Trump, June 2017: From [Covfefe] with Love

Allegedly he committed to Article 5 too. Timing!

What in the world

"I didn't say that...and there'd be nothing wrong if I did say that" says Trump of Comey claim he pushed for end of Flynn probe

— Jim Sciutto (@jimsciutto) June 9, 2017

"Great, we got him to not tweet yesterday."

"Now he just needs to not say anything in public today!"

*later*

"OH GOD."

well then, so he definitely said it

someone needs to read Comey's exact quotes back to Trump and ask if he said those words (I'm assuming this didn't happen today, wasn't watching). it just seems to easy to ask something like "Did you ask Comey to lay off the Flynn investigation?" or "Did you ask him to pledge loyalty?" and then have Trump weasel out by saying he was just expressing a wish to have the investigation dropped or that his intention was to have Comey pledge loyalty to the country or some such bullshit.

is there a place to read a transcript of the press conference that just concluded? google turning up nothing

well I guess Jon Karl did more or less quote the bit about letting the Flynn thing go and Trump claimed he never said that, though Karl did bungle the second bit by accidentally asking if Comey asked for a pledge of loyalty from Trump (though I'm sure Trump didn't hear it that way)

oh cool

Republicans searching for consensus on how to pay for tax cuts are beginning to weigh attacking spending in potentially sensitive areas of the budget.

Senate Finance Chairman Orrin Hatch told Bloomberg he prefers to find spending cuts to pay for a tax overhaul, though he stopped short of guaranteeing any outcome.

“That’s what should be the solution, I’ll put it that way,” Hatch, a Utah Republican, said Thursday. “And I’m hopeful that the Republicans will work to do that. I’d like to find some spending cuts. We’re spending us into oblivion."

GOP leaders have not moved off their calls for revenue-neutral tax legislation -- that is, a bill that balances tax cuts with other provisions that would raise revenue. Still, a growing number of Republican lawmakers is calling for abandoning that concept.

Representative Jim Jordan of Ohio, a leader of the ultraconservative House Freedom Caucus, called for $400 billion in unspecified cuts to welfare programs to help cover the cost of tax cuts. That’s “the way to unlock the logjam in the House” on setting tax and spending levels in a budget resolution, Jordan said Friday at an event sponsored by the Heritage Foundation, a conservative policy and advocacy group. Drawing up a budget resolution is a procedural prerequisite for Congress to tackle a tax overhaul.

https://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2017-06-09/key-republicans-eye-spending-cuts-to-help-pay-for-tax-overhaul

it's been an Infrastructure Week to remember, that's for sure

Omg Romanian president just called out Trump for lying

— Ishaan Tharoor (@ishaantharoor) June 9, 2017

Trump said there was no discussion of visa waivers... Romanian counterpart looks at him, says there was https://t.co/am4vbT5xLT

— Ishaan Tharoor (@ishaantharoor) June 9, 2017

Lying might be the charitable explanation.

Cannot wait for the release of the Comey Tapes

Trump: Jim, hi, come in and sit down.
Trump, in a high-pitched and annoying voice: Oh, hi, Mr. President. You are looking great today, bigly. It makes me look very, very much like a loser, which I am. It's true.

Oh BTW

Romney reveals in Park City that HILLARY encouraged him to consider Sec State job

— Alex Isenstadt (@politicoalex) June 9, 2017

Cannot wait for the release of the Comey Tapes

Trump: Jim, hi, come in and sit down. Gosh you're so big, so strong

Whoops!

Poll: View of the American Health Care Act. pic.twitter.com/CZqCGrJfsE

— Fox News (@FoxNews) June 9, 2017

yeah. surprisingly even republicans seem to know what's up with this issue. it would be catastrophically dumb for the republicans to proceed further.

Trump says he would "100 percent" be willing to dispute Comey's testimony under oath.

The obvious conclusion is that Trump knows (or perhaps assumes) there are no tapes of these conversations. One only has to look for motives. Comey had zero motive to fabricate this stuff, but Trump has every motive to deny the truth of what Comey said.

maybe he knows he's backed into a corner and is just trying to stall. keep the party rolling as long as possible.

