By David A. Fahrenthold May 24, 2016

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2016/05/24/four-months-later-donald-trump-says-he-gave-1-million-to-veterans-group/

Almost four months after promising $1 million of his own money to veterans’ causes, Donald Trump moved to fulfill that pledge Monday evening — promising the entire sum to a single charity as he came under intense media scrutiny.

Trump, now the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, organized a nationally televised fundraiser for veterans’ causes in Des Moines on Jan. 28. That night, Trump said he had raised $6 million, including the gift from his own pocket.

“Donald Trump gave $1 million,” he said then.

As recently as last week, Trump’s campaign manager had insisted that the mogul had already given that money away. But that was false: Trump had not.

CLEVELAND — On Monday morning, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie told a group of Republican convention delegates a story about Donald Trump's generosity. After the devastation of Hurricane Sandy, Christie said, his wife Mary Pat Christie had asked Trump for a donation to a New Jersey disaster-relief fund.

“He said, 'How much does the check need to be? Just tell me and I’ll send it,' ” Christie told the crowd, according to an account on the news website northjersey.com.

But then, Monday afternoon, a spokesman said Christie "misspoke." The spokesman, Brian Murray, appeared to be indicating that Trump had not donated anything to the Hurricane Sandy New Jersey Relief Fund, which was run by Mary Pat Christie.

"Mr. Trump has given to other New Jersey charities, including the Drumthwacket Foundation," Murray said. He was responding to questions from The Washington Post, which noted that the New Jersey disaster-relief fund did not list Trump among its major donors.

‘Six months is enough’: Fox & Friends call for end to Mueller probe as special counsel turns up the heat



http://www.rawstory.com/2017/08/six-months-is-enough-fox-friends-call-for-end-to-mueller-probe-as-special-counsel-turns-up-the-heat/

“Does it concern you what you’ve known so far, the fact that they raid Paul Manafort’s house?” asked. “They are looking at his international contacts.”

DeSantis replied that it did bother him because, even if Manafort “did stuff two, three years ago,” that didn’t mean it had anything to do with Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.

Kilmeade then took aim at Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, whom he accused of authorizing a “fishing expedition” with his appointment of Mueller.

“Rosenstein seems to be a gift to Democrats and anti-Trumpers that just want to see this president not be successful,” Kilmeade said. “The way this was written seems criminal.”

Burning Houston chemical plant successfully lobbied Trump to strike down safety rules



http://www.rawstory.com/2017/08/revealed-burning-houston-chemical-plant-successfully-lobbied-trump-to-strike-down-safety-rules/

Arkema, the company that owns the chemical plant in Crosby, Texas, that suffered at least two separate explosions on Thursday, successfully lobbied the Trump administration to delay new safety rules for chemical plants that were due to take effect this year.

The International Business Times reports that Obama-era regulations of chemical plants that were supposed to take effect this past March 14 “were halted by the Trump administration after a furious lobbying campaign by plant owner Arkema and its affiliated trade association, the American Chemistry Council, which represents a chemical industry that has poured tens of millions of dollars into federal elections.”

In killing the new rules, the industry had the help of several Texas Republican lawmakers, including Sen. John Cornyn, Rep. Joe Barton, Rep. Pete Olson, Rep. Pete Sessions and Rep. Kevin Brady. Democratic Texas Rep. Gene Green also lobbied to have the new regulations killed.

Arkema directly objected to the new proposed rules in a letter it sent to the EPA this past May, in which it said the rules “will likely add significant new costs and burdens to the corporate audit process.”

City Controller Scott Stringer conducted a review of hundreds of pages of previously sealed records of the two main 9/11 charities at the request of the Daily News, and found that Trump and his charity hadn't donated a dime in the months after 9/11.

"For the periods covered by the audits, we did not find any record of a donation from Trump himself or a Trump entity to either the Twin Towers Fund or the New York City Public/Private Initiatives Inc.," Stringer's office said in a statement to the Daily News in response to a Freedom of Information Law request.

This appears to contradict Trump's prior boasts of spontaneous generosity, made as his hometown reeled from the worst terrorist attack on U.S. soil in history. The records show that through mid-2002 there is no evidence that Trump personally or through the Trump Foundation gave to either group.

The controller's office pointed out that because the reviewed period only covered the year after the attacks for the Twin Towers Fund, they "are unable to conclude definitively that Trump never gave to either of these two funds."

