Daily Archives: June 5, 2022

In August 2020, then-White House counselor Kellyanne Conway was concerned about the guidance that then-President Donald Trump was receiving from some in his inner circle, notably Mark Meadows the conservative ex-North Carolina congressman who had been chief of staff since March of that year.

Conway would soon be leaving her role in the White House, but she ruminated on the continued challenges stemming from the coronavirus pandemic and Trump's reelection matchup against then-Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden.

The veteran pollster didn't think Trump was being well-served by Meadows and didn't bite her tongue in laying out her frustrations him and several other top aides in the White House, which she detailed in her memoir, "Here's the Deal."

"Some of the staff egos were bigger than the enormous tasks confronting us. Others acted like adolescents in cliques or hungry sharks with agendas separate from that of the nation. People could not even agree on a mask policy. Most of them were insisting he would win reelection in a landslide before 'Sleepy Joe' ever awoke," she wrote.

She added: "Meadows, the self-described 'chief 's chief,' was the fourth person to serve in that role, and the only one during the most fraught time for the president and for the nation. The man did not match the moment. I could have been angry, but mostly I felt worried."

Conway went on to state that during such a tumultuous time with thousands of Americans dying from the coronavirus and millions of people contracting the virus before vaccines were authorized for emergency use Trump needed top-tier advisors who would steer him in a good direction.

"Trump can be as good a listener as he is a talker, so quality of counsel and pureness of advice are imperative," she wrote. "Personnel could be a blind spot for him. Facing the twin challenges of COVID and a reelection campaign, he deserved the best and the brightest."

In the book, she opined that Trump was "poorly advised" on many issues including gay rights pointing out that "senior staff" put a stop to a plan by the then-president and first lady Melania Trump to commemorate Pride Month in 2020.

"My eyes were already wide open. The president was being underserved, poorly advised, and, ironically, ignored by 'senior staff,'" she wrote.

She continued: "Like in June of that year, when the First Lady was finalizing a plan to light up the White House in the pride colors and send out a tweet that the president planned to retweet. All of a sudden when the day came, nothing happened the whole plan had been blocked."

Conway took another dig at Meadows in the book, remarking that "he wanted to be the president's BFF," which "meant more important than the duly-elected vice president."

Insider reached out to Meadows for comment.

Last December, Meadows released his memoir, "The Chief's Chief," where he detailed his response to Trump's COVID-19 diagnosis and subsequent hospitalization, while also describing his loyalty to the then-president, writing that he would have "dressed in a giant penguin suit" to have him back in the Oval Office after the health-related ordeal.

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Conway: Meadows 'did not match the moment' as Trump WH chief of staff - Business Insider

Congressman Jamie Raskin of Maryland, a key member of the January 6 committee investigating the Capitol attack, givesInside the Hivean exclusive preview of next weeks prime-time hearing.

After nearly a year of investigating the insurrection, Raskin says the most surprising discovery has been the role that money played, and the role of a financial motivebehind all these events to keep the money pouring in. The committee, he promises, will also draw direct and indirect lines between the top of the Republican hierarchy and the violent hooligans and street fascists who overran the Capitol.

But will Donald Trump himself be implicated? Raskin has said the former president will get his comeuppance, but whether hell face direct criminal justice for his premeditated role in an attempted coup remains an open question. Tantalizingly, Raskin deflects on the question of whether former vice president Mike Pence has spoken to the committee or might testify against Trump. I cant get into it, he says.

Plus: Raskin offers a powerful message and emotional plea to Democrats demoralized by the political landscape facing the party going into the midterms.

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Rep. Jamie Raskin Talks Donald Trump and Previews the Jan. 6 Hearings - Vanity Fair

Donald Trump Jr., left, and Johnny Depp, right, in a composite image.Getty Images

Donald Trump Jr. has once again weighed into the defamation trial between Amber Heard and Johnny Depp.

Following the jury's verdict, he shared a pro-Depp meme on his Instagram account.

Depp will be remembered as "the first man to win an argument with a woman," the post said.

Donald Trump Jr has once again weighed into the high-profile defamation trial between Amber Heard and Johnny Depp following the jury's verdict on Wednesday.

On Friday, the eldest son of former President Donald Trump shared an Instagram post that said that "Depp will always be remembered as the first man to win an argument with a woman."

He accompanied the post with a caption: " precedent breaker!!!"

In Wednesday's verdict, jurors found both Depp and Heard liable for defaming each other, marking the end of six dramatic weeks of testimony in Fairfax County, Virginia.

