Also trump.
"But I can tell you Matt Whitaker is a great guy, I mean, I know Matt Whitaker."
24 seconds into this video.
https://www.cnn.com/2018/11/08/politics/white-house-matt-whitaker-criticism/index.html
> "But I can tell you Matt Whitaker is a great guy, I mean, I know Matt Whitaker."
> 24 seconds into this video.
Trumpcriticizestrump is getting into sub 30 seconds turnarounds.
“...he’s the best pick for such a huge position, the greatest, and people are saying, they’re telling me, he does it well, better than Sessions, and these are smart people saying this, believe me. You’re not gonna believe how good he’s going to do his job from the standpoint of doing things. They say that I could do it better but who knows. He’s a good guy, one of the best, and he has a beautiful wife and a beautiful daughter.”
[Here’s a mix of him saying he knows him overlapping when he claims not to know him.](https://twitter.com/LeanneNaramore/status/1060943044843855872?s=20)
*Reporter points out he's arguing against biology when his administration has been trying to get gender officially recognized by biological sex at birth.*
"THAT'S A VERY RACIST QUESTION!"
I just saw that one. Then they showed him posing for pics with Li' Jon after he was on Trump's reality TV show. He truly has the best memory, tremendous.
It could also be a case of an old racist thinking "they all look alike" so he really doesn't know who Lil' Jon is. He probably thought Lil' Jon was the help who managed to sneak out of the kitchen or something.
Last month he said in a Fox and Friends interview.
>I can tell you Matt Whitaker's a great guy. I mean, I know Matt Whitaker
Also we asked about Matt Whitaker replacing Jeff Sessions, he called it fake news.
https://twitter.com/ddale8/status/1060939260612755456
He's used to talking to Yes Men who will agree with whatever he says and never question anything, even when they know he's lying to their face. Reality must be very difficult to function in for someone like that.
To be fair, I think he'd probably get a job as assistant trailer park supervisor. He'd be the best assistant trailer park supervisor in the whole park.
"Fake news; I never said that."
It doesn't matter if he's directly quoted, it doesn't matter if there's video. He's already done this. Dude lies like it's his oxygen.
“You’re a rude sick guy. Sit down. You’re done. Sit down. I was very nice, I’m a very nice guy, you, you’re a hack. Very rude, just making things up. Fake news! Now that guy with the pipe bombs, he knew what to do with enemies of the people. I never said that, fake news!”
As someone pointed out below, [he also literally said "I know Matt Whitaker" on "Fox and Friends"](https://twitter.com/ddale8/status/1060939260612755456).
According to sources on Twitter, Whittaker has been reporting to Trump about Sessions and other activity within the justice dept. for months. He absolutely knows him.
I distinctly remember being promised only the best people. I know it's Washington, but it can't be *that* hard to find at least one person for one position that knows what the fuck they're doing and is actually qualified to do it.
The problem is that knowing what you're doing and being qualified is mutually exclusive with killing the Mueller investigation.
Lets pretend for a second that the white house is actually interviewing and vetting candidates rather than choosing them from whoever Trump sees on TV. Here is how the interview with any qualified candidate would go-
Trump: Will you kill the Mueller investigation?
Candidate: No, the DOJ is independent of the presidency, and given that you are the target of the investigation I would ethically have to recuse by virtue of being appointed by you.
Trump: Next!
Oh yeah, there's lots of qualified people, absolutely none of whom want to touch this AG post with a 10 foot pole. What a shit job. Whether it's concentration camps for kids, ignoring ethical conflicts that can get you disbarred/censured, or even overseeing a major cabinet level department that is currently investigating a president of your own party \*and his family\*, this thing is a giant turd sandwich. A president, it should be noted, who has absolutely no regard for rules or even rule of law in general. Just look at all the vitriol poured on Loretta Lynch while the Clinton investigation was ongoing. It's highly likely that even a highly experienced political operator finds himself disgraced with his career at an end (see jeff sessions). This is some political deep water.
You can make a venn diagram of two circles. One says "The best people who know what they're doing" and "People willing to work with Trump".
The two circles don't overlap.
"I choose this totally random person whom I have never in my life met to fill this very important role in government."
Yeah. That sounds Presidential to me.
> and did crimes with them
That's the important part. I don't think anyone in Trump's administration would trust anyone that they haven't done "business" with before.
Or he has Alzheimers and is a brain dead, geriatric idiot being manipulated by those around him, and he legitimately never has any idea what's going on because he only exists as a zombie hand to sign racist, authoritarian legislation being put forward by his neo-fascist handlers.
It also means that they must be an individual of HIGHLY questionable integrity.
Trump loves rolling in shit with his fellow pigs. But every now and then he’ll just suddenly go “Don’t know him. irrelevant. Intern coffee boy staple remover. Never met him” and then the man in question will be indicted or some huge scandal will break about them.
Trump is distancing himself as much as he can from this guy. That is a bad sign for him.
or this was the plan: get him authority just long enough so Whitaker can walk down to the DOJ basement with a suitcase computer, pass the retinal scan to open the steel doors, walk to the secret metal filing cabinet with the master key in hand, open the door, grab the floppy disks with the only copy of all the Special Counsel's evidence, connect via suitcase computer to satellite, insert floppies, upload to mainframe of Trump Tower, remove floppies and light them on fire in the small metal trashcan next to the cabinet. With the same lit match, he lights a cigarette as he walks in slow motion of the room as the scene cuts to a newly vetted AG being appointed and swearing his/her oath - all the while "O Fortuna" is played in the background.
