Walter Shaub’s Brave, Quixotic Ethics Battle with Trump
The government’s top ethics officer has tried to appeal to the President to eliminate his conflicts of interest—and set a better example. Photograph by T.J. Kirkpatrick / NYT / Redux
By Sheelah Kolhatkar July 7, 2017
Ever since Donald Trump was elected President of the United States and declared, shortly afterward, “The law’s totally on my side, the President can’t have a conflict of interest,” the hopes of those concerned about government integrity have resided largely in one man: Walter Shaub, the head of the Office of Government Ethics. Although Shaub’s term was set to end in January, 2018, the announcement this week that he is departing his post five months early was greeted with concern by ethics watchers. In their view, Shaub and people like him are urgently needed.
One of the gravest concerns that has weighed on ethics watchers over the last six months is the disquieting sense that Trump and his family are using his time in the White House to enrich themselves, a fear which Trump has done little to assuage. As of July 4th, the President had visited a Trump-branded property forty-nine out of his hundred and thirty-three days in office, according to the Washington Post [ https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/politics/wp/2017/07/05/trump-has-been-to-his-golf-club-in-virginia-11-times-as-president-and-beyond-the-mississippi-once/ ], providing a running product placement for his Presidency, while a lawsuit filed by the attorneys general of Maryland and D.C. asserts that the Trump International Hotel in Washington has “specifically marketed itself [ http://www.newyorker.com/business/currency/a-lawsuit-attacks-the-marketing-of-the-presidency ] to the diplomatic community” since the Presidential election. The suit also mentioned the troubling implications of Trump-branded real-estate projects that are proceeding in the United Arab Emirates and Indonesia. In an interview on CBS News on Thursday evening, Shaub clarified some of his thoughts. “I can’t know what their intention is,” he said [ http://www.cbsnews.com/news/walter-shaub-office-of-ethics-director-resignation-interview/ ] of the Trumps. “I know that the effect is that there’s an appearance that the businesses are profiting from his occupying the Presidency. And appearance matters as much as reality. So, even aside from whether or not that’s actually happening, we need to send a message to the world that the United States is gonna have the gold standard for an ethics program in government, which is what we’ve always had.”
He also said, “I really feel like I’ve achieved all I can achieve under the current circumstances.”
In the past, the Office of Government Ethics was a quiet, not terribly exciting place whose director’s name was rarely known among the public; under Trump, the office was transformed into a place of urgency. Shaub has served as the only independent voice inside the government, monitoring the many conflicts of interest that surround Trump, and as a regular source of pressure and publicity around the Administration’s many ethics violations. He has shown through his actions that he regards his role as that of a guardian of the public interest in the purest sense. Most recently, Shaub criticized the Administration’s attempt to keep secret its decision to grant dozens of waivers that allowed government officials to circumvent the Administration’s own ethics rules. When, under pressure from Shaub, the waivers were made public, Shaub was quick to point out that some waivers had been, essentially, backdated to the beginning of Trump’s Presidency and might not even be valid. “If you need a retroactive waiver, you have violated a rule,” he told the Times.
His most powerful public comments came after Trump decided that he would break with Presidential precedent and retain full ownership of his real-estate and branding companies while in office. Previous Presidents have divested themselves of their business interests or put their assets in a blind trust, managed by a third party, over which they had no control. The President pledged to place his ownership interest in a trust and hand the day-to-day operational-management duties over to his sons, which, Shaub noted, assuredly and publicly, was largely a cosmetic decision. “This is not a blind trust,” he said [ http://money.cnn.com/2017/01/11/news/office-government-ethics-trump-conflicts/index.html ] at the time. “Not even close.”
Shaub also took issue with Trump’s claim that he couldn’t sell his business, which most ethics experts said would come closest to resolving his conflicts, because it would be complicated to try to sell off a company based on his own brand and he might lose money in the process. As President, there are many policies Trump is involved in that could materially affect his company—rewriting the tax code; changing environmental or trade rules; developing relationships with countries in which the Trump Organization manages or licenses properties, or hopes to in the future. Continuing to collect revenue from the Trump Organization while making decisions as President that could affect the company would have an irreparable, cheapening effect on the office of the President: “We can’t risk creating the perception that government leaders would use their official positions for profit,” Shaub said.
