Richard Grenell — the U.S. Ambassador to Germany who President Trump has <a href="https://dailycaller.com/2020/05/26/exclusive-unclassified-actions-ric-grenell-dni-break-deep-state/">praised</a> as a &#8220;superstar&#8221; in helping him &#8220;break the deep state&#8221; during his recently ended three-month run as acting Director of National Intelligence — is engaged in a contentious social media feud with Politico over a report about him supposedly planning to join the Trump campaign that Grenell has slammed as utterly &#8220;false.&#8221;
&#8220;<a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2020/05/26/grenell-to-join-trump-campaign-283026">Grenell to join Trump campaign</a>,&#8221; Politico announced Tuesday. The report begins:
<blockquote>
U.S. Ambassador to Germany Ric Grenell is set to join President Donald Trump’s 2020 campaign amid a broader shakeup that saw the promotion of two other campaign officials on Tuesday, according to two people familiar with the matter. &#8230;
A person familiar with the move said Grenell will take a senior role inside the Trump campaign, where he will be involved in fundraising and strategy. It was not immediately clear what his title will be or whether he will work from the campaign’s Northern Virginia headquarters. Grenell was seen entering the White House on Tuesday afternoon, shortly after the Trump campaign announced its promotion of senior political adviser Bill Stepien to serve as deputy campaign manager.
</blockquote>
&#8220;Fake news. Do you even check before writing?&#8221; Grenell tweeted in response to a post by Politico National Security Correspondent Natasha Bertrand Tuesday. &#8220;What has happened to Washington DC media?!&#8221; 
The since-deleted tweet by Bertrand read: &#8220;News — Richard Grenell, who was until today the acting Director of National Intelligence, is joining the Trump campaign in a senior role focused on strategy and fundraising.&#8221;
In response to Grenell&#8217;s tweet, Politico&#8217;s VP of Marketing &amp; Communications Brad Dayspring wrote: &#8220;Yes. In fact, beyond the multiple high-level sources who confirmed the story, we reached out to you several times prior to publishing. You didn’t respond. We welcome your comment and encourage you to point out, on record, what specific facts you believe to be incorrect.&#8221;
Grenell responded by condemning Politico&#8217;s &#8220;scary&#8221; response to multiple denials: &#8220;The entire story isn’t true. And your response is scary — you don’t believe the campaign denial nor mine. But claim you have some anonymous source. Do you realize how ridiculous you sound?&#8221;
Following that post, Dayspring responded: &#8220;Thanks for finally getting back to us. Let’s go point by point. Please state *SPECIFICALLY* what you believe to be untrue. Don&#8217;t paint in broad strokes, let&#8217;s have this discussion. Is your next job going to be on the Trump campaign? Yes or no?&#8221;
Grenell responded by making clear he had no interest in a further &#8220;discussion&#8221; and offering Politico some advice on how to handle its doubly denied story. &#8220;No,&#8221; he tweeted. &#8220;Delete the story, it’s false.&#8221;
Grenell later called out Twitter, which on Tuesday began to &#8220;fact-check&#8221; President Trump&#8217;s tweets. &#8220;Why isn’t [Twitter] fact checking Politico? This story is wrong. She was told it’s wrong and yet she keeps it up,&#8221; he wrote in reference to Bertrand&#8217;s since-deleted post.
In an update to its initial report, Politico acknowledged the denials from Grenell and the Trump campaign:
<blockquote>After this story was published, Grenell <a href="https://twitter.com/RichardGrenell/status/1265432597397676032" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">on Twitter</a> called the report “fake news” and said “the entire story isn’t true.” Prior to publication, he hadn&#8217;t responded to a request for comment. The Trump campaign didn’t respond to multiple requests for comment, but campaign manager Brad Parscale also <a href="https://twitter.com/parscale/status/1265432012200062982" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">denied</a> the report on Twitter after publication.</blockquote>
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/grenell-declassifies-document-that-is-very-significant-to-origins-of-russia-investigation">Grenell Declassifies Document That Is ‘Very Significant’ To Origins of Russia Investigation</a>
Grenell&#8217;s posts below:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Fake news. Do you even check before writing? What has happened to Washington DC media?! <a href="https://t.co/JbzkBovPU4">https://t.co/JbzkBovPU4</a>
&mdash; Richard Grenell (@RichardGrenell) <a href="https://twitter.com/RichardGrenell/status/1265432597397676032?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 27, 2020</a></blockquote>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
The entire story isn’t true. And your response is scary &#8211; you don’t believe the campaign denial nor mine. But claim you have some anonymous source. Do you realize how ridiculous you sound? <a href="https://t.co/RAgx2Q35rh">https://t.co/RAgx2Q35rh</a>
&mdash; Richard Grenell (@RichardGrenell) <a href="https://twitter.com/RichardGrenell/status/1265471853268795392?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 27, 2020</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
No. Delete the story, it’s false. <a href="https://t.co/wsxXyO2d7e">https://t.co/wsxXyO2d7e</a>
&mdash; Richard Grenell (@RichardGrenell) <a href="https://twitter.com/RichardGrenell/status/1265482833147105280?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 27, 2020</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Why isn’t <a href="https://twitter.com/Twitter?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Twitter</a> fact checking Politico? This story is wrong. She was told it’s wrong and yet she keeps it up. <a href="https://t.co/JbzkBovPU4">https://t.co/JbzkBovPU4</a>
&mdash; Richard Grenell (@RichardGrenell) <a href="https://twitter.com/RichardGrenell/status/1265487023072251907?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 27, 2020</a></blockquote>
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The Daily Wire, headed by bestselling author and popular podcast host Ben Shapiro, is a leading provider of conservative news, cutting through the mainstream media’s rhetoric to provide readers the most important, relevant, and engaging stories of the day. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/subscribe">member</a>.

Richard Grenell

‘Superstar’ Grenell Tells Politico What To Do With Their ‘False’ Story After ‘Scary’ Response

Donald Trump

Politico

On Tuesday, a reporter for Politico tried to paint President Trump into a corner, trying to have White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany offer a number of “dead Americans” voters “should tolerate” when they “go to the polls in November.” McEnany flattened him after she gave one answer and  he then repeated the question, saying to him, “I answered your question once, but if you ask it twice it doesn’t make it any better of a question.” She also pointed out, “Dr. (Deborah) Birx said it best when she said that in their estimates they had anywhere between 1.5 and 2 million people in the U.S. succumbing to the virus if we didn’t shut down the economy,” adding, “Closing down the economy for this amount of time kept us far below the 2.2 million number.”
Ryan Lizza of Politico triggered McEnany’s response by asking, “What does the White House view, as having by Election Day, what does the White House view as the number of dead Americans where you can say that you successfully defeated this pandemic? Is there a number?”
McEnany replied:
<blockquote>Yeah, you know, every loss of life counts. We say 100,000, but like the president says, one death is something to be mourned. These 100,000 individuals have a face; the president takes this very seriously; it’s why he lowered the flag to half-staff for three days to remember these men and women. I think Dr. Birx said it best when she said that in their estimates they had anywhere between 1.5 and 2 million people in the U.S. succumbing to the virus if we didn’t shut down the economy.
The president made the very hard choice of shutting down the economy so we avoided that extraordinary number. One death is too many; we never want to see a single individual lose their life, but that being said, to be under significantly that high mark shows that the president did everything in his power and help to make this number as low as humanly possible.</blockquote>
Lizza repeated, “When voters go to the polls in November, and they want to judge the president on his response to this pandemic, what is the number of dead Americans that they should tolerate where they can argue that yes, he successfully defeated the pandemic?”
McEnany fired back, “I think you’re asking the wrong question. The right question is where did the data —”
Lizza interrupted, prompting McEnany to say bluntly, “I answered your question once, but if you ask it twice it doesn’t make it any better of a question so I’ll respond in kind. I’ve given you one answer; I’ll continue to extrapolate upon that, that he always listened to the science. The president, when Dr. Fauci and Dr. Birx said, ‘You need to shut down the economy,’ that was hard for the president.&#8221;
She continued, &#8220;You know, in a typical year, 120,000 people die of suicide and drug overdose. That’s in a typical year. And doctors have said when you shut down an economy for an extended period of time that number gets greater. People don’t show up for their cancer diagnoses. There are a litany of results when you close down an economy, but closing down the economy for this amount of time kept us far below the 2.2 million number. As we start to reopen we keep in mind the people who are missing their screening appointments; the people who are succumbing to suicide and drug overdose because of economic hardship.&#8221;
McEnany concluded. “This president made the right choice; it was a delicate balance and he did it as exactly as he should guided by data, and we are far below 2.2 million dead Americans because of the actions of President Trump.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
A reporter just repeatedly asked how many &quot;dead Americans&quot; we should &quot;tolerate&quot;?
 <a href="https://twitter.com/PressSec?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@PressSec</a> rightly points out how stupid of a question this is. <a href="https://t.co/1pJltHUDO6">pic.twitter.com/1pJltHUDO6</a>
&mdash; Caleb Hull (@CalebJHull) <a href="https://twitter.com/CalebJHull/status/1265349886553346048?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 26, 2020</a></blockquote>
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The Daily Wire, headed by bestselling author and popular podcast host Ben Shapiro, is a leading provider of conservative news, cutting through the mainstream media’s rhetoric to provide readers the most important, relevant, and engaging stories of the day. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/subscribe">member</a>.

White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany Holds Briefing

WATCH: Reporter Asks How Many ‘Dead Americans’ Voters ‘Should Tolerate’ When Voting In November. McEnany Flattens Him.

Coronavirus

Kayleigh McEnany

Democrats are reportedly panicking over an election scenario prediction by Harvard professor Jason Furman, a top economist in the Obama administration, who said last month that the United States is about to the see the &#8220;best economic data&#8221; in its history.
The news reportedly stunned Democrats who had been hoping that the economic damage suffered as a result of the pandemic would be enough to sink President Donald Trump&#8217;s re-election chances.
“We are about to see the best economic data we’ve seen in the history of this country,” Furman told a group of bipartisan leaders from both parties.
&#8220;Instead of forecasting a prolonged depression-level economic catastrophe, Furman laid out a detailed case for why the months preceding the November election could offer Trump the chance to brag — truthfully — about the most explosive monthly employment numbers and GDP growth ever,&#8221; Politico <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2020/05/26/2020-election-democrats-281470">reported</a>. &#8220;Furman’s counterintuitive pitch has caused some Democrats, especially Obama alumni, around Washington to panic.&#8221;
One former top Obama official told Politico that this was their “big worry,” and, when asked about the level of concern that this scenario has among top Democrat party officials, the individual said,  “It’s high — high, high, high, high.”
The report indicated that the Biden campaign is well aware of the situation and that they are preparing for the economy to look much different this fall than it does right now.
Furman said that when the economic data from the last couple of months started coming in that he noticed that the data pointed to a type of recovery that is similar to what economics see after major natural disasters.
Larry Kudlow, the head of the White House National Economic Council, told Politico that he &#8220;totally agree[s]&#8221; with the analysis that Furman presented to political officials last month, adding, “Q3 may be the single best GDP quarter since regular data. 2nd half super big growth, transitioning to 4% or more in 2021.”
Other top Trump administration officials, including Kevin Hassett and Peter Navarro, indicated that they agreed with the analysis.
Democrats that Politico interviewed were distressed over the prospect that the economy would be improving before the election. “Trump beats Biden on the economy even right now!” one Democrat told Politico. “This is going to be extremely difficult no matter what.”
Another Democrat told Politico: “Even today when we are at over 20 million unemployed Trump gets high marks on the economy, so I can’t imagine what it looks like when things go in the other direction. I don’t think this is a challenge for the Biden campaign. This is the challenge for the Biden campaign. If they can’t figure this out they should all just go home.”
Political strategist Arthur Schwartz responded to Politico&#8217;s report in a tweet, writing: &#8220;Dems are spooked because the economy is going to rebound quickly. Their strategy for November is to keep the country closed. Their interests are served by hurting as many Americans as possible.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Dems are spooked because the economy is going to rebound quickly. Their strategy for November is to keep the country closed. Their interests are served by hurting as many Americans as possible.
The general election scenario that Democrats are dreading <a href="https://t.co/z8CzlD3DYD">https://t.co/z8CzlD3DYD</a>
&mdash; Arthur Schwartz (@ArthurSchwartz) <a href="https://twitter.com/ArthurSchwartz/status/1265233763350581251?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 26, 2020</a></blockquote>
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The Daily Wire, headed by bestselling author and popular podcast host Ben Shapiro, is a leading provider of conservative news, cutting through the mainstream media’s rhetoric to provide readers the most important, relevant, and engaging stories of the day. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/subscribe">member</a>.