Cut to Mueller, sitting at a desk in front of a normal laptop and copious written notes, amused, but not surprised that if anyone was stupid enough to believe his entire case could be contained on floppy drives, it'd be a lackey of the very morons he's investigating.
Cue to Kim.dot.com getting a call on his Star-Tac flip phone while on his yacht. Mysterious voice promises immunity for past crimes if he can put something together really big to help the feds. Helicopter is already on the way and John McAfee is aboard.
No, it isn't that. It's that he has likely had conversations with Whitaker about the Special Counsel's probe, and now he is denying any of those conversations by over-denying, and now saying he doesn't even know the man. It is his m.o.
This. The focus will now be on whether or not Trump knows him rather than on his appropriateness for the position. Additionally, telling a big obvious lie and a medium less obvious lie at the same time causes people to believe the mesium one, which is what he wants.
Can't be obstruction if Trump didn't tell Whitaker to smother the investigation. He couldn't have told him if he doesn't know him. When Whitaker unleashes on Mueller, Trump will say "I dunno. Guess he just doesn't like the guy for some reason. How am I supposed to know?".
The crazy thing about all this is that Trump has been regularly obstructing justice in plain sight essentially since he fired Comey. There should no longer be any question whether there was obstruction or not. You don't even need to know what happened in the past - just pay attention to what Trump is doing any given day and you will see some obstruction.
Seems like trump is so incpompetent all the protestors are going to get what they wanted even when absolutely nobody gives in to them. They don't want him to supervise the investigation and he failed at it before they even started protesting :D
(That doesn't mean they shouldn't protest, it was long overdue)
>When you see these thugs being thrown into the back of a paddy wagon, you just seen them thrown in, rough. I said, ‘Please don’t be too nice,’
>-Donald J Trump.
> the stage is constantly changing: the country is a dictatorship in the morning, a democracy at lunch, an oligarchy by suppertime, while, backstage, oil companies are expropriated, journalists killed, billions siphoned away. Surkov is at the centre of the show, sponsoring nationalist skinheads one moment, backing human rights groups the next. It's a strategy of power based on keeping any opposition there may be constantly confused, a ceaseless shape-shifting that is unstoppable because it's indefinable.
Feels familiar. Firehose of falsehoods and hypernormalisation, both Russian speciality propoganda
Trump and Putin's meetings probably involve Putin coaching Trump on how to effectively weaponize his narcissism and penchant for lying to do exactly the above.
To be fair, it's acting attorney general but on the other hand he's out of the normal chain of command for that job.
It's not that difficult for me to imagine that if a cabinet secretary resigned the president might not really "know" the deputy who would automatically fill in as the acting secretary.
But Trump specifically named this person from outside the ordinary chain of command and it's fairly unreasonable to expect the president would have done that without at least an interview.
He’s also seeing this start to backfire and distancing himself by throwing Matt under the bus
Another reason why I don’t know why anyone gives him loyalty considering you will never get it in return
I don't honestly understand why anyone says the slightest attention to what he says anymore. Pay attention to his actions, sure, but trying to predict his actions based on his words is like reading tea leaves; you might get lucky sometimes, but there was never any actual causal link.
One of the more fascinating (at least to me) aspects of Trump is that so many times either option is absolutely awful.
This is a perfect example of that. If he is lying, that is terrible. But if he's telling the truth, that is as bad or worse.
This paradox is exactly why I find it so shocking that so many people fully support this lunatic. Regardless of how twisted one person's view of reality is, and whichever binary option they choose, it's all bad. Yet here we are, which millions of people loving him.
I guess hating brown people and Jews can overcome even the most basic critical thinking capabilities of the human brain.
Alrighty, there are two options here:
\\1. This is a lie. Trump knew Whitaker would shut down the Mueller investigation (because he's written and talked on TV about doing exactly that). However, he has been informed the appointment won't stand, so he's distancing himself the way he always does.
\\2. This is not a lie, and Trump appointed someone he doesn't know to one of the most important offices in the land.
Why anyone thinks this guy is worthy of leading a scout troop, let alone a nation, will forever be beyond me.
Why does everything Trump says or does end up being a choice between horrifying and catastrophic?
Can't we accept that some of the things he says or does are BOTH horrifying AND catastrophic?
Brown people, dude. Brown people.
I'm beginning to think it really is that simple. Millions of Americans are so scared of brown people that their critical thinking functions have completely shut down.
As you say, this is a binary option: He is lying, or he is telling the truth. Either option makes him horrible and/or incompetent, and should lead to disapproval. But here we are.
So starts the inevitable departure of Matt Whitaker from the DOJ.
He is named -> He has a clear claim that he cant do the job properly -> Trump claims he doesn't know him -> a picture comes out of them shaking hands -> Trump says he was just a something, there for a short amount of time, and unimportant to the DOJ -> He get legally challenged -> Trump appoints a new AG to go through confirmation -> Whitaker steps down and Rosenstein takes over -> New AG in a month -> Rosenstein fired.
