WTF Community

Day 587

General Discussion
#1

Updated 8/29/2018 10:48 AM PDT

1/ White House counsel Don McGahn will step down after the midterms or after Brett Kavanaugh is confirmed to the Supreme Court. McGahn was the top lawyer for the Trump campaign and has repeatedly considered resigning as counsel. He's played the role of peacemaker between the White House and Robert Mueller's team, as well as acting as Trump's liaison to the Justice Department and Congress. Trump surprised McGahn with his Twitter announcement, since McGahn had not discussed his plans directly with Trump. McGahn's successor will likely be Emmet Flood, an attorney who advised the Clinton administration during his impeachment hearings and served as White House counsel under George W. Bush. McGahn has said privately that after he steps down he plans to continue assisting Trump throughout his reelection campaign. Republicans see McGahn as a stable force and accessible official, and were dismayed by Trump's announcement. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Charles Grassley said he hopes "it's not true" that McGahn is leaving and urged Trump to not "let that happen." (Axios / New York Times / Washington Post)

This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/2018/08/29/day-587/
5 Likes
#2

Breaking - Winter is coming.

WaPo discussing how 26 insider WH staffers are discussing that in no way is T ready for a Democratic House (come the midterms) and Impeachment may be on the table
Calling impeachment the “i-word,” and fewer and fewer lawyers available to T.

Politics
‘Winter is coming’: Allies fear Trump isn’t prepared for gathering legal storm

By Philip Rucker ,
Carol D. Leonnig ,
Josh Dawsey and
Ashley Parker
August 29 at 8:11 PM

President Trump’s advisers and allies are increasingly worried that he has neither the staff nor the strategy to protect himself from a possible Democratic takeover of the House, which would empower the opposition party to shower the administration with subpoenas or even pursue impeachment charges.

Within Trump’s orbit, there is consensus that his current legal team is not equipped to effectively navigate an onslaught of congressional demands, and there has been broad discussion about bringing on new lawyers experienced in white-collar defense and political scandals.

The president and some of his advisers have discussed possibly adding veteran defense attorney Abbe Lowell, who currently represents Trump son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner, to Trump’s personal legal team if an impeachment battle or other fights with Congress emerge after the midterm elections, according to people familiar with the discussions.

1 Like
#3

Interesting that story from CNN that said Lanny Davis knew that Trump knew about the Trump Tower meeting (and discussed here on WTFJHT - by @Keaton_James) has now been attacked by our Prez.

Another suggested truth from all this came last night when one of the MSNBC lawyers Nick Ackerman (and former Assistant Special Watergate prosecutor) suggested that perhaps the first version of Lanny Davis’ story is correct - that Cohen has signaled he knew that T had known about Trump Tower meeting BUT Mueller’s team did NOT want their cooperating witness Michael Cohen giving away too much of the story. (revealing evidence) and recommended they walk it back.

Nick Ackerman also suggested that Michael Cohen does have a GOFUNDME page and is currently looking for backers. With this kind of detail thrown into the public, it would be a good bet that Michael Cohen could bring the president down, and therefore a good bet to support on GOFUNDME.

CNN does continue to stand by it’s story, as does Carl Bernstein.

We will need to wait and see what is the truth.

The wrinkle now is that T (and Fox and NY Post) are condemning Carl Bernstein for his reporting. CNN has stated that he stands by it’s reporting (meaning - no matter what kinds of denials that Lanny Davis is giving, CNN believes that Lanny Davis did indeed confirm that T knew about the Trump Tower meeting)

and taunting tweets from T and Junior :clown_face::clown_face:

@realDonaldTrump

CNN is being torn apart from within based on their being caught in a major lie and refusing to admit the mistake. Sloppy @carlbernstein, a man who lives in the past and thinks like a degenerate fool, making up story after story, is being laughed at all over the country! Fake News
3:43 PM - Aug 29, 2018

  1. Donald Trump Jr.
    :heavy_check_mark:
    @DonaldJTrumpJr

Comical to watch @CNN covering for leftist hack @carlbernstein. He & Obama staffer @jimsciutto obviously got story wrong. CNN “stands by” it anyway, defending literal fake news. 3 “reporters” were fired for false CNN hit on @Scaramucci & this is FAR worse!
T’s link to WaPo article…
5:28 PM - Aug 26, 2018

“We stand by our story, and are confident in our reporting of it,” a CNN spokeswoman said on Tuesday.