The jury awarded Depp $15 million in damages on Wednesday, finding that Heard defamed him when she described herself as a victim of domestic violence in a 2018 The Washington Post op-ed.

The jury also awarded Heard a smaller sum of $2 million in compensatory damages, finding Depp liable for defamation when one of his attorneys described her allegations of sexual abuse as a "hoax."

Trump Jr. has previously offered commentary on Wednesday's verdict, celebrating it as a supposed end of the MeToo era.

"Believe all women... except Amber Heard," he wrote on Twitter on Wednesday.

On Wednesday, the Republicans' House Judiciary Committee celebrated the verdict by posting a GIF of Captain Jack Sparrow Depp's character from the "Pirates of the Caribbean" movies.

Fox News host Kayleigh McEnany, who served as White House press secretary for Trump Jr.'s father, criticized Republicans for showing their support to Depp.

"I see some Republicans celebrating him. I don't think that this is your guy,' she said, per DailyMail.com. McEnany noted that, in 2017, Depp joked about assassinating Trump.

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Donald Trump Jr. posts meme calling Johnny Depp the 'first man to win an argument with a woman' following Amber Heard trial verdict - Yahoo News

Among the many lingering images from the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol was seeing then-Vice President Mike Pence flee with his security detail as a group of rabid Donald Trump supporters appeared to hunt him. The Hang Mike Pence chants during the insurrectionist riot cant be unheard.

What we didnt know, however, was that members of the Indiana Republicans team feared that Trump had put his own vice president in so much jeopardy that a scenario like this could unfold. The New York Times Maggie Haberman, sharing an anecdote from her upcoming book, published a report today that read in part:

The day before a mob of President Donald J. Trumps supporters stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, Vice President Mike Pences chief of staff called Mr. Pences lead Secret Service agent to his West Wing office. The chief of staff, Marc Short, had a message for the agent, Tim Giebels: The president was going to turn publicly against the vice president, and there could be a security risk to Mr. Pence because of it.

This was not a situation in which Pences chief of staff routinely flagged security concerns for the then-vice presidents detail. In fact, the Times report, which hasnt been independently verified by MSNBC or NBC News, added that it happened exactly once: Jan. 5, 2021. The article added:

Mr. Short did not know what form such a security risk might take, according to people familiar with the events. But after days of intensifying pressure from Mr. Trump on Mr. Pence to take the extraordinary step of intervening in the certification of the Electoral College count to forestall Mr. Trumps defeat, Mr. Short seemed to have good reason for concern. The vice presidents refusal to go along was exploding into an open and bitter breach between the two men at a time when the president was stoking the fury of his supporters who were streaming into Washington.

We all know, of course, what happened, but reading a report like this brings the details into focus: The sitting vice presidents right-hand man had a private conversation with the Secret Service about a possible security threat created by the sitting president.

Or put another way, Short feared that Trump had personally put Pence in danger, which proved prophetic a day later.

History offers examples of presidents and vice presidents who didnt necessarily get along, but theres no parallel for anything like this in the American tradition.

All of this, of course, came against a backdrop in which Trump and many of his allies desperately tried to persuade Pence to participate in a coup scheme. The then-vice president, we later learned, was prepared to ignore his legal obligations, and he actively explored ways to corrupt the process, but Pence couldnt figure out how to make the scheme work.

Todays reporting also dovetails with related revelations that have come to the fore recently. Indeed, it was just last week when multiple news outlets reported that, as Hang Mike Pence chants echoed on Capitol Hill, then-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows told aides that Trump complained about Pence being whisked to safety. A New York Times report added, Mr. Meadows, according to an account provided to the House committee investigating Jan. 6, then told the colleagues that Mr. Trump had said something to the effect of, maybe Mr. Pence should be hanged.

As we discussed soon after, all of this was stunning, but not altogether surprising. Trump, during the riot, published an anti-Pence tweet, effectively accusing him of treachery, and by all accounts, Trump made no effort to reach out to his then-vice president after the riot to check on his wellbeing.

Months later, the former president sat down with ABC News Jonathan Karl, who initially asked whether he was concerned at all about Pences safety during the assault on the Capitol. No, I thought he was well-protected, and I had heard that he was in good shape, Trump replied. No. Because I had heard he was in very good shape. But, but, no, I think

The reporter intervened, reminding the Republican, Because you heard those chants that was terrible. Trump was unmoved, saying, He could have well, the people were very angry.

