Tag: Democrats

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Signs Of Russian Money Laundering In Trump’s Inauguration

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An interesting Rachel Maddow segment points out that a guilty plea by GOP Lobbyist Samuel Patten in the ongoing TrumpRussia investigation raises new troubling questions about the mysterious money flow surrounding Trump’s 2017 inauguration.

Maddow has previously reported extensively on the strange money flow surrounding Trump’s inauguration but the latest guilty plea by the said GOP operative provides specific details that take allegations of Russian money laundering at Trump’s inauguration way beyond the speculative level. As a matter of fact, details of Patten’s plea deal speak to a slam-dunk Russian money laundering scheme.

Here’s how the Russian money funneling scheme played out. GOP operative Sam Patten has a shell company in DC. Patten got a yet unnamed U.S. citizen to “donate” $50,000 to Trump’s inaugural committee. Patten’s shell company then reimbursed the unnamed U.S. citizen the $50,000. A Ukrainian with ties to a prominent Russian oligarch and who is also at the center of the ongoing Manafort case then reimbursed Sam Patten with a $50,000 drawn from a Cypriot bank. Cyprus is a well known haven of Russian money laundering meaning the said $50,000 that flowed into Trump’s inauguration could well have been laundered money.

There have been a lot of questions especially by Maddow about the whereabouts of the monies raised for Trump’s inauguration–an estimated $107 million. Maddow for example questioned why Trump’s inaugural committee never gave a detailed accounting of how the $107 million came in and what it was spent on–very odd.

With Sam Patten’s plea deal pointing heavily towards money laundering, expect Natasha Bertrand(Yours Truly’s MSM fave) and other journalists who’ve been excellent at TrumpRussia reporting to dig into Trump’s inaugural committee for answers to serious questions that still linger. For example How many other Patten-like “donations”  were made to Trump’s inauguration? Did this money find its way into GOP/RNC coffers–including to GOP members of congress? If so, did GOP/RNC know the source of the funds? As you can see there are numerous questions that need to be answered regarding the mysterious Trump inauguration funds.

Yours Truly recently wrote about how Trump’s GOP has degenerated into a criminal enterprise and stories like Sam Patten’s only work to support that argument. Bottom line Dems and the mainstream media must dig into this story to find out how much laundered Russian money has landed into GOP coffers.  Simply put House Speaker Paul Ryan, Senate Majority Mitch McConnell and GOP Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel must be questioned about dirty Russian money flowing into GOP coffers.

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Proof That Congressional Republicans Have Become A Criminal Enterprise

Ever since Trump became President, many have wondered why congressional Republicans have totally abdicated oversight functions that all their predecessors routinely conducted and Americans came to expect as the norm. The inaction as regards oversight by House Speaker Ryan and Senate Majority Leader McConnell’s congress has struck most Americans as very strange and has spawned many conspiracy theories, the most popular one being that Russian President Putin has “Kompromat” on all congressional Republicans.

Well, courtesy of a bombshell article by The Daily Intelligencer, we now find out that congressional Republicans have actually compiled a secret list of things they have vowed to block from any congressional oversight requested by Dems–a sad and totally unprecedented move by U.S. members of congress.

The list of items GOP has vowed to keep away from any congressional oversight includes “election security and hacking attempts”, ” White House security clearances”, “Trump’s Tax Returns”, ” Trump’s family businesses”, among many others. Think about that, we currently have GOP members of congress whose stated mission is to hide from the public any wrongdoing by Trump and his administration–the aforementioned criminal enterprise.

Bottom line Dems and the mainstream media must start calling out congressional Republicans for totally abdicating their oversight functions. Its about time people started calling Trump’s GOP what it truly is–a criminal enterprise. What House Speaker Ryan and Senate Majority Leader McConnell are presiding over in congress today goes way beyond what Americans would characterize as “politics as usual” and is borderline if not out and out criminal conduct.

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The Obscene Trump-Fox News Relationship

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Trump and Fox News’ Maria Bartiromo

When regular people encounter obscene images on the internet and elsewhere, the natural reaction is to recoil in dismay. Strangely however, America is witnessing daily an obscene relationship between President Trump and Fox News with seemingly no “recoiling in dismay” from politicians (especially Dems) or other sections of the mainstream media.