US-ATTACKS-GAYS-OBAMA-BIDEN

Democrats ‘Dreading’ Election Scenario Predicted By Obama’s Top Economist: ‘Best’ U.S. ‘Economic Data’ In History About To Happen

2020 Election

Economy

Joe Biden

On Thursday, Politico&#8217;s Marc Caputo drew attention to the glaring disparity between the media&#8217;s coverage of Democratic New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis — the former presented in generally glowing terms despite his state&#8217;s massive failure in responding to the coronavirus pandemic, while the latter, whose state has been one of the national success stories amid the crisis, has been regularly criticized in reports. For calling out the media, Caputo has come under fire from a fellow journalist from The Daily Beast and CNN.
In an update &#8220;<a href="https://www.politico.com/newsletters/politico-nightly-coronavirus-special-edition/2020/05/14/florida-man-beats-covid-for-now-489225">from the non-frontlines</a>,&#8221; Caputo — a former Miami Herald reporter who now produces Politico&#8217;s Florida Playbook — writes:
<blockquote>Good evening, and greetings from Florida, where we feel the need to inform you that it’s not a post-apocalyptic hellscape of coronavirus infection and cadavers stacked like cordwood. That is, Florida just doesn’t look nearly as bad as the national news media and sky-is-falling critics have been predicting for about two months now. But then, the national news media is mostly based in New York and loves to love its Democratic governor, Andrew Cuomo, about as much as it loves to hate on Florida’s Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis.</blockquote>
Having established the largely New York-based media&#8217;s habit of &#8220;loving&#8221; on Cuomo and &#8220;hating&#8221; on DeSantis, Caputo takes his critique further: the truth is, he writes, based on actual results, DeSantis&#8217;s measured response to the crisis appears to have been the right response, while New York has been by far the worst hit:
<blockquote>First, let’s just come out and say it: DeSantis looks more right than those who criticized the Sunshine State’s coronavirus response. According to the latest Florida<a href="https://floridadisaster.org/globalassets/covid19/dailies/covid-19-data---daily-report-2020-05-14-10am.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"> figures</a>, fewer than 2,000 have died, and around 43,000 have been infected. That’s a fraction of the dire predictions made for Florida when spring breakers swarmed the beaches, and those numbers are dwarfed by similarly sized New York, which has seen 12 times more deaths and nearly eight times more infections. (Check out <a href="https://www.politico.com/interactives/2020/coronavirus-testing-by-state-chart-of-new-cases/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">POLITICO’s coronavirus tracker</a> for more.) More people reportedly died in New York nursing homes than in all of Florida.</blockquote>
Yet, Caputo notes, Cuomo is polling better than DeSantis, partly a result of the two leaders&#8217; far different demeanors as well as one heading up a unified, &#8220;deeply Democratic state,&#8221; while the other heads up a &#8220;politically divided state.&#8221; But another reason, Caputo emphasizes, is that &#8220;there&#8217;s media bias, too&#8221;:
<blockquote>Cuomo also has something else DeSantis doesn’t: a press that defers to him, one that preferred to cover “<a href="https://twitter.com/nydailynews/status/1252027309168697348?lang=en" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Florida Morons</a>” at the beach (where it’s relatively hard to get infected) over New Yorkers riding cramped subway cars (where it’s easy to get infected). In fact, people can still ride the subways for most hours of the day in New York, but Miami Beach’s sands remain closed. Maybe things would be different if DeSantis had a brother who worked in cable news and interviewed him for a “<a href="https://people.com/tv/chris-cuomo-andrew-cuomo-have-emotional-brotherly-moment-live-on-air/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">sweet moment</a>” in primetime.</blockquote>
As pointed out by <a href="https://twitchy.com/sarahd-313035/2020/05/15/cnn-political-analyst-is-extremely-offended-by-florida-based-journo-who-dared-to-call-out-national-medias-blatant-pro-cuomo-anti-gop-bias/">Twitchy</a>, for the sin of shining light on pro-Democrat, New York-centered media bias, Caputo has come under fire from fellow journalist Jackie Kucinich, Washington bureau chief for The Daily Beast and a CNN political analyst. 
&#8220;So, given how much everyone is suffering everywhere — grieving loved ones, job losses and even the simple things like hugging your friends — I fail to see how this snarky nonsense from [Marc Caputo] — who I think is an awesome reporter &#8211; is helpful,&#8221; Kucinich tweeted Thursday. &#8220;The reporters in NY who you are shading have lost people too, and are working their tails off, [Marc Caputo].&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
The reporters in NY who you are shading have lost people too, and are working their tails off, .<a href="https://twitter.com/MarcACaputo?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@MarcACaputo</a>.
&mdash; Jackie Kucinich (@JFKucinich) <a href="https://twitter.com/JFKucinich/status/1261106839179198464?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 15, 2020</a></blockquote>
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The Daily Wire, headed by bestselling author and popular podcast host Ben Shapiro, is a leading provider of conservative news, cutting through the mainstream media’s rhetoric to provide readers the most important, relevant, and engaging stories of the day. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/subscribe">member</a>.

Ron DeSantis

Politico Reporter Calls Out Media’s Biased Coverage Of NY, FL Governors’ COVID Response, Gets Lectured By CNN Analyst

Andrew Cuomo

Florida

Media Bias

New York

The Daily Beast

A Facebook fact checker intervened this weekend to stop the latest smear against President Donald Trump from the media and members of the Democratic Party after they falsely claimed that the president called the coronavirus a &#8220;hoax.&#8221;
Facebook took action against a report from left-wing Politico after Check Your Fact, which is a subsidiary of Daily Caller Inc., flagged the false claim to the social media company.
In its headline, Politico falsely stated, &#8220;Trump rallies his base to treat coronavirus as a ‘hoax.’”
Politico&#8217;s opening line also falsely claimed, &#8220;President Donald Trump on Friday night tried to cast the global outbreak of the coronavirus as a liberal conspiracy intended to undermine his first term.&#8221;
A preview tile on Facebook of the fact check report stated that the claims were &#8220;false,&#8221; adding, &#8220;the primary claims in the information are factually inaccurate.&#8221;
Check Your Fact <a href="https://checkyourfact.com/2020/02/29/fact-check-donald-trump-coronavirus-hoax-south-carolina-rally/">reported</a>:
<blockquote>Trump referred to the alleged “politicizing” of the coronavirus by Democrats as “their new hoax.” He did not refer to the coronavirus itself as a hoax. Throughout the speech, Trump reiterates his administration is taking the threat of the coronavirus seriously.</blockquote>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
FB notice says “the primary claims” in the post “are factually inaccurate” <a href="https://t.co/KlJhqclNJw">pic.twitter.com/KlJhqclNJw</a>
&mdash; Brent Scher (@BrentScher) <a href="https://twitter.com/BrentScher/status/1233920134307295232?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 1, 2020</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Donald Trump Jr. responded to the fact check on Facebook by noting that it moves in the right direction.
&#8220;It’s a start. I’m not getting my hopes up but maybe they listened to @GOPLeader, @HawleyMO, and my talk @cpac yesterday,&#8221; Trump Jr. wrote on Twitter. &#8220;Of course the rest of the media is still running with a lie but no one expects that to ever change.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
It’s a start. I’m not getting my hopes up but maybe they listened to <a href="https://twitter.com/GOPLeader?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@GOPLeader</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/HawleyMO?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@HawleyMO</a>, and my talk <a href="https://twitter.com/CPAC?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@cpac</a> yesterday. 
Of course the rest of the media is still running with a lie but no one expects that to ever change. <a href="https://t.co/vZrfKkWqfT">https://t.co/vZrfKkWqfT</a>
&mdash; Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) <a href="https://twitter.com/DonaldJTrumpJr/status/1233912991130800128?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 1, 2020</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Trump addressed the issue during a press briefing on Saturday where he and administration officials gave an update on what steps they are taking to make sure the American public is safe from the coronavirus.
When asked if he regretted using the term, Trump responded: &#8220;No. No. No. Hoax referring to the action that they take to try and pin this on somebody because we’ve done such a good job. The hoax is on them not… I’m not talking about what’s happening here.&#8221;
&#8220;I’m talking what they’re doing,&#8221; Trump continued. &#8220;That’s the hoax. That’s just a continuation of the hoax, whether it’s the impeachment hoax or the Russia, Russia, Russia hoax. This is what I’m talking about, certainly not referring to this.&#8221;
&#8220;How could anybody refer to this?&#8221; Trump concluded. &#8220;This is very serious stuff, but the way they refer to it because these people have done such an incredible job, and I don’t like it when they are criticizing these people and that’s the hoax. That’s what I’m talking about.&#8221;
Numerous Democrats promoted the false claim on social media in an apparent effort to damage the president.
Leftist Bill Kristol wrote: &#8220;Trump last night: coronavirus is a hoax; and his supporters should dishonestly vote in the Democratic primary for his weakest opponent, Sanders. Trump is dangerous to our public health and our civic health. South Carolinians: Please select a Democratic nominee who can defeat him.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Trump last night: coronavirus is a hoax; and his supporters should dishonestly vote in the Democratic primary for his weakest opponent, Sanders. Trump is dangerous to our public health and our civic health. South Carolinians: Please select a Democratic nominee who can defeat him.
&mdash; Bill Kristol (@BillKristol) <a href="https://twitter.com/BillKristol/status/1233730114984214528?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 29, 2020</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Anti-Trump Washington Post columnist Dana Milbank wrote: &#8220;Remember this moment: Trump, in South Carolina, just called the coronavirus a &#8216;hoax.'&#8221;
Democrat Rep. Ted Lieu (CA) wrote: &#8220;Dear @realDonaldTrump: I hope you apologize for using the term &#8216;new hoax&#8217; in connection with the #coronavirus outbreak. Stop lying to the American people. This is not about you. This is a global public health crisis.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Dear <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@realDonaldTrump</a>: I hope you apologize for using the term “new hoax” in connection with the <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/coronavirus?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#coronavirus</a> outbreak. Stop lying to the American people. This is not about you. This is a global public health crisis. <a href="https://t.co/9vfvKJ4n5f">https://t.co/9vfvKJ4n5f</a>
&mdash; Ted Lieu (@tedlieu) <a href="https://twitter.com/tedlieu/status/1233823076946604032?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 29, 2020</a></blockquote>
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Democrat presidential candidate Mike Bloomberg falsely claimed in multiple tweets that Trump called the coronavirus a &#8220;hoax.&#8221;
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Trump was briefed on coronavirus two months ago.
Now, he calls it a hoax.
It’s not just that he’s bad at leading &#8211; he is incapable of leading. <a href="https://t.co/shxGN5ue3d">pic.twitter.com/shxGN5ue3d</a>
&mdash; Mike Bloomberg (@MikeBloomberg) <a href="https://twitter.com/MikeBloomberg/status/1233895282099851270?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 29, 2020</a></blockquote>
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Far-left MSNBC host and documented bigot Joy Ann Reid also promoted the lie on air during a segment on Saturday.
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Video: Here&#39;s the video of Joy Reid pushing on MSNBC the total, absolute lie that President Trump referred to the <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/coronavirus?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#coronavirus</a> as a &quot;hoax&quot; and not a real thing &quot;made up by the news media and Democrats&quot; <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/SCPrimary?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#SCPrimary</a> <a href="https://t.co/u78JtDQDqV">pic.twitter.com/u78JtDQDqV</a>
&mdash; Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) <a href="https://twitter.com/CurtisHouck/status/1233925493264723969?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 1, 2020</a></blockquote>
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The Daily Wire reported Thursday on just some of the actions that the Trump administration has taken to combat the coronavirus:
<blockquote>The Trump administration has aggressively moved to combat the coronavirus as it <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/statement-press-secretary-regarding-presidents-coronavirus-task-force/">established</a> a task force to fight it over a month ago; has <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/07/health/cdc-coronavirus-china.html">attempted</a> for the last 2 months to have the CDC enter China to assist in containing the outbreak and researching the virus; has <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-health-usa/u-s-announces-aid-for-china-other-countries-impacted-by-coronavirus-idUSKBN2012FH">pledged</a> $100 million to other countries to combat it; immediately banned flights from China; has soughs $2.5 billion to combat the virus in the U.S. and agreed to give Congress even more when it was asked; has <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/breaking-trump-considers-invoking-special-powers-to-rapidly-combat-coronavirus">considered</a> using special powers that it has that would boost domestic manufacturing to combat the virus; and has <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/breaking-navy-orders-all-ships-that-have-visited-nations-in-pacific-region-to-self-quarantine-for-coronavirus">ordered</a> the Navy to have all ships that have visited countries in the Pacific region to self-quarantine for 14 days.</blockquote>
The administration announced on Saturday that it was imposing additional travel restrictions to prevent the spread of the virus, and announced that it had contracted with 3M to produce tens of millions of masks per month to provide to medical officials in case of an outbreak.

