Category: Trumpland Revealed

The Cost of Trump’s Trade War (and a Better Alternative) | The Smirking Chimp

via The Cost of Trump’s Trade War (and a Better Alternative) | The Smirking Chimp

Trump’s Famous Last Words | The Smirking Chimp

via Trump’s Famous Last Words | The Smirking Chimp

Behind The Scenes, Trump Diligently Tries To Slash Social Programs | HuffPost Australia

How easy is that. Just redefine News as “fake” and now redefine “povert” and problems all go way. (ODT)

This month, the administration signaled it would like to change how the government adjusts its official poverty threshold for inflation every year, which could result in millionsfewer Americans qualifying for a wide range of benefits over time.

It’s only the most recent of many unilateral moves Trump has made on social policy, which all seek to fulfill an Inauguration Day promise to “get our people off of welfare and back to work.”

via Behind The Scenes, Trump Diligently Tries To Slash Social Programs | HuffPost Australia

A CBP Team Targets Travelers After They Pass Immigration

Trump’s secret police and “gotchya” moment making a bad situation even worse. (ODT)

via A CBP Team Targets Travelers After They Pass Immigration

Trump Has Defied Nearly All Subpoenas. What Can the House Do?|The Smirking Chimp

After the redacted Mueller report was made public, Donald Trump tweeted, “No Collusion, No Obstruction, Complete and Total EXONERATION.” But when the House Judiciary Committee asked to see Mueller’s full report, Trump said no way.

Trump Has Defied Nearly All Subpoenas. What Can the House Do?

 

Trump Strangelove: Or how America learned to worry and hate Empire — RT Op-ed

Trump Strangelove: Or how America learned to worry and hate Empire

 Trump Strangelove: Or how America learned to worry and hate Empire — RT Op-ed

President Donald Trump seems to be making Americans hate the empire again, by embracing war – or maybe only pretending to do so – against Iran, Venezuela, Cuba, North Korea and who knows where else.

and

With all eyes on Venezuela, Trump is quietly targeting Cuba

Trump Reportedly Asked Don McGahn To Say He Didn’t Obstruct Justice | HuffPost Australia

Real News (ODT)

After Mueller’s report came out, the former White House counsel was reportedly asked to say it wasn’t obstruction when Trump told him to fire the special counsel.

via Trump Reportedly Asked Don McGahn To Say He Didn’t Obstruct Justice | HuffPost Australia

Here’s How Congress Is Fighting To Get Answers From Trump | HuffPost Australia

His administration won’t give the House answers on the Mueller report, Trump’s obstruction of justice and his personal finances, among other things.

Here are all of the investigations the Trump administration is fighting and seeking to thwart:

via Here’s How Congress Is Fighting To Get Answers From Trump | HuffPost Australia

It ‘Was Sport’ to Dodge Taxes, Admits Trump, After NYT Details Epic Business Failures

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So Trump admits NYT isn’t just Fake News but he was and was for a decade as far as the IRS is concerned (ODT)

“As these records make clear, Trump was perhaps the worst businessman in the world. His entire campaign was a lie.”

via It ‘Was Sport’ to Dodge Taxes, Admits Trump, After NYT Details Epic Business Failures

FBI Director: No Evidence Trump Was Being ‘Spied On’ | Crooks and Liars

via FBI Director: No Evidence Trump Was Being ‘Spied On’ | Crooks and Liars

Filed under:

Sarah Huckabee Sanders Says Trump May Try To Keep Robert Mueller From Testifying | HuffPost Australia

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders suggested Tuesday that President Donald Trump may well try to block special counsel Robert Mueller from testifying before Congress.

via Sarah Huckabee Sanders Says Trump May Try To Keep Robert Mueller From Testifying | HuffPost Australia

Did Donald Trump’s Grip on the Justice Department Sabotage Robert Mueller’s Investigation?

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During testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee last week, Barr was again by turns evasive and openly partisan as he defended Trump against the report’s evidence of obstruction and defended himself against accusations that he had misled Congress and the nation. After his testimony in the Republican-controlled Senate, Barr refused to appear before the Democratic-controlled House Judiciary Committee, setting up a potential battle over whether he is guilty of contempt of Congress.

Before the week was out, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi had accused Barr of lying to Congress, an accusation that certainly endeared Barr to Trump.

via Did Donald Trump’s Grip on the Justice Department Sabotage Robert Mueller’s Investigation?