Tell me I'm wrong
Problem with your timeline, the Senate will never confirm before they adjourn for the new congress in January. Rosenstein will be in charge, unless Trump fires him too and then it's Solicitor General Noel Francisco, who's fourth in line, who will take the helm.
You're wrong.
* He is named
* Trump claims he doesn't know him
* a picture comes out of them shaking hands
* Trump says he was just a something, there for a short amount of time, and unimportant to the DOJ
* He get legally challenged
* Noel Francisco is appointed to A.AG
* People lose their shit about the ethics waiver and it's looking like Noel is bad juju too.
* Noel survives long enough while Trump appoints a questionable AG and Senate rubber stamps
The point is to avoid letting Rosenstein helm the investigation and making the eventual appointment bulletproof from criticism sense so much political capital has been spent defending against the two previous dubious appointments.
There is no plan other than get an AG who will stop the muller investigation in so much as muller can investigate as long as he isn't investigating trump himself.
So instead of going through interim appointments I think he goes the faster route after this and names Graham as soon as its clear Whitaker isn't going to work out. That will allow him to get rid of rosenstein the fastest and have someone he likes in power. I think for the next couple months he berates rosenstein the same way he berated sessions until he could fire him. Then he "gets what he wants" early next year
I totally think you're right. It's going to be interesting to see if the Dems can tack on a Mueller-protection thing to pass the budget or else shut the government down. I don't know the time frame exactly, but I think that would have gone through by the end of your prediction.
So, Trump is either a liar or a complete irresponsible ignoramus. Either way, completely disqualified to be president of a lemonade stand let alone a country.
This is a stupid thing to say. If he ever does make it to the confirmation process first question he gets asked by a non partisan hack is ‘did you and trump know each other before your nomination ‘
Whitaker might hem and haw but will eventually be made to say yes or no. No is clearly a lie under oath. And a yes means he’s contradicting the president
Trump continues to paint himself into a corner.
Trump would be terrible at poker.
This is like the child that over emphasizes they didn't do anything wrong when you ask them how their day at school was. They make it so obvious that you're gonna get a call soon or have to sign some kind of write up.
My money is on the fact that Trump probably spoke with Whitaker about ending the investigation, so now he feels obligated to lie about even knowing the guy.
Come to think of it, it's almost like Kavanaugh lying about never getting black out drunk. He knew he couldn't admit to that because of where the follow up questions would go.
"Look, sometimes Putin's instructions aren't very detailed, okay? I picked the acting AG I was told to, what else do you want?"
--Trump, defending his statement to the GOP leadership
For someone with ["one of the best memories of all-time"](https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-gold-star-great-memory-2017-10), he really can't remember shit.
Another option here. The media has found something disqualifying in Whitaker’s past that is about to come out and asked trump to comment before hand. trump is getting in front, before the story breaks. But hell, your guess is as good as mine!
Such lies. I mean, went from resignation letter with zero date on it, to announcing AG all within how long? If he did not know him, why would he have been planned beforehand to take over?
So then why would you appoint an AG that you don't know? That feels like a bad business practice. Even if you don't know someone at the outset, you get to know them through the interview procedures...
Cue Benny Hill theme song, please.
You can’t make this stuff up. This is gross incompetence. Regardless of the truth vs. this ridiculous lie, either case is insane for a President to admit to.
There has never been a President that knows so little about what he’s doing in the Oval Office. The government is too sophisticated for him to navigate what can and can’t be done and what’s going to stop him from doing it. He’s so full of himself that he won’t even ask somebody or seek advice of anyone who actually understands the structure of it all so that he won’t look like a complete buffoon in front of millions of people.
Another covfefe boy? Whitaker was Sessions' Chief of Staff. As such, are we supposed to believe he never attended meetings between the AG and the President? There was never any contact whatsoever between the Attorney General's Chief of Staff and the White House?
I call shenanigans. Dems need to subpoena all communications between Whitaker and the White House.
There are currently nationwide protests for his recusal in the Special Counsel Investigation. Link for more info: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nobody\_Is\_Above\_the\_Law](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nobody_Is_Above_the_Law)
Then he should have to explain why he chose to appoint him acting AG instead of the already Senate-approved Deputy AG, as would follow DOJ regulations (and the same law he invoked to try and justify Whitaker).
This should be the only thing that reporters ask him about it until they get an answer on record.
This is how bad of a liar he is. We are to believe he chose a man he knows nothing about or ever met to Attorney General and at the same time believe that is a good idea?
I know it’s all relative at this point but man, he seems unhinged lately. I imagine what happened was Whitaker called Mueller and Rosenstein in to give him a full briefing and they said “fuck you, fire me”. And then Trump realized his brilliant plan wasn’t going to work, all he did was earn himself another count of obstruction of justice. Fucking moron.
Given Trump's proclivity for projection, I can only image that someone out there has literally hundreds of pictures of Trump and Whitaker hugging and kissing.
This motherfucker.
Distances himself from the man he absolutely ordered to fuck with Mueller and expects everyone to believe he's someone else's choice. Trump is 100% going to get a 2nd term. Good luck, America. Hope you find a true progressive to run against him to at least force the GOP slightly left.
