***Official Political Discussion Thread***

[IATT]

 

[Belgium]

Looks like Cohen is getting the boot off the train from Trump himself. Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't attorneys at risk of losing their license if they intervene in a client's case like Cohen did?

I would assume yes, lawyers can't sign an agreement on behalf of a client without their knowledge.

 

[EddieDoyers]

breh

what a joke

 

[Belgium]

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-...mazon-idUSKCN1HC2RO?__twitter_impression=true
Trump says taking a serious look at policy options on Amazon

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Thursday he would take a very serious look at policies that might affect online retailer Amazon.com Inc.
Speaking to reporters while traveling back to Washington from West Virginia, he accused Amazon of not operating on a level playing field.

 

[gry60]

https://www.politico.com/story/2018/04/05/scott-pruitt-condo-rental-504603
Pruitt fell behind on payments for his $50-a-night condo rental
Trump said Thursday he still has confidence in his EPA chief, even as the agency is considering adding a review of Pruitt's lease arrangement amid other ethics probes.
Environmental Protection Agency chief Scott Pruitt was at times slow to pay the rent on his $50-per-night lease in a Capitol Hill condo, according to two people with knowledge of the situation — forcing his lobbyist landlord to pester him for payment.

 

[Belgium]

Note that Lewandowski was not subpoenad at any point and the republicans proceeded to close their investigation not long after. This happened during the House Intel Committee's last session with Lewandowski.
http://thehill.com/homenews/house/3...tel-dems-im-not-answering-your-f-ing-question
Lewandowski to House Intel Dems: 'I'm not answering your f-ing question'

Former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski grew angry and shouted at Democratic lawmakers during an interview with the House Intelligence Committee earlier this month.

CNN reports that Lewandowski's interview with the lawmakers became heated at times and resulted in the former Trump aide swearing at Democrats on the panel, including California Democratic Rep. Jackie Speier.



"I'm not answering your f-ing question," Lewandowski shouted at the lawmakers at one point, according to four CNN sources. They added that the former campaign manager "repeatedly" swore at the lawmakers.

Speier reportedly responded to him, along with other lawmakers, but were unable to convince him to answer further questions.

Lewandowski did not deny using the language in a subsequent interview with CNN this week.

"I had to repeat on multiple occasions that there was no collusion, cooperation or coordination because the Democrats couldn't understand my plain English way of speaking," he said.

The meeting between the former aide and the House Intelligence Committee is Lewandowski's second, after he initially refused to answer questions about his work on President Trump's transition team during an interview with the panel in January.

But during his March interview, Lewandowski reportedly would only answer questions he deemed "relevant" and eventually refused to answer any more questions. Republicans on the committee sided with Lewandowski, citing the hours of answers he had already given.

The House Intelligence Committee ended its investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election earlier this month. Democrats on the committee protested the decision, saying that there was more work to do, and have pledged to continue their investigation without the majority's support.

 

[elpablo21]

 

[Belgium]

Sounds like the whole EPA department out there snitching on Pruitt The floodgates are open today
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/05/business/epa-officials-questioned-scott-pruitt.html
E.P.A. Officials Sidelined After Questioning Scott Pruitt
At least five officials at the Environmental Protection Agency, four of them high-ranking, were reassigned or demoted, or requested new jobs in the past year after they raised concerns about the spending and management of the agency’s administrator, Scott Pruitt.

 

[Belgium]

Must be the sorest winner I've ever seen. He just can't seem to get over losing the popular vote even though he won through the electoral college.
Snowflake status

Edit; he also mentioned this:
“You know, this was going to be my remarks, it would’ve have taken about two minutes, but to hell with it,” the president said, tossing papers up in the air. “That would have been a little boring, a little boring.”. . .

“Remember my opening remarks at Trump Tower when I opened? Everybody said, ‘Oh, he was so tough.’ I used the word rape,” the president said. “And yesterday it came out where this journey coming up, women are raped at levels that nobody has ever seen before.”

 

[gry60]

You know, this was going to be my remarks, it would’ve have taken about two minutes, but to hell with it,” the president said, tossing papers up in the air. “That would have been a little boring, a little boring.”.

Hahahahaha oh Murica... What the **** did you do??

 

[Nike Jordan]

 

[chao7]

 

[Belgium]

It's the Daily Mail though

 

[gry60]

http://thehill.com/policy/internati...-pena-nieto-to-halt-cooperation-with-us-after

Mexican senators call on Peña Nieto to halt cooperation with US after Trump attacks

 

[Sharpshoeter13]

LOL of course he "didn't know"... it wasn't his money!

Joking aside, he never HAD MONEY to make him look legit. Dude's a fraud and in deep debt. It's not like he can afford anything grand other than cheeseburgers and cokes (oh wait, we're paying for all of those, too)

He's dug himself into a hole he probably thinks there's a way out of it.

Dude really comments on everything it's too pathetic.

 

[Belgium]

There he goes again
http://thehill.com/homenews/adminis...ng-100-billion-in-additional-tariffs-on-china
Trump orders officials to look at $100 billion in new Chinese tariffs

 

[rexanglorum]

$1,400 to $1,500 for a beautiful DC Condo? This is like rent control. How many DS Space Jams he got jammed in there?

