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Trump Promises ‘Major Investigation’ of Voter Fraud in 2016 Election Trump Interrupts His Busy Day to Hail Dow’s Milestone
(about 4 hours later)
■ Standing by his false allegations of extensive voter fraud, President Trump promises a “major investigation.” ■ President Trump takes time from a busy schedule to hail the Dow breaking through 20,000.
■ Mr. Trump sets a week from Thursday as the day of his announcement of a Supreme Court pick to fill the long-vacant seat of the late Antonin Scalia. ■ The Twitter rebellion seems to be spreading as the Defense Department weighs in on Muslim refugees.
■ Mr. Trump prepares his announcement: Build that wall. ■ Mr. Trump’s threat to “send in the Feds,” meaning federal troops, to Chicago rankled political people on both sides of the aisle.
■ Mr. Trump seemed agitated on his personal Twitter account on Tuesday night, blasting CNN and lambasting Chicago. Mr. Trump is making moves to build a gigantic border wall, to stop all refugees from Syria and to halt immigration from majority-Muslim countries. He is also moving to repopulate the military prison at Guantánamo Bay, to possibly reopen secret C.I.A. black sites for imprisoning terrorism suspects and to revisit enhanced interrogation, methods, also known as torture.
Mr. Trump doubled down Wednesday on his fraudulent assertion that millions of illegal immigrants gave Hillary Clinton her 2.8 million-ballot victory in the popular vote, saying he would order a “major investigation” and tighten voting controls. But hey, he’s not too busy to hail the Dow Jones industrial average breaking through 20,000.
Of note, Mr. Trump’s legal team argued that there was no evidence of voter fraud when lawyers moved to stop the Midwestern recounts demanded by the Green Party candidate Jill Stein. The economy at the moment is his strong suit, as is his rallying cry of “America First!” — forget that it started as an effort to keep the United States out of World War II and was uttered at times by Nazi sympathizers.
And the response from at least one Republican official in charge of state voting procedures, Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted, was swift: According to a new Morning Consult/Politico poll:
Mr. Trump’s tweets will keep the focus on an issue that has already painted the new president as a liar. His press secretary, Sean Spicer, stood at the podium of the White House press room on Tuesday to publicly acknowledge that Mr. Trump believes a conspiracy theory about which there is no evidence. First came the reposting of photos by the National Park Service that clearly showed that President Trump’s inauguration crowd was smaller than former President Barack Obama’s in 2009. That was followed by a contrite apology and lots of pretty pictures.
But Mr. Trump’s Twitter threat pushes the issue into the policy realm. Voting rights advocates have feared the president’s flight of fancy could be a precursor to a broad effort to limit access to the polls, especially for minorities and immigrants. But the national parks took up the cause, with a Tweet storm on climate change from the Badlands that was quickly taken down.
The new foray into such a sensitive topic is not likely to go over well with Republicans in Congress, who are boarding buses and trains to disembark Washington for Philadelphia and their annual policy retreat — this time with a Republican president and vice president who are expected to attend. And lots more:
The media focus will not be on serious discussions of Affordable Care Act replacements and tax code rewrites — but mythic hordes of illegal immigrant voters. Now, with word that Mr. Trump is moving to shut down the flow of refugees and halt immigration from Muslim-majority nations, is the Defense Department joining the fray?
Incidently, the National Park Service now says those tweets from the Badlands came from a disgruntled former employee who had commandeered the account without permission. A National Park Service official said Tuesday:
No official word on why so many other parks chimed in.
Mr. Trump may have thought he was being constructive when he weighed in on Chicago’s terrible murder rate, but his offer (or threat) of federal support has not gone over well — either with Chicago Democrats or small-government Republicans.
Rep. Luis V. Gutiérrez, Democrat of Illinois was miffed.
But Republicans weren’t too keen on the notion of the federal government swooping into to fight city crime.
The Republican media consultant Rick Wilson noted the obvious:
Perhaps Mr. Trump’s motivation isn’t much of a mystery. On Monday, Mayor Rahm Emanuel of Chicago offered the president what he called “unsolicited advice.”
“You didn’t get elected to debate the crowd size at your inaugural,” Mr. Emanuel said. “Now, obviously, I wasn’t a supporter of then-candidate Trump. He got elected to make sure that people have a job, the economy continues to grow, people have security as it relates to their kids’ education, etc. And it wasn’t about your crowd size. It was about their lives and their jobs.”
“The speech missed an opportunity to speak to our better angels as a country,” he said of the president’s inaugural address.
Or maybe Mr. Trump was just watching Bill O’Reilly on Fox News.
Who says former (and supposedly bitter) rivals can’t join forces in the spirit of Washington’s most unifying party — the “green” party? (That’s money, get it?)
No emolument clause apparently can stop former Clinton and Trump campaign managers Robby Mook and Corey Lewandowski from hitting the road for paid gigs on the speaking circuit, which is precisely what the two will do together. Leading Authorities, a speakers’ bureau, said it is organizing the events as “future-focused” assessments of Donald Trump’s White House. The two will also “debate the day’s hot issues,” including cyber attacks.
Mr. Lewandowski just recently set up shop down the street from the White House in a consulting and lobbying firm he runs with another former Trump adviser, Barry Bennett.
Update: The speaking agency has now deleted the material from its website. A spokesperson for the firm told Buzzfeed that the listing was generated by them and not Mr. Mook and Mr. Lewansdowski.
