Washington (CNN)White House lawyers have begun researching impeachment procedures in an effort to prepare for what officials still believe is a distant possibility that President Donald Trump could have to fend off attempts to remove him from office, two people briefed on the discussions tell CNN.
White House officials believe the President has the backing of Republican allies in Congress and that impeachment is not in the cards, according to the people briefed on the legal discussions. Even Democrats have tried to calm impeachment talk out of concern it is premature.
But lawyers in the White House counsel’s office have consulted experts in impeachment during the past week and have begun collecting information on how such proceedings would work, a person briefed on the matter told CNN.
BREAKING: White House lawyers research impeachment, sources tell CNN https://t.co/6NJ3rsmjN6 https://t.co/GzTbKubGah
— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) May 19, 2017
The White House originally did not comment for this story. After publication, a White House official said “it’s not true” that White House lawyers are researching impeachment procedures.
One outside attorney close to the office of White House counsel Don McGahn cast doubt on impeachment preparations, saying it wouldn’t be something McGahn would authorize.
White House officials believe impeachment is not in the cards https://t.co/3U6aTDMvkE https://t.co/abApx36P9u
— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) May 19, 2017
The legal discussions are part of a broader internal effort to bolster the president’s legal defense, which has become more complicated with the Justice Department’s appointment of a special counsel to pursue the investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election.
Earlier this week, close advisers to the President, including lawyer and surrogate Michael Cohen, visited the White House to discuss his need to hire personal attorneys for Trump.
https://twitter.com/politico/status/865738876777881601?
https://twitter.com/HernandezJavier/status/865749747738464256?
8 Times the U.S Government Helped White People ‘Pull Themselves Up by Their Bootstraps’ with Handouts
By
Arianna Herriott –
May 20, 2017
Dating back to the late 1700s, the United States government has given assistance to white people in order to help them advance.
The 1790 Naturalization Act was legislation that allowed only free whites to become naturalized United States citizens. From 1790 to 1868, 10 million European immigrants were allowed to become U.S. citizens before Black people who were born in America.
The Social Security Act of 1935 provided a safety net for workers by guaranteeing that after retirement they would continue to get paid. This act excluded workers of the agricultural and domestic trade, which was nearly 60 percent Black, until 1954 when they were finally included in act.
http://atlantablackstar.com/2017/05/20/8-times-u-s-government-helped-white-people-pull-bootstraps-handouts/?utm_content=buffer00a66&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer
To Russia, With Love
Donald Trump Knows Just How Bad the Russia Investigation Can Get
It’s all a mess, but one that was predictable with the election of a needy and juvenile man who won’t read more than a page of bullet points.
Joy-Ann Reid
Joy-Ann Reid
05.20.17 12:00 AM ET
What does “consciousness of guilt” look like? How do you know it when you see it? President Donald Trump and his band of kakistocrats seem to be putting on a clinic.
Item: Donald Trump fires James Comey, the FBI director leading the investigation into his campaign’s possible collusion with Russia to influence the results of the 2016 election.
Then: Trump’s team denies that stifling the Russiagate investigation was the reason for the firing—and even finding a patsy in the very malleable deputy attorney general Rod Rosenstein—only to have the cover story contradicted by Trump himself, as he blurted out the truth in an interview with NBC’s Lester Holt.
Next: the day after the Comey firing elicits an apparently unexpected backlash—well, unexpected inside the undecorated, echoey mansion inside Donald Trump’s head—the president boldly welcomes two key officials from the very country that interfered in our election, Russia, into the Oval Office for selfies and yucks.
The meeting is observed only by Russian state media, since members of the American press were kicked out. During that grip and grin, Trump brags to his guests that he cashiered the “nut job” Comey because his Russiagate investigation was getting in the way of friendlier U.S.-Russia ties.
But wait, there’s more. Turns out Moscow Don can’t stop loving on his fired National Security Adviser, Gen. Michael Flynn, who reportedly confessed to the incoming administration that he was under FBI investigation for his shady dealings with Turkey and Russia, but got hired anyway.
(We are asked to believe Mike Pence, the head of the transition team, heard this confession and the warnings about Flynn from the then-acting attorney general with his index fingers stuck firmly in his little lamb ears.)