Michael Cohen begins jail sentence at minimum-security prison dubbed ‘Jewish heaven’ – Donald Trump’s America – ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

Cohen seen through a car surrounded by cameras.

via Michael Cohen begins jail sentence at minimum-security prison dubbed ‘Jewish heaven’ – Donald Trump’s America – ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

The Reality for the Middle Classes behind the supposedly “Surging” U.S. Economy

https://www.juancole.com/images/2019/05/the-reality-for-the-middle-class-750x422.jpg

via The Reality for the Middle Classes behind the supposedly “Surging” U.S. Economy

The Untold Story of Trump’s ‘Booming’ Economy | The Smirking Chimp

American workers get 14 days vacation when most OECD countries get 28

Yeah, yeah, yeah, unemployment is low and the stock market is high. But skyrocketing stocks benefit only the top 10 percent of wealthy Americans who own 84 percent of stocks. And while more people are employed now than during the Great Recession, the vast majority of Americans haven’t had a real raise since 1979.It’s bad out there for American workers. Last month, their ranking dropped for the third year running in the World Happiness Report,

Forty percent of workers say they don’t have $400 for an unexpected expense. Twenty percent can’t pay all of their monthly bills. More than a quarter of adults skipped needed medical care last year because they couldn’t afford it. A quarter of adults have no retirement savings.

The White House Council of Economic Advisers predicted the corporate tax cut would put an extra $4,000 in every worker’s pocket. They swore that corporations would use some of their tax cut money to hand out raises and bonuses to workers. That never happened. Workers got a measly 6 percent of corporations’ tax savings. In the first quarter after the tax cut took effect, workers on average received a big fat extra $6.21 in their paychecks, for an annual total of a whopping $233. Corporations spent their tax breaks on stock buybacks, a record $1 trillion worth, raising stock prices, which put more money in the pockets of rich CEOs and shareholders.

That’s continuing this year. Workers are never going to see that $4,000.

No wonder they’re unhappy. The system is working against them.

via The Untold Story of Trump’s ‘Booming’ Economy | The Smirking Chimp

Wall Street set to ‘dive, dive, dive’ as Trump reignites trade war with China

Analysts say Wall Street has already priced in a trade deal being reached, so any threat to a deal being made will be received poorly by investors.

via Wall Street set to ‘dive, dive, dive’ as Trump reignites trade war with China

Conspiracy-Theorist-in-Chief Trump Tweetstorms the Far Right after Facebook Deplatformed Them

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The complaining Trump demands that Judge Nepolitano be sacked off Fox News (ODT

Donald Trump is a conspiracy theorist, but not a kooky or harmless one. He is a far-right conspiracy theorist who made up 10,000 fictions and actively supports the scariest and worst elements of the American Far Right, from Alex Jones of InfoWars to more obscure and even more poisonous nightshades of the internet.

via Conspiracy-Theorist-in-Chief Trump Tweetstorms the Far Right after Facebook Deplatformed Them

Trump, Wrecker of Reputations | The New Yorker

via Trump, Wrecker of Reputations | The New Yorker

Australian government sources blast US official who described US-China clash as a race contest – Donald Trump’s America – ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

https://www.abc.net.au/news/image/10465040-3x2-700x467.jpg

Key points:

A US State Department official said the China is America’s first great competitor that is “not Caucasian”
Senior Australian government officials have been scathing of the comments
Analysts have warned this plays into China’s “race” narrative

via Australian government sources blast US official who described US-China clash as a race contest – Donald Trump’s America – ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

Trump administration rules health staff can refuse care for religious reasons | US news | The Guardian

The rule will be effective 60 days from its final publication and enforced by the health department’s Office of Civil Rights.

