General Trump Administration F**kery Thread (2017-2021)

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*Zooms in on white girls face*

*Curb Your Enthusiasm theme plays*

 

[ORDER_66]

*Zooms in on white girls face*

*Curb Your Enthusiasm theme plays*

 

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[tru_m.a.c]

The weird mystery of the Trump administration's agriculture secretary vacancy

Sonny Perdue, President Donald Trump’s nominee to serve as agriculture secretary, has not yet been confirmed, and nobody knows why.

It’s not that Democrats are obstructing his confirmation — since changes to the Senate’s filibuster rule, they can’t block a Trump nominee unless they recruit three Republican “no” votes. And in the case of Perdue — unlike, say, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos — they aren’t trying to do this. Nor are they resorting to extraordinary measures like the all-night debate that stalled Attorney General Jeff Sessions’s confirmation, or the committee walkouts that dramatized ethical issues hanging over the heads of Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin or Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price.

The reason the Senate hasn’t yet approved his nomination is that he hasn’t actually been officially nominated yet. Paperwork hasn’t yet traveled down from the executive branch to the Senate, so no hearings have been scheduled, even though Perdue does not appear to be a controversial nominee.

Nobody knows what the problem is
Perdue’s nomination appears to be in limbo due to either the FBI background check or to financial conflicts of interest considered by the Office of Government Ethics. But it seems nobody is entirely sure whether there’s an actual problem, how serious the problem is, or whether the vetters are simply overwhelmed with other work.

The weird mystery of the Trump administration's agriculture secretary vacancy

 

[tru_m.a.c]

Steve Bannon under active criminal investigation for... get this... residency fraud

The Post learned that state prosecutors in Miami have an active investigation into Bannon’s assertions that he was a Florida resident and qualified to vote in the state from 2014 to 2016. In late August, investigators subpoenaed Bannon’s lease of a Coconut Grove home and other documents. They also contacted the landlords of that home and another that Bannon leased nearby, and sought information from a gardener and handyman who worked at one of the homes, according to documents and interviews.

During his political rise, Stephen K. Bannon was a man with no fixed address

 

[tru_m.a.c]

Masseur Trump appointee who wanted to ‘exterminate’ Muslim ‘maggots’ dropped from Energy Department

A massage therapist with no apparent experience of energy policy was terminated from the Department of Energy after it was revealed that he had a habit of making racially charged social media posts about Muslims and former President Barack Obama.

After working as a paid operative for the Trump campaign in New Hampshire, Sid Bowdidge was hired as an "assistant" to Energy Secretary Rick Perry shortly after Inauguration Day, two employees at the nuclear weapons agency told BuzzFeed News on Friday.

But 60-year-old Bowdidge was booted from the department after tweets from two years ago revealed that he once accused Obama of being related to terrorists.

"Obama won't use the term radical Islam because they're his relatives!!!!" Bowdidge, of Bedford, N.H., wrote in a tweet from Dec. 15, 2015.

Trump appointee who called Muslims ‘maggots’ dropped from DOE

 

[MIKE SPLEAN]

Steve Bannon under active criminal investigation for... get this... residency fraud

The Post learned that state prosecutors in Miami have an active investigation into Bannon’s assertions that he was a Florida resident and qualified to vote in the state from 2014 to 2016. In late August, investigators subpoenaed Bannon’s lease of a Coconut Grove home and other documents. They also contacted the landlords of that home and another that Bannon leased nearby, and sought information from a gardener and handyman who worked at one of the homes, according to documents and interviews.

During his political rise, Stephen K. Bannon was a man with no fixed address

 

[DEAD7]

Steve Bannon under active criminal investigation for... get this... residency fraud

The Post learned that state prosecutors in Miami have an active investigation into Bannon’s assertions that he was a Florida resident and qualified to vote in the state from 2014 to 2016. In late August, investigators subpoenaed Bannon’s lease of a Coconut Grove home and other documents. They also contacted the landlords of that home and another that Bannon leased nearby, and sought information from a gardener and handyman who worked at one of the homes, according to documents and interviews.

