I’ll take my dressing on the side and freedom MIXED RIGHT IN, thank you
BY PRIYANKA ARIBINDI, BRIAN BEUTLER & CROOKED MEDIA
Friday, April 20, 2018 | James Comey’s memos about his interactions with President Trump leaked to the press Thursday night, minutes after Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein submitted them to Congress in response to House GOP threats and demands. Here’s what Republicans got for their efforts: • Trump is obsessed with the pee tape, and lied to Comey when he said that he didn’t spend the night in Moscow after the Miss Universe pageant, since his bodyguard already confirmed that he did. Nothing says normal and not at all suspicious like a false alibi! • Trump was desperate to please Vladimir Putin, and told Comey he became angry when he learned his now-disgraced national security adviser Michael Flynn hadn't expedited a phone call between the two presidents. • The White House leadership (including Trump) was nervous as hell about Flynn. Two weeks after the White House learned Flynn represented a massive national security breach, former Chief of Staff Reince Priebus took the wildly inappropriate step of asking Comey whether the FBI was monitoring Flynn's communications. Trump fired Flynn only after the White House learned he was being surveilled. From Brian: House Republicans’ plan is to keep demanding sensitive investigative materials from Rosenstein until they make a demand that he must refuse, at which point they can hold him in contempt of Congress and give Trump an excuse to fire him. It didn't work with the Comey memos, but they’ll surely try again. The situation is so dire that no less a Trump loyalist than Attorney General Jeff Sessions has reportedly told White House Counsel Don McGahn that he might have to quit if Trump fires Rosenstein. (That word “might,” though…) | ALL'S WELL THAT ENDS WELLS FARGO | Despite believing the agency he leads should be abolished, acting Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Mick Mulvaney has touted a $1 billion settlement CFPB reached with Wells Fargo. As former Director Richard Cordray notes, the settlement stems from wrongdoing the bureau uncovered when Cordray was still director. On the other hand: The nation’s six largest banks pocketed $3.6 billion from the Trump tax cuts in just three months. That’s our Paul Ryan, helping those in need. From Dan Pfeiffer: This is really going to anger voters, but if and only if Democrats make sure they know about it. | | |
HOPE WE DON'T GET JUDGE JEANINE | The DNC is filing a civil lawsuit against Russia, Wikileaks, and the Trump campaign, including Donald Trump, Jr., Jared Kushner, and Roger Stone, for conspiring to sabotage the Hillary Clinton campaign and subvert the 2016 election. The party seeks millions of dollars in damages, but the main public value of the development is the hope that the litigation will reach the discovery phase, which would allow DNC lawyers to depose members of Trump’s inner circle and gain access to internal communications and other documents. Which would be bad for them. The Democrats' model for this litigation is the successful suit they filed against the Nixon campaign after Watergate, which they won. Nixon's campaign ultimately paid the DNC $750,000 on the day Nixon resigned. Fun fact. | North Korea has announced that it will suspend all nuclear tests and shut down a nuclear test site after Kim Jong Un stated there was no more need for them. Disgraced Missouri Governor Eric Greitens has been charged with a felony for using a charity donor list as a campaign fundraising tool. He’s facing separate charges for taking and threatening to send a nonconsensual photo of a woman he had an affair with in 2015. How is this guy still the governor? Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer introduced a federal marijuana decriminalization bill today, reflecting a rapid shift in public opinion on the issue. From Pod Save the People news crew member Clint Smith: It is definitely a good thing that more politicians are talking about decriminalizing marijuana, but it’s also the politically safe and palatable thing to do. The more honest conversation around ending mass incarceration demands a completely different level of political courage. An appeals court ruled yesterday that local governments don’t have to provide specific kinds of help to federal immigration authorities in order to receive federal grants—a setback for the Trump/Sessions’ deportation agenda. Federal civil rights prosecutors have recommended charges against the police officer who used a chokehold against Eric Garner in 2014, ultimately killing him, but Trump’s Justice Department leaders are hostile to civil rights litigation, and prosecutors are reluctant to move forward with cases they don’t think they can win. SunTrust Banks said an employee may have stolen confidential information from 1.5 million customers and given it to a “criminal third party.” Another day, another data breach. Avicii, the Swedish DJ behind the once-ubiquitous hit “Levels,” died at age 28 in Oman. Don’t eat romaine lettuce. From Lovett: Big government salad bureaucrats trying to stop me from getting a Caesar? I’ll take my dressing on the side and freedom MIXED RIGHT IN, thank you. | | |
Lovett or Leave It is out a day early, with a live show from the blizzard in Minneapolis. Jon, St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter III, healthcare expert Andy Slavitt, Professor Joanne Miller, and Crooked contributor Erin Ryan talk misinformation, propaganda, and fighting for truth in the age of Trump. Listen → | | |
Trump fixer Michael Cohen apologized to Melania Trump for the pain HE caused her by paying the porn star who claims to have had an affair with her husband. According to Roger Stone, Trump also reportedly treats Cohen “like garbage,” and looks down on him for paying full price for the Trump properties he owns. It’s a window into a sad, awful world. Enjoy. | Students around the country commemorated the anniversary of the Columbine massacre today with a second national school walk out. In Columbine, where school is closed on the anniversary every year, students instead held a voter registration rally at the same high school where the shooting took place 19 years earlier. According to the Denver Post, the number of 16- and 17-year-olds who pre-registered to vote in Colorado has increased 17 percent over the previous year. Meanwhile, in Idaho, volunteers are fighting to expand Medicaid and get it on the ballot after state legislators refused to take federal funding that could give health coverage to thousands of uninsured people across the state. The Medicaid for Idaho campaign has 50,000 of the 56,000 signatures they need to get the measure on ballots in November. If you live in Idaho or know someone who does, you can help get Medicaid expansion on the ballot this fall → / | “During the 10 hours I was reporting this story, I was groped 22 times.” Teen Vogue editor Vera Papisova reported on the side of Coachella that you don’t see in Beychella clips and festival Instagrams—a culture of sexual harassment. Every single one of the 54 women she spoke with at the festival had a story of sexual harassment or assault from the weekend. Read → | | |
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