Week #33: July 2, 2017 |
This week the first evidence of possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia surfaced. Several key members of the Trump regime could be ensnared -- big news, with major ramifications! Yet, most of our country was distracted by Trump's Twitter war with Joe and Mika. This week, Trump continued to use hate to keep his base engaged, while marginalizing and ignoring those not white, straight, Christian and male. Through deportation and immigration bans, and continually peeling away rights and protections from women, PoC, LGBTQ, and Muslim and Jewish Americans, Trump is changing the character of our country, and the world is noticing. |
1. |
California added four more states to its ban on state-funded and state-sponsored travel, citing these states (eight in total) for laws allowing discriminating against LGBTQ people. Read More About This |
2. |
Overruling experts and diplomats, and without explanation, the State Dept removed Iraq and Myanmar from the list of the world's worst offenders in the use of child soldiers. Read More About This |
3. |
Trump's DHS pulled a grant given by Obama given to Life After Hate, a group dedicated to countering neo-Nazis and white supremacists. Read More About This |
4. |
The State Dept's anti-Semitism monitoring office will be unstaffed as of July 1. This, as the ADL reports anti-Semitic incidents have almost doubled in 2017. Read More About This; Click here, also |
5. |
A court in Mississippi lifted an injunction on an anti-gay law, freeing individuals and government workers the ability to discriminate against gay and transgender people on religious grounds. Read More About This |
6. |
North Carolina's Supreme Court ruled that a woman cannot revoke consent after sexual intercourse begins. Read More About This |
7. |
Trump ended an almost two decade-long tradition of celebrating Ramadan at the WH. Read More About This |
8. |
Six Afghan girls were denied one-week visas to show their robot at FIRST Global Challenge in DC. Roa Mahboob, the first female tech CEO in Afghanistan who sponsored the team said, "they were crying all the day." Read More About This |
9. |
The historical marker for civil-rights icon Emmett Till on the Mississippi Freedom Trail was vandalized. Read More About This |
10. |
Trucker Rene Flores, who was featured in a USA Today article on how poor immigrants who speak little English have become modern-day indentured servants, was fired the day after the article ran. Read More About This; Click here, also |
11. |
Five months after Trump's 90-day Muslim Ban was introduced, the Supreme Court allowed part of the second version to take effect, banning travel from six Muslim countries where Trump doesn't have properties. Read More About This |
12. |
Attorneys general from 10 states and Idaho's governor threatened to sue the government to stop granting and renewing Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals ("DACA") permits by September 5. Read More About This |
13. |
Trump's White House said Chicago (Trump regime code for Black Americans) gun violence is "driven by morality more than anything else." Read More About This |
14. |
Trump invited families of victims killed by undocumented immigrants to the White House for an on-camera, anti-immigrant display. Read More About This |
15. |
POLITICO reported the White House Council for Women and Girls, set up by Obama, has gone dark under Trump, and will likely be shuttered. Read More About This |
16. |
Mattis will delay the Pentagon's decision on allowing transgender recruits into the military for six months. Carter, his predecessor under Obama, had ended the ban on transgender people serving. Read More About This |
17. |
WAPO reported that one month before Election Day, Kushner's firm finalized a $285mm refinancing loan from Deutsche Bank. Kushner and his brother are guarantors of the loan. Read More About This |
18. |
Kushner did not report the loan or his personal guarantee on his financial disclosure form filed with the OGE. Read More About This |
19. |
The loan came at a time when Deutsche was negotiating with New York state regulators to settle a federal mortgage fraud case and charges of money laundering for Russia. Read More About This |
20. |
In Week 19's List (March 25) Deutsch was fined $630mm for laundering over $10bn of Russian money, and settled the case in May. Read More About This |
21. |
FT reported VEB, the state-owned Russian bank whose chairman, Gorkov, met clandestinely with Kushner, has no banking license or capital, and is essentially a special-purpose vehicle to support the Kremlin's priorities. Read More About This |