US-politics-CPAC-TRUMP

Facebook Fact Checker Debunks New Smear Against Trump From Media, Democrats: ‘Factually Inaccurate’

Facebook

As is so often the case, left-leaning media outlets only cover news that makes the Left look bad from the angle of Republican reaction. Often, these headlines use words like “seize” or “pounce” to indicate that Republicans are responding to something that should be its own news story.
Typically, the original news story gets little to no coverage on its own. The latest example comes from Politico, which did not report on a van purposefully ramming a GOP tent full of volunteers, but did see fit to <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/breaking-man-deliberately-rams-vehicle-into-gop-tent-full-of-volunteers-trump-responds">cover</a> the Republican response to the attack. The headline for the article reads, “Republicans vow ‘revenge’ at ballot box after volunteers nearly hit by van.”
“Revenge,” is doing a lot of work in the title, making it appear as though the GOP wants violence in response to violence. Politico’s article takes extra care to downplay the attack and emphasize how the Republican Party of Florida has reacted to the event.
“During a press conference in Jacksonville, they described how Timm nearly hit people, made an obscene gesture, and started recording the incident on his phone. They used the event to make a plea for donations to the party,” the outlet reported.
The outlet noted that the man driving the van, who is not being named by The Daily Wire, was arrested and charged with “aggravated assault, criminal mischief and driving with a suspended license.” Then the outlet again downplays the attack and even questions whether it was politically motivated.
“No one was injured in the attack, but Republicans say their volunteers jumped out of the way to avoid the van,” the outlet reported. “Local authorities are looking into whether the attack was politically motivated.”
The attack on Republican volunteers was largely ignored by mainstream media outlets, leading pundit Stephen Miller to speculate how a similar incident would be treated if someone drove a van into Democrat volunteers.
“Going out on a limb and suggesting if a MAGA hat wearing yokel drove a van through a Warren or Sanders voter registration tent, it would be the only thing journalists &amp; major news outlets would be talking about right now,” Miller tweeted on Sunday.
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Going out on a limb and suggesting if a MAGA hat wearing yokel drove a van through a Warren or Sanders voter registration tent, it would be the only thing journalists &amp; major news outlets would be talking about right now.
— Stephen Miller (@redsteeze) <a href="https://twitter.com/redsteeze/status/1226500089809473536?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 9, 2020</a></blockquote>
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“They would be clearing graphite off the roof at CNN right now,” he continued. “There would be Charlottesville comparisons. Jim Acosta would chain himself to the [White House] Fence. [Jake] Tapper would be demanding Kelkyanne [sic] Conway personally accept responsibility and Fredo [Chris Cuomo] would be quote tweeting people with 12 followers.”
“There would be 5 NY Times OP-Eds about Trump’s SOTU speech was the motivation. NBC reporters would be scouring 4Chan. Wash Post front page would read TERROR IN JACKSONVILLE. Candidates would be gathering for candlelight vigils,” Miller continued.
“Jacksonville and <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/DefeatHate?src=hashtag_click">#DefeatHate</a> would be top trends on Twitter. Every celebrity with a political following would be making Hitler comparisons. Stelter &amp; Darcy would be blaming some Fox &amp; Friends segment because that’s what Media Matters would be doing. There would be marches,” he added.
“But of course there’s none of that, and you don’t have to like Trump to notice this. You just have to have a pulse,” Miller concluded.

Accusing

Politico Covers Truck Hitting Republican Volunteers – But Only From Angle Of GOP Reaction

On Monday, America&#8217;s top-rated talk radio host Rush Limbaugh stunned the nation by announcing that he was recently diagnosed with advanced lung cancer, describing the day as &#8220;one of the most difficult&#8221; in recent memory for him because he had to inform both his staff and his faithful audience about the dire diagnosis. Despite having to deliver the hard news, Limbaugh didn&#8217;t let what he is facing get in the way of what he called &#8220;the source of my greatest satisfaction professionally, personally&#8221;: performing his duties as a beloved conservative host as &#8220;competently and as expertly&#8221; as he does &#8220;each and every day.&#8221;
While he dedicated one segment Monday to the announcement, for the rest of the show Rush addressed less personal and heavy topics, including what he said was one of his &#8220;favorite stories of the weekend.&#8221; The story, written by Politico chief Washington correspondent and CNN senior political analyst Ryan Lizza, addresses a quality among Donald Trump supporters — and conservatives in general — that Limbaugh has touched on in the past: &#8220;joy.&#8221;
&#8220;I had not been to a Trump rally since the 2016 campaign,&#8221; Lizza wrote in the piece, titled “<a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2020/01/31/unexpected-joy-trump-rally-iowa-109864">The Unexpected Joy at a Trump Rally in Iowa</a>&#8221; and published Friday. &#8220;And the first thing I noticed Thursday night when Donald Trump and Mike Pence spoke at Drake University in Des Moines was how much more joyous the event was for his supporters than what I remember from four years ago.&#8221;
&#8220;In 2016, perhaps because Republicans were out of power and Trump was running purely against the system, his crowds often had an undertone of anger that bordered on menacing,&#8221; Lizza continued. &#8220;But with Trump in power, presiding over peace and prosperity, on the cusp of beating two articles of impeachment, and dominating the news when it should be the Democratic candidates’ moment to shine, his fans seemed in a celebratory mood.&#8221;
While Lizza found himself surprised by joy at the Des Moines rally, Rush was not because, as he explained, Americans living outside the Washington bubble have a lot to be joyful about.
Limbaugh led into the discussion by noting how out of touch Democrats are when it comes to Trump rallies. &#8220;Do you realize how few Democrats, elected Democrats, Washington Democrats, DNC kind of Democrats, do you realize how few of them have actually ever been to a Trump rally?&#8221; he <a href="https://www.rushlimbaugh.com/daily/2020/02/03/ryan-lizza-goes-to-a-trump-rally-discovers-joy-2/">asked</a>. &#8220;You could probably count them on one hand. And I’m not exaggerating.&#8221;
&#8220;They watch these things, if they watch, from afar on TV, and they mock them and they make fun of the people there,&#8221; he added. &#8220;And they laugh and make fun of Trump. And they look at these crowds, three-day crowds of 75,000 to 100,000 people wanting in to a 10,000-seat the venue. And somehow they tell themselves it doesn’t mean anything. It’s just Looney Tunes. It’s just white supremacists or white nationalists or a bunch of racist pigs or a bunch of chauvinists, however they characterize and mock Trump voters.&#8221;
But when Lizza finally goes to one after four years of keeping away, he finds something &#8220;unexpected&#8221; — all that &#8220;anger&#8221; and &#8220;resentment&#8221; and &#8220;bitterness&#8221; supposedly characterizing the &#8220;deplorables&#8221; is conspicuously missing. In their place was a sense of positivity and celebration of a shared &#8220;peace and prosperity.&#8221;
&#8220;&#8216;Presiding over peace and prosperity,'&#8221; Limbaugh read, quoting Lizza. &#8220;That’s the Drive-By Media. They know. They know. If there were a Democrat, peace and prosperity would be the only thing you’d be seeing characterizing the Democrat administration. Except there can never be peace and prosperity in America with the Democrat Party in charge as it is currently constituted.&#8221;
As evidence, Rush pointed to the Democratic presidential candidates. &#8220;What are they promising to do?&#8221; he asked. &#8220;Dismantle all of this. Dismantling all of this that’s creating what ought to be a new normal, a new normal not of permanent decline, not of America’s best days are behind us.&#8221;
Noting Trump&#8217;s quote from the rally in Des Moines that, unlike during previous presidential impeachments, &#8220;This is a happy period for us,&#8221; Limbaugh said, &#8220;Boy, is that ever true. Have these people stepped in it or what?&#8221;
Limbaugh then contrasted the joy of the Trump crowd with Washington.
&#8220;There isn’t any joy in official Washington,&#8221; he said. &#8220;There hasn’t been in 3-1/2 or more years. In fact, on the Democrat Party side, the left side — and, folks, I’m not saying this because it’s rote. It’s really true. There isn’t any joy, on average, any day for American liberals five years ago, 10 years ago, yesterday, tomorrow.&#8221;
Limbaugh closed by summarizing an argument he&#8217;s made in the past about the joylessness of liberalism.
&#8220;Liberalism is constitutionally, foundationally incapable of providing joy for people because it’s rooted in grievance,&#8221; he said. &#8220;It’s rooted in anger, misery, and unhappiness and the false promises to fix all that.&#8221;
&#8220;So this guy finally takes the plunge, braves a Trump rally,&#8221; he added. &#8220;He doesn’t find angry white supremacists, white nationalists. He doesn’t find any anger at all. He finds people loving life, living the dream, enjoying themselves and where they are, enjoying each other. Stop and think. That must be so odd, so unique for these people that an entire news article was written about it. As if joy and peace and prosperity and meeting new friends and having a great time making new friends — that’s so unusual that it is worth writing a story about.&#8221;
As for how Limbaugh can keep his sense of joy amid the difficult diagnosis, he hinted at what&#8217;s behind it in his broadcast Monday. &#8220;I told the staff today that I have a deeply personal relationship with God that I do not proselytize about, but I do,&#8221; he said — adding with his characteristically joyful chuckle, &#8220;And I have been working that relationship tremendously.&#8221;
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/breaking-rush-limbaugh-announces-he-has-advanced-lung-cancer">Rush Limbaugh Announces He Has Advanced Lung Cancer</a>
Transcript via <a href="https://www.rushlimbaugh.com/daily/2020/02/03/ryan-lizza-goes-to-a-trump-rally-discovers-joy-2/">RushLimbaugh.com</a>
&nbsp;

