All posts tagged: presidents

Other presidents have let white‑collar criminals dodge financial penalties – but not like Trump

Other presidents have let white‑collar criminals dodge financial penalties – but not like Trump

Published by Sam Flores

President Donald Trump loves a good pardon. His generosity is so well known, in fact, that an industry of lobbyists, lawyers and other insiders has reportedly sprung up to facilitate clemency for wealthy criminals. Clemency, meaning mercy or leniency, lets the president reduce the punishment for, or even forgive, federal crimes. For defendants hoping to avoid jail and walk away from millions of dollars in financial sanctions, paying, say, US$600,000 to a lobbying firm to influence the president may seem like a good investment. House Democrats recently reported that Trump’s second-term clemency – which includes both pardons, which wipe away every part of a conviction, and commutations, which typically leave convictions intact but shorten a person’s sentence – has saved convicted defendants nearly $1.7 billion in forgiven financial obligations. Some of that amount – about $700 million – had not yet been officially imposed by courts because the clemency came through so quickly. Much of the remaining $1 billion had been ordered as restitution, meant to repay victims’ losses. As a legal scholar researching the …

Trump to judges: “We are not tenants … we are PRESIDENTS”

Trump to judges: “We are not tenants … we are PRESIDENTS”

Published by Sam Flores

President Donald Trump is pushing back against a federal appeals court ruling blocking construction of his White House ballroom, arguing that presidents aren’t “tenants” and that the massive project is actually a “Military Complex” complete with a rooftop “DronePort.” A divided federal appeals court ruled Friday that Trump cannot continue aboveground construction of the $400 million, 90,000-square-foot project without congressional approval. “Each President is a temporary tenant, not the owner, of the White House,” Judges Patricia Millett and Brad Garcia wrote in the 2-1 decision, noting that the building is maintained for current and future presidents — and ultimately belongs to the American people. Trump took issue with the terminology. “We are not tenants, who pay rent and do all other things that a tenant must do, we are PRESIDENTS,” Trump wrote Saturday on Truth Social, arguing presidents have the right to “fix, renovate, secure, protect, and beautify” the White House without congressional permission. Trump called the ruling a “National Security Threat at the highest level” and vowed to take the case to the Supreme …

And Now a Few Words From Our Former Presidents on UFC 250

And Now a Few Words From Our Former Presidents on UFC 250

Published by Daniella Wilson

[The presidents stare out from their portraits along the White House Corridor of Misleading Presidential Facts.] Thomas Jefferson: Well, lads, we did it: 250 glorious years. The American experiment is—dare I say it?—a success! [Donald Trump and Dana White, the Ultimate Fighting Championship CEO, stroll past the wall of paintings.] John Adams: Who’s that? [Muffled roar from behind the White House] Abraham Lincoln: What’s going on in that structure at the back of the White House? Harry Truman: My balcony? Lincoln: Lower. The thing that says UFC Freedom 250 on it. James Buchanan: That’s the president’s arena for his mixed martial arts match, to celebrate his 80th birthday and, supposedly, America’s birthday too. Calvin Coolidge: … Theodore Roosevelt: Did someone say “arena”? I love an arena! Bully! And the president is going to fight in the arena, you say? Buchanan: No, he is going to watch while other men fight, and talk critically about them. Roosevelt: (Tosses down his hat and stamps on it.) That is the worst thing he could do! Warren Harding: Now, …

The President’s Arsenal of Insults Has a Telling New Entry

The President’s Arsenal of Insults Has a Telling New Entry

Published by Sam Flores

This article was featured in the One Story to Read Today newsletter. Sign up for it here. Donald Trump, as a creator of insults, is not a poet. But he is prolific—no critic can doubt his commitment to his craft—and his body of work, whatever it may lack in artistry, is notable for its volume alone. Every time the president calls someone a “dog” or a “pig” or a “horseface,” he solidifies his status as the GOAT. As a result, whether the insults are personalized attacks (“Sleepy Joe,” “Shifty Schiff,” “Pocahontas”) or general ones (“crazy,” “nasty,” “dumb as a rock”), they form, together, a data set: a collection of text that can be categorized, analyzed, and mined for insights—not into the person being targeted but into the man who does the aiming. This week, a video went viral: a clip from an interview with the president conducted by the Meet the Press moderator Kristen Welker. The clip owes some of its popularity to its oddness. The sit-down, filmed in Wisconsin, was set in a barn, …

Smithsonian Presidents Exhibit Reopens With Low-Key Trump Impeachment Mention

Smithsonian Presidents Exhibit Reopens With Low-Key Trump Impeachment Mention

Published by José Betancourt

For the past year, the Smithsonian Institution has found itself in the awkward position of telling the nation’s story while being supported in part by a government that wants to narrow how that story is told. In December, the White House threatened to revoke funding to the institution if it did not hand over a trove of wall texts and exhibit plans for a review. So when a permanent exhibition of presidential portraits closed for a refresh earlier this spring, whether some important but unsavory facts about the current president would be there when it reopened was unclear. Now we know: The “America’s Presidents” galleries at the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C., are back, and President Trump’s two impeachments are technically there. But they are mentioned without context, in a way that underlines the Smithsonian’s touchy relationship with an administration that has not hesitated to strong-arm the institution. Last summer, the Smithsonian National Museum of American History quietly took down references to Trump’s two impeachments from a display on presidents who had faced the …