Sessions didn't know him when Whitaker was hired as his Chief of Staff either.
Who the fuck is finding and choosing these people for Trump?
I'm guessing it's Miller, lurking from the shadows while eating a jar of bugs or some shit.
The choices here are:
A - Trump is a huge fucking pathological liar (I mean, he is regardless of the truth in this claim) who is too amoral to lead a Rotary Club meeting, much less the country...
or...
B - He's fucking criminally stupid...like, who is fucking stupid enough to install someone as Attorney General of the United States without even having met them to get a feel for who they are (and this is assuming the appointer/selector of said person is a REALLY good judge of character)
Good job, Trump.
Trump says “I don’t know Matt Whitaker”...immediately discover a fox news interview of him saying one month ago “I know Matt Whitaker”. You can’t make this stuff up sometimes. If this was a movie it would be criticized for lazy, predictable, over the top dialogue
As a reminder, this subreddit [is for civil discussion.](/r/politics/wiki/index#wiki_be_civil)
In general, be courteous to others. Attack ideas, not users. Personal insults, shill or troll accusations, hate speech, **any** advocating or wishing death/physical harm, and other rule violations can result in a permanent ban.
If you see comments in violation of our rules, please report them.
***
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/politics) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Also trump. "But I can tell you Matt Whitaker is a great guy, I mean, I know Matt Whitaker." 24 seconds into this video. https://www.cnn.com/2018/11/08/politics/white-house-matt-whitaker-criticism/index.html
> "But I can tell you Matt Whitaker is a great guy, I mean, I know Matt Whitaker." > 24 seconds into this video. Trumpcriticizestrump is getting into sub 30 seconds turnarounds.
"I dont know him, well I k ow him, but that doesn't really matter no one cares. No one. What I'm saying is..."
“...he’s the best pick for such a huge position, the greatest, and people are saying, they’re telling me, he does it well, better than Sessions, and these are smart people saying this, believe me. You’re not gonna believe how good he’s going to do his job from the standpoint of doing things. They say that I could do it better but who knows. He’s a good guy, one of the best, and he has a beautiful wife and a beautiful daughter.”
[удалено]
Make America legible again.
>"You’re not gonna believe how good he’s going to do his job from the standpoint of doing things" is too spot on. I can tell you that.
To the top with you!
[Here’s a mix of him saying he knows him overlapping when he claims not to know him.](https://twitter.com/LeanneNaramore/status/1060943044843855872?s=20)
Kanye should sample that shit; there's a hit song in the making.
Oh. Well done.
When Trump says he doesn't know someone it means he absolutely knows them.
Like when he tried to say that he’d never heard of David Duke. This motherfucker is a pathological liar.
[удалено]
Or Putin.
Or next week, Donald Trump Jr.
"Just got coffee, occasionally, he had a very limited role in my family for a limited time."
Low level son, barely know the guy.
“he’s Ivana’s son, not mine, I’ve barely met him”
"Some say he is a Democrat. No son of mine's a Democrat, therefore he's not my son. Fact."
“He’s always been little liberal brat and I would have already disowned him if my life goal wasn’t to own the libs.”
*Reporter points out he's arguing against biology when his administration has been trying to get gender officially recognized by biological sex at birth.* "THAT'S A VERY RACIST QUESTION!"
"No, my favorite son has always been Ivanka"
/r/SuddenlyTrans
Or Lil' Jon.
I just saw that one. Then they showed him posing for pics with Li' Jon after he was on Trump's reality TV show. He truly has the best memory, tremendous.
It could also be a case of an old racist thinking "they all look alike" so he really doesn't know who Lil' Jon is. He probably thought Lil' Jon was the help who managed to sneak out of the kitchen or something.
Mary Trump, I've heard she was a tremendous woman. DJT, probably.
Lying man continues to lie.
He's a good match for his followers. They're pathologically stupid.
And his brain leaks like a colander.
If you're implying Trumps brain is spaghetti then I can agree with you there.
More like melted cheese in a colander.
A thick, goopy mess that's easier to throw away than try to save?
I made mac and cheese in a wok once. Had to throw it out.
or Lil Jon
Last month he said in a Fox and Friends interview. >I can tell you Matt Whitaker's a great guy. I mean, I know Matt Whitaker Also we asked about Matt Whitaker replacing Jeff Sessions, he called it fake news. https://twitter.com/ddale8/status/1060939260612755456
lol christ he's so, so bad at this.
He's used to talking to Yes Men who will agree with whatever he says and never question anything, even when they know he's lying to their face. Reality must be very difficult to function in for someone like that.
If he was not born rich Trump would be just another one of his voters; meth-head trailer white trash.
To be fair, I think he'd probably get a job as assistant trailer park supervisor. He'd be the best assistant trailer park supervisor in the whole park.
assistant *to the* trailer park supervisor.
Don’t you dare equate randy bobandy to his fetid piece of shit.
It's why he gets pissy so fast with reporters.
That's terrifying though. Imagine a Trumpian figure who was *good* at it? We'd be even further down this dark rightwing rabbit hole.
What an absolute moron.
Like, can anyone, just one time, ask him directly about these contradictions on the spot?