 

[IATT]

There he goes again
http://thehill.com/homenews/adminis...ng-100-billion-in-additional-tariffs-on-china
Trump orders officials to look at $100 billion in new Chinese tariffs

End well, this will not



I'm here for it thou

 

[Mark Antony]

Uhmazing comrades, uhmazing

#coalrap
#violentinnercitymusicputtogooduse
#almostsickasdabarsongawd

Man these Russians trippin

 

[RustyShackleford]

There he goes again
http://thehill.com/homenews/adminis...ng-100-billion-in-additional-tariffs-on-china
Trump orders officials to look at $100 billion in new Chinese tariffs

He trippin, trippin

This clown seriously wants a recession.

 

[RustyShackleford]

$1,400 to $1,500 for a beautiful DC Condo? This is like rent control. How many DS Space Jams he got jammed in there?

Only thing rising faster than our sea levels, is da resale value, b.

 

[Belgium]

Him insisting on repeatedly tanking the stock market as well even hits my personal pockets to some extent. Made a good recovery back in February and March and much of that progress has been reduced thanks to the dotard and his intent on escalating a trade war.

 

[blastercombo]

Pretty obvious what’s happening now. Trump is getting his backers paid before he done with by any means necessary. That includes ******* over the people who voted for him (that I’m not against at all). Essentially he’s investing in them to bail him out when he’s done. “Run the country like a business” LOL. Are people ******* dumb? All business is ******* shady. From your landscapers to your local McDonald’s to your neighborhood church they ALL do some shady **** to make that dollar. White Christian America you guys are funny LOL.

 

[kdawg]

So, you know how the president gets a bill each month for groceries for personal meals - so that’s everything except official dinners.

What do you think the chances that that has been paid are?

 

[Belgium]

Looks like fiscal hawk Mulvaney wants to compete as well. Note that he recently asked Congress for $0 for the CFPB's budget. He also gave them a list of recommendations to strip the CFPB's authority.
https://apnews.com/amp/9161730e4a1a4901a691c71bbcaaf56d?__twitter_impression=true
Mulvaney gives big pay bumps to his hires at consumer agency

Mick Mulvaney, President Donald Trump's appointee to oversee the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, has given big pay raises to the deputies he has hired to help him run the bureau, according to salary records obtained by The Associated Press.

Mulvaney has hired at least eight political appointees since he took over the bureau in late November. Four of them are making $259,500 a year and one is making $239,595. That is more than the salaries of members of Congress, cabinet secretaries, and nearly all federal judges apart from those who sit on the Supreme Court.

The salary records came as part of a records request submitted by the AP earlier this year.

While most of the federal government follows a universal pay scale, some government agencies and departments have gotten waivers to use their own separate pay scales. One of those agencies is the Federal Reserve, the nation's central bank. Since the CFPB is technically part of the Federal Reserve, its employees get paid at a higher scale than their general government counterparts.

The top salary under the general federal government pay scale is $134,776, not including adjustments for the higher cost of living in areas like New York City or Washington, D.C., according to the Office of Personnel Management. The top pay bracket for a Federal Reserve employee is $250,000.

Mulvaney, as Trump's budget director, has long railed against government spending. One of his first directives as acting CFPB director was to announce he needed zero dollars in funding to run the agency, pledging to spend down the bureau's surplus fund this quarter before requiring more money from the Fed — the CFPB is funded by the Fed and not through the traditional congressional budget process.

In his Jan. 17 letter to the Fed, Mulvaney said he was asking for zero dollars because of the need to be "responsible stewards of taxpayer dollars." But that tight-fisted approach apparently was not used with his staff's salaries. Further, it appears that at least two people that Mulvaney hired for his office are for positions that did not exist under the previous administration, at an additional taxpayer cost of $259,500 per employee.

Kirsten Mork, Mulvaney's chief of staff, got a significant bump in pay for going to work at the CFPB. She made $167,300 in her job working for Rep. Jeb Hensarling on the House Financial Services Committee, according to LegiStorm, a website that tracks congressional salary data. She now makes $259,500 as chief of staff of the CFPB, according to bureau records.

Mork is making more than her predecessor, Leandra English, made while in that position under Obama administration CFPB Director Richard Cordray. English's starting salary in her role as chief of staff under Cordray was $212,324, according to the office of Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin. The New York Times obtained English's salary as chief of staff earlier Thursday.

English is now deputy director of the bureau — on paper the second-most powerful job in the bureau, but she has largely been sidelined since Mulvaney took over. The bureau has declined to disclose English's current salary, requesting that it be asked for through the Freedom of Information Act.

Another former congressional staffer, Brian Johnson, who also worked for the House Financial Services Committee, made $164,600 in his role there before going to the CFPB, according to LegiStorm. He now makes $239,595 as a "senior advisor" to Mulvaney, a position that did not exist under Cordray.

Eric Blankenstein, who oversees supervision, enforcement and fair lending for the bureau, previously was a lawyer for the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative making $153,730, according to federal salary data website FedSmith. He now makes $259,500, according to bureau records. Another Mulvaney appointee, Sheila Greenwood, who used to work in the Department of Housing and Urban Development making $179,700 a year, now makes $259,500.

Anthony Welcher, who worked outside government before becoming a director of external affairs for the bureau, is also making $259,500 a year. His position also did not exist under the previous administration, according to bureau records.

In a statement, a CFPB spokesperson blamed Cordray for the elevated salaries that Mulvaney's appointees are making, saying "non-career staff are being paid on par with the career staff who directly report to them." Mulvaney himself is not making a salary as acting director, and earns a salary as Trump's budget director.

The spokesperson also said it is up to Congress to change the bureau's structure and compensation practices.