President Trump

Limbaugh: CNN Analyst Goes To Trump Rally, Discovers ‘Unexpected Joy’

Conservatism

Liberalism

Rush Limbaugh

In an exclusive report Tuesday, <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2020/01/28/james-biden-lobbyist-virgin-islands-099318">Politico</a> revealed a previously undisclosed land deal involving Joe Biden&#8217;s brother that the left-leaning outlet presents as furthering &#8220;a pattern in which members of the Biden family have engaged in financial dealings with people with an interest in influencing the former vice president.&#8221;
The newly reported deal, which began in 2005, involved Biden&#8217;s brother James Biden and Scott Green, who was a staffer in the 1980s and &#8217;90s for then-Senator Biden before becoming a lobbyist, and whose clients, Politico underscores, &#8220;benefited from Biden’s support and appropriations requests&#8221; both &#8220;before and after&#8221; the deal with his brother.
&#8220;In 2005, Joe Biden’s brother bought an acre of land with excellent ocean views on a remote island in the Caribbean for $150,000,&#8221; Politico&#8217;s Ben Schreckinger reports. &#8220;He divided it into three parcels, and the next year a lobbyist close to the Delaware senator bought one of the parcels for what had been the cost of the entire property. Later, the lobbyist gave Biden’s brother a mortgage loan on the remaining parcels.&#8221;
The lobbying firm Green co-founded, Schreckinger explains, &#8220;specializes in federal contracts for niche law enforcement and national security programs for which Biden long advocated.&#8221; It also makes a point of featuring Biden on its website, including a quote from the former Senator praising Green&#8217;s &#8220;emotional investment&#8221; in his work.
Many details surrounding the deal are &#8220;unclear,&#8221; Schreckinger writes, including whether Joe Biden was aware of the transactions at the time. But it is clear that after the deal Green &#8220;continued to lobby on issues over which Biden wielded influence and to meet with Biden’s staff&#8221; and &#8220;continued to land government contracts related to federal programs for which Biden advocated.&#8221;
Biden&#8217;s campaign declined a request for comment from Politico, but spokesperson Andrew Bates offered a blistering response: &#8220;Joe Biden was wrong. Politico does have a sense of humor. Because this story is an absolute joke.&#8221;
Politico notes that the property in question &#8220;remained vacant and undeveloped.&#8221; Why Green purchased it from James Biden and why Biden took out a loan with the lobbyist rather than a bank remain &#8220;unclear,&#8221; Schreckinger writes. Also unclear is why Green paid a &#8220;dramatically higher price&#8221; for the property.
In the report, Schreckinger also provides a brief bio sketch of James Biden that includes some unflattering details:
<blockquote>James Biden, six years Joe’s junior, served as finance chairman on his older brother’s first Senate campaign in 1972. He went on to pursue an entrepreneurial career that regularly intersected with Joe’s public duties. He once sought to launch a Washington lobbying firm, but the venture was cut short when his would-be partners were convicted of attempting to bribe a judge in an unrelated matter. He has previously been accused by former business contacts of seeking to exploit the former vice president’s clout for financial gain in court proceedings in<a href="https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2019/08/02/joe-biden-investigation-hunter-brother-hedge-fund-money-2020-campaign-227407" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"> New York</a>,<a href="https://www.politico.com/story/2019/08/26/joe-biden-brother-2020-1475897" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"> Kentucky</a>, and<a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2019/09/26/joe-biden-brother-cancer-initiative-investment-pitch-001675" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"> Florida</a>, though he has denied such claims.</blockquote>
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(<a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2020/01/28/james-biden-lobbyist-virgin-islands-099318">Read Politico&#8217;s full report here</a>.)
The issue of corrupt dealings among the Bidens is at the heart of the impeachment trial, as Trump&#8217;s camp maintains that the president&#8217;s urging of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to &#8220;look into&#8221; corruption allegations involving Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden was based on legitimate concerns.
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-responds-to-gao-report-saying-he-violated-law-in-withholding-ukraine-aid">Trump Responds To GAO Report Saying He Violated Law In Withholding Ukraine Aid</a>
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Sen. Joe Biden Speaks About His Upcoming Trip To Iraq

Politico Exposes Land Deal Between Biden’s Brother And Lobbyist; Biden Spokesman Blasts Politico

As Democrats continue to hold impeachment hearings in the House, knowing full well Republicans in the Senate won’t go along with their gambit, Politico reporters <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2019/12/05/trump-censure-impeachment-republicans-075572">attempted</a> to get the Senate GOP to consider censuring President Donald Trump instead.
This way, Democrats could save face and get some sort of “win” for their months-long impeachment investigation by getting the president of the united states censured without actually removing him from office. Of course, it was not Republicans who came up with this idea, but two Politico reporters, who asked Republicans in the House and Senate if they would support such a measure. Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) revealed the ruse in his response, saying he was “not in favor of” censure and that the senate would “wait and see what comes over here, but I haven’t heard anybody discuss it. I haven’t even thought about it until you raised it.”
Senate Majority Whip John Thune (R-SD), told the reporters “I doubt it,” when asked if the GOP was considering censure as an alternative to impeachment.
Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-ND) told Politico he didn’t think the impeachment alternative would get “many, if any, Republican votes” and said such a move “would be an admission that they did something terribly wrong. I just don’t see it.”
Rep. Steve Chabot, who sits on the House Judiciary Committee and was present during Wednesday’s impeachment hearing (where three Democrat-called scholars said Trump should be impeached while a Republican-called scholar said he should not be), told Politico he didn’t “think the Democrats are going to offer” censure as an option, nor did he “think there would be Republican support.”
Politico framed Republican’s refusal to support censure as an issue of political bias:
Even some Republicans who have expressed concerns about Trump’s actions said they’ve given little thought to a rebuke that falls short of impeachment. That antipathy for even a symbolic reprimand of Trump underscores how the president has transformed the Republican Party, in which any break with him can be seen as a personal slight.
An alternative read on the refusal would be that Republicans see the impeachment hearing as a charade and don’t think Trump committed an impeachable offense or even something that out of the norm for a president. Recall that while he was Vice President, Joe Biden helped get a Ukraine prosecutor fired who was investigating a company that employed his son, Hunter. Also recall the Obama administration approved warrants to spy on Trump campaign officials based flimsy rumors about what they may or may not have said in private meetings with individuals who had been assets for government institutions. For Republicans to accept censuring Trump, they would be giving in to the Democrat narrative that Trump has committed an impeachable offense while President Barack Obama did nothing wrong while he was president. Republicans easily could have held impeachment hearings against Obama. The media would have called them a “charade.”
Politico referenced President Bill Clinton’s impeachment, ignoring the difference that Clinton committed an obvious crime – perjury, when he lied about his affair with Monica Lewinsky. Democrats have had to change the name of the crime they claim Trump committed – from quid pro quo to bribery, even though they have not presented evidence that Trump offered Ukraine money in exchange for something – in order to continue selling impeachment to a wary nation.

Marco Rubio

Politico Tries To Get Republicans To Accept Censuring Trump

On Friday, Politico’s Natasha Bertrand and Andrew Desiderio <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2019/11/08/ukraine-interfere-elections-testimony-068095">reported</a> that Trump officials testified that they had not seen evidence that the Ukraine government acted to stop President Donald Trump from winning the 2016 election.
The authors call it a “conspiracy theory” to suggest otherwise. From Politico:
<blockquote>According to [Trump attorney Rudy] Giuliani, Ukrainian officials conspired with the Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee to help boost the Democratic nominee’s campaign and damage Trump’s candidacy. No evidence has emerged to support that idea.</blockquote>
The “no evidence” line is the one the media likes to use a lot in the Trump era. It lets them dismiss evidence that goes against the Left’s narrative. The line could have been used in the Obama era as well, but the media dutifully reported whatever that administration told them as if it was fact.
In January 2017, two other Politico reporters – Kenneth Vogel and David Stern – <a href="https://www.politico.com/story/2017/01/ukraine-sabotage-trump-backfire-233446">reported</a> that there was evidence of what Giuliani had claimed:
<blockquote>Ukrainian government officials tried to help Hillary Clinton and undermine Trump by publicly questioning his fitness for office. They also disseminated documents implicating a top Trump aide in corruption and suggested they were investigating the matter, only to back away after the election. And they helped Clinton’s allies research damaging information on Trump and his advisers, a Politico investigation found.</blockquote>
That seems to vindicate everything Giuliani has claimed.
Journalist Tim Pool, who first noticed the disconnect between the outlet’s reporting, suggested the wording from the most recent Politico story could give them leeway in their claims.
“The way Natasha characterizes what the conspiracy is gives them plausible deniability. ‘oh no we KNOW Ukraine did this, but we meant that they thought it was DIRECTLY with Clinton&#8217;s campaign,’” Pool <a href="https://twitter.com/Timcast/status/1193884100597338113">tweeted</a>.
As Politico reported nearly three years ago, a Ukrainian-American consultant for the DNC, Alexandra Chalupa, shared information she received from her Ukraine sources with the DNC in an effort to undermine Trump’s candidacy. She told the outlet she also shared the information she found on Trump’s campaign manager Paul Manafort’s Ukraine dealings with the country’s ambassador to the U.S., Valeriy Chaly, and one of his top aides. The aide, Oksana Shulyar, claimed that she and Chalupa didn’t work with Clinton’s campaign to dig up dirt on Trump. More from Politico:
<blockquote>But Andrii Telizhenko, who worked as a political officer in the Ukrainian Embassy under Shulyar, said she instructed him to help Chalupa research connections between Trump, Manafort and Russia. “Oksana said that if I had any information, or knew other people who did, then I should contact Chalupa,” recalled Telizhenko, who is now a political consultant in Kiev. “They were coordinating an investigation with the Hillary team on Paul Manafort with Alexandra Chalupa,” he said, adding “Oksana was keeping it all quiet,” but “the embassy worked very closely with” Chalupa.</blockquote>
The idea that there is “no evidence” that Ukraine officials helped Hillary Clinton’s campaign and the DNC to undermine Trump is the height of media bias. One can object to phrasing, but the evidence we have suggests that there was some level of coordination between the DNC and campaign and Ukraine officials.

