investigation by the Defense Department inspector general. Specifically, Fisher on Apr. 15 got $7,633,085 to build a mere “800 linear feet” of bollard barrier—that slatted …
Read More »House Oversight Committee: Don’t Give Trump Org Rent Break On DC Hotel, “Blatant Conflict Of Interest”
Roll Call reports: Leaders of the House Oversight Committee are asking the General Services Administration to “stand up to the President” and deny his company’s apparent request for rent relief at the Trump International Hotel in downtown Washington, D.C. The statement was released after media outlets reported the Trump company sought a break on lease payments for its Washington hotel …
Read More »Trump Org Seeks Bailout Money From UK And Ireland
Bloomberg News reports: The Trump Organization is seeking U.K. and Irish bailout money to help cover wages for bartenders, bagpipers and other employees furloughed from its European golf properties because of the coronavirus lockdown. Overseas businesses owned by U.S. President Donald Trump can tap government funds meant to help retain workers. In the U.S., by contrast, they’re specifically written out …
Read More »El Paso Ready To Sue Trump For Unpaid Rally Expenses
The Texas Tribune reports: El Paso Mayor Dee Margo on Tuesday said city officials should probably consider suing President Trump’s campaign to recoup more than $500,000 in expenses incurred during a rally last year. The city spent about $470,000 on security and other costs for a Trump rally in South El Paso in February 2019. After that invoice went unpaid, …
Read More »Billionaire Trump Donor Gets Contract To Track COVID
The Daily Beast reports: A Silicon Valley company co-founded by a close ally of President Donald Trump will play a major new role in helping the government track the spread of the coronavirus, pulling information that is being used by top administration officials, including the president himself. Palantir, the data-mining firm created by investor Peter Thiel, is best known for …
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