Goodbye to the Hippocratic Oath after 2000 years (ODT)

Doctors, nurses and other health workers can opt out of procedures such as abortions and sterilizations which violate their personal or religious beliefs, under a rule issued by the US Department of Health and Human Services on Thursday.

via Trump administration rules health staff can refuse care for religious reasons | US news | The Guardian

Mueller thinks Trump Committed Obstruction: Why he Wrote to Barr and why Barr Lied

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When testifying before Congress, Barr was asked if he knew Mueller and what the latter thought of Barr’s summary. He pleaded ignorance, which we now know is a falsehood. Harvard law professor Lawrence Tribe wonders whether the lie makes Barr himself eligible for impeachment.

via Mueller thinks Trump Committed Obstruction: Why he Wrote to Barr and why Barr Lied

Trump appointee Bolton inventing a new “Axis of Evil,” including Iran, to put US on War Footing

https://www.juancole.com/images/2019/04/trump-appointee-bolton-inventing-750x422.jpg

Can Trump cancet the 2020elections due to a National Emergency? (ODT)

via Trump appointee Bolton inventing a new “Axis of Evil,” including Iran, to put US on War Footing

Lies, damned lies and Donald Trump: the pick of the president’s untruths | US news | The Guardian

This handout photo released by the US National Park Service shows the crowd for Donald Trump’s inauguration: ‘a massive field of people … packed’, according to Trump.

Remember the biggest crowd of any presidency (ODT)

The White House incumbent has told a staggering 10,000 lies since taking office, some big, some trifling. Here’s a selection

via Lies, damned lies and Donald Trump: the pick of the president’s untruths | US news | The Guardian

As a guest links Trump’s rhetoric with the rise in anti-Semitism, Fox News suddenly cuts to commercial

 As a guest links Trump’s rhetoric with the rise in anti-Semitism, Fox News suddenly cuts to commercial

and

Kellyanne Conway refuses to answer Jake Tapper’s questions on how Trump views white nationalism

 

In fighting all oversight, Trump has made his most dictatorial move | Robert Reich | US news | The Guardian

‘Congress has a constitutional duty to respond forcefully, using its own inherent power of contempt.’

Histories Amoral POTUS (ODT)

The president is treating Congress with contempt. This cannot stand – and Congress must fight back

In fighting all oversight, Trump has made his most dictatorial move | Robert Reich | US news | The Guardian

and

Fox News analyst says Mueller report proves Trump did obstruct justice

Andrew Napolitano argued in an op-ed the president obstructed justice with ‘unlawful’ behavior related to the Russia inquiry

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2019/apr/26/fox-news-andrew-napolitano-trump-obstruct-justice-op-ed

CONFIRMED: Fox News Is Officially State TV | Crooks and Liars

CONFIRMED: Fox News Is Officially State TV

What is then a “donation” and what is Paid for? Imagine if Murdoch pulled away from Trump (ODT)

Gabe Sherman reveals how it works: If Fox News tries to reign in their worst voices like Jeanine Pirro, Trump picks up the phone and calls Rupert Murdoch.

But a sequence of events around Jeanine Pirro’s suspension shows how much clout Trump has. Even though Lachlan Murdoch is the head of Fox News now, Rupert Murdoch has Trump’s ear, and he uses it.

According to Sherman and his sources, staffers thought Jeanine Pirro would be fired, but Trump intervened, calling Rupert Murdoch to complain about her suspension. Instead of firing her, Sherman reports that Fox allowed Pirro to return to the air, but took out her opening monologue where she rants and stirs a froth of anger with viewers. That prompted Trump to complain to Rupert again, which caused a compromise to be forged where she could deliver an abbreviated version of her monologue.

“Trump called Rupert, and Rupert put pressure on the executives,” a source told Sherman.

Just like that!

via CONFIRMED: Fox News Is Officially State TV | Crooks and Liars

Trump Administration Looks To Defy Tax Disclosure Law | HuffPost Australia

Obstruction

Trump Administration Looks To Defy Tax Disclosure Law | HuffPost Australia

White House instructs official to ignore subpoena over security clearances

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Washington: A former White House personnel security director has been instructed by the White House not to show up on Tuesday for questioning by the House Oversight Committee.

The move appears to be the latest effort by the Trump administration to push back against congressional inquiries of the White House, which have proliferated since Democrats took control of the House of Representatives in January.

When Trump caves into the law will he yell No Collusion? (ODT)

White House instructs official to ignore subpoena over security clearances

Kushner Talks of ‘Accountability’ for Crown Prince Just as Saudis Offer ‘Egregious Display of Brutality’ With Mass Beheadings

Top advisor Jared Kushner, his wife Ivanka Trump, and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Sulman at the White House in 2018

These are US allies… no Customers (ODT)

Washington’s Gulf Institute director Ali Al-Ahmed called the killings “the largest mass execution of Shiites in the kingdom’s history.”

