Trump calls the New York Times an 'ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE' for exposing his obstruction of justice
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Tuesday's blockbuster New York Times report detailed Donald Trump’s «sustained» efforts to undermine law enforcement probes into Russian election hacking, its ties to the Trump campaign, and related criminal acts. Among the details presented: aTrump calls the New York Times an 'ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE' for exposing his obstruction of justice
Tuesday's blockbuster New York Times report detailed Donald Trump’s «sustained» efforts to undermine law enforcement probes into Russian election hacking, its ties to the Trump campaign, and related criminal acts. Among the details presented: an attempt by Trump to get acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker to reinstall a Trump-allied U.S. attorney as head of federal investigations of «hush money» payments to several Trump mistresses. The Trump White House gave no indications it knew such a report was coming, and whether Trump's extremely sour mood of late was related to the upcoming report or to something else is unknown. Instead, Trump blasted «The Press» in general: «The writers don't even call asking for verification. They are totally out of control.» He singled out the New York Times reporting as «false,» declaring that the Times specifically is «a true ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE!» Trump's objections were, as usual, performative. Times reporter Maggie Haberman told CNN that of course the Times reporters who prepared the report sought verification and comment from the White House, and that the White House ignored their questions. So Trump is either lying to the American people, yet again, or he got played by his own staff. Said Haberman, “That’s a lie, and I don’t know whether he knows it’s a lie or whether he is telling himself this is true, whether his staff doesn’t tell him that we have reached out, but I find that awfully hard to believe that his staff did not brief him, once again, that this kind of a report was coming.” Haberman is a reporter with deep White House contacts, one who knows more than most about the inner workings of Team Catastrophe, but this is still a tough call. It seems entirely plausible that Trump's staff would not tell him about an upcoming devastating public report of his attempts to Do Crimes. Who would tell him? Sarah Sanders? Bill Shine? Who would willingly pop over to the Oval Office to face the rage of an always-infuriated man-child to tell him still more leaks of his improper behavior have dribbled out from his supposed allies? Trump being kept in the dark on this one seems plausible. But it is also possible, even rote, for Trump to be intentionally lying about this as he does about Every. Single. Thing. Ever. The man has one lever, and it flips between smug bluster when someone is praising him to defiant, delusional gaslighting when someone is not. In the end it doesn't matter. Perhaps he's lying. Perhaps his staff lied to him. Perhaps both. It doesn't change the underlying report: Donald Trump attempted to install a favored, Trump-allied attorney to oversee a criminal investigation into his own actions, not recognizing the impossibility of what he was asking for and not caring about the overt corruption of such a request. Upon being exposed, he breaks out the ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE language yet again, a clear betrayal of the Constitution and his supposed oath. He should be tossed out of office for that alone—and would be, if his party had not slid itself into whatever levels of corruption were necessary to prop the man-child up. Read more