Mr. “Lock Her Up” even tells friends that post-firing, during the period of his greatest legal jeopardy, Trump has continued to reach out to him – telling him to “stay strong” and even musing that he hopes to re-hire Flynn one day when, in the Wonderful World of Oz that exists deep down inside of Donald, this whole Russia thing blows over.
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2017/05/20/donald-trump-knows-just-how-bad-the-russia-investigation-can-get
https://twitter.com/ddale8/status/865945501346271234?
https://twitter.com/Ali_Gharib/status/865726962937069568?
https://twitter.com/ddiamond/status/865963896841973761?
https://twitter.com/Shakestweetz/status/865991383311683584?
https://twitter.com/thehill/status/866061244423450624?
https://twitter.com/NBCSports/status/866064759568949248?
Liza!!
Nation Favors Travel Ban on Person Who Has Recently Visited Muslim Country
RIYADH (The Borowitz Report)—In a notable shift of public opinion, a substantial majority of Americans now favor a travel ban on a person who has recently visited a Muslim country, a new poll shows.
According to the poll, if such a person travelled to a country in the Middle East, for example, he should be subjected to extreme vetting before he is allowed to return to the United States.
If, in the course of such vetting, the person is found to have recently engaged in activities to undermine or even destroy American democracy in collaboration with a foreign enemy, he should be barred forever from entering the U.S., poll respondents agreed.
In sizable numbers, those polled “strongly agreed” with the statement, “Any American who travels to a Muslim country with the intention of selling them deadly weapons should not be allowed to return.”
Finally, a broad majority of poll respondents said that if such a person were to remain outside the borders of the U.S. forever, they would “sleep better at night.”
http://www.newyorker.com/humor/borowitz-report/nation-favors-travel-ban-on-person-who-has-recently-visited-muslim-country?mbid=nl_052017 Borowitz Newsletter (1)&CNDID=24441272&spMailingID=11075109&spUserID=MTMzMTgyNDUyMzAyS0&spJobID=1161758542&spReportId=MTE2MTc1ODU0MgS2
LMAO. Borowitz perfectly nails the hypocrisy.
https://twitter.com/3ChicsPolitico/status/866029737977806852
I wonder why Comrade Melania is walking so far behind Trump.
Trump tells advisers he wants to end key Obamacare subsidies
By JOSH DAWSEY , JENNIFER HABERKORN and PAUL DEMKO 05/19/2017 03:06 PM EDT Updated 05/19/2017 09:15 PM EDT
…
Trump told aides in a Tuesday Oval Office meeting that he wants to end the payments to insurers because he doesn’t gain anything by continuing them, according to a senior White House adviser. “Why the hell would we?” he asked about continuing the payments, according to the adviser. Trump added that if Congress wants the subsidies, lawmakers would find a way to pay for them, the adviser said.
Trump has previously expressed conflicting opinions on the issue. Insurers have been pressing for certainty as they plan for next year.
The payments, estimated at $7 billion for this year, go to insurance companies to reduce deductibles and other out-of-pocket costs for low-income consumers — an estimated 7 million people in 2017. Insurers are on the hook under the health law to keep paying even if the federal money stops.
…
The issue is coming to a head: On Monday, the Trump administration has to inform the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia how it wants to resolve a lawsuit the House Republicans brought against the Obama administration saying the White House was making the payments without congressional approval. The White House and House could also ask for a 90-day hold on the case.
…
The lawsuit is moving ahead against the backdrop of the effort on Capitol Hill to repeal the Affordable Care Act. Any bill would be expected to unwind the health law over at least a year. But defunding the cost-sharing program could destabilize the market immediately.
In a statement, the administration said the White House has told Congress it will continue the payments through May but no commitment has been made beyond that.
…
http://www.politico.com/story/2017/05/19/donald-trump-end-payments-obamacare-subsidies-238616
48
This is the number to remember.
48 people went to jail for Watergate.
Richard Nixon was NOT one of them.
First one to flip gets immunity.
The rest of you get orange jumpsuits.
Still smiling at the thought of the major papers waiting for Dolt45 to be airborne before pulling out the Friday evening scoops 😅😅😅
Good Morning, Everyone 😄😄😄
Hi Rik & Everyone.
UGH The Saudi’s are lapping up #45!
Corrupt Money. That’s it!
Yeah, they also think that cutting people’s heads off is reasonable.