22. |
Kushner retained Abbe Lowell, one of the country's leading criminal defense attorneys, to represent him in the special counsel probe. Read More About This |
23. |
WAPO reported Manafort retroactively filed as foreign agent on Tuesday for $17.1 million in payments received by his firm between 2012–2014 from a pro-Russia political party that controlled Ukraine's government. Read More About This |
24. |
Also in the filing, Manafort revealed that in 2013 he met with CA Rep. Rohrabacher, an outspoken pro-Russia advocate. Read More About This |
25. |
Roll Call reported that Manafort donated to Rohrabacher three days after their meeting. Read More About This |
26. |
ABC reported Congressional investigators will question Trump's longtime bodyguard, Keith Schiller, who now serves as a White House aide, as part of their Russia probe. Schiller delivered Comey's termination letter in person. Read More About This |
27. |
Miami Herald reported on Igor Zorin, a Russian government official who, on his $75k bureaucrat's salary, purchased three units at the ritzy Trump Palace in South Florida worth $5.4mm. Read More About This |
28. |
CNN reported Trump's own advisers are struggling to convince him that Russia still poses a threat. Read More About This |
29. |
CNN also reported NSA director Rogers expressed frustration to lawmakers about his inability to convince Trump that Russia interfered in our election, and Trump's lack of focus on the continued threat. Read More About This |
30. |
Further, even as the IC continues to brief him on Russian interference, Trump has not convened any meetings on Russian meddling. Read More About This |
31. |
Intelligence and lawmakers expressed concern on the State Dept's unwillingness to crack down on Russian diplomats traveling within the US, despite evidence Moscow is trying to conduct intelligence operations. Read More About This |
32. |
Trump continued to distract from Russian interference and possible collusion, tweeting "Hillary Clinton colluded with the Democratic Party in order to beat Crazy Bernie Sanders. Is she allowed to so collude?" Read More About This |
33. |
A former CIA analyst and targeting officer explained how Trump's tweets are being used by foreign spies to determine his vulnerabilities. Read More About This |
34. |
The Kremlin recalled Kislyak amid the election controversy. Flynn, Kushner and Sessions all had undisclosed meetings with Kislyak. Read More About This |
35. |
WAPO reported that the FBI met with Page five times in March about his contacts with Russia and claims in the Steele dossier. At the time, Page did not have a lawyer. Read More About This |
36. |
Ivanka was ordered to testify in a dispute with an Italian shoemaker who accused her of copying one of its shoe designs. Read More About This |
37. |
Chinese authorities released on bail, pending trial, the three activists who were investigating low pay, excessive overtime, crude verbal abuse and possible misuse of student labor at Ivanka's China factories. Read More About This |
38. |
Guardian reported a nonprofit run by Trump attorney Sekulow will be investigated by authorities in two states for steering tens of millions of dollars to his family and their businesses. Read More About This |
39. |
On Monday, as the CBO report indicated Senate version of AHCA/Trumpcare would result in 22mm more uninsured, the White House issued a statement trashing the credibility of the Office. Read More About This |
40. |
Polls showed the Senate version is wildly unpopular: USA Today/Suffolk12% approve, NPR/PBS/NewsHour/Marist 17% approve. Read More About This |
41. |
A pro-Trump PAC ran negative ads targeting Sen. Heller in his home state for not supporting AHCA. Amid backlash, the ads were pulled. Read More About This |
42. |
Reporting on the Senate's failure to pass ACHA cited Trump's lack of interest and loss of political capital. Some Senators also didn't trust him after he called the House version he had backed, "mean." Read More About This |
43. |
On Monday late evening, the White House issued a cryptic statement warning of potential preparations for a chemical attack in Syria, and saying Syria would "pay a heavy price." Read More About This |
44. |
NBC reported Trump's own senior national security officials were caught off guard by the White House statement. NBC noted the disconnect demonstrates how Trump "is making foreign policy on the fly." Read More About This |
45. |
The US image has plunged under Trump. Pew Research found three-quarters of countries surveyed have little to no confidence in Trump to handle foreign affairs. Our democratic allies were the most negative. Read More About This |