This lack of dismay/outrage at the obscene relationship between President Trump and Fox News leaves the wrong impression that this is okay/acceptable. Folks, this is not acceptable and Dems need to start screaming about it. There has to be a reasonable distance between the White House and a major U.S. news organization

Luckily Brian Stelter host of CNN’s Reliable Sources gets it and is beginning to call out this obscene relationship between Trump and Fox News. In a July 8 2018 segment, Stelter details how Fox News and Trump are engaged in conduct no other U.S. administration has ever engaged in with a major news organization–the stuff of state run tv stations in foreign dictatorships.

Stelter for example talks about how Maria Bartiromo literally handed Trump talking points in what was supposed to be an interview. Or how Trump promotes Sean Hannity’s show to his twitter followers and gets regular advice from him(Hannity) on political matters. Or how Lou Dobbs calls into Oval Office meetings to give his opinions(wow). Or how Kimberly Guilfoyle is now dating Trump’s son yet still appears as a host on Fox News discussing the Trump family. Or how Jeanine Pirro asked Trump for a job at DOJ. Or how Trump at the suggestion of Sean Hannity is now bringing in Bill Shine, former Fox News executive into the White House as Deputy Chief of Staff for Communications. Folks, examples of this obscene Trump-Fox News relationship are endless.

By the way Bill Shine’s wife Darla is known to post very racist things on Twitter. She has since deleted her Twitter account but Mediaite captured some of them. This blatant racism by Darla would be enough for any other U.S. administration to pull the plug on Shine’s appointment but not the Trump administration.

According to Stelter both Trump and Fox News benefit from this obscene relationship–Trump getting regular “soft” interviews which are essentially public relations campaigns and in turn he pitches the various Fox News shows, books etc to his massive twitter audience. It’s a great arrangement from a business standpoint, but goes against everything U.S. journalism has stood for–holding those in power accountable. Maria Bartiromo and her cohorts at Fox News appear to have twisted this age old journalism principle to “using those in power for ratings and profit.”

Yours Truly was on this Fox News beat way before it was vogue but admittedly, never thought it would ever get this bad.

Bottom line Dems need to start calling out this obscene Trump-Fox News affair. Simply put, this overt alliance and coordination between the president and a major news network is detrimental to a democratic society and needs to be vociferously called out.

***POST UPDATED on 10/15/23 to include the fact that CNN has since cancelled Brian Stelter’s Reliable Sources show, so the referenced 07/08/2018 video segment is no longer available***

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Appearance Of Impropriety Surrounding Justice Kennedy-Trump Relationship

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Americans increasingly consider the Roberts Supreme Court more of a political body than a court of law–a troubling trend. Even more troubling is this New York Times piece that  says the Trump Administration conducted a “quiet campaign” to  effect Justice Kennedy’s retirement before Midterms 2018.  The New York Times piece, partly written by Maggie Haberman was quick to add; “There were no direct efforts to pressure or lobby Justice Kennedy to announce his resignation on Wednesday, and it was hardly the first time a president had done his best to create a court opening.”

Given the norm-breaking habit  of the Trump Administration, many people including Yours Truly will take issue with this conclusory assertion by Haberman that “there were no direct efforts” to pressure Justice Kennedy into retirement before the Midterms. Dems should not treat Haberman’s conclusory assertion as Biblical truth, but instead keep inquiring into the circumstances surrounding Justice Kennedy’s seemingly strategic departure from the High Court. Any reasonable person would conclude that Justice Kennedy’s departure right before the midterm elections signals a political motivation–one highly beneficial to Trump and his GOP.

In addition to that, the Financial Times reported in 2017 that Justice Kennedy’s son was Trump’s most trusted banker at Deutsche Bank, which gave Trump loans when no U.S. bank was willing to. Deutsche Bank has also been linked to Russian money laundering and is one of the banks Special Counsel Robert Mueller is looking into in the TrumpRussia investigation. How the son of a U.S. Supreme Court Justice gets caught up in the affairs of Deutsche Bank involving Trump should be a question of the utmost importance for Dems. And Dems don’t have to take Yours Truly’s word for it,  just check out this excellent thread by Amy Siskind regarding this issue.

