"I have never obstructed justice...I am not a crook." - Richard M. Nixon, Nov. 17, 1973
"I
have no idea what a burner phone is, to the best of my knowledge I have never
even heard the term." - Donald J. Trump, March 29, 2022
(In his lawsuit against his niece Mary L Trump
and the NY Times, he used the term "burner phone" at least 3 times.)
The dark, fetid and dirty pool of Trump’s Sedition Cartel is overflowing, spilling into the light of day the obvious facts of his January 6 coup. I wouldn’t want to be in their shoes.
Bob Woodward and Robert Costa report:
“The lack of an official White House notation of any calls placed to or by Trump for 457 minutes on Jan. 6, 2021 — from 11:17 a.m. to 6:54 p.m. — means the [Jan. 6] committee has no record of his phone conversations as his supporters descended on the Capitol, battled overwhelmed police and forcibly entered the building, prompting lawmakers and Vice President Mike Pence to flee for safety.”
“The House panel is now investigating whether
Trump communicated that day through backchannels, phones of aides or personal
disposable phones, known as ‘burner phones,’ according to two people with
knowledge of the probe.” (Trump said in a statement that he doesn't know what a
burner phone is.)
U.S. District Court Judge David Carter made this determination in a ruling that orders 101 emails from Trump ally and consigliere John Eastman be turned over to the House’s Jan. 6 select committee.
How
obvious can it be?
The secret calls and missing phone records, by being deliberately withheld, can only suggest criminal obstruction and criminal intent.
"You're special, we love you" can only mean he approved of them and their actions.
The obvious conclusion?
Guilty, guilty, guilty.
Posts
21 comments:
Another January 6th 'Bombshell' Conspiracy Crumbles...
“The lack of an official White House notation of any calls placed to or by Trump for 457 minutes — from 11:17 a.m. to 6:54 p.m. — on January 6, 2021, means there is no record of the calls made by Trump as his supporters descended on the U.S. Capitol,” CBS News reported. “The 11 pages of records — which consist of the president’s official daily diary and the White House switchboard call log — were turned over by the National Archives earlier this year to the House select committee investigating the January 6 attack.”
Reports prompted accusations from the media and Democrats—even claims that Trump was using “burner phones” to cover up his communications on that day.
Well, it turns out the accusations were completely bogus. It appears that CNN, obviously a network that isn’t friendly to Trump, looked into the allegations and found the accusations didn’t hold up.
“Official review of Trump phone logs from January 6 finds record is complete,” their headline reads in an article with a byline containing six names—suggesting they really had a lot of manpower going into this report.
“According to multiple sources familiar with Trump’s phone behavior and the White House switchboard records, the January 6 log reflects Trump’s typical phone habits,” their report explains. “He mainly placed calls through the switchboard when he was in the residence but rarely used it when he was in the Oval Office.”
“The fact the log does not show calls on January 6, 2021, from the Oval Office is not unusual, said the sources, because Trump typically had staff either place calls directly for him on landlines or cell phones,” the report continued. “Those calls would not be noted on the switchboard log.”
CNN thus deemed the switchboard logs for January 6, 2021, to be “complete based on an official review of White House records” and found “there are no missing pages and the seven-hour gap is likely explained by use of White House landlines, White House cell phones and personal cell phones that do not go through the switchboard.”
CNN’s surprisingly honest investigation concluded that the discrepancy is indicative of the antiquated system of tracking a president’s communications—not a cover-up. That CNN was willing to actually investigate this and other media outlets weren’t has my head spinning.
How do you like your crow?
LMAO
(Vern copy and pasted a piece from "Onion News".)
Yes CNN did report what they learned.
The call log does NOT tell us Trump didn't make calls that afternoon, does it?
Not does it tell us he didn't use burner phones. In fact it tells us he used other phones.
And those calls are what he refuses to disclose, and by definition this is a cover-up.
The LOL in this is a fool who thinks this is some "gotcha" revelation of Trump's innocence.
The obvious conclusion? Still guilty, guilty, guilty.
Nice try, Vern.
Bye.
It is obvious. So why do you feel the need to tell us constantly until we are sick of you? Change your channel. Get some new tunes.