After leaving his post at the O.G.E., Shaub will join the Campaign Legal Center, a nonpartisan organization based in Washington, D.C., as the director of its ethics program. According to Lawrence Noble, the Center’s general counsel, Shaub learned about the job opening only recently. “When the opportunity came for us to hire Walt, we couldn’t pass it up,” Noble said. He added that, to the best of his knowledge, Shaub “was under no outside pressure” to leave the O.G.E. before his term ended, and Shaub told the Washington Post [ https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/federal-ethics-chief-who-clashed-with-white-house-announces-he-will-step-down/2017/07/06/4732c308-624c-11e7-a4f7-af34fc1d9d39_story.html ] much the same.
In his new role, Shaub will be helping the Center to expand its ethics program, strengthen its watchdog role, and help design potential fortifications to the ethics rules, which have been “stress-tested” under President Trump, as Noble put it. He added that Trump had exposed many weaknesses in ethics laws. With Shaub’s help, his organization will be looking at ways to strengthen and update conflict-of-interest rules for the President specifically, as well as ways to potentially give more power to the O.G.E., which, currently, can only offer advice and suggestions and has no enforcement role.
Shaub made the best use of his advisory role as he could. As my colleague Ryan Lizza described [ http://www.newyorker.com/news/ryan-lizza/walter-shaubs-desperate-attempts-to-make-trump-adhere-to-government-ethics ], after Trump revealed his plan for keeping his business assets, Shaub gave a speech at the Brookings Institution in which he tried to appeal to the President to set a better example. “It’s important to understand that the President is now entering the world of public service,” Shaub said in that speech. “He’s going to be asking his own appointees to make sacrifices. He’s going to be asking our men and women in uniform to risk their lives in conflicts around the world. So, no, I don’t think divestiture is too high a price to pay to be the President of the United States of America.”
If there is one thing to worry about surrounding Shaub’s departure from government, it is whether the next head of the Office of Government Ethics will use his or her position in the same fashion in the future. “I hope he selects someone who is dedicated to the mission of the office, but we’ll see,” Noble said. “I am waiting to see what he does, anxiously.”
Podesta calls Trump ‘our whack job’ president in response to error-filled tweet John Podesta, former chairman of Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign, wrote in an op-ed that “I had nothing to do with the Democratic National Committee. … So there was no DNC server for me to refuse to give.” July 7, 2017 On a full day of meetings Friday at the Group of 20 summit in Hamburg, President Trump fired off one of his more curious tweets of late: a claim that “everyone” there was talking about the role of John Podesta, Hillary Clinton’s former campaign chairman, in last year’s Russian email hacking scandal. “Everyone here is talking about why John Podesta refused to give the DNC server to the FBI and the CIA. Disgraceful!” Trump wrote [ https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/883229270943911936 ], apparently referring erroneously to a Democratic National Committee server that contained emails that were hacked and made public. Podesta, who was taking a cross-country car trip with his wife Friday, said he discovered during a pit stop in West Virginia that the president was tweeting about him. He fired back in kind on Twitter, calling Trump “our whack job POTUS” and telling him to “get a grip man.” Trump’s tweet followed several others Friday in which he recounted meetings with world leaders at the G-20 summit, and it came just hours before he was scheduled to sit down with Russian President Vladimir Putin, who U.S. intelligence officials have said directed his country’s meddling in last year’s election between Trump and Clinton. Trump’s tweet conflated two parts of the email scandal. Email hacked from the DNC server surfaced last July, while hacked email from Podesta’s personal account was published later in the year by WikiLeaks. Podesta did not hold a position at the DNC, and he was not in a position to assert control over its email sever. By all accounts, Podesta cooperated fully with the FBI and other law enforcement officials in relation to the hacking of his personal email. It was not clear to whom Trump was referring when he said “everyone” at the G-20 summit was talking about Podesta and his alleged actions. Several White House officials did not respond Friday to questions about whom Trump was talking about besides himself. Podesta, who previously served in the White Houses of Democratic presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, fired off seven tweets [ https://twitter.com/johnpodesta/status/883339541616185344 , https://twitter.com/johnpodesta/status/883339718674579461 , https://twitter.com/johnpodesta/status/883339840217128960 , https://twitter.com/johnpodesta/status/883339938586136577 , https://twitter.com/johnpodesta/status/883340002809323521 , https://twitter.com/johnpodesta/status/883340087811026945 , https://twitter.com/johnpodesta/status/883340163774111744 ] Friday, including one that offered this advice for Trump: “Dude, get your head in the game. You’re representing the US at the G20.” [...] https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/podesta-calls-trump-our-whack-job-president-in-response-to-error-filled-tweet/2017/07/07/f7bb1088-633f-11e7-84a1-a26b75ad39fe_story.html [with embedded video, and comments]
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Why is Trump tweeting about me when he should be doing his job?