Karl added, They were saying, Hang Mike Pence. Trump responded, Because its common sense, Jon.

All of these revelations remain important for reasons that go beyond completing the historical record. Violent insurrectionists attacked our seat of government. Some hunted the sitting vice president, who had to flee for his own safety. Trump apparently didnt much care because Pence grudgingly concluded he couldnt help the sitting president steal an election.

This is the stuff of nightmares in a free and stable democracy.

We know quite a bit about what transpired during this attack, but no one should assume all the important revelations have been exposed.

Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MSNBC political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "The Impostors: How Republicans Quit Governing and Seized American Politics."

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Pences team reportedly feared Trump put VP at risk on Jan. 6 - MSNBC

Donald Trump can fairly be described as a political crime boss. His contempt for democracy and the rule of law is reminiscent of the legendary organized-crime chieftains found in both fiction and reality. He used his presidency (and its aftermath) to enrich himself, along with his family and other members of his inner circle. Trump is deeply attracted to violence, although like the head of a crime family does not personally engage in it. He may be a sociopath or a psychopath, but regardless of clinical definitions is certainly antisocial and destructive.

Despite his uneven recent record of political endorsements, Trump remains the obvious leader of the Republican Party and the larger fascist movement in and around it. For millions of Americans, his orders and wishes are not to be disobeyed, and at least some of his loyal foot soldiers are willing to commit acts of violence at his command and perhaps to kill or die for him.

Trump runs his crime family from Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, which in a fictional narrative or a journalistic report from another nation would be described as a "compound." Republican candidates, party leaders and other members of his MAGA movement arrive there to make offerings of cash and undying loyalty, and to receive his praise (or admonition) and receive their further orders.

RELATED:Merrick Garland "fears no person," says legal scholar Norm Eisen and he's coming for Trump

Crime as politics, or "criminogenic" politics, to use the academic term, is a distinguishing feature of autocratic and authoritarian regimes. Real or aspiring strongman-type leaders, Donald Trump very much included, have no conception of public service that extends beyond accumulating money, power and personal glory. Politics and governance are but means to that end, and the law is not understood as a neutral leveling force that applies equally to all. Instead, it is an instrument of power, tailored to serve the personal needs of the autocratic-dictatorial leader and the most loyal and servile members of his regime.

There exists a literal mountain of scholarship, research, reporting, commentary and analysis by people from a wide range of disciplines journalists, mental health professionals, philosophers, lawyers, historians and political scientists, to name a few on the subject of Donald Trump and what his rise to power has meant for American democracy and society. But to this point, very few experts in crime and criminal behavior have specifically addressed the Trump phenomenon and its larger consequences.

Gregg Barak has tried to fill that void with his new book "Criminology on Trump," published in May by Routledge. Barak is an emeritus professor of criminology and criminal justice at Eastern Michigan University and was formerly a visiting distinguished professor in the College of Justice & Safety at Eastern Kentucky University. He is also the author of "Violence and Nonviolence: Pathways to Understanding" and "Violence, Conflict, and World Order," among other works, and is co-founder and North American editor of the Journal of White Collar and Corporate Crime.

In this conversation, Barak explains his view that Donald Trump is not a hapless fool or idiot, as some have depicted him. For Barak, Trump is a consummate con artist and perhaps a criminal mastermind who has spent decades mastering the law and learning how to escape accountability for his criminal actions and other transgressive behavior. Barak says that Trump had a mentor in this regard, the legendary fixer and right-wing political operative Roy Cohn, who taught Trump that even legal defeats or setbacks can be spun as symbolic victories.

Barak also argues that Trump was in all probability central to the planning and execution of the Jan. 6, 2021, coup attempt and took great joy in watching the violent assault on the U.S. Capitol. Barak also warns that Donald Trump is such a skilled performer that he is likely to evade responsibility for his criminal misconduct no matter what evidence is presented later this month by the House select committee investigating Jan. 6. Donald Trump's followers have not been duped into supporting him, Barak concludes, but greatly enjoy his antisocial behavior and live vicariously through it.

How are you feeling given all the crises we have faced in America during the Age of Trump and beyond?

I'm emotionally stressed. I'm anxious. I'm seeing the end of democracy. I'm just totally absorbed in writing about and thinking about Donald Trump. I began thinking about writing a book about Donald Trump in 2017. I got sucked in. Everyone else had been talking about Donald Trump from the perspective of journalists, lawyers, therapists and other points of view. But where were the criminologists? Donald Trump is a matter of crime and justice.

