A cloud over the White House
After Trump’s extended Twitter-diatribe, he took a break by meeting with Netanyahu and holding a joint press conference with him. He didn’t insult his guest by talking about issues important to Israel the whole time though.
President Trump lashed out at the nation’s intelligence agencies again on Wednesday, saying that his former national security adviser, Michael T. Flynn, was brought down by illegal leaks to the news media, on a day of new disclosures about the Trump camp’s dealings with Russia during and after the presidential campaign.
“From intelligence, papers are being leaked, things are being leaked,” Mr. Trump said at a White House news conference with Benjamin Netanyahu, the prime minister of Israel. “It’s a criminal action, criminal act, and it’s been going on for a long time before me, but now it’s really going on. And people are trying to cover up for a terrible loss that the Democrats had under Hillary Clinton.”
I’m sure Netanyahu was very pleased to be allowed to listen in on that conversation.
The Times on Wednesday* disclosed broader contacts between Russian intelligence officials and people with ties to the Trump campaign and Mr. Trump’s business empire during and after the campaign, and other news organizations followed with similar reports. The president declined to address that revelation and, as he has at other times in recent days, took questions at his news conference only from conservative news organizations, and ignored more challenging questions shouted to him as he left the podium.
So far, the White House has had little success in trying to shift the narrative from the Russian contacts to accusations about the leaking of sensitive information by the intelligence agencies, as well as by the F.B.I.
*Tuesday
On Wednesday, Mr. Trump said on Twitter, “The fake news media is going crazy with their conspiracy theories and blind hatred. @MSNBC & @CNN are unwatchable. @foxandfriends is great!”
The president also praised a column by Eli Lake of Bloomberg View, which criticized the selective leaking of intercepted communications between Mr. Flynn and Mr. Kislyak. Mr. Lake went on to suggest, however, that Mr. Flynn had been sacrificed to protect other officials, potentially including the president himself.
Well we can’t expect Trump to read an entire article all the way to the end.
Lindsey Graham has put out a statement saying this shit needs to be investigated.
My statement on alleged contacts between Russian intelligence and the Trump campaign. pic.twitter.com/vs5KqQMA9V
— Lindsey Graham (@LindseyGrahamSC) February 15, 2017
Re:
“It’s a criminal action, criminal act, and it’s been going on for a long time before me, but now it’s really going on….”
Thank you for your forthright confession. Under the circumstances, especially, it’s just refreshing.
No, the handcuffs don’t come in gold.
I’m sure he was! In fact I’m sure every nation, terrorist organisation and pretty much anything above the level of a cricket club were interested. Whenever there is dysfunction of this magnitude in government there is opportunity if you understand how to leverage it.
Nixon: “I am not a crook”
Trump: “Everyone except me is a crook”
The frightening thing is that I have the feeling people are more willing to go along with the latter now, than they were the former at the time. What the hell has happened?
50 years of spin that media, courts, anyone with a trace of ethics, understanding or fact based reality can’t be trusted.
After singing the praises of Wikileaks? That this mook’s approval rating can be detected at all is as dark a stain on my country as anything.
The press conference was another example of Trump’s ineptitude and intellectual corruption. I caught part of it on NPR.
He tried to push Netanyahu on the issue of pausing the settlements, and got put back in the corner with a brush-off. He was completely floored every time the Israeli press (who were not shills like the American press reps he deigned to call on) got to ask a question, because they weren’t tame about pushing him on the fact that he’s the Neo-Nazis’ candidate of choice.
And then, at the end of the conference, he had to flee from a question about Russia, because of course he did.
Liar, bully, coward.