Shoot Them in the Legs, Trump Suggested: Inside His Border War

WASHINGTON — The Oval Office meeting this past March began, as so many had, with President Trump fuming about migrants. But this time he had a solution. As White House advisers listened astonished, he ordered them to shut down the entire 2,000-mile border with Mexico — by noon the next day.

The advisers feared the president’s edict would trap American tourists in Mexico, strand children at schools on both sides of the border and create an economic meltdown in two countries. Yet they also knew how much the president’s zeal to stop immigration had sent him lurching for solutions, one more extreme than the next.

Privately, the president had often talked about fortifying a border wall with a water-filled trench, stocked with snakes or alligators, prompting aides to seek a cost estimate. He wanted the wall electrified, with spikes on top that could pierce human flesh. After publicly suggesting that soldiers shoot migrants if they threw rocks, the president backed off when his staff told him that was illegal. But later in a meeting, aides recalled, he suggested that they shoot migrants in the legs to slow them down. That’s not allowed either, they told him.

“The president was frustrated and I think he took that moment to hit the reset button,” said Thomas D. Homan, who had served as Mr. Trump’s acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, recalling that week in March. “The president wanted it to be fixed quickly.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/01/us/politics/trump-border-wars.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage

https://twitter.com/OMGno2trump/status/1179080898307874816


Just for the record: US manufacturing now has two consecutive quarters of decline. Two quarters of decline is definition of recession. US manufacturing is now in recession.
- it's not the Fed
- Fed rates are at historic lows
- the Fed can't fix tariffs
- #ItsTheTariffsStupid

https://twitter.com/RealPressSecBot/status/117904367427914547

https://twitter.com/NumbersMuncher/status/1179038487657381889

CNBC poll: Trump approval on his handling on the economy plunges 13 net points to 42-50 (was 48-43), marking only the second time Trump has been underwater on the economy.

Impeachment is taking up the headlines, but voters losing confidence in the economy is a big deal for 2020






Whoops! Trump or the WH deleted the official statement from the WH trashing Powell, that's why the link doesn't work.

https://twitter.com/NumbersMuncher/status/1179037149502562304

CNBC poll: Trump job approval drops six net points to 37-53, the lowest approval of his presidency in CNBC polling.


https://twitter.com/NumbersMuncher/status/1179038487657381889

CNBC poll: Trump approval on his handling on the economy plunges 13 net points to 42-50 (was 48-43), marking only the second time Trump has been underwater on the economy.

Impeachment is taking up the headlines, but voters losing confidence in the economy is a big deal for 2020.





CNBC usually has him higher than other polls so can't wait to see others!

https://twitter.com/nbcnews/status/1178629342731128832?s=21


A convicted murderer in Wisconsin allegedly confessed to killing Teresa Halbach, the photographer whose 2005 death gained renewed interest with the release of Netflix's 'Making a Murderer.'

The Trump administration is investigating the email records of dozens of current and former senior State Department officials who sent messages to then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s private email, reviving a politically toxic matter that overshadowed the 2016 election, current and former officials said.

As many as 130 officials have been contacted in recent weeks by State Department investigators — a list that includes senior officials who reported directly to Clinton as well as others in lower-level jobs whose emails were at some point relayed to her inbox, said current and former State Department officials. Those targeted were notified that emails they sent years ago have been retroactively classified and now constitute potential security violations, according to letters reviewed by The Washington Post.

State Department investigators began contacting the former officials about 18 months ago, after President Trump’s election, and then seemed to drop the effort before picking it up in August, officials said.


To many of those under scrutiny, including some of the Democratic Party’s top foreign policy experts, the recent flurry of activity surrounding the Clinton email case represents a new front on which the Trump administration could be accused of employing the powers of the executive branch against perceived political adversaries.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/state-dept-intensifies-email-probe-of-hillary-clintons-former-aides/2019/09/28/9f15497e-e1f2-11e9-8dc8-498eabc129a0_story.html




JFC.

https://twitter.com/RebeccaBuck/status/1177716562951917568




Volker was the US Ambassador to NATO under Obama.

On September 26, 2019, the United States House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence released the unclassified text of the "whistle-blower complaint" regarding the interactions between US President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. In this document, Ambassador Volker, along with US Ambassador to the European Union, Gordon Sondland, were described as having "reportedly provided advice to the Ukrainian leadership about how to 'navigate' the demands that the President had made of Mr. Zelenskyy". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurt_Volker


It's unclear if he really did anything wrong besides advising Ukraine on how to deal with a corrupt, lunatic President. His Senate testimony should be interesting.

https://twitter.com/tedlieu/status/1177703523439566853


If the below article is accurate, it appears
@realDonaldTrump
seeks to trade action on legislation in exchange for financial support from the
@NRA
. That would be illegal. A felony, to be exact.

https://twitter.com/maggieNYT/status/1177699318423273477


GIULIANI texts me, "Not going," when asked about the Washington Post report about his planned appearance at a reportedly Kremlin-linked event for a speech.





Probably because the Post found out about it.

By Tom Hamburger ,
Josh Dawsey ,
Amie Ferris-Rotman and
Rosalind S. Helderman September 27 at 4:58 PM


Rudolph W. Giuliani, whose actions as President Trump’s personal lawyer have helped set in motion an impeachment inquiry, is set to appear as a paid speaker at a Kremlin-backed conference in Armenia on Tuesday — an event expected to include the participation of Russian President Vladi­mir Putin and other top Russian officials.

Giuliani confirmed to The Washington Post on Friday that he plans to take part in a panel at the conference sponsored by Russia and the Moscow-based Eurasian Economic Union, a trade alliance launched by Putin in 2014 as a counterweight to the European Union.

According to an agenda for the event posted online, Giuliani is set to participate in a panel led by Sergey Glazyev, a longtime Putin adviser who has been under U.S. sanctions since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine five years ago.


Giuliani’s decision to take part in the conference astounded national security experts. His scheduled appearance comes days after the release of a whistleblower complaint accusing Trump and Giuliani of pressuring Ukrainian for damaging information about Democrats.


https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/giuliani-set-to-make-paid-appearance-next-week-at-kremlin-backed-conference/2019/09/27/a15ab242-e133-11e9-8dc8-498eabc129a0_story.html