Just how Crazy is Donald Trump!

[bsm2]

President Donald Trump ordered to pay $2M to collection of nonprofits as part of civil lawsuit

President Donald Trump has been ordered by a New York State judge to pay $2 million to a group of nonprofit organizations as part of a settlement in a civil lawsuit stemming from persistent violations of state charities laws.


The payment is the final resolution to a case brought by the New York attorney general's office after the Trump Foundation held a fundraiser for military veterans during the 2016 campaign.


The televised fundraiser took in nearly $3 million in donations that were dispersed on the eve of the Iowa caucuses as directed by then-campaign chief Corey Lewandowski.


The two million must be paid by President Trump himself for breaching his fiduciary duty to properly oversee the foundation that bears his name.


"I direct Mr. Trump to pay the $2,000,000, which would have gone to the Foundation if it were still in existence, on a pro rata basis to the Approved Recipients," Judge Saliann Scarpulla wrote.


The lawsuit filed by the state's attorney general accused President Trump -- along with his children, Donald Jr., Eric and Ivanka -- of conflating charity with politics, repeatedly using charitable donations for personal, political and business gains, including legal settlements, campaign contributions and even to purchase a portrait of Trump to hang at one of his hotels..

[SalesServiceGuy]

President Trump's personally appointed Dept of Education Cabinet Secretary Betsy Devos was fined $100,000.00 today for contempt of court for violating a federal court judge's order on student loans.

Betsy DeVos found in contempt of court for violating order on student loans - CBS News

The judge had already ordered the Department of Education to stop collecting on loans taken out by student borrowers to attend a for-profit institution that is now defunct. But more than 16,000 borrowers were erroneously told they owed a payment after the court order, and many had those payments garnered from their wages, according to court documents.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Sally Kim ordered the Department of Education to pay $100,000 to a fund for the affected borrowers who attended Corinthian Colleges, Inc.

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Trump rages about impeachment on Twitter, but he has Republicans to blame for the rules
Trump and his GOP defenders can continue their crusade against the procedures Democrats are using, but those procedures were authorized and utilized by Republicans first.

Last week, President Donald J. Trump complained that he would be getting “no lawyer” and “no due process” during the House impeachment hearings, set to begin Wednesday.


The irony of course is that if Trump is unhappy with how the impeachment process is unfolding, he has mostly Republicans to blame. After all, they are the ones who have written the rules that impeachment investigations follow.


Donald J. Trump
✔
@realDonaldTrump
It was just explained to me that for next weeks Fake Hearing (trial) in the House, as they interview Never Trumpers and others, I get NO LAWYER & NO DUE PROCESS. It is a Pelosi, Schiff, Scam against the Republican Party and me. This Witch Hunt should not be allowed to proceed!


After weeks of Republican demands for a vote on an impeachment resolution, the House of Representatives did just that and approved, along party lines, a resolution that establishes the procedural guidelines for the impeachment investigation of Trump. House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff announced that public hearings will commence Wednesday.


The impeachment process Democrats just approved, and which Trump will doubtless spend the next several weeks slamming publicly, is the same process Republicans have used to govern their oversight investigations during the past three decades. The GOP has controlled the majority of the House's investigative powers for 20 of the last 25 years. (And I spent five of those years working at the House Oversight Committee as a spokesperson and a senior adviser under the chairmanship of Republican Darrell Issa, R-Calif.)



Democrats to begin public impeachment hearings this week as diplomats testify to a quid pro quo

Trump might label this an attack on “due process,” but his fight isn’t with Speaker Nancy Pelosi or Schiff, it’s with the Republican-led investigative committees who instituted this precedent during their investigations of President Bill Clinton’s administration in 1997 and 1998. That practice was extended in the 112th, 113th, 114th and 115th congresses.


For all Trump’s griping about lawyers, the House impeachment inquiry isn’t a trial at all. But the reason he won’t have a lawyer representing his interests in the hearings is because Republicans made a point to continue the procedure during the Benghazi investigation. During that investigation, Republican committee members approved rules specifically stipulating that “counsel … for agencies under investigation may not attend.”




