Tag Archives: Trump

When Americans Lost Faith in the News | The New Yorker

Half a century ago, most of the public said they trusted the news media. Today, most say they don’t. What happened to the power of the press?

By Louis Menand, January 30, 2023

Popular distrust of the news media has been traced to the coverage of the stormy 1968 Democratic National Convention. Photograph from Bettmann / Getty

When the Washington Post unveiled the slogan “Democracy Dies in Darkness,” on February 17, 2017, people in the news business made fun of it.

“Sounds like the next Batman movie,” the New York Times’ executive editor, Dean Baquet, said.

But it was already clear, less than a month into the Trump Administration, that destroying the credibility of the mainstream press was a White House priority, and that this would include an unabashed, and almost gleeful, policy of lying and denying.

The Post kept track of the lies. The paper calculated that by the end of his term, the President had lied 30,573 times.

Editor’s Note: Read more, see link below for original item...

Source: When Americans Lost Faith in the News | The New Yorker

Ways and Means Committee Votes to Release Investigation of the IRS’s Mandatory Audit Program Under the Prior Administration | Ways and Means Committee – Democrats

Dec 30, 2022, Press Release

WASHINGTON, DC—The Ways and Means Committee voted to publicly release the Committee’s investigation of the Internal Revenue Service’s (IRS) Mandatory Audit Program under the prior administration.

The Committee’s investigation found the mandatory program was dormant, at best, with only one audit opened while the former President was in office, and none have been completed.

Excerpts from Chairman Neal’s opening statement:

“Ways and Means is entrusted with great responsibilities. Today, the weight of our job is heavy. Congress serves as a check on the Executive Branch, and our Committee is entrusted with oversight of our revenue system. We all come to Ways and Means with the goal of creating a fairer tax code. Because at the root of it all, it is our federal tax system that funds the democracy we all cherish and love.

Our voluntary collection relies on the public confidence that our tax laws are applied evenly and justly, regardless of position or power. For four years, the Committee has been reviewing how the IRS enforces the federal tax laws against, and ensures compliance by, a president.

“A president is no ordinary taxpayer. They hold power and influence unlike any other American. And with great power comes even greater responsibility.

“We are only here today because four years ago, our request to learn more about the program under 6103 was denied. This was the first time that this key oversight function was hampered, and our Committee’s jurisdiction was challenged.

“The Committee expected that these mandatory audits were being conducted promptly and in accordance with IRS policies. However, our review found that under the prior Administration the program was dormant. We know now, the first mandatory audit was opened two years into his presidency. On the same day this Committee requested his returns.

“We anticipated the IRS would expand the mandatory audit program to account for the complex nature of the former president’s financial situation yet found no evidence of that. This is a major failure of the IRS under the prior administration, and certainly not what we had hope to find.

“But the evidence is clear. Congress must step in. I’ve proposed legislation to put the program above reproach. Ensuring IRS conducts yearly, timely examinations while publicly disclosing certain information.

“Our work has always been to ensure our tax laws are administered fairly and without preference, because at times, even the power of a president can loom too large.”

Neal’s opening statement is available HERE.

The Committee’s report is available HERE, and JCT’s report (Attachment I) is available HERE.

Neal’s Presidential Tax Filings and Audit Transparency Act of 2022 (Attachment J).

Attachment A, Attachment B, Attachment C, Attachment D, Attachment EAttachment F, Attachment G, & Attachment H.

The vote to go into Executive Session was 23-16, and the vote to transmit the documents to the House was 24-16.

Editor’s Note: The attachments to the article contain Trump’s tax returns, the .zip file Attachment E. I’m posting that attachment online here.

Source: Ways and Means Committee Votes to Release Investigation of the IRS’s Mandatory Audit Program Under the Prior Administration | Ways and Means Committee – Democrats

Biden attacks Trump and his Republican supporters as threat to democracy : NPR

By Frank Ordonez, Updated September 1, 20229:31 PM ET

President Joe Biden speaks outside Independence Hall on Sept. 1, in Philadelphia.
Evan Vucci/AP

President Biden on Thursday warned Americans that democracy is under attack from a faction of the Republican party led by former President Donald Trump, and called on Democrats, mainstream Republicans and independents to “speak up, speak out, get engaged — vote, vote, vote.”

In a rare prime time speech, Biden attacked his predecessor, saying that “too much of what’s happening in our country today isn’t normal.” The speech came just two months ahead of midterm congressional elections, where Democrats are fighting to keep their slim majorities in the Senate and House of Representatives.

Biden said the Republican party is “dominated, driven, intimidated by Donald Trump” and his supporters, calling it “a threat to this country.”

