Wednesday, July 11, 2018

Markets tumbled Wednesday after Trump’s latest steps to slap tariffs on an additional Chinese goods, raising alarm among U.S. lawmakers and trading partners


Jason Kander on why Trump’s support for the troops is a lie


Foreign investment in US dropped by $120 billion, or 32%, in 2017


Trump ditches European allies to bro out with Turkish strongman


Brett Kavanaugh incurred tens of thousands of dollars of credit card debt buying baseball tickets over the past decade and at times reported liabilities that could have exceeded the value of his cash accounts and investment assets, WaPo reports


Trump said that Germany gets 60-70% of its energy from Russia. The real figure, according to the Germans, is 9%.


Catholic priest slams Trump's Pastor for saying Jesus wasn't a refugee: 'What Bible is she reading?'


.@NYTLiz and I asked GOP senators about Trump's NATO remarks. They largely avoided direct criticism.


House Speaker Paul Ryan says the House Ethics Committee would not look at wrestlers' claims against Rep. Jim Jordan because the alleged events occurred before he was in office.


Rod J. Rosenstein, the deputy attorney general, has asked federal prosecutors to help review the government documents of Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh, President Trump’s Supreme Court nominee. This is an unusual request.


“In the one-page document, which was obtained by POLITICO, the White House wrote [to corporate interests] that Kavanaugh has overruled federal regulators 75 times on cases involving clean air, consumer protections, net neutrality and other issues.”


Alliances with our @NATO partners remains a crucial element in maintaining global security in order to deter, defend, and win against our adversaries


Just got off the phone with former senior US official at NATO hq for the fireworks today. Mood: grim. Consensus: 'Trump is on a mission to blow up the summit'


.@SenBobCorker bluntly warns that US global influence is "diminishing," that @POTUS comments about NATO have been "damaging" to US leadership & worries Trump is trying to "tear apart" a critical alliance.


"If (Kavanaugh) rules in the President's favor, that opinion will have no respect in the public, because it will be tainted by the suspicion that he was chosen expressly for that purpose" - Rep. Adam Schiff on Kavanaugh's Minnesota Law review article


BREAKING: #Mueller has filed another request for more subpoenas, this time asking for 100 (or 50 SETS) to be ready for July 25 (current trial start date.)


We are one firin' away from a full-blown Constitutional crisis. The lawyer for Alfa Bank, who never tried a case, is the head of the DOJ criminal division and the next in line behind Rod Rosenstein. Trump and Putin's coup is almost complete


NATO formally invites Macedonia to join alliance


Judge Ellis is NOT having Manafort’s ish and by ish I mean read this Order


They need to stop thinking and start pushing back on their boss. Or get out. By sitting quietly, they create the impression for Trump and the world that they support his anti-NATO statements


Poll: Americans rank Obama as the best president in their lifetime


Special Counsel's Office says Manafort has been surreptitiously sending emails from jail...


“I have a message for Donald Trump: The Constitution does not direct the President to nominate Justices with the advice and consent of the Federalist Society and the Heritage Foundation. The Constitution gives that role to the Senate.”


It’s good to see someone in government gets it...


NATO came to our defense after we were attacked on 9/11. Its members fought by our side in Afghanistan. NATO has kept the peace in Europe. The question is not what good is NATO, but what’s wrong with a President that doesn’t recognize its immense value.


#BREAKING: Trump demands NATO allies meet 10-year defense spending goal immediately


"I never thought I’d live to see this—neither the USSR nor Russia, who tried many times to drive the wedge between transatlantic allies, but Washington is doing everything to break down the foundations of transatlantic alliance & unity."


While America Sleeps: Trump’s Treachery and the Russia Scandal


Cohen lawyer: Trump lying about abusing his power could be an impeachable offense


Brian Benczkowski to lead the DOJ’s criminal division. Senate will vote tomorrow to confirm him into the position to be in charge of #Mueller probe if #Rosenstien were to be fired. HE WAS ON #Trump TRANSITION TEAM. Rod will be fired immediately if he's confirmed.


You can't understand white supremacists without looking at masculinity


Jim Jordan attacks the process of news reporting.


BREAKING: Trump cuts (another) 80% of funding to help people sign up for ACA insurance. Many non-profits will close, reduce staff.


Chief of staff to @VP #Pence tied to campaign finance scandals that brought down Missouri Governor


Soon the Senate will vote on the confirmation of Brian Benczkowski to lead DOJ Criminal Division. 3 things to know about him:


“They will die in Tallinn”: Estonia girds for war with Russia


GOP Strategist Rick Wilson: Trump Supporters ‘Want Anybody Who’s Darker Than a Latte Deported’


Why fighting violent white supremacy is like fighting addiction


Top Pence aide Nick Ayers denies breaking the law while running Greitens campaign


US Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said his department was performing "one of the great acts of American generosity and charity" in its care of immigrant children


"Germany is totally controlled by Russia," Pres. Trump tells NATO Secretary General Stoltenberg as they sit down together for bilateral breakfast ahead of Brussels summit.


