BY PRIYANKA ARIBINDI, BRIAN BEUTLER
& CROOKED MEDIA

Wednesday, May 2, 2018

—Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA)

BREAKING

In an interview with Sean Hannity, President Trump’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani said Trump reimbursed Michael Cohen for the $130,000 in hush money he paid to Stormy Daniels, to buy her silence about the affair she had with Trump in the last decade. This story is developing.

JUST WHAT THE PATIENT ORDERED

We've learned more from Dr. Harold Bornstein—President Trump's eccentric former physician—about the story behind a seemingly illegal raid on his office by three Trump goons who made off with Trump's medical records last year. Turns out it was all innocent and cool. (It wasn’t.)

Bornstein believes Trump ordered his personal bodyguard to seize the records because he was unhappy that Bornstein told a reporter he'd prescribed Trump a hair growth drug. He also admitted that Trump personally dictated the contents of a notorious letter Bornstein signed in 2015, giving Trump a clean bill of health during a stretch of the campaign when Trump and conservatives were spreading propaganda about Hillary Clinton's medical condition.

That leaves two lingering questions: Will there be an investigation of the altercation at Bornstein’s office? And will Trump be held to account for deceiving the nation? We won’t be holding our breath.

Sometimes the unfairness of it all is hard to take! Then you see a video where you think, “good for TMZ,” and you realize life is not meant to be fair at all.

TAKING IT TO THE LIMIT

A clearer picture has emerged about the list of questions Special Counsel Robert Mueller supposedly wants to ask Trump, and it may explain Trump’s Wednesday decision to shakeup his legal team once again.

We now know the questions were drawn up by one of Trump's criminal lawyers, Jay Sekulow, based on an overview he received from the special counsel team. Trump world orchestrated the leak in the hope of a) blaming Mueller's team for being behind the leak itself and b) creating the false impression that Mueller is asking questions he shouldn’t be asking.

Former Trump campaign aide Michael Caputo dashed those hopes when he emerged from his interview with Mueller and said, “It’s clear they are still really focused on Russia collusion. ... They know more about the Trump campaign than anyone who ever worked there … They know what they are aiming at and are deadly accurate.” No collusion, indeed!

Anyhow, Trump's reluctance to be interviewed tees up a potential legal battle, which the Supreme Court would have to decide, over whether a sitting president can be compelled to testify before a grand jury.

To get the White House on a war footing, Trump pushed out Ty Cobb, whose goal has been to avoid conflict with Mueller, and replaced him with Emmet Flood, a veteran white collar criminal lawyer, who is reportedly prepared to do lengthy battle with Justice Department.

Meanwhile, Trump's corrupt disposition toward the Mueller investigation is helping to obstruct justice all on its own. According to the New York Times, the Ukrainian government ceased cooperating with Mueller and quashed its own investigation of Trump's former campaign manager Paul Manafort, shortly after the Trump administration agreed to sell the country missiles. Ukraine characterized this decision as one designed to stay on Trump's good side.

The fun never stops.

At an event in Arizona yesterday, Vice President Mike Pence called Joe Arpaio a “tireless champion of...the rule of law.” This is the racist sheriff known for abusing inmates, and whom Trump pardoned for criminal contempt of court, which is literally flaunting the rule of law. He also attended a fundraiser yesterday for the group America First Policies, whose director of advocacy said "I believe wholeheartedly, wholeheartedly, that the black race as a whole, not totally, is lazier than the white race, period." Mike Pence is an awful person.

A consultant and former lobbyist for foreign governments spent thousands of dollars trying to help arrange a trip to Australia for EPA administrator Scott Pruitt. These details are strikingly similar to the circumstances surrounding Pruitt’s Morocco trip, which came to light earlier this week. He also tried to open EPA offices, complete with another soundproof phone booth, in his hometown for his personal convenience. According to CBS, Pruitt is now at the center of at least 10 formal investigations, which actually feels kinda low!

North Korea has released three American detainees from labor camps ahead of a summit between Kim Jong Un and Donald Trump, but is holding them at a hotel near Pyongyang, North Korea.

Former HHS Secretary Tom Price and Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) walked back their respective criticisms of repealing the individual mandate and corporate tax cuts. We are shocked—shocked!—that Marco Rubio would wither under political pressure.

Kim Kardashian West reached out to Jared Kushner about a possible presidential pardon for Alice Marie Johnson—a 62-year-old woman who’s serving a life sentence for a non-violent drug offense.

Cambridge Analytica is closing its doors, citing legal fees and an exodus of clients. Earlier this year, the firm’s former chief executive was caught on tape explaining plans to entrap a client’s political rival with bribes and sex workers. That and stealing your data. Good riddance.

The two black men arrested at a Philadelphia Starbucks for sitting without ordering anything have settled with the city for a symbolic $1, and a pledge that city officials will establish a $200,000 program for young entrepreneurs. Free coffee for life would be cool too, Starbucks…

Boy Scouts dropped the “boy.” Find an Eagle Scout near you and celebrate by leaving them in the woods with nothing.

A Southwest Airlines flight made an unplanned landing because of a cracked window. Flying Southwest? Consider an aisle seat.

On Pod Save the World: Tommy talks to Ronan Farrow, author of War on Peace about his time working at the State Department, Afghanistan, and the militarization of US foreign policy. Also, it was funny! You should listen.

Listen →

Iowa’s legislature has passed the nation’s most restrictive abortion bill, which outlaws abortions after a fetal heartbeat is detectable (six weeks), and is intended as a vehicle to make the Supreme Court revisit Roe v. Wade.

The New York Times’ latest report on the despicable things professional cheerleaders are subjected to details a Washington Redskins trip to Costa Rica, where team officials collected the women’s passports, made them pose topless or in body paint, and invited spectators—all male—to watch. To end the day, nine of the women were told they’d been selected by the male sponsors to be their personal escorts to a nightclub. Disgusting, just like the team’s name.

Read →

You know what's interesting? Since he became president, Trump has tweeted directly at EVERYONE who poses even the vaguest threat to his anti-rights agenda. Except for two: Stormy Daniels and the ACLU. Why not us, Trump? How many times do we have to sue you to get some attention?

Help us out here: Join us in trolling the Trump administration's agenda at the ACLU Conference in DC June 10-12. Stormy won't be there, but lots of ACLU lawyers and experts will. And that's the same amount of sexy. Don’t miss out: Register now and choose your price.

Eric Greitens—the Missouri GOP governor who lied to the state’s ethics commission about his improper use of a charity donor list to fundraise for his campaigns and was indicted on a felony invasion of privacy charge for allegedly threatening to leak photos he took of his mistress without her consent—designed his own major in college...in ethics. His moral compass may be dead, but irony is not.

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