Trump Disses the Constitution at Fact-Free Cabinet Meeting and Clinton is Finally Cleared

Unlike former Presidents, Donald Trump doesn't hold cabinet meetings to get input from the government’s top officers. He uses them as an excuse to rant and boast and yesterday's version was notably mendacious. CNN was invited to listen in as the President rambled through an hour-long monologue covering whatever popped into his head, including the Ukraine scandal, Syria and, of course, crowd sizes. Fact checkers at CNN found that Trump had made at least 20 false statements at the cabinet meeting.

CNN: "We can honestly tell you that Trump's remarks were highly dishonest."

One claim he made at the meeting was that the Constitution's Emolument's Clause is somehow phony. He said: "You people with this phony Emoluments Clause." I suspect he knows that there are actually two clauses in the Constitution having to do with emoluments, one each in Articles I and II, so it's probable that he meant that they are antiquated because the issue hasn't come up with previous presidents. Or, perhaps he thinks it's a Constitutional technicality like flagging a football team when one of their players doesn't quite off the field before the snap. In either case, he couldn't be more wrong. The "Emoluments" question continues to arise because this president is using his office for personal gain in ways no past president would have even considered. Choosing to have the G-7 at his Doral property in Miami is just the latest example of Trump's self-dealing, although, perhaps, the most audacious. The founders of this nation wanted to "ensure that the country’s leaders would not be improperly influenced, even unconsciously, by gifts" from those who had dealings with the American government." That rationale is still quite compelling, especially in light of this president's dealings with foreign governments.

In other news, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has finally been cleared of any wrongdoing regarding her private email server. And, at least one journalist has apologized for making something out of nothing and helping elect Donald Trump.

Political Wire: "Jeffrey Toobin said he regretted the role he played in amplifying the coverage of Hillary Clinton’s private email server during the 2016 campaign after an investigation found “no persuasive evidence” of classified information being systematically or deliberately mishandled."

Tweeted Toobin: “Note the mostly buried news that State Dept closed Hillary Clinton email probe with this verdict: no big deal. As a journalist, I regret my role in blowing this story out of proportion.”

Never fear Jeffrey. There are "journalists" at Fox News who will say her vindication by the State Department is just evidence of another cover-up.

#news #Trump

By: Don Lam & Curated Content