Anonymous,
Any requests?
Does anything the media says have a ring of truth. They were all about russia influencing trump until it was proven to be false. The democrats with -H- in the lead paid to have a report written that has been proven to be false. The media said hunter is innocent of all wrongdoing. Don't you see a pattern here of the media and the democrats lying. Just admit you voted for a corrupt party and an incompetent candidate and go on with life.
Skud,
“The media” is a loaded and broad term.
Of course facts are reported in media, and facts are the foundation of truth. And of course all human beings have a subjective point of view. The more reputable news media will have a better record on the facts. And the more partisan media will have more subjective content, to the degree of being outright propaganda. This happens often in corporate journalism and constantly in partisan media.
I remember the media war frenzy over the lies about Saddam’s ties to al-Qaeda, “nucular” aluminum tubes, biological/chemical weapons programs, etc. These lies and uncritical media reporting convinced most Americans that Saddam was involved with al-Qaeda and 9-11.
To me, this, along with Bush’s Supreme Court awarded presidency, indicated the US was finished as a democratic republic. We no longer had the informed citizenry to function as a such. And the Right would soon ramp up their war on voter rights and our elections to even greater degrees.
It’s true that CNN and MSNBC obsessed over the sordid and unproven allegations in the Steele Dossier. However not all of it has been “proven false”, either. Some things we’ll never know.
But they would be remiss if they hadn’t reported it, given the context of so many other Trump, cronies, and family interactions with Russia.
We can never know how much Russia influenced or influences Trump.
We know the truth by simply observing their actual documented words and actions. We don’t need Don Lemon or Rachel Maddow to interpret reality for us. And we don’t need Tucker Carlson’s lies and white nationalism to decide matters for us either.
We know Trump welcomed Russia’s help in 2016. The Mueller investigation revealed this fact. Trump’s guilt was reflected in his attempts to shut it down and bragging about firing Comey to Russians in the Oval Office.
“Russia, if you’re listening...” was not a joke. It was an appeal Russia took as intended.
We know Trump can’t stop praising Putin, and he even recently invoked his help in attacking the Bidens. They are allies. Would you want to try to change my mind on this?
We know his campaign and cronies had numerous contacts with Russians. We know they broke the law when they lied about those contacts.
We know that Russia would be the logical source of pressure on Trump’s weakening of the GOP platform supporting Ukraine.
We know Russia would also be the logical source of pressure on Trump’s attempts to weaken NATO.
We know of the Trump Tower meeting to get dirt on Hillary.
We know Trump sided with Putin over our intelligence agencies who really did find Russian attempts to interfere in our election.
We know the Russian Ministry of Defense is releasing state-funded propaganda on Hunter Biden after Trump publicly asked Putin to do so. The propaganda combines Trump’s Hunter Biden conspiracy theories with Putin’s anti-Ukraine disinformation.
Russian TV Host Evgeny Popov says it's time for the Russian people to call on Americans to change "the regime in the U.S." before its term expires "and to again help our partner Trump to become President."
All of this was truthfully reported by mainstream corporate news media. The words and actions by Trump’s gang are observable and real.
These are facts, no matter how much they are ignored in pro-Trump media.
As far as Hunter Biden goes, the news reports he is under investigation, but hasn’t been charged with anything. I’ve seen nothing from news media declaring his innocence
Show us your evidence, if you can.
But you’d be correct in saying everything from media and democrats isn’t true. I have to wonder why you leave Republicans, Trump and their propaganda outlets out of this generalization.
I admit I voted for a LESS corrupt and incompetent party. Just compare the numbers of indictments in Republican and Democratic administrations. 215 under Trump, more than all others combined. Facts are facts. Truth is truth.
And then there’s Trump’s coup. Come on, man. Get real.
I’m under no delusions about our system. It has been corrupted since the Electoral College, “three-fifths compromise”, and the anti-democratic unrepresentative Senate were set by the founders. It has been thoroughly corrupted by corporate personhood and dark money pulling the strings behind politicians, elections and legislation. What else can we expect from the “best government money can buy”?
It’s a wonder we have any decent politicians at all, But the facts and evidence clearly show us that Republicans are the greater enemies of truth and democracy.