The first trip James N. Mattis will make as secretary of defense is to Japan and South Korea, Pentagon officials said Wednesday.
The trip is scheduled for early February. Incoming defense secretaries often go to the war zones first. But with North Korea threatening to test launch a long-range ballistic missile, tensions rising with China and allies nervous about where President Trump’s foreign policy is headed, Asia is the new Pentagon chief’s first reassurance mission.
The work day had not yet begun but Mr. Trump was making it eventful. He announced the day he will tell the world whom he wants to replace Antonin Scalia on the Supreme Court.The work day had not yet begun but Mr. Trump was making it eventful. He announced the day he will tell the world whom he wants to replace Antonin Scalia on the Supreme Court.
Senate Republicans held the seat open for a year, refusing to even consider a nominee from former President Barack Obama and hoping against hope that a Republican would win the presidential election.Senate Republicans held the seat open for a year, refusing to even consider a nominee from former President Barack Obama and hoping against hope that a Republican would win the presidential election.
They got their wish — and are now complaining about Democrats slowing down the confirmations of that president’s cabinet nominees.They got their wish — and are now complaining about Democrats slowing down the confirmations of that president’s cabinet nominees.
Mr. Trump, like any practiced politician, seemed to be testing out syntax and emphasis on Tuesday night as he prepared his big announcement that yes, he will indeed have a giant wall built on the nation’s border with Mexico.Mr. Trump, like any practiced politician, seemed to be testing out syntax and emphasis on Tuesday night as he prepared his big announcement that yes, he will indeed have a giant wall built on the nation’s border with Mexico.
Only with Mr. Trump, he was practicing on Twitter, in public.Only with Mr. Trump, he was practicing on Twitter, in public.
First, he went with the reliable exclamation point, a popular trope of his. But there was that oddly British-looking spelling of “among.”First, he went with the reliable exclamation point, a popular trope of his. But there was that oddly British-looking spelling of “among.”
“Big day planned on national security for tomorrow! Amoung many other things, we will build the wall,” he initially wrote.“Big day planned on national security for tomorrow! Amoung many other things, we will build the wall,” he initially wrote.
Then he deleted that one and went big with national security, all caps.Then he deleted that one and went big with national security, all caps.
Ah, this time, he put the exclamation point at the end! (He also went with the usual spelling of “among.”)Ah, this time, he put the exclamation point at the end! (He also went with the usual spelling of “among.”)
Perhaps he was just flummoxed by former President Vicente Fox of Mexico, who beat him to Twitter on Tuesday evening to egg on the current Mexican president, Enrique Peña Nieto, who will meet with Mr. Trump soon.Perhaps he was just flummoxed by former President Vicente Fox of Mexico, who beat him to Twitter on Tuesday evening to egg on the current Mexican president, Enrique Peña Nieto, who will meet with Mr. Trump soon.
It is never easy to fathom what exactly is agitating the president of the United States, but something seemed to be bothering him on Tuesday night.
First, he took yet another jab at CNN, one of his favorite whipping boys.
Then he lit into Chicago, again threatening to send in federal forces to calm the city’s murderous crime problem.
Then again, perhaps it wasn’t such a mystery. On Monday, Mayor Rahm Emanuel of Chicago offered the president what he called “unsolicited advice.”
“You didn’t get elected to debate the crowd size at your inaugural,” Mr. Emanuel said. “Now, obviously, I wasn’t a supporter of then-candidate Trump. He got elected to make sure that people have a job, the economy continues to grow, people have security as it relates to their kids’ education, etc. And it wasn’t about your crowd size. It was about their lives and their jobs.”
“The speech missed an opportunity to speak to our better angels as a country,” he said of the president’s inaugural address.
Or maybe Mr. Trump was just watching Bill O’Reilly on Fox News.
Just four days after Mr. Trump took the oath of office, Eric Danziger, the chief executive of Trump Hotels, told an industry conference on Tuesday that the company “frankly” would have a “domestic emphasis for the next either four or eight years.”Just four days after Mr. Trump took the oath of office, Eric Danziger, the chief executive of Trump Hotels, told an industry conference on Tuesday that the company “frankly” would have a “domestic emphasis for the next either four or eight years.”
“I would have said internationally, but recently we had to turn that spigot off,” Mr. Danziger said as he discussed expansion opportunities while speaking on a panel at an Americas Lodging Investment Summit conference in Los Angeles.“I would have said internationally, but recently we had to turn that spigot off,” Mr. Danziger said as he discussed expansion opportunities while speaking on a panel at an Americas Lodging Investment Summit conference in Los Angeles.
Mr. Danziger, who was hired by Mr. Trump in August 2015 — in the early stages of the presidential campaign — did not speak in detail about Mr. Trump or how his presidency might affect business.Mr. Danziger, who was hired by Mr. Trump in August 2015 — in the early stages of the presidential campaign — did not speak in detail about Mr. Trump or how his presidency might affect business.
But that seemed clear from his comments. Mr. Trump has said that he will put his business empire into a trust controlled by his sons and that the company will not do new foreign deals, although ethics experts have said the plan does not go far enough. What profits are made abroad are to go to charity, the president announced.But that seemed clear from his comments. Mr. Trump has said that he will put his business empire into a trust controlled by his sons and that the company will not do new foreign deals, although ethics experts have said the plan does not go far enough. What profits are made abroad are to go to charity, the president announced.
Perhaps charities won’t be benefiting as much as they had hoped.Perhaps charities won’t be benefiting as much as they had hoped.