TubbersUK

TubbersUK's Journal

January 31, 2017

AP: Trump's voter fraud expert registered in 3 states

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A man who President Donald Trump has promoted as an authority on voter fraud was registered to vote in multiple states during the 2016 presidential election, the Associated Press has learned.

Gregg Phillips, whose unsubstantiated claim that the election was marred by 3 million illegal votes was tweeted by the president, was listed on the rolls in Alabama, Texas and Mississippi, according to voting records and election officials in those states. He voted only in Alabama in November, records show.

In a post earlier this month, Phillips described "an amazing effort" by volunteers tied to True the Vote, an organization whose board he sits on, who he said found "thousands of duplicate records and registrations of dead people."

"When you look at the people that are registered, dead, illegal and two states, and some cases maybe three states, we have a lot to look into," Trump said in an ABC interview.

Reached by telephone Monday, Phillips said he was unaware of his multiple registrations but asked, "Why would I know or care?"

https://apnews.com/80497cfb5f054c9b8c9e0f8f5ca30a62?utm_campaign=SocialFlow&utm_source=Twitter&utm_m

January 30, 2017

Secretary of Homeland Security found out about President Trump's Muslim travel ban by watching TV

Source: The Independent

He was getting his first briefing on the executive order when he discovered it was already being signed

Donald Trump acted so swiftly on closing US borders to refugees and people from seven Muslim-majority countries that his new Secretary of Homeland Security, John F. Kelly, found out about it from broadcast news.

Flying back to Washington from Miami, Kelly was given his first briefing on Trumps plan, which would ultimately lead to pandemonium and protests at US airports.

The New York Times reports:

'Halfway into the briefing, someone on the call looked up at a television in his office. The president is signing the executive order that were discussing, the official said, stunned.'

Read more: http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/news/donald-trump-usa-travel-ban-muslim-john-f-kelly-secretary-of-homeland-secutity-tv-a7552821.html

Amateur hour

January 23, 2017

Great report on the 'Wall of Meat' Bikers

CAFEVerified account
‏@cafedotcom

The big bad Bikers for Trump were absolutely terrified of the Women’s March on Washington. (By @MattBinder)

Watch their great little report here:

https://twitter.com/cafedotcom/status/823641683443073025

January 23, 2017

Sources say Trump's CIA visit made relations with intel community worse

U.S. government sources tell CBS News that there is a sense of unease in the intelligence community after President Trump’s visit to CIA headquarters on Saturday.

An official said the visit “made relations with the intelligence community worse” and described the visit as “uncomfortable.”

Authorities are also pushing back against the perception that the CIA workforce was cheering for the president. They say the first three rows in front of the president were largely made up of supporters of Mr. Trump’s campaign.

An official with knowledge of the make-up of the crowd says that there were about 40 people who’d been invited by the Trump, Mike Pence and Rep. Mike Pompeo teams. The Trump team expected Rep. Pompeo, R-Kansas, to be sworn in during the event as the next CIA director, but the vote to confirm him was delayed on Friday by Senate Democrats. Also sitting in the first several rows in front of the president was the CIA’s senior leadership, which was not cheering the remarks.

There were about 400 members of the workforce who RSVP’d for the event out of thousands who received an invitation in their email late last week. Officials dismiss White House claims that there were people waiting to get into the event.

Intelligence sources say many in the workforce were stunned and at times offended by the president’s tone which seemed to evolve into a version of speeches he’d used on the campaign trail.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/sources-say-theres-a-sense-of-unease-in-intel-community-after-trump-cia-visit/

January 22, 2017

Dumped inaugural parade announcer attends women's march

Charlie Brotman, the long-time presidential inauguration announcer who President Donald Trump chose not to use for his inauguration Friday, instead attended the Women’s March on Washington on Saturday.

Linda Sarsour, the executive director of the Arab American Association of New York and one of the march’s organizers, tweeted a photo of Brotman with her at the march Saturday.