And with that perspective, I still somehow go on with life.
Dube, You were doing good on some of your response but then you went off the track with
"It’s a wonder we have any decent politicians at all" you make it sound like there are decent politicians, please name them. I can only think of one republican propaganda outlet that has any listeners and six pro democrats.
All that being said the democrats have some really stupid politicians. Joey with his just buy an electric car and you won't have to pay for gas, marvelous maxine telling people at a homeless gathering to just go home and cruella talking in tongues. The leftist media is trying to sell inflation is up because of putin which some will actually believe.
Trump was a bad actor in many regards but inflation was non-existent, black unemployment was at historic lows, our enemies were at bay, we were energy independent, small businesses were thriving because of reduced regulations, we weren't throwing millions at worthless organizations but were asking members of NATO to pay their share. We weren't helping a known enemy build a bomb but were calling out a virus producer. He was not the best and had mean tweets but he certainly out shined the current office holder who's accomplishments amount to, mm guess nothing
Skud,
If you accept “decent” as a relative term, we can compare the words and actions of those who are most divisive, hateful and dishonest with Democrats. You seem to support, or at least didn’t disagree with, my broader assessment of our political system and leaders.
Just compare whatever Biden said to Trump’s goddamn Big Lie and coup, when he praised his terrorist thugs for trying to overturn our election.
Compare Trump's "Sedition Caucus" of Boebert, Greene, Cruz, Jordan, Gaetz, Brooks, Hawley, etc. to any group of Democrats who tried to overturn a fair election. Hmm. Good luck with that.
"Today is 1776!" “Prince John!” “Jewish space lasers!”
These are the radical Right nationalists who are saying "Democrats are commies". How idiotic, divisive and dishonest is that?
Can you show how ANY Democrat came anywhere near that degree in promoting vicious lies that are tearing our democratic republic to shreds and inciting hatred and disunity?
I think not.
Hell yes, Biden and other Democrats say stupid things, albeit far less hateful and dishonest than what we hear from the Trump and his cult.
You said, “The leftist media is trying to sell inflation is up because of Putin.”
I know Biden made that claim, but we see this:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/03/11/biden-blame-putin-inflation-will-not-work/
The Biden blame game on inflation won’t work
https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/biden-blames-putin-his-ukraine-war-inflation-rate-high-gas-ncna1291691
Joe Biden won't get away with blaming Vladimir Putin for inflation
I’m inclined to think you’re fabricating your assertions to fit your prejudice.
Why can’t you offer some evidence of this “leftist media” you mention? If you’d share actual quotes and context it would go far in good faith discussion. Start with what makes them “leftist”, please. The sources I cited are profit-driven capitalist corporate entities, are they not? And they will publish the opinions of both Democrats and Republicans, but not so many socialists.
The fact CBS just hired Trump's former acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney as a paid contributor tells us how “leftist” they really are.
We see you tend to accept Trump’s claims as facts.
Did you know inflation was already rising before Trump left office? Did you know it is a global trend? “Better blame Biden” is your ideological fallback, though.
US Inflation rates: April 2020: 0.3% - February 2021: 1.7%
As with rising global gas prices, are you rejecting the fact the pandemic had more to do with it than “Joey” jacking up prices at the pumps around the world?
I believe a closer look is also needed concerning your Trumpist boasts about Black unemployment and “energy independence”.
Stay tuned.
Skud,
You seem to neglect the fact Trump INHERITED a thriving economy. I’m not saying Trump is to blame for covid, but the reality is covid took a toll, and not your tired GOP talking point of “small businesses were thriving because of reduced regulations”. They were thriving BEFORE Trump took office, and suffered AFTER Trump took office. Just reality here.
It reeks of the lame old “job killing regulations”, when reality says corporate greed, off-shoring, and mechanization killed jobs here. ‘Better blame Biden” covers everything for the Right, doesn’t it? No wonder they need to disregard reality. Indoctrinated dogma and beliefs are easier to embrace than thinking for oneself and doing a little research.
Unemployment is at near record lows NOW. Better thank Biden? ;-)
Before you toot Trump’s unemployment miracle, look at these stats from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The overall unemployment fell to 3.6% last month from 4% in January.
