Trump suffered one of the worst weeks of his presidency so far – and there is still time for more bombs to drop.
The Washington Post reported on Trump’s now infamous remark about winning, delivered at a North Carolina campaign rally in February 2016.
“When we were all younger — many of you are my age and many of you are younger — but when we were all younger we didn’t lose so much, right? We don’t win anymore. As a country, we don’t win,” he began before promising to change all that.
“We’re going to win so much. You’re going to get tired of winning. you’re going to say, ‘Please Mr. President, I have a headache. Please, don’t win so much. This is getting terrible.’ And I’m going to say, ‘No, we have to make America great again.’ You’re gonna say, ‘Please.’ I said, ‘Nope, nope. We’re gonna keep winning.’”
If this week is any indication, Trump seems to have gotten the whole thing backwards – well, except the part about America having a massive headache.
Below is a short review of some of the major events of the week.
Round One – You Can Add Felony Bribery To Trump’s List Of Impeachable Crimes
It would appear that Trump accepted a bribe from China in exchange for sanctions relief, according to legal experts to include Richard Painter, White House chief ethics attorney during the administration of George W. Bush.
The issue at hand involves an inexplicable tweet posted by Trump announcing that he was going to roll back his administration’s own sanctions on Chinese telecom company ZTE.
Well, as it turns out, there is reason to believe that China bribed Trump. Huffington Post reported that: “Trump will profit from an Indonesian resort project that will get $500 million in Chinese loans in a deal sealed days before before his tweet ordering help for ZTE.”
Enter Richard W. Painter, Bush Jr’s ethics attorney, who posted a link to that article, tweeting: “This is bribery. The Constitution expressly provides that bribery is an impeachable offense. If the House and Senate don’t act now they must be voted out in November. Americans are fed up!”
Round Two – Senate Judiciary Committee drops a 5-megaton bomb on Trump Jr.
The Washington Post reported that Trump Jr. is knee deep in trouble:
The Senate Judiciary Committee released documents [on Wednesday] showing how interested Donald Trump Jr. was in finding dirt on Hillary Clinton from foreign sources. The Post reports: “Rinat Akhmetshin, a former Soviet soldier and Russian-American lobbyist who attended the [June 2016 meeting at Trump Tower], told the committee that Trump Jr. had opened the session by getting straight to the point: ‘I believe you have some information for us,’ Akhmetshin recalled the president’s son telling [Russian lawyer Natalia] Veselnitskaya.”
It could not be more obvious that Trump Jr. was asking a foreign source for information to help his father win an election. Moreover, the denial of any Russian contacts during the campaign is in tatters.
Round Three – Senate Intelligence Committee shows it is no patsy for Trump
Again from The Washington Post:
Contradicting the House Intelligence report, the Senate [Intelligence] Committee found — just as our intelligence community said — that Russia intervened in the election to facilitate Trump’s victory. “The Russian effort was extensive, sophisticated, and ordered by President [Vladimir] Putin himself for the purpose of helping Donald Trump and hurting Hillary Clinton,” ranking Democrat Sen. Mark R. Warner (D-Va.) announced, as the Post reported.
Even more damning: “Everyone that we’ve ever had testify still stands by the full findings of the ICA,” Warner said. “We’ve had all the Obama officials, we’ve had all the Trump officials. Every person.”
Round Four – Government Ethics Office reports Trump to Justice Department for potentially committing a crime
In the wake of the release of Trump’s long-awaited financial report, the Office of Government Ethics has effectively reported Trump to the Department of Justice for possible criminal charges.
The New York Times reported that:
Trump’s financial disclosure, released on Wednesday, revealed for the first time that he paid more than $100,000 to his personal attorney, Michael D. Cohen, as reimbursement for payment to a third-party.
The disclosure, released by the Office of Government Ethics, did not specify the purpose of the payment. However, Mr. Cohen has paid $130,000 to an adult film actress, Stephanie Clifford, who has claimed she had an affair with Mr. Trump.
Reporting on that disclosure, CNBC reported that:
The federal Office of Government Ethics, in a letter to the Justice Department released Wednesday, said that “the payment by Mr. Cohen” to a third-party by law should have been revealed in Trump’s financial disclosure filing last year.
However, the payment was not revealed in that filing. The OGE’s acting director [Dave Apol] on Wednesday gave the Justice Department both this year’s report and last year’s report “because you may find the disclosure relevant to any inquiry you may be pursuing.”
Walter Shaub, the former director of the OGE, stated on Twitter that the acting director’s letter to the Department of Justice is “tantamount to a criminal referral.”
“This is tantamount to a criminal referral. OGE has effectively reported the president to DOJ for potentially committing a crime. Dave Apol comes through in the end!!” he tweeted.
You must be logged in to post a comment Login