During his political rise, Stephen K. Bannon was a man with no fixed address

 

[hashmander]

scott walker was the canary in the coal mine. i knew america was in trouble when he won like 3 straight elections in a short period of time. they had multiple opportunities to fix that mistake and still went with him. and then they double down with trump.

 

[ADevilYouKhow]

State Department was 'unaware' of Mexico visit
State Department was 'unaware' of Mexico visit - BBC News


Smh

 

[tru_m.a.c]

Tillerson used email alias at Exxon to talk climate: New York attorney general

U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, the former chairman and chief executive of Exxon Mobil Corp (XOM.N), used an alias email address while at the oil company to send and receive information related to climate change and other matters, according to New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman.

The attorney general's office said in a letter on Monday that it found Tillerson had used an alias email address under the pseudonym "Wayne Tracker" from at least 2008 through 2015.

Wayne is Tillerson's middle name.

The letter was sent to a New York state judge overseeing Schneiderman's investigation into whether Exxon misled shareholders and the public about climate change.

In a statement on Monday, Exxon spokesman Alan Jeffers said, "The email address, Wayne.Tracker@exxonmobil.com, is part of the company’s email system and was put in place for secure and expedited communications between select senior company officials and the former chairman for a broad range of business-related topics."

Jeffers said the company had provided 2.5 million pages of documents in response to a subpoena from Schneiderman's office and would respond to the claims in the letter in court filings.

A State Department spokeswoman declined to comment on the matter.

The letter, seen by Reuters, said Exxon had not previously disclosed the alias account. It asked the judge to order Exxon to explain whether documents from the "Wayne Tracker" email and 34 additional accounts assigned to other Exxon executives and board members had been preserved.

The letter said that Exxon had produced some 60 documents bearing the "Wayne Tracker" email but never said it was used by Tillerson for relevant communications at Exxon.

Tillerson used email alias at Exxon to talk climate: New York attorney general

 

[Remote]

Tillerson used email alias at Exxon to talk climate: New York attorney general

U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, the former chairman and chief executive of Exxon Mobil Corp (XOM.N), used an alias email address while at the oil company to send and receive information related to climate change and other matters, according to New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman.

The attorney general's office said in a letter on Monday that it found Tillerson had used an alias email address under the pseudonym "Wayne Tracker" from at least 2008 through 2015.

Wayne is Tillerson's middle name.

The letter was sent to a New York state judge overseeing Schneiderman's investigation into whether Exxon misled shareholders and the public about climate change.

In a statement on Monday, Exxon spokesman Alan Jeffers said, "The email address, Wayne.Tracker@exxonmobil.com, is part of the company’s email system and was put in place for secure and expedited communications between select senior company officials and the former chairman for a broad range of business-related topics."

Jeffers said the company had provided 2.5 million pages of documents in response to a subpoena from Schneiderman's office and would respond to the claims in the letter in court filings.

A State Department spokeswoman declined to comment on the matter.

The letter, seen by Reuters, said Exxon had not previously disclosed the alias account. It asked the judge to order Exxon to explain whether documents from the "Wayne Tracker" email and 34 additional accounts assigned to other Exxon executives and board members had been preserved.

The letter said that Exxon had produced some 60 documents bearing the "Wayne Tracker" email but never said it was used by Tillerson for relevant communications at Exxon.

Tillerson used email alias at Exxon to talk climate: New York attorney general

This is the most worthless administration ever.

 

[714562]

Monica Crowley Lost White House Job, Now She’s Got One With Pro-Russian Oligarch

EDIT: To clarify, he's actually a Ukranian oligarch who is pro-Russia, but that wouldn't fit in title.

A would-be Trump White House appointee who withdrew in the face of plagiarism allegations is now lobbying on behalf of a Ukrainian oligarch who has recently advocated greater concessions to the Russian government, according to newly filed documents.

Monica Crowley told the Justice Department's National Security Division that she will represent billionaire Victor Pinchuk in discussions with U.S. government officials “and other policy makers” regarding “issues of concern to Mr. Pinchuk.”