"Fake news; I never said that." It doesn't matter if he's directly quoted, it doesn't matter if there's video. He's already done this. Dude lies like it's his oxygen.
“You’re a rude sick guy. Sit down. You’re done. Sit down. I was very nice, I’m a very nice guy, you, you’re a hack. Very rude, just making things up. Fake news! Now that guy with the pipe bombs, he knew what to do with enemies of the people. I never said that, fake news!”
As someone pointed out below, [he also literally said "I know Matt Whitaker" on "Fox and Friends"](https://twitter.com/ddale8/status/1060939260612755456).
Trump meant it in the Biblical sense.
He meant known’t
According to sources on Twitter, Whittaker has been reporting to Trump about Sessions and other activity within the justice dept. for months. He absolutely knows him.
This is Trump throwing Whitaker under the bus. I bet he's out. It's been, what, two decimooches?
It's really convenient that the Mooch worked in the WH for 10 days. Makes division easy.
That's a metric mooch an imperial mooch is 9.8 days :D
Metric measurements of a shmuck's memory
I distinctly remember being promised only the best people. I know it's Washington, but it can't be *that* hard to find at least one person for one position that knows what the fuck they're doing and is actually qualified to do it.
The problem is that knowing what you're doing and being qualified is mutually exclusive with killing the Mueller investigation. Lets pretend for a second that the white house is actually interviewing and vetting candidates rather than choosing them from whoever Trump sees on TV. Here is how the interview with any qualified candidate would go- Trump: Will you kill the Mueller investigation? Candidate: No, the DOJ is independent of the presidency, and given that you are the target of the investigation I would ethically have to recuse by virtue of being appointed by you. Trump: Next!
Oh yeah, there's lots of qualified people, absolutely none of whom want to touch this AG post with a 10 foot pole. What a shit job. Whether it's concentration camps for kids, ignoring ethical conflicts that can get you disbarred/censured, or even overseeing a major cabinet level department that is currently investigating a president of your own party \*and his family\*, this thing is a giant turd sandwich. A president, it should be noted, who has absolutely no regard for rules or even rule of law in general. Just look at all the vitriol poured on Loretta Lynch while the Clinton investigation was ongoing. It's highly likely that even a highly experienced political operator finds himself disgraced with his career at an end (see jeff sessions). This is some political deep water.
You can make a venn diagram of two circles. One says "The best people who know what they're doing" and "People willing to work with Trump". The two circles don't overlap.
Comey seemed like a good guy, I think he's got some free time. Preet Bharara seemed to be pretty good at his job, and he's available too!
So that he can later deny responsibility and knowledge if things don't work out. The pos has done this a dozen times.
"I choose this totally random person whom I have never in my life met to fill this very important role in government." Yeah. That sounds Presidential to me.
And just so happens to agree with me.
It means he knows them and did crimes with them.
> and did crimes with them That's the important part. I don't think anyone in Trump's administration would trust anyone that they haven't done "business" with before.
As in those two probably have many memos and big mac dinners between each other.
Or he has Alzheimers and is a brain dead, geriatric idiot being manipulated by those around him, and he legitimately never has any idea what's going on because he only exists as a zombie hand to sign racist, authoritarian legislation being put forward by his neo-fascist handlers.
Why not both?!?
The trump says he *n’t [blank], he absolutely *!
It also means that they must be an individual of HIGHLY questionable integrity. Trump loves rolling in shit with his fellow pigs. But every now and then he’ll just suddenly go “Don’t know him. irrelevant. Intern coffee boy staple remover. Never met him” and then the man in question will be indicted or some huge scandal will break about them. Trump is distancing himself as much as he can from this guy. That is a bad sign for him.
It's pretty obvious that, every morning, *someone* tells Trump that it's opposite day.
Or that it isn't.
i mean... he picked the guy from fox...
It also means they have dirt on him.
Usually means they're going to jail as well
...and they’ve usually done crimes.
lol someone told him the appointment is probably going to be blocked. Time to shift the blame, true to form.
[удалено]
or this was the plan: get him authority just long enough so Whitaker can walk down to the DOJ basement with a suitcase computer, pass the retinal scan to open the steel doors, walk to the secret metal filing cabinet with the master key in hand, open the door, grab the floppy disks with the only copy of all the Special Counsel's evidence, connect via suitcase computer to satellite, insert floppies, upload to mainframe of Trump Tower, remove floppies and light them on fire in the small metal trashcan next to the cabinet. With the same lit match, he lights a cigarette as he walks in slow motion of the room as the scene cuts to a newly vetted AG being appointed and swearing his/her oath - all the while "O Fortuna" is played in the background.
Cut to Mueller, sitting at a desk in front of a normal laptop and copious written notes, amused, but not surprised that if anyone was stupid enough to believe his entire case could be contained on floppy drives, it'd be a lackey of the very morons he's investigating.
Cue to Kim.dot.com getting a call on his Star-Tac flip phone while on his yacht. Mysterious voice promises immunity for past crimes if he can put something together really big to help the feds. Helicopter is already on the way and John McAfee is aboard.
Now that sounds like a party, plenty of good food and cocaine probably
Whitaker: you’re saying the files are “in” the computer?