Also check out this interesting 2017 Politico piece which highlighted a private conversation (hot mic moment) between Justice Kennedy and President Trump regarding Kennedy’s son; “Say hello to your boy,” Trump said, “Special guy.” “Your kids have been very nice to him,” Kennedy replied. “Well,” Trump said, “they love him, and they love him in New York.” This establishes conclusively that Justice Kennedy was well aware of his son’s interactions with Trump and his children.

Bottomline Dems must demand answers from retiring Justice Kennedy and indeed Chief Judtice Roberts about whether he coordinated his exit with the Trump Adninistration and secondly the extent of his son’s dealings with Trump while he was at Deutsche Bank and thereafter. Justice Kennedy’s son’s dealings with Trump raise genuine conflict of interest questions or at the very least create an appearance of impropriety. People’s faith in the U.S. Supreme Court as an independent court of law is waning and stories like these only add to the mistrust. Dems must raise all these lingering questions as they fight for the U.S. Supreme Court.

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The Unjust Roberts Supreme Court

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The U.S. Supreme Court deals with a wide range of issues affecting the daily lives of Americans. Because the issues the court deals with are so many and  so diverse, it is impossible/unfair to paint the courts decisions with a broad brush. However when it comes to politics, especially as it relates to GOP vs Democratic Party issues, the Roberts Supreme Court has established itself as a reliable GOP ally making horrendous decisions that favor the GOP

One such horrendous decision was Citizens United, where the court allowed the unlimited flow of dark/anonymous money into political campaigns. No reasonable person can ever conclude that the Roberts Supreme Court did not envision the disastrous effect unlimited dark/anonymous money would have on U.S. politics. Reasonable people will conclude that the Roberts Supreme Court knew their decision in Citizens United would likely lead to a spike in political corruption (pay for play) but went along with it anyway because it favored the GOP. The disastrous effects of Citizens United on U.S. politics continue to be felt to this day especially by poor voters who feel their representatives only cater for their rich mega donors

Then this week the Roberts Supreme Court made yet another horrendous decision which any reasonable person knows or should know will lead to the political disenfranchisement of millions of minority voters but like Citizens United, favors the GOP. The Roberts Supreme Court struck down lower court decisions that had found Texas Congressional Districts unconstitutionally gerrymandered(racially). There is no question that this will embolden Texas and other GOP-controlled states to gerrymander congressional districts even further.

As if this is not enough, the Roberts Supreme Court also upheld Ohio’s policy of purging voters that a lower court found unconstitutional–targeted minority voters. This again is a horrendous decision by the Roberts Supreme Court which any reasonable person knows or should know will lead to even further purging of minority voters in Ohio and other states. The Ohio decision fits the pattern–it is yet another horrendous decision by the Roberts Supreme Court, whose disastrous effects are easily predictable, but the court upheld because it favors the GOP.

Bottom line it is time for Dems to come out of the wood works and start speaking boldly about the troubling trend being set by the Roberts Supreme Court as regards the GOP.  As Yours Truly stated earlier, the Roberts Supreme Court has essentially become a trusted wing of the GOP. From sanctioning unlimited flow of money into politics through Citizens United, sanctioning racially-based gerrymandering, to now sanctioning voter purging, Dems have no otherwise but to start speaking out against these horendous decisions.

So you ask, “but @Emolclause how are Dems supposed to speak out against the Roberts Supreme Court? Won’t that look bad?” Well, Dems need to do what has worked for them for decades–peaceful protests. Peaceful protests outside the Roberts Supreme Court like the one done yesterday after the court upheld Trump’s Muslim ban must become more common.

Surely the strong grassroots Dem women who organized the highly successful Womens March can put together a Supreme Court March to protest Citizens United, Gerrymandering and voter purge decisions. Everbody knows the justices have lifetime appointment and there’s nothing Dems can do to effect their removal. However the justices like the rest of us consume the same national news stories. Images of massive protests outside the U.S. Supreme Court will not go unnoticed by the Roberts Supreme Court and may,just may, revert the court back to being the “people’s court” not the “GOP’s court”.