Hillary Clinton

Politico Claims ‘No Evidence Exists’ That Ukraine Colluded With Clinton Campaign, DNC In 2016, Dismissing Earlier Reporting

Democratic National Committee

UPDATE: A spokesperson for Politico told The Daily Wire that the headline was not &#8220;quickly changed&#8221; but was kept up for several hours and noted the reference to Rahm Emanuel. The spokesperson also said headlines are routinely changed &#8220;for a variety of different reasons &#8211; from AB testing to changing up the story lineup on the homepage.&#8221; The article has been updated to reflect this response.
On Friday morning, Politico Magazine published an opinion piece from author and founding editor of Politico John Harris titled, “Just Another Day In F***nutsville.”
The outlet updated the headline to read: “Trump Killed the Seriousness of Impeachment.” For a while, the URL of the article still included the original title.
Steve Guest, the rapid response director for the Republican National Committee, flagged the headline and included a screenshot of the original headline.
“Politico&#8217;s original headline: ‘Just another day in Fucknutsville.’ Politico&#8217;s updated headline: ‘How Trump killed the seriousness of impeachment,’&#8221; Guest tweeted. “But they can&#8217;t change the URL. It still says ‘fucknutsville.’&#8221;
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Politico&#8217;s original headline: &#8220;Just another day in Fucknutsville.&#8221;
Politico&#8217;s updated headline: &#8220;How Trump killed the seriousness of impeachment&#8221;
But they can&#8217;t change the URL. It still says &#8220;fucknutsville&#8221;<a href="https://t.co/jH8qUGveVb">https://t.co/jH8qUGveVb</a> <a href="https://t.co/ljymOiZkel">pic.twitter.com/ljymOiZkel</a>
— Steve Guest (@SteveGuest) <a href="https://twitter.com/SteveGuest/status/1177590353542684672?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 27, 2019</a></blockquote>
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Andrew Follett, an analyst at the Club For Growth, provided a screenshot of the unchanged URL.
“What&#8217;s truly shocking about this is that they instantly tried to cover up their potty-mouths,” Follett tweeted. “#FakeNews.”
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What&#8217;s truly shocking about this is that they instantly tried to cover up their potty-mouths.<a href="https://t.co/Xgug7w1vlv">https://t.co/Xgug7w1vlv</a><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/FakeNews?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#FakeNews</a> <a href="https://t.co/wFzfAOg1Qm">pic.twitter.com/wFzfAOg1Qm</a>
— Andrew Follett (@AndrewCFollett) <a href="https://twitter.com/AndrewCFollett/status/1177594736787562496?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 27, 2019</a></blockquote>
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The article in question is about the tactics media outlets have used this week to make sure that President Donald Trump’s conversation with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky looked as damaging and illegal as possible. It begins:
<blockquote>Big font, double-decker headlines, homepage takeovers: It’s been a big week in the news business for visual devices like these.
Editors turn to these once- or twice-a-year headlines to signal to the reader something more than that the news is BIG. Almost by definition in the modern media environment, when the news is big enough to justify big type it’s also news that the reader already knows. Heard about it, probably, within moments after it happened.</blockquote>
The term “F***nutsville” comes from President Barack Obama’s former chief of staff Rahm Emanuel using it as a slur against people who don’t see every news story as the outrage the media wants them to see it as.
Harris goes on in his article to compare Democrats’ most recent calls for impeachment (which have come every few weeks during the Trump presidency) to the impeachment trials of President Richard M. Nixon and Bill Clinton.
Harris is correct that “Impeachment proceedings used to be news of unquestionable gravity,” but he is wrong about how caused the lack of seriousness. It was not Trump, but the media’s relentless and embarrassing attempts to destroy him. This week, those “big fond, double-decker headlines, homepage takeovers” misinformed readers about anything and everything relating to Trump’s call with Zelensky.
The original “bombshell” was a whistleblower complaint, but it turned out the whistleblower never heard the phone call and was <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/yup-looks-big-anti-trump-whistleblower-story-was-ashe-schow">merely reporting a rumor</a>. When the Trump administration released the rough transcript of the phone call, numerous media outlets reported that Trump asked a “favor” of Zelensky – to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden. The outlets <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/dishonest-media-leaving-out-what-trumps-favor-from-ukraine-president-actually-was">cut out more than 500 words</a> of the transcript to arrive at this conclusion. The actual “favor,” Trump asked for was for Ukraine to cooperate with the U.S. investigation into the origins of Russiagate – the two-year-long claim by media outlets and Democrats that Trump colluded with Russia to steal the 2016 election. Now, it turns out the whistleblower was a “CIA officer” who may have been a holdover from former CIA Director John Brennan – who helped spark the Russiagate hoax.

Cropped Hand Holding Pencil By Error Text On Paper

Politico Publishes Article Titled, ‘Just Another Day In F***nutsville’ Before Changing

Ukraine

Back in the 1980s, President Reagan used to dodge questions from the press as he walked toward his presidential helicopter, Marine One, on the lawn of the White House. With ABC News reporter Sam Donaldson in his terrible toupee yelling &#8220;Sir! Sir!&#8221; at him, Reagan would cup a hand around his ear, shrug his shoulders as if he couldn&#8217;t hear, then walk off, all without missing a stride.
The press complained loudly back then.
But President Trump does it a bit differently. As he strolls toward his chopper, he stops and takes questions — sometimes a whole bunch of questions. And wouldn&#8217;t you know it, the press don&#8217;t like THAT either.
One reporter told <a href="https://www.politico.com/story/2019/08/22/trump-marine-one-press-briefings-1471629">Politico</a> that if Trump were at a podium, &#8220;we would be correcting him.&#8221;
&#8220;If he was at a podium, we would be pressing him after he answers the question, we would be correcting him, we would be pointing out discrepancies in previous answers, and we&#8217;re not able to do that in the chaotic setting of a departure,&#8221; CBS News White House correspondent Weijia Jiang said. &#8220;Many times I&#8217;ve tried to ask a follow-up question, but he&#8217;s already pointed to somebody else.&#8221;
Aw, that&#8217;s horrible. Doesn&#8217;t the president of the United States realize that the NBC reporter is running the press conference? What a travesty!
Jiang also said the loud engines on the chopper give Trump an advantage. &#8220;He&#8217;ll just hear a word that catches his attention like &#8216;racism&#8217; or &#8216;the Squad&#8217; or whatever the topic is, and he&#8217;ll just deliver what he&#8217;s probably already been tweeting about and what he already firmly believes so that can be difficult,&#8221; she said.
But Trump&#8217;s on-the-move press conferences give reporters far more access than his predecessor gave, <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/trump-chopper-talks-reporters-criticize-accesible-accountable-marine-one-helicopter-press-secretary-grisham">Fox News</a> reports.
&#8220;According to CBS News White House correspondent Mark Knoller, who keeps detailed records of the presidency, Trump has stopped to answer reporter questions — both departing or arriving to the White House on Marine One and on the tarmac before or after riding Air Force One — more than 80 times. He said he found only three instances when former President Barack Obama similarly spoke to reporters in transit and, during such times, he used a podium,&#8221; Fox wrote.
Reporters have had far more access to Trump — and not just on the White House lawn. &#8220;The frequent &#8216;chopper talk&#8217; is one of the reasons Trump has surpassed his five predecessors — Obama, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George H.W. Bush, and Ronald Reagan — in fielding questions from reporters during their first 30 months in office, according to the White House Transition Project. Those five presidents took questions at approximately one third of their public speaking events, while Trump does so at more than half of his,&#8221; Politico reported.
White House Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham said last week that Trump is &#8220;so accessible&#8221; she can&#8217;t fathom why &#8220;what any of the press could complain about.&#8221;
&#8220;President Trump communicates directly with the American people more than any President in history,&#8221; she said. &#8220;The fact that the White House press corps can no longer grandstand on TV is of no concern to us.&#8221;
But veteran reporter Peter Baker of the New York Times also complained about the way Trump takes questions.
&#8220;There&#8217;s no question that it works to his advantage that we look unruly and disorderly,&#8221; Baker told Politico. &#8220;It&#8217;s not like standing at a podium in the East Room or the briefing room, where you can have a civilized calling on people who raise their hands.&#8221;
Baker also said reporters are forced to ask straight-forward questions. &#8220;You can&#8217;t ask a question that has a predicate or a kind of complex construction because you&#8217;re shouting with all the other reporters like &#8216;Mr. President, what about Iran?’&#8217;or &#8216;Mr. President, they say you&#8217;re a racist,'&#8221; Baker said.​
Aww, the poor White House press corps.

President Donald Trump Departs White House For Kentucky

Trump Infuriates White House Press Corps By Taking A Bunch Of Questions So Often

White House

Intersectional identity politics have officially sent the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee into &#8220;complete chaos,&#8221; according to minority congresswomen calling for some major &#8220;diversity&#8221; changes in the DCCC.
&#8220;The DCCC is now in complete chaos,&#8221; Texas Reps. Vicente Gonzalez and Filemon Vela told <a href="https://www.politico.com/story/2019/07/29/cheri-bustos-democrats-diversity-1438867">Politico</a> in a statement published Monday. Their problem? DCCC Chairwoman Cheri Bustos (D-IL) has not made enough strides in promoting &#8220;diversity&#8221; within the party, particularly by hiring minority candidates to replace some of the committee&#8217;s senior management.
&#8220;The single most immediate action that Cheri Bustos can take to restore confidence in the organization and to promote diversity is to appoint a qualified person of color, of which there are many, as executive director at once,&#8221; Gonzalez and Vela said.
To do so would mean that Bustos would have to fire the committee&#8217;s current executive director, Allison Jaslow.
Politico reports that in a emergency all-staff meeting on Friday, &#8220;Jaslow cried as she assumed blame for the lack of diversity in the DCCC, according to multiple people in the room.&#8221; The outlet notes that the committee&#8217;s handling of a staffer who posted tweets ten years ago that were considered derogatory toward LGBT people also came up during the &#8220;very emotional&#8221; staff meeting.
In their statement, Gonzalez and Vela expressed frustration not only with the DCCC, but also with the Congressional Hispanic Caucus for failing to sufficiently back up their protests against the Democrats&#8217; campaign arm. &#8220;We find the silence of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus on this issue to be deafening,&#8221; the women said.
Politico reports that internal pressure has escalated enough to compel Bustos to make an &#8220;unplanned trip&#8221; to D.C. to address the growing &#8220;diversity&#8221; complaints coming from prominent black and Latino lawmakers who reportedly agree about the need for more represenation in significant positions.
The all-staff meeting came after Politico reported Thursday on the &#8220;long-simmering battle&#8221; between the DCCC and minority lawmakers &#8220;who believe the party committee and its chairwoman have shortchanged people of color.&#8221; Among the copmlaints are Bustos&#8217; &#8220;tone-deaf comments on race&#8221; and perceived failure to live up to campaign promises when running for her position.
Former Congressional Black Caucus Chair Rep. Marcia Fudge (D-OH) is one of the minority politicians decrying Bustos and the committee. &#8220;There is not one person of color — black or brown, that I’m aware of — at any position of authority or decision-making in the DCCC. It is shocking, it is shocking, and something needs to be done about it,&#8221; said Fudge in a comment reported by Politico Thursday.
Bustos attempted to meet with Fudge, but she says she turned Bustos down. &#8220;Until they show me they are serious about diversity, there’s no reason for me to meet with them,&#8221; she said.
Politico notes that Bustos isn&#8217;t only dealing with complaints; she&#8217;s also been hit by some notable resignations from senior aides, including her African American chief of staff.
A DCCC spokesman told Politico that Bustos is traveling to D.C. to approve some changes in the &#8220;structure&#8221; of the organization and participate in diversity and inclusion training for the committee&#8217;s employees.
&#8220;Chairwoman Bustos is coming back because she understands how important it is for her to hear from staff directly and to reassure them that we have a strong commitment to diversity and inclusion at every level,&#8221; a committee spokesman told the outlet. &#8220;She plans to approve changes to the structure before she leaves town and wants to get staff input as we work to build a stronger DCCC and make sure our team, from senior leadership on down, reflects the full range of diversity that gives the Democratic Party its strength.&#8221;
UPDATE: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/50046/update-diversity-chaos-takes-down-war-vet-james-barrett">‘Diversity’ ‘Chaos’ Takes Down War Vet Democratic Campaign Arm Director</a>