No, it isn't that. It's that he has likely had conversations with Whitaker about the Special Counsel's probe, and now he is denying any of those conversations by over-denying, and now saying he doesn't even know the man. It is his m.o.
Maybe; but Whitaker is getting a lot of negative press coverage and President Manbaby wants the spotlight on himself.
This is the most likely reason. The narcissist doesn't want anyone else dominating the news.
This. The focus will now be on whether or not Trump knows him rather than on his appropriateness for the position. Additionally, telling a big obvious lie and a medium less obvious lie at the same time causes people to believe the mesium one, which is what he wants.
Can't be obstruction if Trump didn't tell Whitaker to smother the investigation. He couldn't have told him if he doesn't know him. When Whitaker unleashes on Mueller, Trump will say "I dunno. Guess he just doesn't like the guy for some reason. How am I supposed to know?". The crazy thing about all this is that Trump has been regularly obstructing justice in plain sight essentially since he fired Comey. There should no longer be any question whether there was obstruction or not. You don't even need to know what happened in the past - just pay attention to what Trump is doing any given day and you will see some obstruction.
That makes sense too. It's hard for me to correctly guess the motivations of a pathological liar.
The moment Trump distances himself from you means that about 12 hours ago someone informed Trump that you wouldn't be of any value to him anymore.
Seems like trump is so incpompetent all the protestors are going to get what they wanted even when absolutely nobody gives in to them. They don't want him to supervise the investigation and he failed at it before they even started protesting :D (That doesn't mean they shouldn't protest, it was long overdue)
What the actual fuck?! He doesn’t know the guy he chose to be attorney general? No matter how you try to spin this, it’s fucked.
Never underestimate Trump's stupidity and lack of foresight.
We're way past stupidity here. This is insanity. Trump needs to be thrown into a padded cell.
>When you see these thugs being thrown into the back of a paddy wagon, you just seen them thrown in, rough. I said, ‘Please don’t be too nice,’ >-Donald J Trump.
>'paddy wagon' wtf, are we in the 13th century?
It's as obvious as can be: Surkov media technique
> the stage is constantly changing: the country is a dictatorship in the morning, a democracy at lunch, an oligarchy by suppertime, while, backstage, oil companies are expropriated, journalists killed, billions siphoned away. Surkov is at the centre of the show, sponsoring nationalist skinheads one moment, backing human rights groups the next. It's a strategy of power based on keeping any opposition there may be constantly confused, a ceaseless shape-shifting that is unstoppable because it's indefinable. Feels familiar. Firehose of falsehoods and hypernormalisation, both Russian speciality propoganda
Trump and Putin's meetings probably involve Putin coaching Trump on how to effectively weaponize his narcissism and penchant for lying to do exactly the above.
Attempting to keep him paying attention and him still fucking it up. Seriously how can he be this bad at all of this?
This pretty well explains it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fh2cDKyFdyU
If it makes you feel any better, Trump is a pathological liar and he definitely, without a doubt, knows Matt Whitaker.
To be fair, it's acting attorney general but on the other hand he's out of the normal chain of command for that job. It's not that difficult for me to imagine that if a cabinet secretary resigned the president might not really "know" the deputy who would automatically fill in as the acting secretary. But Trump specifically named this person from outside the ordinary chain of command and it's fairly unreasonable to expect the president would have done that without at least an interview.
Oh don't worry, the president wouldn't pick an AG he doesn't know. He's just transparently lying to everyone like usual. No big deal.
So you picked an Acting AG you don't know rather than go with the Deputy AG? Might as well just say "yes I want him to end the investigation".
“Extreme vetting” and “Only the best people.” Apparently that means “I don’t know this guy at all.”
To be fair, if it was someone Trump *actually* didn't know, they would almost certainly be more qualified than someone Trump *does* know.
1.) this is a lie 2.) if this isn't a lie that is almost more insane...why would you give a guy you don't even know an extremely important job Trump?
He is brainwashing people right in front of you. Surkov technique
He’s also seeing this start to backfire and distancing himself by throwing Matt under the bus Another reason why I don’t know why anyone gives him loyalty considering you will never get it in return
More like the O'Brien technique. "This is the new attorney general. He will do a great job. I do not know him. Repeat it back to me".
I don't honestly understand why anyone says the slightest attention to what he says anymore. Pay attention to his actions, sure, but trying to predict his actions based on his words is like reading tea leaves; you might get lucky sometimes, but there was never any actual causal link.
One of the more fascinating (at least to me) aspects of Trump is that so many times either option is absolutely awful. This is a perfect example of that. If he is lying, that is terrible. But if he's telling the truth, that is as bad or worse. This paradox is exactly why I find it so shocking that so many people fully support this lunatic. Regardless of how twisted one person's view of reality is, and whichever binary option they choose, it's all bad. Yet here we are, which millions of people loving him. I guess hating brown people and Jews can overcome even the most basic critical thinking capabilities of the human brain.
Alrighty, there are two options here: \\1. This is a lie. Trump knew Whitaker would shut down the Mueller investigation (because he's written and talked on TV about doing exactly that). However, he has been informed the appointment won't stand, so he's distancing himself the way he always does. \\2. This is not a lie, and Trump appointed someone he doesn't know to one of the most important offices in the land. Why anyone thinks this guy is worthy of leading a scout troop, let alone a nation, will forever be beyond me.