Trump will 100% testify. After America is great again. And after his taxes are released. And after his lawyers say it's ok. And after he's dead.

it would be catastrophically dumb for the republicans to proceed further.

gee WILL THEY?????

yeah was gonna say I'd be stunned if this is anything more than bluster

Trump testifying, that is. ACHA is gonna plow ahead full stream obv

Comey's motive is that he's a SHOWBOAT

talking to Mueller /= "testifying" in the sense that Comey just did

A. He's bluffing

B. He's lied under oath in depos REPEATEDLY, but this ain't some NYC real estate kerfuffle.

— Rick Wilson (@TheRickWilson) June 9, 2017

but yeah it's just bluster, he isn't going to do that

yeah I feel like the President of the United States lying repeatedly lying under oath might even shake the GOP a little

he's basically guaranteed to have to testify to mueller at some point right?

just remembering when Hillary sat there for hours under oath

trump testifying under oath would be the biggest TV event ever, i mean you'll never have seen such huge ratings

this is true

Bluff called

House Intel to White House — hand over Trump's Comey tapes if they exist pic.twitter.com/EsjgcFg9qO

— Bradd Jaffy (@BraddJaffy) June 9, 2017

Trump hasn't been a Washington DC politician, so he doesn't grasp that the coverup always ends up putting you in worse trouble than the original infraction. You might be able to spin the infraction to limit the political damage, but when you lie repeatedly and keep on lying and they are proved by the facts to be sheer bald-faced lies, you're dead meat.

Because how many Republican members of Congress are going to step up and tell the media and their constituents, "Hell, for all I care, he can do whatever shit he wants to and then lie his head off, as long as he signs this big tax cut for my millionaire contributors. Shoot, I'd do the same stuff if I thought I could get away with it."

uh, all of them?

I think that's what Ryan is blinking in Morse code.

None of 'em will say it on camera, even if all of 'em think it.

You might be able to spin the infraction to limit the political damage, but when you lie repeatedly and keep on lying and they are proved by the facts to be sheer bald-faced lies, you're dead meat.

And when you're caught on tape bragging about sexual assault, your days as a politician are over.

sleeve otm

Trump isn't gonna hand over shit to the House Intel committee and there's nothing they can do about it

Also of note

Senate Judiciary calls on Comey's friend to provide any memos Comey shared with him pic.twitter.com/RFesVcS0tH

— Bradd Jaffy (@BraddJaffy) June 9, 2017

None of 'em will say it on camera, even if all of 'em think it.

you're right, they will say this is all "very concerning" and maybe "inappropriate" and they will "get to the bottom of it" and then will do the exact opposite

Mo Brooks of Alabama loves appearing on Chris Hayes to flaunt his affection for killing sick people.

i desperately hope there are tapes, because everything i've learned about trump would suggest that what would scan to him, even on review, as a completely normal and appropriate conversation would strike anyone else as being very much the opposite (cf his "locker room talk"). and since he seems to be able to run roughshod over his own counsel, we might be treated to the spectacle of trump proudly and boastfully incriminating himself under oath and on television

wishful thinking to assume that the republicans would find their conscience or that the dems would capitalize but dare to dream

If there's one thing Trump knows, it's television ratings. Sorry, Arnold.

If the tapes exist (they don't) literally the only thing that would account for them not making an appearance so far is that they're being doctored/fabricated. And then Trump could feign shock - OMG, if these tapes are fake, what else could be fake? - and everyone would look at him like he's an idiot.

The New York attorney general, which has been investigating the Donald J. Trump Foundation for months, is now looking into the Eric Trump Foundation, after a report in Forbes exposed practices that seem to violate state laws.

GOP/right-wing media is already making the argument that asking Comey to stop the investigation and then firing him is not a crime. FBI director reports to the President, and the President can do whatever he wants.

I'm not sure the courts agree, but this is their angle and they are pushing it aggressively and it will be used as cover to GOP Congress.

also yeah come on guys this is the 21st century/digital era, there are no "tapes"

I know it's wrong but would get even more feelings of joy if ET ended up behind bars than if his old man did.

mp3s

Field recordings mixed by Avey Tare.

Remixes with guest verses from Kanye