You say that you "got sucked in," that Trump pulled you into his orbit, in effect. I have heard many people say that about him. How did this happen? What is so compelling and intriguing about him? That's a big part of his power.

I'm sucked in because I study deception. I study mistrust. I study the con. Donald Trump is the archetype of all those things. He's a grifter, he's a racketeer. He's all of those things in one persona and one individual.

I have also described Donald Trump as a con artist, as well as a professional wrestling "heel," a carnie and a street hustler. What's the con that Donald Trump is running and why are so many people suckered by it?

Donald Trump is all of those things. But how does he get away with all the lawlessness. be it as a candidate or as occupant of the White House? He's a media-savvy showman. He offers himself up as a subject of both enjoyment and pain, and that helps him to elicit effective identification among the public. Ironically, Trump's positive attraction is fundamentally derived from his negativity, cruelty and deviance.

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Trump's political attraction has to do with his chauvinistic attitudes of white supremacy, cultural racism, and misogyny. In other words, Trump has become a superb agent of obscene, transgressive enjoyment. This is true whether he's vilifying immigrants, denigrating women or trying to humiliate a former ally.

His fake populism is all about style and attitude. It has absolutely nothing to do with any belief system, set of values or ideologies. Trump has no principles or ethics that he truly subscribes to. The only thing that matters to Trump is the accumulation of power and glorification.

People are not really being conned by Trump: They know it's a con. But they admire the fact that he's basically saying "f**k you" to everyone and getting away with it.

Trump's basic con is that he's going to bring something to people who feel aggrieved or that they need something. That he is fighting on their behalf. But again, it's not even that Trump doesn't deliver what he promises. Those people are not even really being conned: They know that Trump is a con artist. But they admire the fact that Trump can push back, that he can thumb his nose at the law and rules and norms, that he can abuse the law and everyone else, for that matter and get away with it. A big part of why Trump's followers are captivated by him is because he's basically saying "fuck you" to everyone and getting away with it. Donald Trump is a type of outlaw.

As a criminologist, what do you see when you look at Donald Trump?

I am looking at how Trump, throughout his lifetime, has been involved with fraud and deception. I see Trump as one of America's most successful outlaws. Why? Because he's been violating the law virtually every day of his life. He has not been charged once with a criminal offense. That's genius. That is just phenomenal.

This man's been accused of sexual assault, tax evasion, money laundering, nonpayment of employees and defrauding of tenants, customers, contractors, investors, bankers and charities. Yet has never been charged with any crime.

Donald Trump knows the law inside and out. When you've been a litigant who has been involved with 4,000 lawsuits, and have been the plaintiff in most of those cases, you get to know the law. Donald Trump knows how to play the law. In part, that is why he has been successful in weaponizing it.

What is the secret of Trump's success, in terms of never being held truly accountable for his crimes and all his fraudulent or unethical business activities?

Trump hooked up with Roy Cohn back in the 1970s, during the first lawsuit involving Trump and his father, Fred Trump Sr. It was for housing discrimination. Fred Sr. gave Donald the job of going out and finding an attorney, and Donald connected with Cohn, who he had admired from a distance.

Cohn became a surrogate father and a mentor, in a sense. Trump learned how to deny things, how to sensationalize things, how to weaponize the law and how, even when you lose, you can still win by spinning events in the public eye. More than anything else, Donald Trump learned that, if possible, you never settle. Well, Trump settles sometimes, but he has only lost a small percentage of his cases. He has won the overwhelming majority of them because he wears people down. He goes on for so long that most people don't have the deep pockets to go the distance.

Trump enjoys litigation. He doesn't even care if he wins or loses a case, because whichever it is, he spins it as though he won. Why do Trump's lies work? Because he says them so many times, that after a while, people quit trying to repudiate the lie. They give up.

Some of the psychologists and other mental health experts I've spoken to have said that in other circumstances Trump would have been a petty criminal and gone to jail. What are your thoughts?

Perhaps Donald Trump would have gotten into trouble and gotten caught. But given how introverted he really is, with all his insecurities, I don't know that he would have even aspired, or had the nerve, to be a hood or a criminal. I'm not sure Donald would have been doing street crime. I just don't see it. I don't think he has the nerve.

What do you make of Trump's likely defense that he didn't really know what was happening on Jan. 6, 2021? That other people were acting without his knowledge, and that he is innocent or ignorant about such things?