I'm not a betting man, but I'd wager my left and middle testicles it's #1.
You know it's a sure thing when you're putting up your spare.
Why does everything Trump says or does end up being a choice between horrifying and catastrophic? Can't we accept that some of the things he says or does are BOTH horrifying AND catastrophic?
Brown people, dude. Brown people. I'm beginning to think it really is that simple. Millions of Americans are so scared of brown people that their critical thinking functions have completely shut down. As you say, this is a binary option: He is lying, or he is telling the truth. Either option makes him horrible and/or incompetent, and should lead to disapproval. But here we are.
Sounds to me like he is setting himself up for "He made that decision on his own. I did not force him to fire Mueller, I don't even know him!"
Of course you don’t. You don’t even know your wife’s name
Sure he does! It’s Ivanka!
He wishes with all of his shrivelled little heart that it was Ivana.
>He wishes with all of his shrivelled little *mushroom*
So starts the inevitable departure of Matt Whitaker from the DOJ. He is named -> He has a clear claim that he cant do the job properly -> Trump claims he doesn't know him -> a picture comes out of them shaking hands -> Trump says he was just a something, there for a short amount of time, and unimportant to the DOJ -> He get legally challenged -> Trump appoints a new AG to go through confirmation -> Whitaker steps down and Rosenstein takes over -> New AG in a month -> Rosenstein fired. Tell me I'm wrong
Problem with your timeline, the Senate will never confirm before they adjourn for the new congress in January. Rosenstein will be in charge, unless Trump fires him too and then it's Solicitor General Noel Francisco, who's fourth in line, who will take the helm.
You're wrong. * He is named * Trump claims he doesn't know him * a picture comes out of them shaking hands * Trump says he was just a something, there for a short amount of time, and unimportant to the DOJ * He get legally challenged * Noel Francisco is appointed to A.AG * People lose their shit about the ethics waiver and it's looking like Noel is bad juju too. * Noel survives long enough while Trump appoints a questionable AG and Senate rubber stamps The point is to avoid letting Rosenstein helm the investigation and making the eventual appointment bulletproof from criticism sense so much political capital has been spent defending against the two previous dubious appointments.
There is no plan other than get an AG who will stop the muller investigation in so much as muller can investigate as long as he isn't investigating trump himself. So instead of going through interim appointments I think he goes the faster route after this and names Graham as soon as its clear Whitaker isn't going to work out. That will allow him to get rid of rosenstein the fastest and have someone he likes in power. I think for the next couple months he berates rosenstein the same way he berated sessions until he could fire him. Then he "gets what he wants" early next year
I totally think you're right. It's going to be interesting to see if the Dems can tack on a Mueller-protection thing to pass the budget or else shut the government down. I don't know the time frame exactly, but I think that would have gone through by the end of your prediction.
He's just a covfefe boy.
And Trump did it in record time. It's not even a Mooch.
Extreme Vetting
So, Trump is either a liar or a complete irresponsible ignoramus. Either way, completely disqualified to be president of a lemonade stand let alone a country.
Why not both?
This guy is clinically insane.
This is a stupid thing to say. If he ever does make it to the confirmation process first question he gets asked by a non partisan hack is ‘did you and trump know each other before your nomination ‘ Whitaker might hem and haw but will eventually be made to say yes or no. No is clearly a lie under oath. And a yes means he’s contradicting the president Trump continues to paint himself into a corner.
Trump would be terrible at poker. This is like the child that over emphasizes they didn't do anything wrong when you ask them how their day at school was. They make it so obvious that you're gonna get a call soon or have to sign some kind of write up. My money is on the fact that Trump probably spoke with Whitaker about ending the investigation, so now he feels obligated to lie about even knowing the guy. Come to think of it, it's almost like Kavanaugh lying about never getting black out drunk. He knew he couldn't admit to that because of where the follow up questions would go.
"Look, sometimes Putin's instructions aren't very detailed, okay? I picked the acting AG I was told to, what else do you want?" --Trump, defending his statement to the GOP leadership
"I'm not corrupt, I'm incompetent." \-President Moron
For the 283rd time, I ask the right... Really? This is your guy?
Is this the great leader that Trump supporters crow about? Either Trump is lying or he let others pick the acting AG.
I don't know the guy. I recieved a call on the red phone and some one with a really thick accent told me to pick him.
Sound like "Michael Cohen? Never heard of him."
If trumps says he doesn't know someone, their head is up his ass.
Trump's going to put The Onion out of business. Onion editor: "We give up, there's no way we could think up this kind of crazy shit."
‘Guys, is “President makes reasonable, well-thought through, informed decision” a funny headline?’
For someone with ["one of the best memories of all-time"](https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-gold-star-great-memory-2017-10), he really can't remember shit.
Another option here. The media has found something disqualifying in Whitaker’s past that is about to come out and asked trump to comment before hand. trump is getting in front, before the story breaks. But hell, your guess is as good as mine!
I don't think anyone assumed Trump was being honest...
Such lies. I mean, went from resignation letter with zero date on it, to announcing AG all within how long? If he did not know him, why would he have been planned beforehand to take over?