Kushner Talks of ‘Accountability’ for Crown Prince Just as Saudis Offer ‘Egregious Display of Brutality’ With Mass Beheadings

All the president’s men and women: how disobedient aides saved Trump | US news | The Guardian

‘The president’s efforts to influence the investigation were mostly unsuccessful,’ Mueller wrote.

Who is Running the country? It’s not Trump! (ODT)

The myth of Donald Trump presents him as a man of authority, a leader loved and feared, a boss who demands loyalty – and gets it.
Trump tampered with witnesses. These Senate Republicans voted to oust Bill Clinton for doing just that

In fact, nobody much listens to what Trump says and that fact might have saved his presidency, according to one of the more startling passages in the 448-page report by special counsel Robert Mueller that was released on Thursday.

“The president’s efforts to influence the investigation were mostly unsuccessful,” Mueller writes, describing potential criminal obstruction of justice, “but that is largely because the persons who surrounded the president declined to carry out orders or accede to his requests.”

via All the president’s men and women: how disobedient aides saved Trump | US news | The Guardian

Concentration Camp Tents Ordered By Trump Administration | Crooks and Liars

Concentration Camp Tents Ordered By Trump Administration

Attorney General William Barr has just banned bail for migrants seeking asylum…which by the way, is not a crime..and they need somewhere to keep these people, to concentrate them if you will.

Dictionary.com defines a concentration camp as: “a guarded compound or imprisonment of aliens, members of ethnic minorities, political opponents … for the confinement and persecution of prisoners.”

Well guess what, America?!

We are now officially building and maintaining concentration camps for migrant families who have come to our borders seeking asylum. Even though the mainstream media is reporting that the Trump Administration is “considering” tent concentration camps, the truth is that they have already been erected. As The Daily Beast published just two days ago, these camps already exist in El Paso, TX. These camps are former military hospital facilities converted to prison camps. Representative Nanette Barragan (D-CA) said after visiting the camp that it was “filthy” and “heartbreaking.”

via Concentration Camp Tents Ordered By Trump Administration | Crooks and Liars

Trump Vetoes Bill To End U.S. Support For Saudis In Yemen War | HuffPost Australia

President Donald Trump on Tuesday vetoed a resolution to end U.S. support of Saudi Arabia’s military campaign in Yemen, which has been blamed for tens of thousands of deaths in the region.

“This resolution is an unnecessary, dangerous attempt to weaken my constitutional authorities, endangering the lives of American citizens and brave service members, both today and in the future,” Trump said in a statement accompanying his veto.

via Trump Vetoes Bill To End U.S. Support For Saudis In Yemen War | HuffPost Australia

Seth Myers Takes A Closer Look At Trump’s Tax Returns | Crooks and Liars

Seth Myers Takes A Closer Look At Trump’s Tax Returns | Crooks and Liars

Trump’s tax cuts: 4 ways they changed the American economy – CNN

“The thing that’s related that I’m more concerned about is, we will eventually face another recession,” says Oh, of UCLA. “And what we’ve done through the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act is use a bunch of the tools that we need to deal with the next recession, at a time when we don’t have a recession.”

1. Corporate taxes fell off a cliff, fueling deeper deficits

2. A short-term economic boost is fading

3. Rich people gained more than poor people

4. Most other impacts: Either too soon to tell or too hard to see

via Trump’s tax cuts: 4 ways they changed the American economy – CNN

Trump’s moves on immigration are straight from the dictator’s playbook | Robert Reich | Opinion | The Guardian

Donald Trump visits the US-Mexico border in Calexico, California.

It does not take long to forget and fascists to return (ODT)

Demonising the ‘other’, confecting a crisis to entrench power and using cruelty to spread fear are all part of an assault on democracy

Trump’s moves on immigration are straight from the dictator’s playbook | Robert Reich | Opinion | The Guardian

Rep. Ilhan Omar Says Death Threats Have Increased Since Trump’s Attack | HuffPost Australia

Rep. Ilhan Omar said that many of the latest threats against her reference the video President Donald...