Minority Dems: Democratic Campaign Arm In ‘Complete Chaos’ Over Diversity Fail

Democratic Party

According to sources who spoke to The Daily Wire from both inside and outside the administration, the Trump administration will not implement any policy that allows countries to import Iranian oil — thus apparently closing the door on a <a href="http://www.politico.com/story/2019/07/03/trump-china-iran-oil-1396052">proposal being circulated among State Department hands</a> that would have allowed China to use an obscure legal loophole to avoid U.S. sanctions on Iranian oil imports.
Last Wednesday, Eliana Johnson of Politico <a href="https://www.politico.com/story/2019/07/03/trump-china-iran-oil-1396052">reported a very interesting scoop</a>: &#8220;The State Department is seriously considering using an Obama-era loophole to allow China to import oil from Iran,&#8221; which would &#8220;violat[e] the Trump administration’s pledge to bring Iranian oil exports to zero.&#8221; Specifically, Johnson cited &#8220;three U.S. officials&#8221; who claimed that the U.S. is considering &#8220;granting China a waiver to a 2012 law [the Iran Freedom and Counterproliferation Act] intended to kneecap the Iranian oil industry.&#8221; The proposal would have effectively allowed China to avoid paying directly for Iranian oil while nonetheless still acquiring it.
For close observers of the Trump administration&#8217;s foreign policy and national security apparatus, this might have seemed more than a little strange. Why would this administration, which famously removed the U.S. from the harrowing capitulation to fundamentalist jihadist evil that was President Barack Obama&#8217;s Iran nuclear deal and has infamous Iran hawk John Bolton as its national security advisor, undercut the thrust of its own <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/arielcohen/2019/04/29/trump-ends-waiver-grace-period-for-irans-oil-customers/">hardline Iran oil waivers policy</a> by granting an obscure legal loophole to the U.S.&#8217;s <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/47057/hammer-china-americas-greatest-21st-century-threat-josh-hammer">number one 21st century geopolitical threat</a>?
To be sure, Politico almost assuredly did not get the story wrong. Rather, leakers in the famously Arabist/anti-Israel State Department bureaucracy were likely candid about internal deliberations in Foggy Bottom.
But reading Johnson&#8217;s scoop, one is forced to ponder the distinct possibility that the State Department could be wildly out of line with administration officials in and around the White House national security apparatus. Sure enough, a senior Trump administration official contacted by The Daily Wire categorically ruled out implementation of any proposal that would grant the Chinese such a waiver for Iranian oil imports.
&#8220;There will be no waivers issued to any country for the import of Iranian oil, in accordance with the President’s direction,&#8221; the senior administration official stated. &#8220;Importing Iranian oil is a sanctionable activity under U.S. law. U.S. secondary sanctions will be fully enforced.&#8221;
Well.
This is what a brutal inter-agency fight looks like. Hawkish Iran hardliners in the administration are battling — quite publicly now, as of this writing&#8217;s publication — with dovish State Department mandarins.
Contacted by The Daily Wire, a U.S. official familiar with the inter-agency Trump administration battle over Iranian oil waivers put it bluntly: &#8220;The president is under enormous pressure to give Iran a face-saving off-ramp and look the other way at sanctions busting. The Europeans and their friends inside the administration are selling him the delusion that the ayatollah is ready to make a deal, if only he&#8217;ll bribe Iran with a few hundred million dollars. It hasn&#8217;t worked yet. They&#8217;re still trying.&#8221;
This will be a fascinating inter-agency fight to watch unfold. Iran hawks have a very clear rooting interest — and it is surely not with the State Department. Suffice it to say there is no world whatsoever in which China ought to be granted any waivers at all for importing Iranian oil.

HAMMER: INTER-AGENCY FIGHT: White House Closes Door On Plan To Give China ‘Get-Out-Of-Jail’ Free Card For Iran Oil

Barack Obama

Iran

John Bolton

Mike Pompeo

National Security

Nuclear Weapons

State Department

Trump Administration

For what Politico has styled &#8220;Trump&#8217;s takeover of the Fourth of July celebration,&#8221; the U.S. Military brought a couple of M1 Bradley Armored Personnel Carriers into the heart of Washington, D.C. Tuesday night, a moment HuffPost described as a &#8220;surreal scene&#8221; and footage of which has been posted online. The tanks are among the half-dozen or so military vehicles that will be included in the &#8220;Salute to America&#8221; event around the Lincoln Memorial, which will also feature the standard fireworks and flyover — and for which Trump has been decried by the Left for his &#8220;authoritarian&#8221; display of military power.
&#8220;In a surreal scene, tanks rolled into Washington D.C. on Tuesday to participate in President Donald Trump’s Independence Day event,&#8221; <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/tanks-in-washington-dc_n_5d1c3ce5e4b082e55371d8b1">HuffPost</a> reported Tuesday in a piece highlighting some of the footage as well as comments by Army Col. Sunset Belinsky to a Washington-based CBS affiliate reassuring the public that there&#8217;s no need to &#8220;panic.&#8221;
&#8220;Residents of the Capitol City will see the vehicles move through their neighborhoods, but should not panic,” said Col. Belinsky. HuffPost also quotes D.C. Democrat Eleanor Holmes Norton denouncing Trump for &#8220;robbing&#8221; the people of the nonpartisan celebration. &#8220;This robs us of the one holiday where everybody comes together and doesn’t even look at you to find out what your political party is,&#8221; she said.
Some of the footage of &#8220;Trump&#8217;s tanks&#8221; that&#8217;s made the rounds online:
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">Just left the Nats game, and we were greeted by Trump&#8217;s tanks rolling through just outside the ballpark <a href="https://twitter.com/fox5dc?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@fox5dc</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/nbcwashington?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@nbcwashington</a> <a href="https://t.co/O9VmDGFoMY">pic.twitter.com/O9VmDGFoMY</a>
— Cole (@eloc8) <a href="https://twitter.com/eloc8/status/1146238374203863040?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 3, 2019</a></blockquote>
</div>
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">NEW — <a href="https://twitter.com/USArmy?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@USArmy</a> says armored vehicles WILL move through WASHINGTON TONIGHT.
Specifically: 
Two M1 Bradley Armored Personnel Carriers.
Army spokesperson says, “you’ll see them moving through your neighborhood, but DON’T PANIC.”<a href="https://twitter.com/wusa9?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@WUSA9</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/SaluteToAmerica?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#SaluteToAmerica</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/FourthofJuly?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#FourthofJuly</a> <a href="https://t.co/c9IockpNMv">pic.twitter.com/c9IockpNMv</a>
— Mike Valerio (@MikevWUSA) <a href="https://twitter.com/MikevWUSA/status/1146207474220961794?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 3, 2019</a></blockquote>
</div>
And as is the case with so many Trump-led events, the mainstream media is uncertain about how to cover his &#8220;takeover&#8221; of the Fourth. <a href="https://www.politico.com/story/2019/07/02/trump-july-4-event-tv-1395474">Politico</a> provides a rundown of how the networks plan to approach it, most notably MSNBC, which is considering effectively blacking it out.
&#8220;President Donald Trump’s takeover of the Fourth of July celebration at the National Mall won’t completely take over the cable airwaves,&#8221; Politico reports. &#8220;MSNBC, for one, doesn’t plan to carry his “Salute to America” live, though the network will assess in real time whether to air clips of the event, a spokesperson told POLITICO.&#8221;
While MSNBC appears to be leaning toward acting like the event isn&#8217;t happening, Fox News is planning to dedicate a couple of hours to the event in a two-hour edition of &#8220;Special Report,&#8221; Politico notes.
The other cable news outlet, CNN, meanwhile, just happens to be airing a special on the rise of white nationalism starting at 7 p.m., in what some might consider a curious choice for July 4th programming.
ABC News will air the &#8220;Salute to America&#8221; on its streaming channel ABC News Live, as will CBS on CBSN and NBC on NBC News NOW. CSPAN will likewise be streaming the event.
<a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/everything-you-wanted-know-about-trump-s-july-fourth-celebration-n1025606">NBC News</a>, which has covered the event with a little less slant online, provides a summary of what to expect: &#8220;Tanks. Troops. The president. The Old Guard Fife and Drum Corps, the U.S. Army Band, the Armed Forces Chorus, the U.S. Marine Corps Silent Drill Platoon, and the U.S. Navy Blue Angels are all part of the program.&#8221;
NBC quotes Trump about the need to be &#8220;pretty careful&#8221; with the tanks, but not because of a fear of &#8220;panic&#8221;: &#8220;We gotta be pretty careful with the tanks because the roads have a tendency not to like to carry heavy tanks, so we have to put them in certain areas,&#8221; he said.
Unlike Norton and her fellow Democrats, Trump is amped up about the event. &#8220;Big 4th of July in D.C. &#8216;Salute to America.'&#8221; he tweeted Tuesday. &#8220;The Pentagon &amp; our great Military Leaders are thrilled to be doing this &amp; showing to the American people, among other things, the strongest and most advanced Military anywhere in the World. Incredible Flyovers &amp; biggest ever Fireworks!&#8221;
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">Big 4th of July in D.C. “Salute to America.” The Pentagon &amp; our great Military Leaders are thrilled to be doing this &amp; showing to the American people, among other things, the strongest and most advanced Military anywhere in the World. Incredible Flyovers &amp; biggest ever Fireworks!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1146062242388959238?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 2, 2019</a></blockquote>
</div>

WATCH: ‘Trump’s Tanks’ Arrive In Washington For July 4th; MSNBC Considers Blackout