BLS numbers:
Aug. 2011 the Bush Recession produced black unemployment rate 16.7%
January 2017, the Black unemployment rate was at 7.8 percent. Under Obama the Black unemployment rate dropped 8.9%.
Trump crowed about a record 5.4% rate, a 2.4% drop from what Obama left him.
Trump left Biden a Black unemployment rate of 6.9% rate in January 2021.
February ’22:
Black Women: 6.1%
Black Men: 6.4%
===
“U.S. unemployment rate falls in February, but ticks up for Black women”
Trump’s low was 3.5%, but it rose to 6.4% by January ’21.
https://www.cnbc.com/2022/03/04/february-jobs-report-us-unemployment-rate-falls-ticks-up-for-black-women.html
The overall unemployment fell to 3.6% last month.
https://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/empsit.pdf
======
Inflation rose when Trump was in office. It is global, therefor NOT Biden’s fault. (We know this fact will not change your “Better Blame Biden” mantra.)
https://www.usinflationcalculator.com/inflation/current-inflation-rates/
US Inflation rates:
April 2020: 0.3%
February 2021: 1.7%
==
https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2021/11/24/inflation-has-risen-around-the-world-but-the-u-s-has-seen-one-of-the-biggest-increases/
NOVEMBER 24, 2021
“Inflation has risen around the world, but the U.S. has seen one of the biggest increases”
Understanding why the rate of inflation has risen so quickly could help clarify how long the surge might last – and what, if anything, policymakers should do about it. The recent acceleration in the rate of inflation appears to be fundamentally different from other inflationary periods that were more closely tied to the regular business cycle. Explanations for the current phenomenon proffered to date include continuing disruptions in global supply chains amid the coronavirus pandemic; turmoil in the labor markets; the fact that today’s prices are being measured against prices during last year’s COVID-19-induced shutdowns; and strong consumer demand after local economies were reopened.
At least one thing is clear: A resurgent inflation rate is by no means solely a U.S. concern. A Pew Research Center analysis of data from 46 nations finds that the third-quarter 2021 inflation rate was higher in most of them (39) than in the pre-pandemic third quarter of 2019. In 16 of these countries, including the U.S., the inflation rate was more than 2 percentage points higher last quarter than in the same period of 2019.
==
About “energy independence”:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/rrapier/2022/03/08/surprise-the-us-is-still-energy-independent/?sh=30f740c230b6
“Surprise! The U.S. Is Still Energy Independent”
https://www.factcheck.org/2022/03/examining-u-s-energy-independence-claims/
“Examining U.S. ‘Energy Independence’ Claims”
https://www.axios.com/us-energy-independent-petroleum-2982ed18-9110-4c31-ad67-82abe643f661.html
“The U.S. is now energy independent”
I do hope your commenters bothered to read and comprehend the information you researched and provided for their convenience. They have a lot to learn about how the world economy works, how it is impacted by certain events.
While I knew the facts of the matters raised (and weren't they a hotch potch of random blame Biden republican talking points), I learned much from your work. Thank you.
Unknown,
Only the worst trolls would comment without reading the post. Happens all the time.
I get a lot of distractions and deflection from them that I won't publish.
I understand if someone just has something they want to say in general, and I don't mind, as long as it's in good faith and not trolling. Your comment is an example.
All they have to do is address the topic, even if they disagree. No Trumpist wants to discuss Trump's Big Lie, coup and crimes, for some reason... ;-)
True to form, the troll has submitted his resentments for BLM and Hillary while pushing Republican talking points.
He wants to deflect to HIS choice of topics. He wants to ignore the numerous contacts Trump's campaign had with Russians, and LIED to the FBI about them, including sharing poll data with them. He pretends Trump never asked for Russia's help against Hillary from "Russia, if you're listening..." to extorting Zelinsky to investigate the Bidens, and just recently, asking Putin to attack Hunter Biden for him.(If Putin had dirt on Hunter, he would have released long ago. He is an ALLY of Trump, after all.)
2016: "Russia if you're listening..."