Crowley, a Fox News contributor, was in line for a senior post at the White House National Security Council until reports from CNN and Politico reported that she had plagiarized large portions of her 2012 book What the (Bleep) Just Happened and her Columbia University Ph.D. dissertation.

Crowley dismissed the plagiarism allegations in her first public remarks on the controversy last week. “What happened to me was a despicable straight-up political hit job,” she said during an appearance on the Fox News show Hannity. “It’s been debunked, my editor has completely supported me and backed me up.” (It has not been debunked.)

She nevertheless withdrew from consideration for the post shortly after the allegations surfaced. Crowley will now be “providing outreach services on behalf of Mr. Victor Pinchuk,” according to a Friday filing with DOJ’s foreign agent registration office.

The man who would have been Crowley’s boss at the NSC, former National Security Advisor Mike Flynn, also recently registered as a foreign agent, months after he went to work on behalf of a Turkish company linked to that country’s government.

Flynn resigned from his post atop the NSC last month after it was revealed that he had failed to disclose conversations during the 2016 presidential campaign with Russia’s ambassador regarding U.S. sanctions on Russia over the country’s annexation of the Ukrainian region of Crimea.

Crowley’s new gig comes as European critics of Russian aggression in Ukraine worry that Pinchuk is going soft. In a December column for the Wall Street Journal, he called on Ukrainian leaders to make additional concessions to Moscow.

“The new administration in Washington can be an opportunity for Ukraine to contribute to the solution of Russia’s intervention,” he wrote. He advised that Ukraine abandon plans to join the European Union and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

The column immediately drew fire from Ukrainian leaders, including president Petro Poroshenko, who reportedly indicated he would not attend Pinchuk’s annual Yalta European Strategy meeting this year due to the WSJ column.

Trump has been highly critical of NATO, even suggesting that the United States might not honor mutual defense obligations in the event of Russian aggression against the alliance’s Eastern European member states if those states do not step up their domestic defense budgets.

Crowley will now be working to facilitate relations between Pinchuk and U.S. government officials. She did not respond to questions about her new role.

Crowley’s foreign agent lobbying will supplement work by another Fox contributor, Democratic pollster Doug Schoen, who has represented Pinchuk since 2011. She will draw a salary for part-time work, according to her Foreign Agent Registration Act statement.

Schoen told the Washington Examiner that he only approached Crowley after her NSC job fell through.

“There were no discussions about any potential work she might do for my firm until she had chosen to leave her position in the administration,” he said in a statement.

According to Schoen’s registration form, he is paid $40,000 per month for work that includes “facilitating conversations between [Pinchuk] and American policymakers regarding Democratization in Ukraine and European integration.”

Since last year, Schoen has arranged meetings with officials at the NSC, the State Department, dozens of House and Senate members, and journalists and media personalities including, one recent disclosure form shows, Crowley herself.

Pinchuk made his estimated $1.5 billion fortune in Ukraine’s steel and pipeline industries. His EastOne Group currently has holdings in the industrial, media, and banking sectors.

Pinchuk was a high-dollar donor to the Clinton Foundation, and his relationship with the failed 2016 Democratic presidential nominee came under scrutiny after emails obtained through the Freedom of Information Act showed that Pinhuck had attended a dinner at her home, despite the campaign’s public insistence to the contrary.

Trump labeled Pinchuk’s financial support for the Clinton Foundation “crooked.” But Pinchuk also had financial ties to Trump himself, and they raised red flags among charity watchers concerned that Trump was drawing funds from his tax-exempt foundation.

Additional Pinchuk connections to the Trump campaign came by way of Carter Page, a Russian-friendly foreign policy advisor to the campaign. Page reportedly told Merrill Lynch colleagues in 2004, shortly before he set up the firm’s Moscow office, that he was on friendly terms with Pinchuk.

In 2015, the Pinchuk Foundation paid the Trump Foundation $150,000 in exchange for a video appearance by Trump at Pinchuk’s annual Yalta European Strategy meeting. A former official in the IRS’s Exempt Organizations unit told The Daily Beast at the time that the payment raised questions about whether Trump was evading taxes by routing income through his foundation.