Trump is a President yelling “fire” in a crowded theatre in which there isn’t one. The Constitution of America doesn’t protect that as “free speech” (ODT)

Since President Donald Trump tweeted a video about Omar, she’s faced “a sharp increase in direct threats” to her life, according to her office.

via Rep. Ilhan Omar Says Death Threats Have Increased Since Trump’s Attack | HuffPost Australia

Secret Report Reveals Saudi Incompetence and Widespread Use of U.S. Weapons in Yemen

Don’t ever let it be said that America isn’t driven and has to have war somewhere (ODT)

Since the brutal murder of Saudi dissident and Washington Post contributor Jamal Khashoggi last October, Congress has increasingly pressured the Trump administration to stop backing the Saudi Arabia-led coalition fighting in Yemen and halt U.S. arms sales to Riyadh. In response, President Donald Trump has repeatedly said that if the U.S. does not sell weapons to the Saudis, they will turn to U.S. adversaries to supply their arsenals.

“I don’t like the concept of stopping an investment of $110 billion into the United States,” Trump told reporters in October, referring to a collection of intent letters signed with the Saudis in the early months of his presidency. “You know what they are going to do? They’re going to take that money and spend it in Russia or China or someplace else.”

via Secret Report Reveals Saudi Incompetence and Widespread Use of U.S. Weapons in Yemen

Lady Justice blinked: America’s flunking legal system reveals a nation divided by money and power — RT Op-ed

Lady Justice blinked: America’s flunking legal system reveals a nation divided by money and power

Lady Justice, the famous symbol of the US legal system, is depicted by a blindfolded goddess who wields a sword in one hand and a set of scales in the other. The blindfold is meant to convey the idea that all people are equal before the law, and everyone will be judged without bias or preconceived notions. Today, however, the blindfold appears to have slipped, and Lady Justice is increasingly meting out justice according to status and financial well-being of the person appearing before her.

In order to avoid imminent disaster, it’s time to firmly affix the blindfold and ensure that all Americans – not just those who can afford it – are seen as truly equal before the law.

via Lady Justice blinked: America’s flunking legal system reveals a nation divided by money and power — RT Op-ed

Democrats set new deadline for release of Trump tax returns | US news | The Guardian

Donald Trump has refused to release his tax returns.

This is the reason he MUST be impeached not just voted out (ODT)

via Democrats set new deadline for release of Trump tax returns | US news | The Guardian

‘I know nothing about Wikileaks. It’s not my thing,’ says Trump following Assange’s arrest — RT USA News

Embedded video

“Not just wacko but a whacko jellyfish” (ODT)

The question about whether Trump’s love for the organization has endured is in reference to a comment the president made at a 2016 campaign rally after WikiLeaks released the bounty of hacked Democratic emails. “Oh, we love WikiLeaks,” Trump said, praising the release of the stolen materials.

It was only one of several occasions Trump commended WikiLeaks during the campaign. He mentioned it 141 times in the last month of the campaign alone as he sought to use the hacked emails to cast Hillary Clinton’s campaign in an unflattering light. “WikiLeaks is unbelievable,” he said at one rally.

Such a fixture was “WikiLeaks” in Trump’s stump speeches that several supercuts have been made of him relishing the damage the organization did to his opponent.

‘I know nothing about Wikileaks. It’s not my thing,’ says Trump following Assange’s arrest — RT USA News

and

Why Is Trump Suddenly Playing Dumb About WikiLeaks?

Fox plays defense for Trump after Democrats ask the IRS for his tax returns

Fox plays defense for Trump after Democrats ask the IRS for his tax returns

The Many American Lies Trump Has Laid Bare

The Many American Lies Trump Has Laid Bare

Reckoning With Failure in the War on Terror

Donald Trump’s ascendancy to the presidency, as Max Blumenthal points out in his insightful book “The Management of Savagery: How America’s National Security State Fueled the Rise of Al Qaeda, ISIS, and Donald Trump,” was made possible not only by massive social inequality and concentration of wealth and political power in the hands of the oligarchic elites but by the national security state’s disastrous and prolonged military interventions overseas.

via Reckoning With Failure in the War on Terror

Donald Trump orders firing of Secret Service director Randolph Alles – Donald Trump’s America – ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

Close up photographs of Randolph Alles on the left and Donald Trump on the right.