President Trump meets with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Group of 20 Summit on July 7 in Hamburg. (Evan Vucci/Associated Press)
By John Podesta July 7, 2017
John Podesta, the chair of Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign, served as counselor to President Barack Obama and chief of staff to President Bill Clinton.
MOREHEAD, Ky.
Weaving through the mountains on a cross-country road trip with my wife, I was quite surprised to discover that — at least according to President Trump — I am the talk of the Group of 20 meeting.
Really? Everyone? I’ve been at my share of global summits, so I sort of doubt that. The world leaders certainly have more important topics to grapple with. To take one issue close to my heart: how to deal with the challenge of climate change now that the president has declared that the United States will be withdrawing from the Paris climate accord. Or how to deal with the leadership vacuum now that Trump has turned his back on our traditional allies in Europe and Asia.
On one level, the president’s tweet is so obviously wrong and so evidently self-serving that the temptation is simply to ignore it. But, because he is the president, his words warrant a response.
First, I had nothing to do with the Democratic National Committee — I chaired Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign. So there was no DNC server for me to refuse to give and I was never asked for one. Second, the CIA has no role in domestic intelligence-gathering — in fact, it’s prohibited. The CIA would never ask anyone at the DNC for a server. Whether the FBI asked the DNC for access to a server, I don’t know, beyond what I’ve read.
As president, Trump is supposed to be doing his job representing the United States in a respectable fashion to make sure we maintain and enhance our standing around the world. Instead, he has his face glued to his phone. It’s really sad that the U.S. president can’t get his head in the game even at the G-20 summit of world leaders.
God only knows what our president will be tweeting by the time my wife and I get to Utah.
President Donald Trump has called Mexico's president his "friend" in their first face-to-face meeting since Trump's inauguration. They met on the sidelines of the Group of 20 Summit. (July 7)
Trump vows to ‘move forward in working constructively with Russia’ after Putin denied election hacking Russian President Vladimir Putin with President Trump on Friday during the Group of 20 summit in Hamburg. July 9, 2017 President Trump vowed Sunday to “move forward in working constructively with Russia,” including forming a “cyber security unit” between the two countries, after Russian President Vladimir Putin denied any involvement in Russia's interference in the 2016 U.S. election. Trump's pledge to partner with Putin in combatting cybersecurity drew swift and stern denunciations from both Democratic and Republican officials, who described the U.S. president as dangerously naive for trusting his Russian counterpart. Trump said he “strongly pressed” Putin twice about Russian meddling in the election during their Friday meeting in Germany and that Putin “vehemently denied it.” U.S. intelligence agencies have concluded definitively that Russian authorities tried to influence the election in Trump's favor with illegal hacking and propaganda and other activities. ... [...] https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2017/07/09/trump-vows-to-move-forward-in-working-constructively-with-russia-after-putin-denied-election-hacking/ [with embedded videos, and (approaching 5,000) comments]
‘Time to Move Forward,’ Trump Says After Putin Denies Election Hacking
President Trump arriving on the South Lawn of the White House on Saturday night. Al Drago for The New York Times
By JULIE HIRSCHFELD DAVIS JULY 9, 2017
WASHINGTON — President Trump on Sunday said he had “strongly pressed” President Vladimir V. Putin [ http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/p/vladimir_v_putin/index.html ] of Russia about election meddling during their first face-to-face meeting last week but did not dispute Moscow’s claim that he had accepted Mr. Putin’s denial of involvement, as he declared it “time to move forward” in a constructive United States relationship with Russia.
Mr. Trump’s account of his lengthy and closely scrutinized closed-door meeting with Mr. Putin, which came in a thread of morning Twitter posts, was his attempt to move beyond the controversy that has followed the session after Moscow characterized the election discussion as a meeting of the minds rather than a showdown between the American president and his Russian counterpart.
Mr. Trump’s tweets did little to dispel that notion, as he characterized his own position as an “opinion” and asserted that he was prepared to team with Moscow — which American intelligence agencies say meddled in the election last year, and will attempt to again — on forming an “impenetrable Cyber Security unit” to thwart future breaches.
