Trump treats Putin like his dad and it never stops being weird
BY PRIYANKA ARIBINDI, BRIAN BEUTLER
& CROOKED MEDIA
Thursday, March 29, 2018 | Former Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin poured out the chamomile all over The New York Times opinion section. He claims the VA’s successes under his leadership “have intensified the ambitions of people who want to put VA health care in the hands of the private sector,” and that “the advocates within the administration for privatizing VA health services… saw me as an obstacle to privatization who had to be removed.” The White House claims that Shulkin was fired for unethical conduct relating to a taxpayer-funded business trip that he turned into a vacation. But if Trump cared about ethics, he would also be firing Ben Carson, Ryan Zinke, Scott Pruitt, and other cabinet officials who’ve had similar scandals. (And it’s not like Jared is squeaky clean! If we’re firing people for being unethical, they’ll have to make a tumbleweed comms director.) He fired Shulkin, it seems, because Shulkin was an obstacle to the agenda of wealthy GOP interests who want to privatize VA health care. Trump has selected White House physician Ronny Jackson to replace Shulkin at the VA. Though Jackson is an accomplished Navy physician, he has no relevant administrative experience and we know nothing about his views on issues like privatization. From Brian Beutler: Could this also be a trial run for a potential Mueller firing? Until Jackson is confirmed, Trump is replacing Shulkin with an Acting Secretary from another Cabinet agency who’s already been confirmed by the Senate. This is exactly the move we expect he'd make if he tried to shut down the Russia investigation: Fire Jeff Sessions or Rod Rosenstein, replace them with a toady from another agency who’s already been confirmed by the Senate (like EPA Chief Scott Pruitt), and order that person to fire Mueller. Maybe someone should be scrutinizing the legality of this move? | | |
Michael Cohen's lawyer, David Schwartz, told CNN on Wednesday night that Cohen negotiated the Trump-Stormy Daniels nondisclosure agreement without ever telling Trump about it. Perhaps realizing he'd implicated his client in serious ethical misconduct, Schwartz played cleanup Thursday morning by contending that Cohen isn't actually Trump's lawyer at all. So either the NDA is void and Cohen is in deep trouble, or there's no attorney-client privilege protecting Trump and Cohen's communications. Maybe the bad lawyer’s bad lawyer needs a bad lawyer of his own? As the old parable goes: It’s bad lawyers all the way down. On a very related note, Trump's new top criminal defense lawyer has no experience in federal criminal law or public corruption, and has some weird hobbies. (Seriously, read the piece.) This sounds like just the person you want on your legal team when you learn that Special Counsel Robert Mueller is specifically interested in what your former aide Rick Gates knows about potentially illegal ties between your campaign and Russia.
To recap, Trump's lawyer's lawyer says Trump's lawyer is not his lawyer, and Trump's actual lawyer sues convenience stores in Georgia and moonlights as a medieval historian, just like Clarence Darrow. Hard to imagine why Trump world is in such an obvious panic.
| | |
Under Ben Carson, HUD is backing down from enforcing fair housing laws. The head of the Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity division has ordered a hold on six investigations that were previously of the highest priority. One bad actor Carson has let off the hook is Facebook— according to new lawsuit, it continues to allow advertisers to target housing ads that discriminate against minorities. Picture a government fox giving a corporate fox a high five in front of a henhouse. EPA chief Scott Pruitt lived in a DC condo co-owned by an energy lobbyist couple. According to ethics experts, this could constitute an improper gift if the lobbyists cut him a deal on rent. Wonder what he’s paying. Trump has told his aides not to tout the U.S. government’s adversarial Russia policies. Per NBC News, “Doing so, Trump argued, might agitate Russian President Vladimir Putin.” This comes as Russia announced they are expelling 60 diplomats from the U.S. and more from other nations. TRUMP TREATS PUTIN LIKE HIS DAD AND IT NEVER STOPS BEING WEIRD. In “the spirit of Holy Week,” Laura Ingraham has apologized to Parkland student David Hogg for mocking his college rejections (after she lost multiple major advertisers). $$$ Austin’s police chief is now (finally!) calling the recent bombings “domestic terrorism.” Black students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School held a press conference to highlight concerns they’ve had since returning to school—like the heightened police presence on campus—saying that these have not necessarily been echoed or shared by their classmates who’ve captured national attention.
ICE is ending its practice of automatically releasing pregnant women. According to immigrants’ rights advocates, this is dangerous for women and unborn children, and pregnant women are more likely to miscarry if they’re in detention.
| | |
On Pod Save America: Jon and Dan talk to former Clinton campaign communications director Jennifer Palmieri.
Listen to "Choose Your Own Obstruction" →
| | |
A new Wall Street Journal graphic titled “10 Years After the Crisis” displays how much inequality has widened since the financial crisis of 2008. But one Wall Street Journal editor never wanted you to see this. In a memo, Wall Street Journal staff says that a “senior editor” attempted to take this graphic offline earlier this week because “the facts it contained were not politically palatable.” When that didn’t work, it was taken off the homepage and links to it were removed. The memo continues: “This is censorship and it is beneath the standards of the Wall Street Journal. It isn’t the first time either.” In the wise, slightly paraphrased words of DJ Khaled: They don’t want you to have this article, so I made sure you had this article. Read → | Facebook can’t fail, apparently. It can only be failed. Read → | | |
*listens to Pod Save America once* | Did someone forward you this email? Sign up to get What A Day in your inbox! | | |
