Trump Watch: Day 182 Wrap-Up
Good evening, Trump watchers, and happy weekend! Where do I even begin tonight? So much has happened the past few days. Bear with me, this is a long one:
— Trump/Russia Update #1: The Russian ambassador to Washington said that he discussed campaign-related matters with now Attorney General Jeff Sessions during the 2016 presidential election. According to the Washington Post, they discussed policy issues that were important to Moscow. The conversations were intercepted by U.S. spy agencies monitoring the communications of senior Russian officials. Previously, Sessions did not disclose the meetings, and once it was proven that they took place, he said they were not about the Trump campaign. The Post wrote, “The apparent discrepancy could pose new problems for Sessions at a time when his position in the administration appears increasingly tenuous.” As I often say in these posts, stay tuned.
— Trump/Russia Update #2: Today it was also revealed (through court documents) that the lawyer who met with Donald Jr. in Trump Tower this past June had previously represented Russia’s top spy agency in a land dispute in Moscow. This is the first legal evidence that proves the lawyer (Natalia Veselnitskaya — I’ll refer to her as “Natalia V.” in any future posts because that last name is a bit much for me to remember) had a relationship to the Russian intelligence agency.
— Trump/Russia Update #3: On Thursday it was revealed that Trump’s lawyers are trying to undercut the Russia investigation by performing their own investigation on special counsel Robert Mueller. They are trying to find information that will show that he and his legal team have conflicts of interest with the investigation. Trump’s lawyers are also looking into Trump’s pardoning power, as Trump has asked them about his authority to pardon his aides, his family members, and even himself. If that doesn’t scream “We’re guilty!”, I don’t know what does.
— In light of the previous news about Trump’s legal team, this morning his legal team spokesman, Mark Corallo, resigned.
— In other resignation news, Trump’s White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer abruptly resigned this morning after it was announced that Trump had hired Anthony Scaramucci as the White House Director of Communications. According to those familiar with the situation, Spicer was upset about Scaramucci’s lack of qualifications. Scaramucci has a law degree from Harvard, formerly worked for Goldman Sachs, and hosted a Fox News show called “Wall Street Week”. Spicer’s deputy press secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, was appointed as the new press secretary. Sanders read a statement from Trump, which applauded Spicer for his “great television ratings.”
— I mentioned Trump’s interview with the New York Times on Wednesday, but one detail from that interview that I missed was that Trump thinks that an individual’s healthcare costs $12…per year. The direct quote from Trump was, “From the moment the insurance, you’re 21 years old, you start working and you’re paying $12 a year for insurance, and by the time you’re 70, you get a nice plan.” Can you say “out of touch”? This article also highlights the many other areas in which Trump revealed his ignorance in the interview. Please note, this is not me calling Trump “ignorant”; this is factual information of which he does not have knowledge, and as president, he should.
— Remember the story about Trump allowing an additional 15,000 temporary worker visas to be issued? As soon as the H2-B visa program was expanded, Trump’s own businesses filed applications to hire 76 foreign workers: 15 housekeepers, 20 cooks, and 35 servers at Mar-a-Lago, and six cooks at the Trump National Golf Club in Florida. This all came in the same week as Trump’s “Made in America” initiative, in which the White House sought to promote American jobs and products.
— On Thursday, Trump nominated a leading climate change skeptic to the top scientific post at the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Sam Clovis, is a former economics professor at Morningside College in Sioux City, Iowa, told Iowa Public Radio in 2014 that, “a lot of the science is junk science”regarding climate change. According to the Washington Post, “This position represents a departure from the scientific consensus. In its most recent report, the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change concluded that it is ‘extremely likely’ that, since the 1950s, humans and their greenhouse gas emissions have been the ‘dominant cause’ of the planet’s warming trend.”
— Apologies for missing this one a few days ago , but it’s very important. Recently, Trump very quietly cut over $213 million from teen pregnancy prevention and research programs. A total of 81 teen pregnancy programs throughout the U.S. received notifications that their grants would end as of June 30, 2018. Some were cut off immediately. The Federal Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program (TPP) was put in place in 2010 under the Obama administration, and since then teen pregnancy rates have dropped 41%. But let’s just ignore the evidence and dismantle anything that Obama did, right? (Sorry, I cannot hold back on my snark sometimes when I write these.)
— Starting next month the Trump administration will ban Americans from traveling to North Korea. The move comes after Otto Warmbier, an American college student held in North Korean custody, died from a severe neurological injury he sustained during that time. A spokesperson from the State Department, Heather Nauert, said, “Due to mounting concerns over the serious risk of arrest and long-term detention under North Korea’s system of law enforcement, the secretary has authorized a Geographical Travel Restriction on all U.S. citizen nationals’ use of a passport to travel in, through or to North Korea.”
— Finally, the Trump administration backed away from a hard-line campaign stance that terrorism suspects should be sent to Guantanamo Bay. Today they brought a Qaeda suspect to the United States to face trial in federal court in Philadelphia. Suspected of being a Qaeda recruiter and charged with plotting to kill a Swedish cartoonist who drew the Prophet Muhammed in cartoons, Ali Charaf Damache is the first foreigner to face terrorism charges under the Trump administration.
Whew, I think that’s all! I may have missed a few stories here or there, as the last two days have been quite news-heavy!! Enjoy your weekend and I’ll be back Monday night with the next update.