46. |
Pew found that only 22% are confident in Trump's handling of foreign affairs, compared to 64% during the Obama administration. Read More About This |
47. |
Also of note in the Pew Research survey, for the first time in 35 years, a majority of Canadians have an unfavorable view of the US. Read More About This |
48. |
The Toronto Star has also been keeping track of the false claims by Trump, and has so many, they chose to sort them by topic. Read More About This |
49. |
The EPA chief of staff pressured a scientist on the agency's scientific review board to change her testimony before the House Science Comm. Read More About This |
50. |
POLITICO reported Trump Hotel DC has become a go-to meeting place. Conway said, "They look at it as a piece of the president." Trump continues to profit from the hotel, and has not tracked foreign government receipts as promised. Read More About This |
51. |
The White House abruptly changed course and disinvited the media from covering Trump's first re-election fundraiser. As mentioned in Week 32, the high-priced event will be held at the Trump Hotel DC. Read More About This; Click here, also |
52. |
WAPO reported that a fake Time magazine cover is hung up in at several of Trump's golf clubs. After the report, a spokesperson for Time said the magazine had asked the Trump Organization to remove them. Read More About This |
53. |
Trump remarked to an Irish reporter that she had a "nice smile" during a telephone call in the Oval Office with the newly elected Irish PM. Trump told Varadkar, "I bet she treats you well." Read More About This; Click here, also |
54. |
Trump told the Irish PM, "We have so many people from Ireland in this country. I know so many of them, too. I feel I know all of them." Read More About This |
55. |
Maddow reported that Republicans and conservative media have started a campaign of smear FBI interim director McCabe, who can corroborate Comey's statement on conversations with Trump. Read More About This |
56. |
Maddow also reported that Deutsche Bank added a lawyer with a background in tax crimes and money laundering. Read More About This |
57. |
On Thursday, Deutsche Bank again denied Democratic lawmakers' request for information on Trump's accounts, saying individual members of Congress don't have the same standing as a committee. Read More About This |
58. |
Graham and Grassley requested the FBI and DOJ provide copies of surveillance requests made in their investigation of Russian interference in the election. If shared with Trump, this could bolster his defense. Read More About This |
59. |
Pence and Kobach, heads of Trump's commission on election integrity, asked all 50 states to release voter roll data, including names, birthdays, the last four digits of SS numbers, and voting history back to 2006. Read More About This |
60. |
Amid cries of voter suppression and privacy concerns, within 24 hours almost half of all states had rejected the request in part or whole. Read More About This |
61. |
Kobach said Kansas would not hand over some of the information, nor will Pence's home state (IN). Mississippi's Secretary of State said, "They can go jump in the Gulf of Mexico." Read More About This; Click here, also |
62. |
Next morning, Trump tweeted his dismay, "What are they trying to hide?" leading to a conversation on Twitter on why Trump has yet to share his tax returns, and we have normalized this and stopped asking. Read More About This |
63. |
AP reported EPA's Pruitt met with the CEO of Dow Chemical before deciding to reverse an agency ban on a widely-used pesticide which studies have found can harm children's brains. Read More About This |
64. |
Dow spent $13.6mm on lobbying in 2016, and wrote a $1mm check to Trump's inauguration festivities. Dow's CEO stood by Trump in February as he signed an EO rolling back government regulations. Read More About This |
65. |
At the Aspen Ideas conference, Yates said while acting AG, she found out about the Muslim Ban by reading about it in the NYT. Read More About This |
66. |
Yates slammed the Trump regime for ignoring legal and political norms, and said the regime's behavior "should be alarming to us as a country." Read More About This |
67. |
ABC reported federal authorities are investigating a breach of at least one nuclear plant's computer system. Read More About This |
68. |
POLITICO reported that Tillerson blew up at Trump's head of personnel, DeStefano, for torpedoing his picks for senior State Dept roles. The State Dept remains largely unstaffed, including deputy Secretary of State. Read More About This; Click here, also |