“I strongly pressed President Putin twice about Russian meddling in our election,” Mr. Trump said in the post. “He vehemently denied it. I’ve already given my opinion.”
“We negotiated a ceasefire in parts of Syria which will save lives,” Mr. Trump continued in another message. “Now it is time to move forward in working constructively with Russia!”
The posts served as Mr. Trump’s first public comments on the meeting after the White House declined to schedule the customary presidential news conference at the end of the Group of 20 [ http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/g/group_of_20/index.html ] summit meeting of major world economies in Hamburg, Germany. Mr. Trump’s meeting with Mr. Putin came on the sideline of that gathering, which ended on Saturday.
Mr. Putin, however, broke with his normal practice of not speaking to reporters and held a lengthy news conference, in which he told reporters that Mr. Trump had “agreed” with his statements about election interference.
“He raised many questions on the issue,” Mr. Putin said, according to Sputnik. “I answered all these questions, as far as I could. I think that he took it into account and agreed. Actually, you would better ask him how he found it.”
Foreign Minister Sergey V. Lavrov, the only other Russian official in the meeting — which also included Rex W. Tillerson, the secretary of state — said after the meeting that not only had Mr. Trump accepted Mr. Putin’s denial, but that he had also said the election meddling allegations had been “exaggerated” by some in the United States without proof.
Steven Mnuchin, the secretary of the Treasury, said three times that Mr. Trump had handled the meeting “brilliantly,” and had “made his position felt.”
“After a very substantive discussion on this, they reached an agreement that they would start a cyberunit to make sure that there was absolutely no interference whatsoever, that they would work on cybersecurity together,” Mr. Mnuchin said. “And President Trump focused the conversation on Syria and the Ukraine and North Korea.”
Mr. Trump’s handling of the meeting has become a flash point in the United States, ensuring that it will continue to be dissected as multiple investigations continue into whether the president’s campaign worked with Russia.
“Partnering with Putin on a ‘Cyber Security Unit’ is akin to partnering with Assad on a ‘Chemical Weapons Unit,’” Senator Marco Rubio, Republican of Florida, said on Twitter, alluding to President Bashar al-Assad of Syria, who has repeatedly used chemical weapons to attack his people.
Donald Trump backtracks on Russia joint cybersecurity unit Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin had their first face-to-face talks on Friday. 10 July 2017 Donald Trump has backtracked on a proposal to work with Russia to create an "impenetrable" cybersecurity unit to prevent election hacking. Hours after promoting the idea on Sunday, the US president said that he did not think it could actually happen. The idea of a partnership with Russia was ridiculed by senior Republicans. It comes after Mr Trump's first face-to-face talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Germany on Friday, in which the pair discussed the issue. Mr Trump described the outcome of the talks as positive and suggested closer co-operation between the two nations. "Putin and I discussed forming an impenetrable cybersecurity unit so that election hacking, and many other negative things, will be guarded and safe," he said. The initial proposal immediately prompted derision from Democrats, as well as some Republicans who questioned why the US would work with Russia after the Kremlin's alleged meddling in the 2016 US election. Mr Trump shifted his position on Sunday night. "The fact that President Putin and I discussed a cybersecurity unit doesn't mean I think it can happen. It can't," he tweeted [ https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/884211874518192128 ]. [...] http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-40552571
The Russians Will Be Back. Will We Be Ready? America needs to get serious about securing its elections. By Richard A. Clarke and Robert K. Knake July 13, 2017 In recent days, our nation’s response to the continued threat of foreign meddling in American elections has taken something of a surprising turn. Coming off his two-hour conversation on Friday with Vladimir Putin in Hamburg, President Donald Trump touted Putin’s personal assurance that there was neither any Russian manipulation of the 2016 election nor any Russian plans to disrupt future American elections. He even floated the prospect of creating a joint U.S.-Russia “impenetrable Cyber Security unit so that election hacking, & many other negative things, will be guarded.” As if Putin is trustworthy. As if his assurances are more believable than the mountain of evidence demonstrating the exact opposite. [...] http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/07/13/russia-us-election-security-reform-215367 [with comments]
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Russia's Lavrov threatens US over seized diplomatic mansions A huge Russian diplomatic estate in Maryland was seized by the US government in December. Russia says it is "outrageous" that the US has not yet handed back two Russian intelligence compounds seized in the US under the Obama administration. 11 July 2017 http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-40567687 [with embedded video]