Shocking exactly no one sweatshop Barbie’s plastic shoes will not be tariffed because kleptocrats gotta klept.


This Is How Vladimir Putin Manufactures Conflict Between Nations


If confirmed, particularly following McConnell’s refusal to consider Merrick Garland, Judge Kavanaugh will only further the perception of the Supreme Court as a fully partisan institution, indistinguishable from the other branches


So. I’ve been chatting to an NYT journalist who has told me there is a tape (made for Donald’s 70th) in which all his family were asked to contribute. Barron comes on and starts talking about Donald beating him at which point Melania leaps in and drags him out.


While Republicans sleep: A rising tide of authoritarianism sweeps over capitals in Turkey and the Philippines, in Hungary and Poland, in far right parties in Germany, France and Austria. And President Trump cozies up to Putin and shuns our NATO allies. Wake up! Do your jobs.


My thoughts on President Trump's remarks in Brussels this morning — John Kerry


Chinese President Xi Jinping to Arab League: China would like to become “the keeper of peace and stability in the Middle East”


Implying that the teenage sexual abuse survivors are lying to own the libs.


@RealDonaldTrump’s website built by @parscale “was requesting and running code authored and stored on SERVERS THAT DID NOT BELONG TO @Trump” (all caps for emphasis)


Senate rebukes Trump with vote on NATO

Following Trump's repeated attacks on NATO ahead of the NATO summit, the Senate voted 97-2 on a motion to re-endorse NATO and support the mission of NATO. Lawrence discusses with David Corn, Ruth Marcus, and David Leonhardt.


'I will come back for you': families torn apart by Trump...

The Trump administration did not meet the deadline to reunite 102 children under the age of five with their parents. Gabe Gutierrez joins Lawrence to tell the stories of parents still separated from their children after crossing the U.S. Mexico border.


Questions about past Kavanaugh lie follow him to new confirmation

Rachel Maddow shows that after he'd already been confirmed as a federal judge, new information called into question the truthfulness of Brett Kavanaugh's answers during his first confirmation hearing - a matter sure to come up in his next confirmation hearings.


Democrats see Trump pick of Kavanaugh as act of self-preservation

Senator Jeff Merkley talks with Rachel Maddow about Democratic concerns that Donald Trump has chosen Brett Kavanaugh for the Supreme Court on the belief that Kavanaugh's position on executive power will protect him from any prosecution stemming from the Mueller investigation.


Allies brace for train wreck as Trump heads to Europe, then Putin

Rachel Maddow reports on concerns of U.S. allies as Donald Trump heads to a NATO summit with a chip on his shoulder ahead of his one-on-one meeting with Vladimir Putin.


Trump pushes lawyer who repped Russian Alfa Bank for key DoJ post

Rachel Maddow reports on Donald Trump's odd choice of Brian Benczkowski to lead the DoJ's criminal division despite a lack of prosecutorial experience, though he did help whitewash an awkward situation between Donald Trump and Russia's Alfa Bank.


Mueller prosecutors still not done with Mike Flynn: court docs

Rachel Maddow points out that while Michael Flynn's lawyers have expressed an eagerness to get through the sentencing of former Donald Trump national security adviser Mike Flynn, court documents show that Robert Mueller has told the court they are not ready for sentencing because they are not finished with Flynn.


Judge calls Manafort's bluff on pre-trial jail location

Rachel Maddow shows how former Donald Trump campaign chair Paul Manafort is running out of legal tricks to forestall his trial as he withdrew a request to change jails once the judge showed willingness to consent, and he lost another bid to suppress evidence taken from his storage locker.


GOP strategist @TheRickWilson: "He’s (Donald Trump) eager as a schoolgirl for this meeting with Vladimir Putin and he’s throwing all sorts of shade and hating on our NATO allies, folks that have stood with us for 70 years.”


As Trump arrives in Brussels for the NATO summit, the Senate just passed 97-2 a non-binding measure reaffirming the U.S. commitment to NATO


When you’re on Air Force One, Treasonweasel, you’re in @NATO. PS. Special Agent Strzok has already testified, and it’s so damning to you that @DevinNunes is trying to suppress it.


Sen. Dick Durbin makes the case against the Alfa Bank-linked Trump Admin nominee to run the Criminal Division at DOJ.


Mike Flynn joining lobbying firm after pleading guilty in Russia probe


US Border agents may have taken child of US citizen into custody


U.S. Poised to Publish $200 Billion China Tariff List


In 2007 I sent Brett Kavanaugh this letter asking to explain his inaccurate and misleading testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee. I’m still waiting for an answer.


Murdoch's Fox trumps Comcast with agreed $32.5 billion bid for Sky


"We need to have this conversation about basic decency, and human dignity, and how we treat others." Gov. Ricardo Rossello responds to recent incidents including video showing a man harassing a woman for wearing a Puerto Rico T-shirt