2017: "If it's what you say, I love it" (Jr.s excitement to get dirt from Russians in Trump Tower.)
2019: "I'd like you to do me a favor" (To Zelinsky)
2022: "As long as Putin is not a fan of our country...I think he should release it"
The Russian Ministry of Defense is releasing state-funded propaganda on Hunter Biden after Trump publicly asked Putin to do so. The propaganda combines Trump’s Hunter Biden conspiracy theories with Putin’s anti-Ukraine disinformation.
What you won't discuss are the important topics of today, not yesterday.
Anonymous,
Is that so? Yet you want to discuss Hillary's and democrats' correct assertions that Trump welcomed and sought help from Russians.
It may be your opinion that Trump's crimes are yesterday's concerns, yet somehow Hillary's 2016 campaign is still relevant.
That's fine. Feel free to start your own blog and say whatever you want with it.
But facts are facts.
The authoritarian Republican Party has become the greatest threat to truth, decency, voter rights, our elections, and women's rights TODAY. They are threatening to impose partisan and corrupt control of our elections TODAY.
Trump's Big Lie and coup are still being defended by the Republican Party TODAY.
Anonymous,
Want to talk about today's topic?
The Supreme Court just ruled 5-4 siding with red states against the Clean Water Act. Roberts joined liberals in dissent, but the conservative majority did not even issue an opinion explaining why they ruled the way they did.
The best court the Kochs and dark money can buy.
"The authoritarian Republican Party has become the greatest threat to truth, decency, voter rights, our elections, and women's rights TODAY. They are threatening to impose partisan and corrupt control of our elections TODAY."
Source.
Dave,
I posted a part of Tom Clay's facebook post at my blog. It speaks to your current post:
"The January 6th special committee unearthed the verifiable fact that there is a 7 hour gap in the White House call logs for that bloody day and while the details of those calls have yet to be revealed and with whom they were with, what we do know beyond a doubt is that the house leader Kevin McCarthy and Jim Jordan admitted that they had spoken to Trump that day. Sean Hannity has also said he spoke to Trump on January the 6th.
The problem for them now is, there are no records of those calls in the White House log.
The reason why that is particularly germane is because after the Watergate debacle which bore witness to the multitudes of felonies that crook Nixon committed, congress made sure that there would never again be another criminal administration that destroyed evidence of their crimes against the people of the United States.
In 1978, both Democrats and Republicans passed the Presidential Records Act which made it a federal felony for anyone inside the White House to destroy presidential records *of any kind.*
In accordance with the PRA of 1978, the National Archives has a full time archivist at the White House to document everything that will go into the Presidential Record at the National Archives. Testimony this week revealed that the archivist was ‘frozen out’ of the Oval Office in the days leading up to the insurrection.
The committee also heard evidence this week from people who were at the White House who testified that Trump mentioned using ‘burner phones’."
Trump is a liar, cheat, and fraud. I have zero doubts that he used subterfuge to make those calls because he was probably warned by his aids about the PRA. Trump knew he lost, but because of his malignant narcissism, could not accept being a "LOSER," so he continue to push the Big Lie.
What astounds me is that so many, many GOPers hopped on board his crazy train -- people who should have known better! We witnessed how fragile and easily broken our democracy can be. All it took was one cheating, lying, fraudulent SOB who never did an honest thing in his life to show America how easily so many can be fooled into wrecking our democracy.
IMO, I don't think we can recover from what Trump has done.
Shaw,
Thanks for showing the evidence of yet another crime Trump committed during his coup.
Propagandists like Murdoch and Limbaugh fertilized radical Right white nationalism for decades, dumbing down and brainwashing enough gullible Americans to consume their ideology of resentments, anger, hate, scapegoating, bigotry, and lies.
They were wildly successful in grooming Americans for fascism. Trump is their victory, and his Big Lie and coup may likely be the poison that kills our republic. I fear a widespread bloody insurrection if he is convicted and jailed for his crimes. And if he isn't convicted, the republic is already dead, due to the collapse of our Constitutional rule of law.
American fascism follows the same pattern as the versions spawned in Europe last century, courting big business while appealing to the darkest of human nature in susceptible people.