ABC News

Fox News

Huffington Post

Military

MSNBC

NBC News

Mayor Pete&#8217;s identity politics may not be making the splash he hoped for among the LGBT elite, who are beginning to doubt whether he can win the Democratic nomination &#8212; much less beat President Trump in 2020.
According to a report in <a href="https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2019/06/20/in-hollywood-lgbtq-donors-like-buttigiegbut-theyre-keeping-their-options-open-227161">Politico</a>, Hollywood&#8217;s top LGBT donors have not really warmed up yet to the junior politician. Though producer Ryan Murphy had originally scheduled an epic fundraiser at his home, with tickets costing $1,500 per person, the event has now been postponed due to the South Bend mayor having to temporarily pause his campaign activities to tend to a police officer-involved shooting death in his city.
&#8220;There&#8217;s a reason this group was so eager to meet Mayor Pete. For many of these influential donors, this will be their first ever chance to contribute to a viable gay presidential candidate,&#8221; reports Politico. &#8220;But some well-known LGBTQ donors in Hollywood offer a picture that that&#8217;s more nuanced: Many in showbiz are still keeping their options open.&#8221;
&#8220;As historic as Buttigieg&#8217;s candidacy might be, a number of Hollywood&#8217;s most prolific LGBTQ donors aren&#8217;t ready to commit to him exclusively just yet,&#8221; the report continued. &#8220;Many of Hollywood&#8217;s influential base of bundlers and donors are backing multiple candidates, spreading their money around, contributing to other politicians with whom they have longtime relationships and who have their own long track record on LGBTQ issues, like Kamala Harris and Joe Biden.&#8221;
None of that means the Hollywood LGBT donors do not feel enthusiastic about Buttigieg&#8217;s candidacy. In fact, some think he has quite a future ahead of him and are impressed by the way he answers difficult questions without seeming inauthentic. The issue hinges, instead, on whether or not he can actually deliver a victory by increasing black voter support and winning over swing states.
&#8220;If he can&#8217;t figure that out, that is a trouble spot in his campaign,&#8221; one donor told Politico.
&#8220;A lot of folks are investing beyond 2020 in Pete Buttigieg,&#8221; said another donor.
&#8220;Milk&#8221; screenwriter Dustin Lance Black told the outlet he personally met with Buttigieg this past May and came away confident in his belief that the openly gay candidate had qualities similar to Harvey Milk, including his ability to unite the LGBT community with working-class people.
&#8220;Black said that Buttigieg has &#8216;very similar instincts&#8217; as Milk, and he plans to host a fundraising event for him,&#8221; reports the outlet. &#8220;Buttigieg&#8217;s candidacy, Black told me, &#8216;sends an incredible message that there&#8217;s nothing you can&#8217;t achieve as an openly gay person,&#8217; he says. But, Black says, that doesn&#8217;t mean he&#8217;s decided that he&#8217;s voting for Buttigieg. &#8216;I haven&#8217;t and I won&#8217;t for some time decide on who I will vote for in the primaries,&#8217; he said.&#8221;
While Democratic donors have largely heaped praise upon Buttigieg, his presence in the field has not prevented them from heaping similar praise on other candidates like former Vice President Joe Biden and Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA). In fact, producer Ryan Murphy held a similar fundraiser at his home for Harris.

REPORT: Hollywood’s Top Gay Donors Doubt Buttigieg’s 2020 Chances

Hollywood

LGBT

Pete Buttigieg

Special Counsel Robert Mueller found no evidence that President Donald Trump or his campaign colluded with Russia in 2016, but that&#8217;s not the end of the story.
Astute watchers of the Russia collusion delusion know that the Obama administration used thinly-sourced information and lame justifications for obtaining a warrant to spy on one-time Trump campaign adviser Carter Page. The efforts that led to the spying (or surveilling, or eavesdropping, depending on which media outlet you&#8217;re reading) have been under investigation for the past year by the Department of Justice&#8217;s Inspector General, Michael Horowitz.
The results of the Horowitz investigation may be incredibly damaging for the Obama administration and anti-Trump pundits and politicians. We may now see left-wing media outlets turn their attention toward discrediting Horowitz and his report before it&#8217;s released. The opening salvo has already <a href="https://www.politico.com/story/2019/04/17/mueller-report-steele-justice-department-1280578">appeared in Politico</a>.
In an article about the Horowitz probe, reporter Natasha Bertrand &#8212; a collusion truther &#8212; went to great lengths to claim the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act court that granted the warrant to spy on Page routinely accepts applications that aren&#8217;t verified.
&#8220;Former U.S. officials interviewed by the inspector general were skeptical about the quality of his probe,&#8221; Bertrand wrote. &#8220;They emphasized to Horowitz that information in a warrant application need not be wholly verified, as long as the reliability of the source of the information is disclosed to the court, which<a href="https://www.lawfareblog.com/document-justice-department-releases-carter-page-fisa-application" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"> the FBI did in the Page FISA case</a> with regard to Steele. But the inspector general seemed neither well-versed in the FISA process nor receptive to the explanations, the officials said.&#8221;
First, here we have anonymous, &#8220;former U.S. officials&#8221; expressing skepticism over the probe. Former officials could mean any administration, but if they&#8217;re from the Obama administration &#8212; which sought the warrant against Page &#8212; of course they would suggest Horowitz&#8217;s probe isn&#8217;t credible.
Just before this paragraph, Bertrand explained why Christopher Steele &#8212; the ex-British Intelligence official who created a &#8220;dossier&#8221; that alleged Russian collusion with the Trump 2016 campaign &#8212; was a reliable source. Steele had previously &#8220;helped&#8221; the FBI investigate corruption at FIFA, the international soccer league. But she acknowledged that Horowitz&#8217;s office &#8220;concluded that Steele inflated his worth to the bureau in that case, and did little more than introduce agents to a journalist who had obtained hacked documents, according to two people who were interviewed and briefed on the matter.&#8221;
More anonymous sources, of course. Bertrand&#8217;s main point in the article is that Horowitz&#8217;s probe will cast doubt on the Steele dossier &#8212; which has already been proven to be wholly unreliable based on Mueller&#8217;s report, which was released after the Politico article was published.
But she goes on to defend Steele&#8217;s involvement.
With the Mueller report destroying the media&#8217;s two-year Russia collusion narrative, expect the Inspector General&#8217;s report to condemn the people who created the narrative by spying on a U.S. citizen and political campaign. That&#8217;s going to hurt a lot of egos in the left-wing media, who continue to insist Trump is the bad guy and Democrats are the good guys.

Expect The Media To Turn Its Attention To Discrediting Michael Horowitz Before Inspector General Report Released

Robert Mueller

Russia

Earlier this week, two Politico reporters wrote an article claiming President Donald Trump acted &#8220;truly bizarre&#8221; during a visit to George Washington&#8217;s home, Mount Vernon, last April.
The Politico article, like so many &#8220;news&#8221; stories in the Trump era, was based on anonymous &#8220;sources&#8221; either &#8220;briefed on&#8221; or &#8220;familiar with&#8221; the visit. No one who was actually present had anything to say, apparently.
The article claimed that Trump was &#8220;disinterested&#8221; in learning about America&#8217;s first president, and that Mount Vernon president and CEO Doug Bradburn &#8220;was desperately trying to get [Trump] interested in&#8221; the property, using terms that would appeal to Trump, such as telling him Washington bought property throughout Virginia.
Further, Trump &#8212; according to anonymous sources who weren&#8217;t there &#8212; allegedly pointed out flaws in the home and said he could build one better. He also apparently said Washington should have put his name on the house.
&#8220;If he was smart, he would&#8217;ve put his name on it,&#8221; Politico claimed Trump said. &#8220;You&#8217;ve got to put your name on stuff or no one remembers you.&#8221;
The visit, which included Trump, First Lady Melania Trump, French President Emmanuel Macron, and French First Lady Brigitte Macron, was organized by the Mount Vernon Ladies&#8217; Association. After the Politico article was published, the association <a href="https://www.mountvernon.org/about/news/article/statement-from-the-mount-vernon-ladies-association-about-the-trump-macron-visit/">released a statement</a> denying its premise:
<blockquote>
Mount Vernon has a firm, long-standing policy of not commenting on the details of high-profile visits to the home of George Washington. However, we believe in the importance of ensuring that reports about events that take place at Mount Vernon are accurate. As such, we are concerned that the third-party accounts of the Trump-Macron visit released by several media outlets today do not correctly reflect the events that transpired nearly a year ago.
</blockquote>
The statement continued, saying Bradburn and Regent Sarah Coulson conducted the tour and that &#8220;all parties were interested and engaged in the story of George Washington and his beloved home.&#8221; The statement said the group discussed many issues, including real estate and business dealings, that each party found interesting.
Both Trump and Macron, according to the statement, asked questions &#8220;with curiosity and respect.&#8221;
&#8220;Comments pulled from sources who were not present for the tour do not properly convey the tone and context in which they were delivered,&#8221; the statement said.
Politico included the statement at the bottom of its article, but there is no editor&#8217;s note and the story&#8217;s central premise remains. As with many articles regarding Trump, the story is written from the angle pushed by the anonymous sources, while the only on-the-record statement is included merely as a courtesy.
Oh, but don&#8217;t worry, Politico sought out a historian to bash the president based on what the anonymous sources said. True journalism.
As Matt Vespa of Townhall wrote in a post about the latest stumble from the left-wing media, &#8220;How many times will the liberal media have to endure getting hit in the face with their shoddy reporting about the Trump White House?&#8221;
The answer, sadly, is unknown. No matter how many times these publications post anti-Trump articles from anonymous sources that don&#8217;t pan out, they&#8217;ll keep doing it, because more people will read the original article than any of the corrections.

Media Claimed Trump Acted Inappropriately While Touring George Washington’s Home. Mount Vernon Officials Just Set The Record Straight.