69. |
In Week 32, DeStefano's data company was involved in the leak of private information of 200mm US voters, which was left unprotected onlineahead of the 2016 election. Read More About This |
70. |
Kasowitz failed to follow through on his threatened legal complaint against Comey, a pattern for the Trump's attorneys. Read More About This |
71. |
As stories on Russia and other controversies continued to break, Trump continued his efforts to weaken the media's credibility : tweeting "They are all Fake News!" -- about CNN, ABC, NBC, CBS, WAPO and NYT. Read More About This |
72. |
Trump shared videos of a CNN commentator and producer being secretly recorded by Project Veritas' O'Keefe to his 7mm followers on Instagram. Read More About This |
73. |
CNN's Stelter gave three examples of press access being rolled back: Trump and S. Korean president didn't hold a joint news conference, Pentagon's non-answer on why Mattis traveled without the usual TV journalists, and journalists told to leave DOJ event marking Pride month. Read More About This |
74. |
The Senate Intel Comm will get Comey's memos on his conversationswith Trump. It is unclear when and if the public will see them. Read More About This |
75. |
On Thursday, Trump sent a set of highly offensive tweets at Joe and Mika, including "low I.Q. Crazy Mika," "Psycho Joe." The tweet to Mika (see below) was widely condemned as beneath the office, and sexist. Read More About This |
76. |
Conservative pundit Krauthammer told FoxNews of Trump's tweets, "This is what it's like in a banana republic." Read More About This |
77. |
Amid the uproar, Trump quietly announced that he will meet with Putinin person at the G-20 gathering next week. Numerous experts and lawmakers expressed grave concern. Read More About This |
78. |
VOX reported Trump aides said he doesn't have an agenda or plan much preparation for the meeting, raising concerns that Putin, a master tactician who arrives meticulously well-prepared, will outplay Trump. Read More About This |
79. | Trump also succeeded at distracting from the bombshell of possible collusion, voter roll request and other highly controversial stories. |
80. |
WSJ reported the first evidence of collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia. A Republican operative, Peter Smith, tried to get Hillary's 33k deleted emails from Russian hackers in concert with Flynn. Read More About This |
81. |
Smith passed away in May. The Trump campaign said if Flynn coordinated with Smith, "it would have been in his capacity as a private individual." Read More About This |
82. |
WSJ also reported Smith's story is consistent with intelligence agencies intercepts of Russian hackers discussing how to obtain emails from Hillary's server and transmit them to Flynn via an intermediary. Read More About This |
83. |
Late Friday, the WSJ broadened its story saying Smith cited other key Trump regime players -- Bannon, Conway and Clovis -- in his Sept. 7, 2016 recruitment document for his effort to get Hillary's 33k deleted emails. Read More About This |
84. |
On Friday, NY Magazine reported on Trump's efforts to possibly blackmail Joe and Mika by using a story to be published at Trump ally David Pecker's National Enquirer making their affair public. Read More About This; Click here, also |
85. |
Kushner was the go-between for communication. He told Scarborough he would need to personally apologize to Trump for negative coverage for the story not to run. Scarborough would not, and the story ran. Read More About This |
86. |
Law Newz explained that Trump's alleged blackmail of Joe and Mika, including persistent phone calls by reporters to Mika's teenage children, could be an impeachable offense. Read More About This |
87. |
Bloomberg reported that Kushner almost bought the National Enquirerthree year ago, and The New Yorker reported David Pecker is considering a bid for Time Inc., owner of Time magazine. Read More About This |
88. |
On Friday, as the Senate left for break, Trump tweeted they should just repeal Obamacare and replace it later. The CBO estimated in that scenario 18mm would lose coverage in year 1, and 32mm more by 2026. Read More About This |
89. |
25 House Democrats, including the ranking member of the Judiciary Comm, backed a bill that would create an "oversight" commission that could declare the president incapacitated under the 25th Amendment. Read More About This |

Replicated from: https://medium.com/@Amy_Siskind/week-33-experts-in-authoritarianism-advise-to-keep-a-list-of-things-subtly-changing-around-you-so-a9315863b6cd