As Tom Clay clearly concludes, Trump violated the Presidential Records Act. He and his cronies were no doubt emboldened when they got away with flagrantly violating the Hatch Act.
If the Republic holds, he will be indicted of this crime too.
He's not just guilty, guilty, guilty. We can add dozens more crimes just by adding his criminal sexual conduct spree.
He is guilty of exponentially more crimes than any politician in American History.
As I recently wrote, "Only the worst trolls would comment without reading the post. Happens all the time".
Exhibit A:
Anonymous Troll:
"The authoritarian Republican Party has become the greatest threat to truth, decency, voter rights, our elections, and women's rights TODAY. They are threatening to impose partisan and corrupt control of our elections TODAY."
Source.
Only a malignant troll would demand sources supporting my statement. I've written and sourced, establishing by evidence and reason my factual statement about the authoritarian Republican Party.
All he had to do is read my blog to see. (Hint: He doesn't.) It's all there.
The authoritarian personality will dismiss and ignore anything that doesn't conform to his radical right ideology.
Anonymous(Timothy T.), aka Vern, from Texas keeps proving me correct.
Thanks, Vern. You can go away now.
Shaw,
Vern wants to use your quote and then deflect to his resentment and anger for Biden cancelling the Keystone XL pipeline. He's suggesting gas would be cheaper, as if Biden jacked up prices at the pump.
It would be a lie, of course.
"IMO, I don't think we can recover from what Trump has done" Have you been under a rock since Biden became President or are you just dumb? The Keystone XL Pipeline will deliver 830,000 barrels of oil per day. What does that mean for the everyday energy consumer?
It means NOTHING to the everyday consumer, or to today's prices. "Better Blame Biden" anyway.
Vern will ignore the facts:
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/could-the-keystone-pipeline-help-limit-rising-gas-prices-oil-cbs-news-explains/#:~:text=Keystone%20XL%2C%20an%20expansion%20of,%25%20complete%2C%20according%20to%20Reuters.
“Could the Keystone XL pipeline help lower U.S. gas prices?”
Gregory Nemet, professor of public affairs at the University of Wisconsin-Madison's Wisconsin Energy Institute notes the cost of crude was driven by the ongoing economic recovery, which boosted demand by consumers and businesses that had been dampened by the COVID-19 pandemic.
"A lot more transportation and people flying around, people driving, more demand for oil," he said. "And supply doesn't always quickly respond to that kind of shock in demand."
"Whenever there is political instability in places that produce a lot of oil, markets react," Nemet said. "And it's not necessarily that they're saying, 'Oh there's not enough oil.' It's, 'Oh, there's a lot more risk now than there was before.'"
Keystone XL, an expansion of an existing North American pipeline, would have carried 830,000 barrels of crude oil from Alberta, Canada, to Nebraska daily at its peak. At the time Mr. Biden halted its construction, the $8 billion expansion was only about 8% complete, according to Reuters.
Yet many experts agree that moving ahead with the pipeline wouldn't have prevented U.S. gas prices from climbing to a record high. Expanding the Keystone would have increased global oil production by less than 1%, an amount, they explained, is "almost negligible."
"I can see why people make that connection," Nemet said."But in terms of gasoline prices and global oil prices, it's just something it's better to just ignore because it would have no impact."
Even if the pipeline was already built, it wouldn't help with the price at the pump, Nemet added, noting that the U.S. has already doubled its oil production over the last 15 years. "And yet, we still have $100 per barrel oil."
"The key lesson there is the U.S. is not the whole story here. It's a global market," Nemet said. "And so we've got 8 billion people that are consuming oil and many countries that are producing it, and it all goes into one market."
The Biden administration has repeatedly pushed back against proposals to revive the pipeline expansion. On March 7, Fox News' Peter Doocy asked White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki whether Mr. Biden would "ever undo his executive order that stopped the construction of the Keystone XL" in an effort to lower gas prices.
"The Keystone was not an oilfield — it's a pipeline," she responded. "The oil is continuing to flow in, just through other means. So, it actually would have nothing do with the current supply imbalance."
Psaki added the Department of Energy predicts that in 2023 the U.S. will "produce more oil... than ever before."
Post a Comment