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/donald-trump-lied-donating-9-11-charities-article-1.2829908

Ivanka, Donald Jr., Eric Trump Removed From White House After Mother Wins 25-Year Custody Battle



http://www.theonion.com/article/ivanka-donald-jr-eric-trump-removed-white-house-af-56817

WASHINGTON—Bringing a conclusion to decades of contentious court proceedings, Donald Jr., Ivanka, and Eric Trump were reportedly removed from the White House on Thursday after their mother, Ivana Trump, won her 25-year custody fight for the children. “We’re happy with the judge’s ruling that Ivanka, Don, and Eric’s father is unfit to look after these children, and that their best interests are served by having them live with their mother full-time, effective immediately,” said Aaron Franz, an attorney for Mrs. Trump, who reportedly arrived with his client at the North Portico of the White House early this morning to rouse the children from their beds and shepherd them, along with a few bags of their possessions, into a waiting minivan. “After years of fighting tooth and nail to be granted guardianship, we’re relieved to finally get these children out of such a hostile and unhealthy environment and into the loving care of their mom.” Franz added that leading a life removed from their father’s domineering influence would give these kids a real chance at someday becoming well-adjusted, productive members of society.

‘Why can’t he go to a black city?’: Trump’s ‘my African-American’ voter slams his presidency so far

http://www.rawstory.com/2017/08/why-cant-he-go-to-a-black-city-trumps-my-african-american-voter-slams-his-presidency-so-far/



Greg Cheadle became the subject of national attention in 2016 when then-candidate Donald Trump singled him out at a rally in Redding, CA and called him “my African-American,” but now Cheadle has harsh words for a president he believes has abandoned the black community altogether.

The Los Angeles Times spoke to Cheadle, who says he mostly voted for Trump by default and has steadily become more frustrated with the president.

“I would like for him just to show an interest in black people,” Cheadle told the Times. “Why can’t he go to a black city? Why can’t he trumpet black business? Why can’t he have more black people in his administration?”

Not that Cheadle feels that former President Barack Obama did a great deal for black America, either, telling the Times that Obama “didn’t do anything publicly to satisfy me he was for black people.”

Sarah Sanders falsely claims Trump saw devastation ‘firsthand’ because he talked to people who really saw it

http://www.rawstory.com/2017/08/sarah-sanders-falsely-claims-trump-saw-devastation-firsthand-because-he-talked-to-people-who-really-saw-it/

White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders this week defended President Donald Trump’s false claim that he had visited Hurricane Harvey disaster areas and had seen the devastation “firsthand.”

The Washington Post pointed out on Thursday that Trump had been criticized for asserting that he had personally witnessed disaster areas.



“He met with a number of state and local officials who are eating, sleeping, breathing the Harvey disaster,” she said in defense of the president. “He talked extensively with the governor, who certainly is right in the midst of every bit of this, as well as the mayors from several of the local towns that were hit hardest. And detailed briefing information throughout the day yesterday talking to a lot of the people on the ground.”

“That certainly is a firsthand account,” she added.

Here are 8 reasons Jared and Ivanka are as useless and detestable as anyone in Trump’s White House



http://www.rawstory.com/2017/08/eight-8-reasons-jared-and-ivanka-are-as-useless-and-detestable-as-anyone-in-trumps-white-house/

1. They’re kind of jerks.

She’s the daughter of a billionaire narcissist and pathological liar whose previous claim to fame was firing people on national television. He’s the son of a billionaire who tried to avoid jail on corruption charges by framing a witness (who also happened to be his brother-in-law) using a surreptitiously recorded sexual encounter with a prostitute he “personally recruited” for the job. Who would ever guess these two lovestruck billion-dollar babies, who have chosen to support and serve an unabashed kleptocrat, would be anything but pleasant and trustworthy? Surprisingly, they’re not, according to insiders.

“She tries to charm you at first, and then there’ll be the cutting remark in front of her father,” a former adviser told Ellison about Ivanka. Ellison writes that though Kushner “tries to be casual and jokes with other staffers, [he] can have even more of an edge.” When reportedly asked by the former chief-of-staff what Kushner and his small team were working on, Jared responded, “Reince, we aren’t getting paid. What the f**k do you care?”

Ellison also notes that “Kushner and Ivanka have complicitly engaged in Trump’s humiliation of various staffers, be it West Wing aides [Steve] Bannon, Priebus, and Kellyanne Conway, or Cabinet members such as Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Attorney General Jeff Sessions.”