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Meet the 23 House Republicans Hiding Trump’s Tax Returns

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After news that Rhode Island’s Senate approved a measure requiring all presidential candidates to release 5 years of their tax returns in order to be placed on the state’s ballot, the focus has again shifted to Trump’s tax returns, a major campaign issue during the run-up to the 2016 presidential elections. Grassroots Dems including Yours Truly, ecstatic about Rhode Island’s decision are now pushing for other states to follow Rhode Island’s lead and lock Trump out of the 2020 ballot unless he releases the tax returns he promised to–the #NoTaxReturnsNoBallot campaign

— Emoluments Clause (@Emolclause) June 22, 2018

Left out of the renewed tax return debate however, is the fact that GOP members of Congress have played a major role in aiding the president hide his tax returns from the public, especially these 23 Republicans in the House Ways and Means Committee, or as Yours Truly calls them, the “wall of shame”.

Their efforts to block moves by Congressional Dems to have Trump’s tax returns released to the public were reported in this February 15, 2017 piece by the DailyKos. As you can see from the article, the DailyKos has done all the legwork in exposing these shameful GOP members of congress. Yours Truly is simply hitting you with a reminder now that midterms 2018 are around the corner. As usual they will be coming begging for your votes claiming they stand for “transparency in government.” They will be hoping off course that you’ve long forgotten about their lack of transparency re Trump’s tax returns. Boy are they in for a rude awakening this fall?!

Here is a handy list of the names and office phone numbers of the wall of shame members

U.S. Representative Devin Nunes (CA-22)

Phone: (202) 225-2523

U.S. Representative Kevin Brady (TX-08)
Phone: (202) 225-4901

U.S. Representative Sam Johnson (TX-03)

Phone: (202) 225-4201

U.S. Representative Pat Tiberi (OH-12)

Phone: (202) 225-5355

U.S. Representative Dave Reichert (WA-08)

Phone: (202) 225-7761

U.S. Representative Peter Roskam (IL-06)

Phone: (202) 225-4561

U.S. Representative Vern Buchanan (FL-16)

Phone: (202) 225-5015

U.S. Representative Adrian Smith (NE-03)

Phone: (202) 225-6435

U.S. Representative Lynn Jenkins (KS-02)

Phone: (202) 225-6601

U.S. Representative Erik Paulsen (MN-03)

Phone: (202) 225-2871

U.S. Representative Kenny Marchant (TX-24)

Phone: (202) 225-6605

U.S. Representative Diane Black (TN-06)

Phone: (202) 225-4231

U.S. Representative Tom Reed (NY-23)

Phone: (202) 225-3161

U.S. Representative Mike Kelly (PA-03)

Phone: (202) 225-5406

U.S. Representative Jim Renacci (OH-16)

Phone: (202) 225-3876

U.S. Representative Pat Meehan (PA-07)(resigned in disgrace)

U.S. Representative Kristi Noem (SD-AL)

Phone: (202) 225-2801

U.S. Representative George Holding (NC-02)

Phone: (202) 225-3032

U.S. Representative Jason Smith (MO-08)

Phone: (202) 225-4404

U.S. Representative Tom Rice (SC-07)

Phone: (202) 225-9895

U.S. Representative Dave Schweikert (AZ-06)

Phone: (202) 225-2190

U.S. Representative Jackie Walorski (IN-02)

Phone: (202) 225-3915

U.S. Representative Carlos Curbelo (FL-26)

Phone: (202) 225-2778

Bottomline folks, #NoTaxReturnsNoBallot is a win-win fight for Dems because it puts the GOP in the unenviable position of defending a public official(Trump) who promised to release his tax returns while campaigning but now chooses to hide them, even as questions about his corrupt business practices continue to pile up. Dem State Reps across the country must introduce bills like the one in Rhode Island so as to get Republicans go on the record with a vote to hide Trump’s tax returns–a vote for lack of transparency in government. Dems can rest assured that midterms 2018 voters will not be happy with pro-secrecy in government candidates–the GOPers hiding Trump’s tax returns.

Folks see if one of these wall of shame bums is your Rep in Congress and if they are, make sure to vote them out this Midterms 2018!!

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