Carl Bernstein
‏ @carlbernstein

.@realdonaIdtrump- I have spent my life as a journalist bringing the truth to light, through administrations of both parties. No taunt will diminish my commitment to that mission, which is the essential role of a free press. @CNN stands by its story, and I stand by my reporting.

CNN Communications
‏Verified account @CNNPR
Replying to @realDonaldTrump @carlbernstein

Make no mistake, Mr. President, CNN does not lie. We report the news. And we report when people in power tell lies. CNN stands by our reporting and our reporters. There may be many fools in this story but @carlbernstein is not one of them.
4:44 PM - 29 Aug 2018

1 Like
#4

WTF???

Leaks and partisan interests rule the day.

WASHINGTON — The Postal Service on Thursday said it “deeply regrets our mistake in inappropriately releasing” the official personnel file of Abigail Spanberger, a former C.I.A. operative now running as Democratic candidate for Congress, and requested that a Republican-aligned super PAC return the file.

“We take full responsibility for this unfortunate error, and we have taken immediate steps to ensure this will not happen again,” David Partenheimer, a Postal Service spokesman, said in a statement. He added, “The privacy and security of personal information is of utmost importance to the Postal Service. The Postal Service offers our sincere apology to Ms. Spanberger, and we will request the return of the information which we mistakenly disclosed.”

The Postal Service also acknowledged the possibility of additional inappropriate disclosures.

“We are continuing our review, but believe the issue began in June of 2018, and that only a small number of additional requests for information from personnel files were improperly processed,” Mr. Partenheimer said.

2 Likes
#5

Because of tax cuts possibly?

3 Likes
#7

Andrew Miller (aide to Roger Stone) has been denied.

Buzzfeed

@chrisgeidner

Breaking: DC Circuit DENIES Concord Management and Consulting’s request to intervene in former Roger Stone aide Andrew Miller’s appeal of his contempt order for not appearing before the grand jury.

1 Like
#8

This topic was automatically closed 15 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.

#6

More how this WTF moment happened…

From Lawfare

How did this happen? There appear to be only two possibilities: Either the U.S. Postal Service released Spanberger’s SF-86 form to a political organization in a colossal screw-up or someone there did so as an intentional abuse.

From Buzzfeed

An unredacted copy of the federal security clearance application was obtained by America Rising, a research group allied with the Republican Party, through what the organization believed was a response to its July 9 Freedom of Information Act request from the US Postal Service’s human resources section. Once America Rising obtained the documents it then shared it with its client, the Congressional Leadership Fund.

…

Documents viewed by BuzzFeed News show that the request for Spanberger’s entire civilian personnel file was submitted early last month to the National Personnel Records Center, a division of the National Archives. America Rising’s request, which sought records related to Spanberger’s employment dates at the US Postal Inspection Service, salaries, title, and position descriptions, did not explicitly mention the federal security clearance application, known in bureaucratic circles as an SF-86. Historically, such records would be withheld or heavily redacted under a FOIA privacy act exemption. America Rising’s FOIA request included the first five numbers of Spanberger’s social security number, which the group obtained from LexisNexis, BuzzFeed News has learned, as a way of assisting NPRC in locating the file.

The NPRC pulled Spanberger’s personnel folder and, in a letter dated July 12, informed America Rising that the US Postal Service’s corporate personnel management office in Washington, DC, maintained custody of personnel files of its former employees. NPRC said it forwarded Spanberger’s personnel folder, along with all of its documents, to the USPS management office for review and handling. NPRC also noted in its letter NPRC that some information from the file could be released under the FOIA “without consent from the individual.”

A spokesperson for the NPRC did not respond to requests for comment.

On July 30, the USPS human resources division provided America Rising with Spanberger’s entire personnel folder, including the SF-86.

3 Likes