We’ve seen this pattern of Trump and Republicans objecting to rules they created consistently throughout the impeachment investigation.


In recent weeks, House Republicans have extended a lot of energy and rhetoric railing against “closed-door depositions.” Yet, according to a report released by congressional investigative experts at Co-Equal, a group intended to help Congress remain a check on the executive branch, House Republicans conducted depositions of more than 140 administration officials during their impeachment inquiry of Clinton. While the Trump administration has tried to obstruct the current impeachment investigation by blocking witnesses from appearing for depositions, during the Benghazi inquiry alone, House Republicans took testimony from more than 60 career employees who served under President Barack Obama.


Debunking the GOP's impeachment defenses, from the laughable to the dangerous
Even much of the authority to conduct depositions for investigations stemmed from Republicans. Republicans first gave this authority to a congressional committee during the Clinton investigation, then expanded it to the House Oversight Committee in 2011, and again in 2014 as part of the Benghazi probe, again in 2015 to include four additional committees, and finally in 2017 to include all House congressional committees. (Previously, “depositions had been authorized by the House only for specific investigations.”)


Interestingly enough, the effort to expand deposition authority to all congressional committees was spear-headed by Reps. Jim Jordan and former Rep. Mike Pompeo who said, “The ability to interview witnesses in private allows committees to gather information confidentially and in more depth than is possible under the five-minute rule governing committee hearings. This ability is often critical to conducting an effective and thorough investigation.”


Even much of the authority to conduct depositions for investigations stemmed from Republicans.


This is the same Pompeo, who, as secretary of state, has refused to cooperate with the congressional investigation and the same Jordan, who, as the ranking member of the House Oversight Committee, has labeled the impeachment investigation a “sham process.” Jordan has yet to explain how this process is a “sham” when it’s being conducted under the very rules and powers that he specifically helped enact when he thought Hillary Clinton was going to be the president of the United States.


Trump officials such as White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney, acting-Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought, Energy Secretary Rick Perry, and Pompeo have refused to testify in a blatant act of obstruction, and yet, Republican chairs took 141 depositions from Clinton officials, including from two White House chiefs of staff, two White House counsels, the vice president’s chief of staff and the first lady’s chief of staff.




The bottom line is Trump and his Republican defenders can continue their embarrassing crusade against the rules and procedures that Democrats are using, but the inescapable fact is those very rules and procedures were authorized and utilized by Republicans first. When the impeachment hearings begin Wednesday, congressional Democrats would be wise to remind Trump and his faithful servants that if they are looking for someone to blame, they need only to look in the mirror.

[bsm2]

Enjoy

[Zaxxon]

I will start this thread but the responses will be varied. I would take Obama or Romney or McCain or Bush back in a heart beat.

I think America really stepped in it this time!

Make America great again, for old white rich guys.

I don’t think Trump is as crazy as the people voting him in for president. He does what is best for him as a person, voters should have done the same.

(this post contains sarcasm)

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[bsm2]

Trump Ally Roger Stone Found Guilty On All Counts |
Trump associate Roger Stone was found guilty on all seven counts at a trial stemming from the special counsel’s investigation. Former federal prosecutor Glenn Kirschner reports from the courthouse.

Pretty good for a witch hunt!

[NomisNirrad]

Outlaw Morgan - Republicans Respond To Impeachment Sham | Facebook
Impeachment hearings aren't going so well, what a surprise? NOT
As bsm2 would say, Tick Tock!!!

[slimslob]

Outlaw Morgan - Republicans Respond To Impeachment Sham | Facebook
Impeachment hearings aren't going so well, what a surprise? NOT
As bsm2 would say, Tick Tock!!!

Tick tock for the Democrat Party. A number of them from battleground states are considering crossing the aisle because of Schiff's antics. They are hoping to be able to keep their seats on election day.