In a curious sequence of events Monday that has gained the attention of some folks online, Facebook temporarily pulled some ads placed by Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Elizabeth Warren (MA) on Friday calling for the breakup of tech giants, including Facebook, which has acquired Instagram and WhatsApp.
After scrutiny, particularly by <a href="https://www.politico.com/story/2019/03/11/facebook-removes-elizabeth-warren-ads-1216757">Politico</a>, Facebook restored the Warren ads Monday and issued a statement saying the ads violated their advertising policies and they were only restoring them for the sake of encouraging &#8220;robust debate.&#8221;
&#8220;Three companies have vast power over our economy and our democracy. Facebook, Amazon, and Google,&#8221; read Warren&#8217;s temporarily pulled campaign ads. &#8220;We all use them. But in their rise to power, they&#8217;ve bulldozed competition, used our private information for profit, and tilted the playing field in their favor.&#8221;
The ads promoted the progressive senator&#8217;s new plan announced in a Team Warren blog post Friday which declares: &#8220;<a href="https://medium.com/@teamwarren/heres-how-we-can-break-up-big-tech-9ad9e0da324c">It&#8217;s time to breakup Amazon, Google, and Facebook.</a>&#8221; In an example of &#8220;Using Mergers to Limit Competition,&#8221; Warren writes, &#8220;Facebook has purchased potential competitors Instagram and WhatsApp.&#8221; She also specifically calls out Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg:
<blockquote>
Weak antitrust enforcement has led to a dramatic reduction in competition and innovation in the tech sector. Venture capitalists are now hesitant to fund new startups to compete with these big tech companies because it&#8217;s so easy for the big companies to either snap up growing competitors or drive them out of business. The number of tech startups has slumped, there are fewer high-growth young firms typical of the tech industry, and first financing rounds for tech startups have declined 22% since 2012.
With fewer competitors entering the market, the big tech companies do not have to compete as aggressively in key areas like protecting our privacy. And some of these companies have grown so powerful that they can bully cities and states into showering them with massive taxpayer handouts in exchange for doing business, and can act&#8202;&#8212;&#8202;in the words of Mark Zuckerberg&#8202;&#8212;&#8202;&#8220;more like a government than a traditional company.&#8221;
</blockquote>
But, Politico notes, the ads were soon scrubbed and replaced with a message: &#8220;This ad was taken down because it goes against Facebook&#8217;s advertising policies.&#8221;
After Politico reported the &#8220;takedown&#8221; on Monday, Facebook quickly reversed course, restoring the ads. A spokesperson told the outlet the only reason the ads were removed is because they violated the platform&#8217;s policies by using their corporate logo.
&#8220;We removed the ads because they violated our policies against use of our corporate logo,&#8221; the spokesperson told Politico. &#8220;In the interest of allowing robust debate, we are restoring the ads.&#8221;
Politico notes that over a dozen other ads by Warren about her &#8220;big tech breakup&#8221; proposal weren&#8217;t pulled.
Facebook &#8220;<a href="https://www.facebook.com/policies/ads/use_of_brand_assets/brand_reference">Brand Usage in Ads</a>&#8221; policy states: &#8220;Don&#8217;t use the Facebook corporate logo in an ad. The logo is reserved for corporate use.&#8221; Here&#8217;s the full policy statement:
<blockquote>
Ads linking to Facebook or Instagram content (including Pages, groups, events or sites that use Facebook Login) may make limited reference to &#8220;Facebook&#8221; or &#8220;Instagram&#8221; in ad text for the purpose of clarifying the destination of the ad.
Ads should not represent the Facebook brand in a way that makes it the most distinctive or prominent feature of the creative.
Facebook brand assets should not be modified in any way, such as by changing the design or color, or for the purpose of special effects or animation.
Examples
<ul>
<li>Do always display the word &#8220;Facebook&#8221; in the same font size and style as the text surrounding it</li>
<li>Do always capitalize the word &#8220;Facebook&#8221;, except when it&#8217;s part of a web address</li>
<li>Don&#8217;t pluralize the Facebook trademark, abbreviate it as &#8220;FB&#8221; or use it as a verb</li>
<li>Don&#8217;t use the &#8220;f&#8221; or Facebook logos in place of the word &#8220;Facebook&#8221; in ad copy</li>
<li>Don&#8217;t use the Facebook corporate logo in an ad. The logo is reserved for corporate use</li>
</ul>
</blockquote>
&#8203;Below is Warren talking with CNN about her big &#8220;breakup&#8221; plan in a video posted on Facebook:
<div class="embed"><iframe allowfullscreen="true" frameborder="0" height="315" width="560"></iframe></div>

Facebook Removes Elizabeth Warren Ads, Then Restores Them After Outcry

Elizabeth Warren

On Friday, <a href="https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2019/03/08/ilhan-omar-dean-phillips-minnesota-democratic-party-225696">Politico Magazine quoted</a> Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) as suggesting President Barack Obama was a murderer for the &#8220;droning of countries around the world&#8221; and that just because someone is more &#8220;polished&#8221; than President Donald Trump doesn&#8217;t excuse their bad policies.
After the article was published, Omar claimed her quote was taken out of context. So, she uploaded audio of the interview. The full context proved Politico&#8217;s Tim Alberta quoted her accurately.
Alberta wrote the following paragraph regarding his conversation with Omar regarding Obama:
<blockquote>
As she saw it, the party ostensibly committed to progressive values had become complicit in perpetuating the status quo. Omar says the &#8220;hope and change&#8221; offered by Barack Obama was a mirage. Recalling the &#8220;caging of kids&#8221; at the U.S.-Mexico border and the &#8220;droning of countries around the world&#8221; on Obama&#8217;s watch, she argues that the Democratic president operated within the same fundamentally broken framework as his Republican successor.
</blockquote>
Alberta then quotes Omar directly:
<blockquote>
&#8220;We can&#8217;t be only upset with Trump. &#8230; His policies are bad, but many of the people who came before him also had really bad policies. They just were more polished than he was,&#8221; Omar says. &#8220;And that&#8217;s not what we should be looking for anymore. We don&#8217;t want anybody to get away with murder because they are polished. We want to recognize the actual policies that are behind the pretty face and the smile.&#8221;
</blockquote>
Omar pushed back against Alberta&#8217;s reporting, sharing her dismay on Twitter.
&#8220;Exhibit A of how reporters distort words. I&#8217;m an Obama fan! I was saying how [President] Trump is different from Obama, and why we should focus on policy not politics,&#8221; Omar said in a now-deleted tweet.
She also posted audio of her interview, <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/week-controversy-rep-ilhan-omar-criticism-president-obama/story?id=61564148">which completely backed up Alberta&#8217;s reporting</a>.
&#8220;You know I will talk about the family separation or caging of kids and people will point out that this was Trump &#8212; I mean this was Obama. I mean I&#8217;ll say something about the droning of countries around the world and people will say that was Obama. And all of that is very true,&#8221; Omar said in her own audio recording.
&#8220;We can&#8217;t be only upset with Trump because he&#8217;s not a politician who sells us his policies in the most perfect way. His policies are bad, but many of the people who came before him also had really bad policies. They just were more polished than he was, and that&#8217;s not what we should be looking for anymore,&#8221; Omar went on to say. &#8220;We don&#8217;t want anybody to get away with murder because they are polished, we want to recognize the actual policies that are behind the pretty face and the smile so that we can understand the kind of negative impact, or positive impact they will have on us for generations to come.&#8221;
Alberta then took to his own Twitter account to respond to Omar.
&#8220;Exhibit A of how politicians use the media as a straw man to avoid owning what they said,&#8221; he tweeted. &#8220;Your tape&#8230;supports what I wrote 100%. So does my longer tape. It&#8217;s beyond dispute.&#8221;
&#8220;Next time, a phone call from your office before the Twitter ambush would be appreciated,&#8221; he added.
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
Exhibit A of how politicians use the media as a straw man to avoid owning what they said.
Your tape&#8230;supports what I wrote 100%. So does my longer tape. It&#8217;s beyond dispute.
Next time, a phone call from your office before the Twitter ambush would be appreciated. <a href="https://t.co/eb2grgn5Cd">https://t.co/eb2grgn5Cd</a>
&#8212; Tim Alberta (@TimAlberta) <a href="https://twitter.com/TimAlberta/status/1104161797274324992?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 8, 2019</a></blockquote>
</div>
Alberta then retweeted Huffington Post reporter Travis Waldron, who said: &#8220;The weird thing about Omar taking issue with Politico&#8217;s accurate and contextual quoting of her is that an honest reading of what she said read not like a criticism of Obama necessarily but of the American presidency and the limited framework in which it exists &amp; is evaluated.&#8221;

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‘Superstar’ Grenell Tells Politico What To Do With Their ‘False’ Story After ‘Scary’ Response

WATCH: Reporter Asks How Many ‘Dead Americans’ Voters ‘Should Tolerate’ When Voting In November. McEnany Flattens Him.

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Facebook Fact Checker Debunks New Smear Against Trump From Media, Democrats: ‘Factually Inaccurate’

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Limbaugh: CNN Analyst Goes To Trump Rally, Discovers ‘Unexpected Joy’

Politico Exposes Land Deal Between Biden’s Brother And Lobbyist; Biden Spokesman Blasts Politico

Politico Tries To Get Republicans To Accept Censuring Trump

Politico Claims ‘No Evidence Exists’ That Ukraine Colluded With Clinton Campaign, DNC In 2016, Dismissing Earlier Reporting

Politico Publishes Article Titled, ‘Just Another Day In F***nutsville’ Before Changing

Trump Infuriates White House Press Corps By Taking A Bunch Of Questions So Often

Minority Dems: Democratic Campaign Arm In ‘Complete Chaos’ Over Diversity Fail

HAMMER: INTER-AGENCY FIGHT: White House Closes Door On Plan To Give China ‘Get-Out-Of-Jail’ Free Card For Iran Oil

WATCH: ‘Trump’s Tanks’ Arrive In Washington For July 4th; MSNBC Considers Blackout

REPORT: Hollywood’s Top Gay Donors Doubt Buttigieg’s 2020 Chances

Expect The Media To Turn Its Attention To Discrediting Michael Horowitz Before Inspector General Report Released

Media Claimed Trump Acted Inappropriately While Touring George Washington’s Home. Mount Vernon Officials Just Set The Record Straight.

Facebook Removes Elizabeth Warren Ads, Then Restores Them After Outcry

Ilhan Omar Says Her ‘Obama’ Quote Was Taken Out Of Context And Posts Audio Evidence. It Proves The Opposite.

Menu

Politico

‘Superstar’ Grenell Tells Politico What To Do With Their ‘False’ Story After ‘Scary’ Response

WATCH: Reporter Asks How Many ‘Dead Americans’ Voters ‘Should Tolerate’ When Voting In November. McEnany Flattens Him.

Democrats ‘Dreading’ Election Scenario Predicted By Obama’s Top Economist: ‘Best’ U.S. ‘Economic Data’ In History About To Happen

Politico Reporter Calls Out Media’s Biased Coverage Of NY, FL Governors’ COVID Response, Gets Lectured By CNN Analyst

Facebook Fact Checker Debunks New Smear Against Trump From Media, Democrats: ‘Factually Inaccurate’

Politico Covers Truck Hitting Republican Volunteers – But Only From Angle Of GOP Reaction

Limbaugh: CNN Analyst Goes To Trump Rally, Discovers ‘Unexpected Joy’

Politico Exposes Land Deal Between Biden’s Brother And Lobbyist; Biden Spokesman Blasts Politico

Politico Tries To Get Republicans To Accept Censuring Trump

Politico Claims ‘No Evidence Exists’ That Ukraine Colluded With Clinton Campaign, DNC In 2016, Dismissing Earlier Reporting

Politico Publishes Article Titled, ‘Just Another Day In F***nutsville’ Before Changing

Trump Infuriates White House Press Corps By Taking A Bunch Of Questions So Often

Minority Dems: Democratic Campaign Arm In ‘Complete Chaos’ Over Diversity Fail

HAMMER: INTER-AGENCY FIGHT: White House Closes Door On Plan To Give China ‘Get-Out-Of-Jail’ Free Card For Iran Oil

WATCH: ‘Trump’s Tanks’ Arrive In Washington For July 4th; MSNBC Considers Blackout

REPORT: Hollywood’s Top Gay Donors Doubt Buttigieg’s 2020 Chances

Expect The Media To Turn Its Attention To Discrediting Michael Horowitz Before Inspector General Report Released

Media Claimed Trump Acted Inappropriately While Touring George Washington’s Home. Mount Vernon Officials Just Set The Record Straight.

Facebook Removes Elizabeth Warren Ads, Then Restores Them After Outcry

Ilhan Omar Says Her ‘Obama’ Quote Was Taken Out Of Context And Posts Audio Evidence. It Proves The Opposite.

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