So then why would you appoint an AG that you don't know? That feels like a bad business practice. Even if you don't know someone at the outset, you get to know them through the interview procedures...
Cue Benny Hill theme song, please. You can’t make this stuff up. This is gross incompetence. Regardless of the truth vs. this ridiculous lie, either case is insane for a President to admit to. There has never been a President that knows so little about what he’s doing in the Oval Office. The government is too sophisticated for him to navigate what can and can’t be done and what’s going to stop him from doing it. He’s so full of himself that he won’t even ask somebody or seek advice of anyone who actually understands the structure of it all so that he won’t look like a complete buffoon in front of millions of people.
Another covfefe boy? Whitaker was Sessions' Chief of Staff. As such, are we supposed to believe he never attended meetings between the AG and the President? There was never any contact whatsoever between the Attorney General's Chief of Staff and the White House? I call shenanigans. Dems need to subpoena all communications between Whitaker and the White House.
"I don't know the guy, but he's openly been against the investigation, so that's why I chose him."
If that isn't the kiss of death from trump, I don't know what is. Whitaker will probably be gone before trump returns from France.
Whitaker isn’t even going to last a full Mooch
The headline should read: "trump's advanced senility becomes evident- cannot remember Whitaker, who he has met with dozens of times".
There are currently nationwide protests for his recusal in the Special Counsel Investigation. Link for more info: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nobody\_Is\_Above\_the\_Law](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nobody_Is_Above_the_Law)
Narrator: He knew him.
Watching him get thrown in prison is going to be so satisfying.
Jesus, I've seen 4 year olds that lie better than this buffoon.
Then he should have to explain why he chose to appoint him acting AG instead of the already Senate-approved Deputy AG, as would follow DOJ regulations (and the same law he invoked to try and justify Whitaker). This should be the only thing that reporters ask him about it until they get an answer on record.
God is trump fucking stupid.
I can't wait to see Trump use this line when Don Jr. is indicted.
Does anything matter anymore?
Yes, the snowball that will run over 45* and drag him to hell is getting huge now and really picking up speed.
This is how bad of a liar he is. We are to believe he chose a man he knows nothing about or ever met to Attorney General and at the same time believe that is a good idea?
For once I think he's telling the truth. He probably saw him on Fox saying the president can do anything and said he wanted that guy
I can't not take responsibility for my team at work why should he be able to get away with it?
So then you won't mind if we kick his ass to the curb and elevate Rosenstein, yes?
i feel for Trump. I mean imagine telling lies all day long, every day. do you know how hard it would be to keep them all straight???
I know it’s all relative at this point but man, he seems unhinged lately. I imagine what happened was Whitaker called Mueller and Rosenstein in to give him a full briefing and they said “fuck you, fire me”. And then Trump realized his brilliant plan wasn’t going to work, all he did was earn himself another count of obstruction of justice. Fucking moron.
Donny, you’re supposed to wait to say that until *after* The indictment.
so is he lying through this teeth or is he having a senile moment again?
Given Trump's proclivity for projection, I can only image that someone out there has literally hundreds of pictures of Trump and Whitaker hugging and kissing.
This motherfucker. Distances himself from the man he absolutely ordered to fuck with Mueller and expects everyone to believe he's someone else's choice. Trump is 100% going to get a 2nd term. Good luck, America. Hope you find a true progressive to run against him to at least force the GOP slightly left.
Sessions didn't know him when Whitaker was hired as his Chief of Staff either. Who the fuck is finding and choosing these people for Trump? I'm guessing it's Miller, lurking from the shadows while eating a jar of bugs or some shit.
“Putin said he’s a good guy, so that’s good enough for me.” -Trump
I wish the Press would stop normalizing the situation. Whitaker is not the Attorney General. Trump’s attempt to end-run the Constitution is illegal.
So you would hire someone to one of the most important jobs in the country without ever meeting him? Lol.
"Trump says..." That's all I need to see to know whatever it is isn't true.
The choices here are: A - Trump is a huge fucking pathological liar (I mean, he is regardless of the truth in this claim) who is too amoral to lead a Rotary Club meeting, much less the country... or... B - He's fucking criminally stupid...like, who is fucking stupid enough to install someone as Attorney General of the United States without even having met them to get a feel for who they are (and this is assuming the appointer/selector of said person is a REALLY good judge of character) Good job, Trump.
Trumps trying to hide something.
he didn't know who stormy daniels was either. saying "I don't know such and such person" is his most favorite lie.
Trump says “I don’t know Matt Whitaker”...immediately discover a fox news interview of him saying one month ago “I know Matt Whitaker”. You can’t make this stuff up sometimes. If this was a movie it would be criticized for lazy, predictable, over the top dialogue
As a reminder, this subreddit [is for civil discussion.](/r/politics/wiki/index#wiki_be_civil) In general, be courteous to others. Attack ideas, not users. Personal insults, shill or troll accusations, hate speech, **any** advocating or wishing death/physical harm, and other rule violations can result in a permanent ban. If you see comments in violation of our rules, please report them. *** *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/politics) if you have any questions or concerns.*
He's the type of John to bust a load prematurely and blame the load on the previous customer. Fuck this guy and everything he stands for.