UN conference adopts treaty banning nuclear weapons The remains of the Prefectural Industry Promotion Building, later preserved as a monument - known as the Genbaku Dome - at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial. 7 July 2017 http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=57139
Individual Insurance Market Performance in Early 2017 Taken together, these data on claims and utilization suggest that the individual market risk pool is relatively stable, though sicker on average than the pre-ACA market, which is to be expected since people with pre-existing conditions have guaranteed access to coverage under the ACA. Jul 10, 2017 http://www.kff.org/health-reform/issue-brief/individual-insurance-market-performance-in-early-2017/
Conservatives bet on risky plan that could tank Obamacare markets Critics say it could price sick people out of coverage. 07/11/2017 Ted Cruz’s plan to give insurers freedom to sell plans that don’t comply with Obamacare’s insurance regulations may be conservatives’ last best chance to salvage the stalled Senate health care bill. But it might also send Obamacare insurance markets into a death spiral [which, of course, is precisely what it is designed and intended to do]. It’s a free market approach to health insurance that appeals to many conservatives. The plan, which is being co-sponsored by Sen. Mike Lee of Utah, got a shout out Sunday on Fox News from Marc Short, the White House director of legislative affairs. But health care finance experts warn it could further destabilize the troubled Obamacare marketplaces, potentially causing them to collapse as premiums skyrocket and healthier customers flee — accomplishing the demise of Obamacare in practice rather than legislatively. That’s because healthy people who aren’t worried about running up big medical bills could opt for cheap, skimpy plans that potentially wouldn’t cover big-ticket items like hospitalizations and treatment for mental health issues. Those with significant health problems, meanwhile, would likely stay in plans that meet Obamacare’s coverage rules. That would make the risk pool inherently unbalanced, leading to much higher premiums for those individuals. “I think that really would be the definition of a death spiral,” said Tara O’Neill Hayes, deputy director of health care policy at the conservative American Action Forum. “I think it would no longer be a question of whether that’s happening.” Senate leadership is publicly bullish on the idea, which Cruz (R-Texas) first floated before Republicans left town for the Fourth of July recess. But the proposal faces political and procedural hurdles, either of which could derail it: The coverage losses projected by the Congressional Budget Office could prove politically untenable, especially to GOP moderates who have promised to protect those with pre-existing medical conditions. And the amendment could also run afoul of strict parliamentary rules required to pass the legislation with just a majority of votes. “I like the idea a lot. The question is how it scores and whether it can navigate the Byrd rule,” Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn (R-Texas) told reporters on Monday, referring to the rules that determine what can be done under the fast-track process, which eliminates the prospect of a Democratic filibuster. “They’ll give Cruz every opportunity to sell his solution this week,” said one person familiar with the negotiations. “He’s going to be the one making the sell this week. The question is whether the Cruz-Lee amendment costs you votes.” No legislative language for the Cruz plan has been released, so details are fuzzy. The amendment is being further tweaked to try to build support. But it would essentially create two parallel insurance markets. Cruz insists that the bifurcated marketplace can work. He points out that the Senate repeal package also includes $100 billion in funding to help address individuals with exorbitant health care costs — although it’s unclear how that might be used to reduce premiums for those ineligible for subsidies. “The question really here is how are we going to provide for, how are we going to provide assistance to, people with serious diseases, serious pre-existing conditions?” Cruz said Sunday on ABC’s “This Week.” “There is widespread agreement in Congress there’s going to be significant assistance.” But Larry Levitt, senior vice president for special initiatives at the Kaiser Family Foundation, is skeptical. “Segmenting the risk pool is inherently destabilizing,” he said, pointing out that individuals who make too much money to qualify for subsidies would likely face a particularly grim situation. “They wouldn’t be able to get noncompliant plans because of their medical conditions and would face astronomical premiums in the compliant market.” [...] http://www.politico.com/story/2017/07/11/cruz-lee-obamacare-health-care-240380 [with comments]
Betsy DeVos Will Meet With Men’s Rights Activists Tomorrow About Sexual Assault Stanford students wear a 1/3 sign on their caps to show solidarity for a Stanford rape victim during graduation ceremonies at Stanford University on June 12, 2016. The 1/3 stands for the statistic that 1 in three students will experience sexual assault by the time they graduate. The Secretary of Education will also meet with sexual assault survivors, but they’re not totally satisfied. 07/12/2017 Updated July 12, 2017 http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/118-sexual-assault-survivors-write-letter-asking-trump-who-are-you-here-to-serve_us_59650307e4b005b0fdc8bcc6 [with comments]
