Tuesday Open Thread | This is STRAIGHT UP BRIBERY!!!!

Posted on June 13, 2017 by rikyrah

Remember last week, when it was reported that Attorney General White Citizens Council had offered to resign? And folks like me told you that it was nothing but a crock of shyt?

Well……

The emoluments clause was written into the United States Constitution for a reason.

The Title of Nobility Clause is a provision in Article I, Section 9, Clause 8 of the United States Constitution,[1] that prohibits the federal government from granting titles of nobility, and restricts members of the government from receiving gifts, emoluments, offices or titles from foreign states without the consent of the United States Congress. Also known as the Emoluments Clause, it was designed to shield the republican character of the United States against so-called “corrupting foreign influences”. This shield is reinforced by the corresponding prohibition on state titles of nobility in Article I, Section 10, and more generally by the Republican Guarantee Clause in Article IV, Section 4.[2]


Text from the Constitution:

No title of nobility shall be granted by the United States: and no person holding any office of profit or trust under them, shall, without the consent of the Congress, accept of any present, emolument, office, or title, of any kind whatever, from any king, prince, or foreign state.

So, there it is.

Bloomberg News published this last week:

Trump Can Take Payments From Foreign Governments, U.S. Says
by Bob Van Voris
June 9, 2017, 5:56 PM CDT

George Washington did it, so Donald Trump can, too.

That’s the Justice Department’s take on why the 45th president isn’t violating the U.S. Constitution by accepting payments for goods and services from foreign governments without congressional approval.

The foreign emoluments clause of the Constitution doesn’t apply to fair-market commercial transactions, such as hotel bills, golf club fees, licensing payments and office rent, the Justice department argued Friday in a filing. The government is asking a judge to throw out a lawsuit brought by a watchdog group that claims Trump’s business dealings violate the Constitution.

If accepted by the court, the argument would eliminate a major legal obstacle for Trump’s businesses to keep money from foreign officials and companies owned by foreign governments.

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, or CREW, sued Trump within days of his inauguration in January, claiming foreign officials are doing business with Trump properties as a way to curry favor with the president. The group is seeking an order from U.S. District Judge Ronnie Abrams in Manhattan that Trump is violating the foreign emoluments clause and the domestic emoluments clause, which specifically bars presidents from taking payments from federal or state officials.

This is nothing but legal bribery.
Period.

And why, is the UNITED STATES JUSTICE DEPARTMENT, putting forth this argument?
They are NOT SUPPOSED TO BE THE PERSONAL LAWYERS TO THE PRESIDENT!!!

There is nothing that this pack of lowlife’s won’t justify for Dolt45. This is absolutely outrageous.
They are a den of thieves.
The Attorney General is a complete joke. Chief Law Enforcement Officer of this country? Hardly. He is a criminal himself who is turning the United States Justice Department into a laughing stock.

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39 Responses to Tuesday Open Thread | This is STRAIGHT UP BRIBERY!!!!

  1. jonathanufi says:
    July 5, 2017 at 7:59 pm

    The Emoluments Clause has never been litigated. The question is whether it applies to elected officials? As you said, George Washington didn’t believe so. On the other hand, Andrew Jackson, Martin Van Buren, John F. Kennedy, and Barack Obama all sought opinions as to the validity of the Emoluments Clause to presidential gifts. Ever since Washington, the presumption has been that the Emoluments Clause applies to presidents. Until the Supreme Court weighs in, though, we won’t know for sure. https://wp.me/p8LJUj-5o

    Reply
  6. eliihass says:
    June 13, 2017 at 4:11 pm

    What’s that you said again about ‘integrity’, ‘mavericks’, buffoon-disrespected ‘war heroes’, ‘moderate, reasonable republicans’, and ‘great patriots’…

    “…Cindy McCain is expected to be offered a role in President Trump’s State Department, according to a Monday report in The Daily Beast.

    McCain, who is married to outspoken Trump critic Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), is reportedly the president’s pick for a post at Foggy Bottom and may hold the title of “U.S. ambassador-at-large for human rights.”

    Trump personally, “aggressively courted her for this,” a White House source told the news outlet. “It’s a done deal now. … The president had floated several positions before-this is the one that stuck.”

    http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/337530-cindy-mccain-to-get-role-in-trump-state-department-report?amp

    Reply
  7. Ametia says:
    June 13, 2017 at 1:46 pm

    Thurgood Marshall’s Historic Appointment

    June 13, 2007·1:00 PM ET

    AUDIO
    https://www.npr.org/player/embed/11012268/11012269

    Reply
  11. rikyrah says:
    June 13, 2017 at 11:27 am

    Republicans lack public support for new health care scheme
    06/13/17 11:20 AM
    By Steve Benen
    ………………………..