Donald Trump has ordered the firing of Secret Service director Randolph “Tex” Alles, according to the White House, amid a shake-up in the upper echelon of the Department of Homeland Security.
Key points:

The White House said Mr Trump has selected career Secret Service official James Murray to lead the agency
Mr Alles’s departure stems from a personality conflict within the service, three officials say
Mr Alles’s removal comes amid a Homeland Security overhaul that began last week

The firing was part of “a near-systematic purge happening at the nation’s second-largest national security agency”, CNN reported one official saying.

via Donald Trump orders firing of Secret Service director Randolph Alles – Donald Trump’s America – ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

Al Jazeera’s Mehdi Hasan Shreds Trump Lawyer’s Ridiculous Argument On Release Of Mueller Report | Crooks and Liars

via Al Jazeera’s Mehdi Hasan Shreds Trump Lawyer’s Ridiculous Argument On Release Of Mueller Report | Crooks and Liars

Donald Trump, Not Ilhan Omar, Accused Jews of Dual Loyalty

This is Anti-Semitism and Pro-Israeli Politics Israel is your country and America is protecting it F*****s Anti- Israel isn’t anti-Semitism. Netanyayu has just promised to annex the West Bank if only Israelis vote for him and he has the guns to do it. (ODT)

Addressing American Jews on Saturday in Las Vegas, President Donald Trump casually invoked the anti-Semitic trope of dual loyalty by referring to Israel’s leader, Benjamin Netanyahu, as “your prime minister.”

Given that Trump was speaking to Jewish Republicans — including Sheldon Adelson, the American casino magnate who is one of Netanyahu’s biggest donors — the president was not wrong to assume that the crowd was strongly pro-Israel, but the accusation that the loyalty of non-Israeli Jews to their home countries is somehow suspect has a long, ugly history.

Later in his address to the Republican Jewish Coalition gathering, Trump referred a second time to American Jews as if they were Israelis by saying that a victory for Democrats in the 2020 election “would cripple our country and very well could leave Israel out there all by yourselves.”

via Donald Trump, Not Ilhan Omar, Accused Jews of Dual Loyalty

Trump Lawyers Fight Release Of The President’s Tax Returns | HuffPost Australia

Trump never does anything for the nation. is this a reason for him stacking the judiciary with ultra-conservatives? (ODT)

President Donald Trump’s lawyers are pushing back against the idea of releasing his tax returns.

In a letter to the U.S. Treasury Department on Friday, a team of the president’s lawyers argued that requests for the release of his tax information “are not consistent with governing law.”

“We are confident that this misguided attempt to politicize the administration of the tax laws will not succeed,” they wrote in the letter, which was signed by William Consovoy, Trump’s personal attorney.

Friday’s letter suggests the president will fight hard to keep his tax information private. In the letter, Consovoy argues that Congress is attempting to violate Trump’s First Amendment rights.

via Trump Lawyers Fight Release Of The President’s Tax Returns | HuffPost Australia

Ayatollah Trump: The Global Rise of the Christian Right

http://smirkingchimp.com/thread/john-feffer/84186/ayatollah-trump-the-global-rise-of-the-christian-right

Widespread Censorship of Former Government Employees Violates the First Amendment, Lawsuit Says

A man crosses the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) seal in the lobby of CIA Headquarters in Langley, Virginia, on August 14, 2008. AFP PHOTO/SAUL LOEB / AFP PHOTO / SAUL LOEB (Photo credit should read SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images)

“This far-reaching censorship system simply can’t be squared with the Constitution,” Jameel Jaffer, executive director of the Knight First Amendment Institute, said in a statement. “The government has a legitimate interest in protecting bona fide national security secrets, but this system sweeps too broadly, fails to limit the discretion of government censors, and suppresses political speech that is vital to informing public debate.”

via Widespread Censorship of Former Government Employees Violates the First Amendment, Lawsuit Says

Whistleblower: White House reversed security clearance denials – BBC News

The White House

The White House has not commented on the testimony for issues of security no doubt (ODT)

A White House whistleblower has told Congress that dozens of rejected security clearance applications were overturned by the Trump administration.

Tricia Newbold claimed applications that were denied for “serious disqualifying issues” were later reversed with little explanation.

The veteran White House security adviser testified to the Democratic-led House Oversight and Reform Committee.

Democrats have long claimed that White House officials have abused clearances.

Ms Newbold, who has worked under both Republican and Democratic administrations, claimed that clearances “were not always adjudicated in the best interest of national security”.

She added that rejections occurred due to a variety of reasons, including “foreign influence, conflicts of interest, concerning personal conduct, financial problems, drug use, and criminal conduct”.

Whistleblower: White House reversed security clearance denials – BBC News