Senate Republicans Unveil New Health Bill, but Divisions Remain The Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell, has said he intends to take up the revised health care bill next week. JULY 13, 2017 WASHINGTON — Senate Republican leaders on Thursday unveiled a fresh proposal to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act [ https://www.budget.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/BetterCareJuly13.2017.pdf ], revising their bill to help hold down insurance costs for consumers while allowing insurers to sell new low-cost, stripped down policies. [...] https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/13/us/politics/senate-republican-health-care-bill.html [with comments]
Revised GOP healthcare bill succeeds at making things even worse The latest Republican healthcare bill includes an amendment from Sen. Ted Cruz, center, that allows insurers to undercut Obamacare by offering cheaper, skimpier plans. If at first you don’t succeed, screw it up even more. July 14, 2017 http://www.latimes.com/business/lazarus/la-fi-lazarus-gop-healthcare-bill-20170714-story.html
‘Simply Unworkable’: Insurers Blast New Provision In Senate Health Bill The industry sounds just as angry as the patient advocates. 07/15/2017 Two organizations representing the U.S. health insurance industry just called a new provision of the Senate [ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/topic/us-senate ] Republicans’ health care proposal [ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/topic/health-care-reform ] “simply unworkable in any form [ https://big.assets.huffingtonpost.com/athena/files/2017/07/15/596993d4e4b03389bb179075.pdf ]” and warned that it would cause major hardship, especially for middle-class people with serious medical problems. The organizations, America’s Health Insurance Plans and the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association, speak for the businesses that would be responsible for making the new system work - or at least attempting to do so. That may help explain why, with a vote on the bill planned for next week, they are letting loose with what, by Washington lobbying standards, sounds like a primal scream. In a publicly posted letter to Senate leaders [ https://www.scribd.com/document/353803476/Joint-AHIP-BCBSA-Consumer-Freedom-Option-Letter ], the two groups focused their attention on an amendment that would undermine the Affordable Care Act [ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/topic/affordable-care-act ]’s protections for people with pre-existing conditions. The amendment, crafted by Sen. Ted Cruz [ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/topic/ted-cruz ] (R-Texas), would allow insurers to resume sales of policies that leave out key benefits, such as prescription drugs or mental health. More important, it would allow insurers to discriminate among customers based on medical status, charging higher premiums or denying policies altogether to people with existing medical problems - from the severe, like cancer, to the relatively mild, like allergies. [...] http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/senate-health-bill-insurers-unworkable_us_59697eb7e4b0d6341fe9111c [with embedded video, and comments]
Governors skeptical after 'pretty atrocious' session with top Trump health officials The administration's effort left major questions unanswered, Republican and Democratic governors said Republicans said they remain concerned about the long-term financial fallout of the bill July 15, 2017 Updated July 15, 2017 http://www.cnn.com/2017/07/15/politics/trump-health-care-governors/index.html [with embedded video]
Governors push back while GOP lawmakers roll over Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval (R) responds to reporters’ questions about health care and the opioid epidemic at the National Governor’s Association meeting on Thursday in Providence, R.I. By Jennifer Rubin July 16, 2017 If House and Senate Republicans have largely been supine in the face of President Trump’s assaults on the truth, fiscal probity, conflicts of interest, climate change and health care, governors have not and therefore point the way toward restoration of a once admirable party. [...] https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/right-turn/wp/2017/07/16/governors-push-back-while-gop-lawmakers-roll-over/ [with comments]
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Full Show - Historic: Trump And Putin Meet And Agree To Ceasefire In Syria, Meme Wars Explode - 07/07/2017
Published on Jul 7, 2017 by The Alex Jones Channel
Friday, July 7th 2017[, with Mike Cernovich hosting the fourth hour]: Trump Meets Putin at G20 - All eyes are on President Trump's meeting with Russian leader Vladimir Putin, as protests continue against the G20 meeting in Hamburg, Germany. We'll look at strong job and employment growth reports as positive indicators for the economy and continue looking at North Korea's accelerating nuclear program. Rebel Media's Laura Loomer joins the show to break down her confrontation with CNN host Chris Cuomo over the network's blackmail of a Reddit meme maker. Researcher Steve Quayle also joins the show to discuss the fake news media's implosion.