    Health care continues to be a political disaster for Republicans. Only 24% of voters support the American Health Care Act to 55% who oppose it. It doesn’t even have majority support among GOP voters: 42% support it to 29% who are opposed. Voters prefer the current Affordable Care Act to the alternative of the AHCA by a 51/34 spread. […]

    The health care bill could have major political implications in 2018. By a 24-point margin voters say they’re less likely to vote for a member of Congress who supported the American Health Care Act.

    The PPP data is consistent with what we’ve seen from several other pollsters. The latest national Quinnipiac survey, for example, found that only 17% of Americans approve of the Republican health care plan. The most recent Fox News poll showed an identical result: just 17% of the public likes the GOP proposal.

    A Kaiser Family Foundation survey found that only 8% – that’s not a typo, it’s literally 8% – of the country wants the House Republican’s bill, which Trump heralded as a triumph of politics and policy, to be become law.

    Republicans are no doubt aware of this. Indeed, it helps explain why they’re trying so desperately to legislate in secret. But as an electoral matter, for GOP policymakers to ignore Americans’ attitudes on life-and-death legislation is to play with fire. Given partisan instincts and widespread tribalism, it practically takes effort to come up with a proposal as unpopular as the Republican health care plan – but they’ve managed to pull it off anyway.

    Reply
  14. Liza says:
    June 13, 2017 at 11:07 am

    Just called Senator Jeff Flake. McCain’s line gives a busy signal. I’ll keep trying.

    Reply
  16. rikyrah says:
    June 13, 2017 at 10:41 am

    I really don’t think most people understand how incredibly close we are to losing our republic to authoritarian rule.

    — leah mcelrath 🗽 (@leahmcelrath) June 13, 2017

    Reply
    • rikyrah says:
      June 13, 2017 at 10:41 am

      ⚡️ “PUTIN’S COUP AGAINST AMERICA” by @leahmcelrathhttps://t.co/ePBxxLur2Y

      — leah mcelrath 🗽 (@leahmcelrath) June 13, 2017

      Reply
    • Ametia says:
      June 13, 2017 at 10:44 am

      WORD!

      One need only look at MSNBC & see how far they’ve gone to join the rest of the FAUX NOISE crowd. M. Kelly & Greta S. Alex jones & Putin interviews!

      Oliver Stone has 4 not one, but f nights airing on HBO interviewing Putin. PUTIN. Russia has for all intents & purposes TAKEN OVER OUR AIRWAVES.

      Reply
    • Liza says:
      June 13, 2017 at 11:03 am

      Truth. I think about this all the time now.

      Reply
  17. rikyrah says:
    June 13, 2017 at 10:39 am

    There are 24 headlines on CNN’s homepage right now and none of them tell you that 23 million fewer ppl stand to lose their health insurance pic.twitter.com/QZpBBKoR2P

    — Jeff Stein (@JStein_Vox) June 13, 2017

    Why activists are so worried about flagging coverage of health bill. Big spike b4 1st vote, then again post-House passage. Now: nothing pic.twitter.com/GYmj8wDyHv

    — Jeff Stein (@JStein_Vox) June 12, 2017

    Reply
  19. rikyrah says:
    June 13, 2017 at 9:05 am

    Quick Takes: Trump’s Truly Bizarre Cabinet Meeting
    A roundup of news that caught my eye today.
    by Nancy LeTourneau
    June 12, 2017 7:00 PM

    Over the course of the last couple of years, Donald Trump has done a lot of things to make people question his mental health. Today’s Cabinet meeting is right up there with the best of them. John Harwood explains:

    Since taking office in January, President Donald Trump has displayed various reactions to the pressures of his job, from angry tweets to effusive exaggerations to self-defeating candor.

    On Monday, Trump tried something new: bathing in praise from his Cabinet in front of TV cameras.

    After a weekend dominated by discussion of whether he had committed obstruction of justice, the president called in reporters for what he billed as his first full Cabinet meeting. He began with an opening statement laced with the sort of wild, self-congratulatory boasts that are his trademark.

    “Never has there been a president, with few exceptions … who has passed more legislation, done more things,” Trump declared, even though Congress, which is controlled by his party, hasn’t passed any major legislation.

    The president then went around the room asking for a comment from each cabinet member. Here’s Harwood again:

    In more than three decades of covering the White House, I’ve never seen such an extended public display of flattery for a president from his chosen subordinates. At moments it resembled the kind of fawning that some of the strongmen rulers Trump has praised — such as Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte — might receive from their deputies.