“I had to get him here. Charlie Brotman, inauguration announcer since Eisenhower dropped by Trump is HERE with us!” she wrote.

http://thehill.com/homenews/315444-dumped-inaugural-parade-announcer-attends-anti-trump-march

January 15, 2017

Trump wants Putin summit in Reykjavik - Britain fears leak of its secrets to Moscow

Source: The Sunday Times

Donald Trump is planning to hold a summit with Vladimir Putin within weeks of becoming president emulating Ronald Reagans Cold War deal-making in Reykjavik with Mikhail Gorbachev.

Trump and his team have told British officials that their first foreign trip will be a meeting with the Russian leader, with the Icelandic capital in pole position to host the superpower talks as it did three decades ago.

In a bid to reset western relations with the Kremlin, Trump will begin work on a deal limiting nuclear weapons. Sources who have discussed the plans with officials at the Russian embassy in London say Moscow is set to agree to a summit between the two leaders.

A US intelligence source said the CIA and other agencies saw Trump as a hostile actor who was very possibly compromised by Russia. A British intelligence source with extensive transatlantic experience said US spies had labelled Trump and his advisers links to the Kremlin problematic.

Until we have established whether Trump and senior members of his team can be trusted, were going to hold back, the source said.

Read more: http://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/news/trump-wants-putin-summit-in-reykjavik-rc909n9t0

It's a long article but very much worth reading. Lots of interesting little nuggets.

ETA: Note Trump's first foreign trip will be to meet with Russia.

ETA: Trump spox has since tweeted to deny the report:

[div class"excerpt"]Sean Spicer @seanspicer

not true - report is 100% false #facts

January 14, 2017

Russian Ambassador Invited Trump Administration to Syria Peace Talks as US Issued Sanctions

Source: abc

Russia's ambassador to the U.S. invited the Trump administration to Syrian peace talks during a phone call in December -- on the same day the Obama administration announced sanctions against Russia in retaliation for its hacking during the U.S. election -- a Trump spokesperson said Friday.

Incoming White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak extended the invitation to the talks, which are scheduled for later this month, during a phone call with President-elect Donald Trump's incoming National Security Advisor Michael Flynn on December 29th, the day the U.S. issued sanctions and expelled 35 Russian diplomats from the country.

The Obama administration was unsuccessful in securing a seat in Syria peace negotiations during talks with Russia and other regional powers and has been excluded from the most recent rounds. The next talks about Syria are scheduled for January 23rd in Astana, Kazakhstan, three days after Trump takes office.

Spicer initially told reporters the conversation between Flynn and Kislyak only focused on arranging a phone call between Russian President Vladimir Putin and President-elect Donald Trump after the Inauguration.

Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/trump-advisor-michael-flynn-contact-russian-ambassador/story?id=44763052

January 11, 2017

The story of the Trump dossier: secret sources, an airport rendezvous, and John McCain

The extraordinary but unverified documents published on Tuesday on Donald Trump’s ties with Moscow began life as a piece of opposition research, which has become as much a part of US politics as yard signs and coloured balloons.

I've only posted the intro because the article describes a long time-line and selecting only four paras could be misleading.

The take-away for me is that the docs are genuine but their content unverified, and the 4-Chan claim is a red herring.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/jan/11/trump-russia-report-opposition-research-john-mccain

January 11, 2017

The story of the Trump dossier: secret sources, an airport rendezvous, and John McCain

Source: The Guardian

The extraordinary but unverified documents published on Tuesday on Donald Trump’s ties with Moscow began life as a piece of opposition research, which has become as much a part of US politics as yard signs and coloured balloons.

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/jan/11/trump-russia-report-opposition-research-john-mccain

January 9, 2017

Kushner: Trump didn't believe conspiracy theories

Donald Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, personally assured skittish acquaintances the President-elect didn't really believe some of the more outrageous claims he was making, according to a new New York magazine profile.

"Back when Trump was spinning birther conspiracy theories, which were lapped up by gullible Republicans, one person who talked to Kushner says he offered assurances that his father-in-law didn't really believe that stuff," the report says.

"People say (Trump) is unhinged," Kushner told an associate, per the report. "I think he unhinged everyone else."

http://edition.cnn.com/2017/01/08/politics/jared-kushner-donald-trump-new-york/index.html

Bait and switch.

I'll be spreading this around on social media.

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