Saturday, June 10, 2017

Trump Job Review from Paul Ryan, John Cornyn, Roy Blunt, Lindsey Graham

Basic Premise of Growing Number of GOPers in Congress

Trump's Initial and Current Long-Term Goal and Plan

We have to draw the line at a crime being committed that would force Congressional hands to act vis-à-vis what is the impeachable offense - selective extracts from the Washington Post here ... a good read for sure - highlights:
David Axelrod, former Obama adviser: “Yes, Comey did confirm that he told the president that he wasn’t, at the time that Comey spoke to him, under investigation. But that ignores the fact that what was clear from Comey’s testimony is that Trump almost certainly is under investigation now because of what he said to Comey.”
In addition to the special counsel probe, the House Oversight Committee is also investigating whether Trump and his associates may have attempted to influence the FBI investigation and that includes both current and former Trump associates, i.e.: Son-in-law Jared Kushner, former campaign manager Paul Manafort, former adviser Carter Page, and former NSC Adviser Michael Flynn – all the focus of ongoing probes. Then add in the man now defending Trump and declaring victory, Trump’s attorney Marc Kasowitz may have opened his client up to further scrutiny, plus Kasowitz’s own questionable Russian bank ties himself.
Kasowitz skips over the part about “allowing his client [Trump] to say that Comey had lied under oath” since that now guarantees that the special counsel [Mueller] is going to have to get sworn testimony from Trump on this very same subject, which creates another avenue of exposure for Trump.
Now some Rightwing/Trump loyalist BS:
From Tom Fitton, president of the conservative watchdog group Judicial Watch who said: “Comey lifted the veil on his motivations. The political problem for President Trump previously had been the unwillingness of Republicans to defend him from the lawless efforts to remove him from office. Now he may have some more backing from his weak sisters in the Congress.”
This cast of characters in the Senate have moved to defend Trump who all had been Trump critics in the past: Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), Marco Rubio (R-FL), and Lindsey Graham (R-SC), with Graham weaseling out with this BS statement: “I don’t believe the president is under investigation for colluding with Russia, I don’t believe there’s anything to investigate when it comes to obstruction of justice. What he did was wrong, it was inappropriate, rude and crude, but not a crime.”
Then the Paul Ryan BS line is the best of all – but catching on with other GOPers: “Trump is inexperienced and perhaps naivé — and not a politician.” What a crock!!!
Then this pile of horseshit: “It’s no secret to anybody that this president is not experienced in the ways of Washington or how these investigations work,” who added later: “Trump is a novice in public office who was understandably frustrated by Comey’s refusal to publicly announce that Trump was not the focus of the FBI’s investigation.” Oh that pile of horseshit is from Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), a member of the Intelligence and Judiciary committees and the chamber’s second-ranking Republican told to reporters.
Then is worm and I feel sorry for all worms: Sen. Roy Blunt (R-MO), also a member of Senate GOP leadership, who said (and with a straight face, too) “Comey’s testimony was probably more helpful than not to the president.”
This from inside the sewer – the not so-drained swamp White House, Trump aides say they feel a small measure of relief armed with testimony from Comey that they view as validation of Trump’s statements that he is not under investigation. They also have and will continue to raise questions about the legality of Comey’s efforts to release his personal unclassified memos of meetings with Trump to the media and about the Obama Justice Department’s actions in the email case involving former Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.
White House insiders are “More comfortable today than they have been in months,” said Barry Bennett, a former Trump campaign adviser. “The base certainly hasn’t gone anywhere. They are very suspect of media in general and they clearly don’t have much respect for the left.”
During a Friday press conference in the Rose Garden with the Romanian Trump jumped at the opportunity when asked about the Comey testimony, glancing down at a piece of paper as he recited his mantra: “No collusion. No obstruction. He’s a leaker. We’re very, very happy and frankly James Comey confirmed a lot of what I said and some of the things he said just weren’t true.”
In Congress and among some conservative activists, impatience over Trump’s stalled agenda is beginning to show — and many increasingly blame the Russia probe and its sprawling effects such as Jenny Beth Martin, the co-founder and president of TEA Party Patriots, who said “… conservatives like her increasingly see the ongoing congressional and special counsel investigations as distractions designed to hamper Trump’s legislative agenda.”
She added: “You can throw out allegations all day every day and can head down all sorts of rabbit holes, but at some point, the focus needs to be back on what’s important for all of America”

I totally agree with that last part Ms. Beth-Martin, but it must include a president who doesn’t on Monday say one thing, then on Tuesday deny he even said it on Monday, but then on Wednesday say he ever even said it all (even though on video and in print). Or a president who does not run every signing of an EO or other announcement on Twitter, or like a new segment of his latest TV reality show when he says “Stay tuned, you will find some really big, very yuge news shortly” (as he starts the suspense ball rolling for us to tune in for the next segment of his show).
So, yes, stay tuned, but for the right reason: To find out the truth about Donald J. Trump and his con-game.
We still have a very, very long way to go in this reality show that Trump loves with every breath he takes. 
He signs off: Same time, same channel. This segment brought to you by our famous “Trump steaks and vodka.” Yum yummy…!!! (Pass the ketchup)...

Related (added late) from the Washington Post - FYI.

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