Source: Biden attacks Trump and his Republican supporters as threat to democracy : NP

Trump’s Truth Social Site Is Weaponized Against FBI and Their Families – Rolling Stone

By Adam Rawnsley, Asawin Suebsaeng, August 15, 2022

Former U.S. President Donald Trump leaves Trump Tower to meet with New York Attorney General Letitia James for a civil investigation on August 10, 2022 in New York City. James Devaney/GC Images

Former President Donald Trump claims that he “will do whatever” he can to bring down “the temperature” following last week’s FBI’s raid of his Florida home and club, Mar-a-Lago. But even glimpse of Truth SocialTrump’s social media company — shows that the MAGA website has been a haven for private, doxxed information not only about authorities involved in the federal raid, but also of their families.

A review of Truth Social postings by Rolling Stone shows Trump supporters have spent the past week doxxing both Judge Bruce Reinhart, the magistrate judge who approved the Mar-a-Lago warrant, and an FBI agent involved in preparing the request, as well as their families. The information includes their purported home addresses, phone numbers, places of worship, private offices, and similar information about the men’s families and junior employees.

Source: https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/trump-truth-social-fbi-mar-a-lago-violence-1397317/

Donald Trump Should Never Be Allowed Within 1,000 Feet of the White House Again: A Pocket Guide | Vanity Fair

If you or someone you know still needs convincing, allow us.

By Bess Levin, July 13, 2022

The first public hearing of the January 6th Congressional Committee, as seen on TV, on June 9, 2022. The first hearing included video clips of the insurrection and testimony. Video of Donald Trump’s speech at the Ellipse in Washington DC on January 6th, the day of the insurrection.\By Mark Peterson/Redux.

If you’re reading this, then you probably already know: Donald Trump is reportedly thinking about running for president a third time. As he would only be one of a handful of ex-presidents to run again after losing reelection, there aren’t a lot of historical parallels for this, should he announce. But it would kind of be like the bubonic plague announcing a comeback and expecting people to be happy about it. Or your oncologist telling you your stage IV cancer had returned. Or the worst president in modern history, the one who incited a violent coup because his ego is so fragile he couldn’t admit he’d lost, deciding to take another stab at terrorizing the nation for another four years. Something like that.

Does Trump actually have a shot at winning? That he has a greater than 0% chance of doing so should terrify everyone in this country, as well as the people living in the countries he’d probably drop a bomb on if given the chance—and considering the 74,223,369 who voted for him last time, including those who have publicly stated he’s a danger to society but would nevertheless still vote for him again, his odds are clearly a lot higher than that.

Though a New York Times/Siena College poll this week found nearly half of the party’s primary voters wanting someone else in 2024, Trump still leads the field—and thus remains the favorite to take the Republican nomination if he runs. And as Politico noted Tuesday, Trump “could launch his third campaign any day now.”

In short, if you’ve been paying any attention at all, this news has no doubt caused you to panic, driven you to drink, or ripped through your stomach like a batch of bad oysters shucked by Mr. Mar-a-Lago himself, who you know ignores the “employees must wash hands before returning to work” sign. To be clear, given the circumstances, these are appropriate responses.

But maybe you still need convincing. Or maybe you know a person who knows a person who still needs convincing. Whatever your situation, the following is a list of some of the many reasons why Donald Trump should never be allowed inside the White House again. Not even as a guest! Not even as a school trip chaperone standing quietly and respectfully in the back. It doesn’t include literally every reason, seeing as our fingers would break off before we could get through every single one. But for anyone wondering if it would really be that bad, it should be enough to convince them that yes, it would really be that fucking bad.

–from article

Source: Donald Trump Should Never Be Allowed Within 1,000 Feet of the White House Again: A Pocket Guide | Vanity Fair

“I Don’t F–king Care That They Have Weapons”: White House Aide Gives Bombshell Testimony Of the Day Trump Incited the Capitol Attack | Vanity Fair

Cassidy Hutchinson testified in the January 6 committee hearing that Trump attacked his security detail, threw his lunch against the wall and raged at staff on Jan. 6 for not letting him go to the Capitol alongside rioters.

By Eric Lutz, June 28, 2022

from twitter
from Twitter, and PBS News Hour

Irate that he could not storm the Capitol with his supporters on January 6, Donald Trump physically assaulted a member of his security detail and attempted to grab the steering wheel of the car he was in, a former top White House aide said in an explosive public testimony Tuesday.

According to Cassidy Hutchinson, a former aide to Trump Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, the ex-president entered a secure vehicle after his January 6 speech believing he was going to be driven to Capitol Hill, where he’d just urged supporters to march and “fight” on his behalf — even though he’d been warned they were armed and that he may be engaging in illegal conduct.

But Robert Engel, the head of his security team at the time, said that was not possible and that he was instead being transported back to the White House. Trump was incensed, Hutchinson told the House select committee investigating the January 6 attack, recounting what Engel and former Deputy Chief of Staff Tony Ornato told her after the incident.

“I’m the fucking president,” Trump allegedly said. “Take me up to the Capitol now.”

Source: “I Don’t F–king Care That They Have Weapons”: White House Aide Gives Bombshell Testimony Of the Day Trump Incited the Capitol Attack | Vanity Fair