EXCLUSIVE: The ethics chief who took on the White House
All In with Chris Hayes 7/7/17
Chris Hayes interviews Walter Shaub, outgoing director of the Office of Government Ethics, who's stepping down after challenging the president over conflicts of interest. Duration: 7:59
Trump meeting 'Everything Putin could have asked for'
On Assignment with Richard Engel 7/7/17
Richard Engel, NBC News chief foreign correspondent, reports on the meeting between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin at the G20 Summit, and talks with prominent Putin critic, political activist, and chess master Garry Kasparov. Duration: 12:21
Richard Engel, NBC News chief foreign correspondent, looks at the criminality and corruption of the Vladimir Putin regime in Russia and the brutality committed against those who try to expose it. Duration: 12:08
Alarming pattern of mysterious political deaths in Russia
On Assignment with Richard Engel 7/7/17
Richard Engel, NBC News chief foreign correspondent, looks at some of what one report counts as over forty mysterious political deaths in Russia in just the past three years. Duration: 3:13
Despite crackdowns, political resistance to Putin grows in Russia
On Assignment with Richard Engel 7/7/17
Richard Engel, NBC News chief foreign correspondent, looks political and activist opposition to Vladimir Putin in Russia, growing despite the ever-present threat of crackdown and prison. Duration: 5:38
Russia makes inroads with American right via guns, religion
On Assignment with Richard Engel 7/7/17
Richard Engel, NBC News chief foreign correspondent, and NBC's Kelly Cobiella look at how members of the American political right are building an appreciation for Vladimir Putin through guns and Evangelical Christianity. Duration: 6:10
Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin finally met face-to-face. Trump reportedly raised Russian interference in the election, but many experts say it appears the meeting was a victory for the Russians. David Filipov, Julianne Smith, and Michael McFaul join Ari Melber. Duration: 15:51
GOP, White House plot 'urgent blitz' for repeal votes
The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell 7/7/17
The Trump White House and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell are planning a "final, urgent blitz" to persuade GOP senators to repeal and replace Obamacare, the Washington Post reports. Ari Melber discusses with Indira Lakshmanan and Joan Walsh. Duration: 5:35
U.S. & Russia offer different accounts of Trump-Putin meeting
The 11th Hour with Brian Williams 7/7/17
Both sides say the 2016 election hacks came up when Pres. Trump & Pres. Putin met at the G20, but that's where the similarities end. Guest host Ali Velshi breaks it down with our expert panel. Duration: 9:47
Fmr. U.S. Intel Attorney: Trump has 'damaged' U.S. reputation
The 11th Hour with Brian Williams 7/7/17
Former Senior Associate General Counsel for the Director of National Intelligence Carrie Cordero reacts to President Donald Trump's meeting with Vladimir Putin at the G20 in Germany. Duration: 2:09
Fmr. American Spy: Putin just 'trolled' Trump over 2016 hacks
The 11th Hour with Brian Williams 7/7/17
Fmr. U.S. Counterterrorism & Intelligence Official Malcolm Nance argues that Putin has an 'information dominance' over Trump reacting to their meeting at the G20 summit. Duration: 1:21
Trump attacks Clinton campaign boss before Putin meeting
The 11th Hour with Brian Williams 7/7/17
Just hours before the biggest meeting of his presidency, Donald Trump took to Twitter to attack Hillary Clinton's former campaign boss John Podesta. Podesta's response to Trump? 'Get a grip.' Duration: 7:22
U.S. & South Korean militaries react to North Korea missile test
The 11th Hour with Brian Williams 7/7/17
Early Saturday local time, U.S. and South Korean troops engaged in a new show of force operation in response to North Korea's latest missile test. Duration: 0:30
this is part 3 of a 10-part post which proceeds (point arising on the given) day by (point arising on the given) day from July 5, 2017 through July 14, 2017 -- the preceding part is the post to which this is a reply; the next part is a reply to this post -- the following 'see also (linked in)' listing, updated for intervening posts along the way, is common to all 10 parts
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in addition to (linked in) the post to which this is a reply and preceding and (any future other) following, see also (linked in):
Market Data 
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