    Reply
  22. rikyrah says:
    June 13, 2017 at 8:39 am

    It was truly a thing of beauty, his twitter rant.

    ……………

    Rick Wilson pens scathing tweetstorm against ‘Trump fellators, fanboys, grunting MAGA mouthbreathers’
    Conservative Daily Beast columnist Rick Wilson went on a scathing rant about the news that President Donald Trump has pondered firing special counsel Robert Mueller.

    Like many who have come before him, Wilson tried to explain to Trump and his followers why that would be an unbelievable mistake.

    “It’s time for the final divorce between the clickservatives and any pretense they believe in the rule of law,” Wilson wrote of the armchair activists. “Let’s just get the f*ck on and this shabby pretense that we still live in a nation of laws. So, clickservatives, Trump fellators, fanboys, grunting MAGA mouthbreathers, sing out now [sic]. I really want to know. Is there anything he can do that strikes your conscience? Is there any sin, any excess, any affront? No? Good. That makes it easy for all of us.”

    He went on to encourage them to go all the way and get a “Trump” tramp stamp. But he believes the only reason that people really love the president is that all they really love is “that he pisses off people [they] hate.”

    Reply
  23. rikyrah says:
    June 13, 2017 at 8:37 am

    Trump’s Personal Lawyer Boasted That He Got Preet Bharara Fired
    Marc Kasowitz, President Trump’s lawyer in the Russia investigation, has bragged he was behind the firing of U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara.
    by Jesse Eisinger and Justin Elliott
    ProPublica, June 13, 2017, 8:35 a.m.

    Marc Kasowitz, President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer in the Russia investigation, has boasted to friends and colleagues that he played a central role in the firing of Preet Bharara, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, according to four people familiar with the conversations.

    Kasowitz told Trump, “This guy is going to get you,” according to a person familiar with Kasowitz’s account.

    Those who know Kasowitz say he is sometimes prone to exaggerating when regaling them with his exploits. But if true, his assertion adds to the mystery surrounding the motive and timing of Bharara’s firing.

    New presidents typically ask U.S. attorneys to resign and have the power to fire them. But Trump asked Bharara to stay in his job when they met in November at Trump Tower, as Bharara announced after the meeting.

    In early March, Trump reversed himself. He asked all the remaining U.S. attorneys to resign, including Bharara. Bharara, a telegenic prosecutor with a history of taking on powerful politicians, refused and was fired March 11.

    Reply
  26. rikyrah says:
    June 13, 2017 at 8:09 am

    The Question I Want Jeff Sessions to Answer
    by Martin Longman
    June 12, 2017 5:38 PM

    I was thinking of compiling a list of questions for members of the Senate Intelligence Committee to ask Attorney General Jeff Sessions when he testifies before them tomorrow afternoon, but then I noticed that James Hohmann of the Washington Post had already done this. He came up with forty questions.

    It’s not likely that any of the Republicans on the committee will focus on these questions, and there’s no doubt that Sessions will bob, weave, and duck as many of them as he can when he fields them from Democrats. He’ll hide behind a variety screens. He’ll say that he can’t talk about personal communications with the president. He’ll say that he can’t discuss classified material. He’ll argue that he can’t discuss topics that are the subject of an an open and ongoing inquiry by Special Counsel Bob Mueller. Whenever he thinks he can get away with it, he’ll claim to have a faulty and imprecise memory.

    But there’s one question I really want to see him grapple with:

    Did Sessions have a third meeting with [Russian ambassador] Sergey Kislyak? He did not acknowledge meeting twice with the Russian ambassador to the United States during the campaign — in his Senate office and in Cleveland during the Republican National Convention — until The Post reported the news in March. Now there are reports of a possible third meeting at the Mayflower Hotel in April 2016, when both men came to see Donald Trump deliver a Russia-friendly foreign policy address.

    [James] Comey told senators during a classified session last week that investigators believe a third meeting might have happened, based in part on Russian-to-Russian intercepts in which it was discussed, according to CNN. The AG’s spokesman strongly denies that there was a meeting, and Comey reportedly acknowledged that Kislyak may have been exaggerating his connections to his superiors.

    Reply
  27. rikyrah says:
    June 13, 2017 at 3:41 am

    Good Morning Everyone 😐😐😐

    Reply
    • Ametia says:
      June 13, 2017 at 8:01 am

      Good Morning, Rikyrah & Everyone.

      Each day that goes by with these clowns in our White House, our government endangers us ALL.

      Reply

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