On Jan. 6, Trump knew precisely the whole time what was going on. He was loving every minute of it. Everything he has done in his whole life has been with malice aforethought.

He knew everything. Donald Trump knew precisely the whole time what was going on. He was aware. Donald Trump is such a great performer that if he wanted to plead that he was crazy or that he was insane and I am saying that tongue in cheek I believe that he could pull it off. And we know how hard it is to pull off an insanity defense. He would be successful, and he'd tell you, "This is the greatest insanity defense you've ever heard."Yes, I am saying this as a joke, but Trump does not lack the knowledge to do this. And he doesn't lack the intent. Everything Trump has done in his whole life has been with regularity and malice aforethought.

One of the issues that comes up about Donald Trump and his apparent crimes is the question of whether he is actually capable of knowing right from wrong.

Donald Trump certainly knows the difference between right and wrong. On Jan. 6, Trump was sitting there when everybody was telling him, "Donald, you've got to stop this." He was loving every minute of it. He knew what was going on. The fact that he didn't stop what was happening at the Capitol is evidence of consciousness of guilt or intent. He knew what was transpiring. It's what he wanted to happen!

So many people are going to testify before they even get to Donald Trump. They won't even need him at that point. Donald Trump will not be able to successfully defend himself by saying he was an idiot.

You said you were joking about this, but could Trump mount a successful insanity defense?

Here is an important distinction. "The Donald," the persona and the character, could pull it off. But Donald Trump the real person can't. Donald Trump the real person cannot reveal that side of his vulnerability. He couldn't conceive that he wasn't a genius. He couldn't acknowledge that he was crazy. The Donald Trump character could do all of those things.

So at the end of this long story, does Donald Trump go to jail? There are folks who have convinced themselves that such an outcome is inevitable, that he will finally be punished for his crimes. I am of the mind that there is no way that happens. Rich white men like Donald Trump are largely above the law in America.

If Trump is acquitted, then he doesn't go to jail. If there's one juror who says no, then Trump is a free man. If there's a unanimous verdict, I believe that he'll be punished. If Trump is not actually incarcerated, he'll be on a short leash. He'll be under supervision. Perhaps he will be allowed to stay at Mar-a-Lago. Donald Trump is a stain on the presidency. He deserves to be locked up.

How dangerous is Trump? I have consistently tried to warn people that he is very dangerous, quite likely the most dangerous person in America. But you are a criminologist: Am I exaggerating?

He's as dangerous as anyone could be.

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Donald Trump, criminal mastermind: Scholar Gregg Barak on the supreme con artist of our time - Salon

Former President Donald Trump still wants the Pulitzer Prize board to rescind awards it gave to newspapers for their reporting on Russian interference in the 2016 election.

Mr. Trump even threatened to sue if the board cannot be persuaded to do the right thing on its own.

There is no dispute that the Pulitzer Boards award to those media outlets was based on false and fabricated information that they published, Mr. Trump wrote to Marjorie Miller, administrator of the Pulitzer Prizes.

The letter is dated Friday but was circulated by Mr. Trumps associates on Tuesday.

It is the third letter Mr. Trump has sent to the Pulitzer board demanding revocation of the prizes awarded in 2018 to The New York Times and The Washington Post.

Mr. Trump has cited a report by special counsel Robert Mueller that found no evidence of a criminal conspiracy between the 2016 Trump campaign and Russian actors, even if their interests aligned at times. The former president has pointed to the report as vindication after claims of Russian collusion dogged the early years of his presidency.

The former president also highlighted the indictment of an attorney in Hillary Clintons orbit on charges of lying to the FBI, saying it debunked a false theory the Trump campaign had secret communications with Russia-based Alfa Bank.

A jury acquitted the lawyer, Michael Sussmann, on Tuesday, a major blow to special counsel John Durhams efforts in pursuing possible misconduct by U.S. intelligence agencies probing theories about Trump-Russia collusion.

But Mr. Trumps letter, drafted before the verdict, put an emphasis on the Sussmann trial.

Please continue to pay close attention to the testimony at Mr. Sussmans [sic] trial as well as all other pertinent information, Mr. Trump wrote. I again call on you to rescind the Prize you awarded based on blatantly fake, derogatory and defamatory news. If you choose to not do so, we will see you in court.

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Donald Trump threatens to sue if Pulitzer Prize board does not rescind 2018 awards - Washington Times