The President’s Unprotected Junior Advisers

The President’s Unprotected Junior Advisers

Published by José Betancourt

This article was featured in the One Story to Read Today newsletter. Sign up for it here. On one level, the system worked. The perimeter held. A would-be assassin was tackled in the hallway outside the White House Correspondents’ Association’s annual dinner. The one bullet that found a human target—a U.S. Secret Service agent—was halted, in part, by the officer’s phone and bulletproof vest, according to a law-enforcement summary report that we reviewed. A counterassault team promptly swarmed the stage with assault rifles and night-vision equipment in case the lights were cut. The government’s top leaders—president, vice president, Cabinet officials, speaker of the House—were ushered to secure locations in a matter of minutes. No one died in the attack. But the collective sigh of relief and rounds of “I am fine” text messages last night belied a heaviness that administration officials and other dinner attendees were still processing this morning, even as Sunday brunches proceeded apace, albeit with more security and a newly somber sheen. This attack was different from the two prior assassination attempts …

This Is Not How Presidents Typically Communicate

This Is Not How Presidents Typically Communicate

Published by Daniella Wilson

When Theodore Roosevelt marveled that he possessed “such a bully pulpit,” he used bully to mean wonderful or superb. Donald Trump’s schoolyard taunts and wartime bombast have turned the presidential podium into a platform for threatening harm or intimidating enemies, especially ones deemed inferior—a very different definition of bully. Once again, the 47th president has added a new entry on his long list of unprecedented acts. Other chief executives have cursed like the sailors or Army veterans they were before becoming U.S. commanders in chief. Harry Truman possessed a hair-trigger temper and an earthy vocabulary. John F. Kennedy used colorful descriptions gleaned from his father and from his time as a naval officer. Richard Nixon’s taped conversations captured his profanity-laced conversations with staff, and Lyndon B. Johnson’s vulgarities are infamous. Yet these chief executives typically confined their blue language to private exchanges. But yesterday morning, Trump wrote on Truth Social: Tuesday will be Power Plant Day, and Bridge Day, all wrapped up in one, in Iran. There will be nothing like it!!! Open the Fuckin’ …

“All the President’s Men” was a warning

“All the President’s Men” was a warning

Published by Sam Flores

The problem is that every corrupt politician in America, as well as their cronies, also knows that our fate has not yet been decided — and they’ll do anything to accelerate doom if it means the world will spin in their favor. In Pakula’s “All the President’s Men,” The Washington Post newsroom functions almost like a secret lair, a place where the good guys can hide out and compile their facts. Phones ring off the hook, cigarette smoke fills the air and the coffee is always hot. It’s a safe haven for journalists to put their heads together and find a solution that will serve the reader, and in turn, the greater good of the American people. On occasions that the reporting takes Woodward (Robert Redford) and Bernstein (Dustin Hoffman) away from their cubicles, their work is financed and comped by their employers. And even though they’re on deadline, they’re afforded ample time to collect data and conduct interviews before returning to their typewriters. I’m sure I don’t need to tell you that this is, …

This soundbar blew me away with its surround sound, and it’s discounted for Presidents’ Day

This soundbar blew me away with its surround sound, and it’s discounted for Presidents’ Day

Published by Miika Tikkanen

Follow ZDNET: Add us as a preferred source on Google. If you’ve been looking to upgrade your home audio this year, this soundbar from Vizio has excellent audio quality for music and movies, and is on sale during Presidents’ Day weekend.  Also: The best Presidents’ Day deals we’ve found so far You can get theVizio 5.1 Soundbar SE–which includes a soundbar, two surround-sound speakers, and a wireless subwoofer–for $30 off at Walmart right now, making it cost just under $200.  This soundbar comes with a 33-inch soundbar, a wireless subwoofer, and two surround sound speakers to place behind your couch (this is where the surround sound comes in). The soundbar also has Dolby Atmos and DTS:X, and a listed frequency response of 45Hz-16kHz +/- 5dB. I went hands-on with the soundbar last year, and it produced the kind of sound I have only heard in higher-end, more expensive soundbars. Thanks to the two surround sound speakers, the soundbar’s sound shines through in movie mode.  Review: I found a portable soundbar that sounds as impressive as speakers twice its …

How the Ivorian president’s niece acted as Epstein’s go-between

How the Ivorian president’s niece acted as Epstein’s go-between

Published by Sam Flores

Nina Keita, in New York, in 2016. NICHOLAS HUNT/GETTY IMAGES/AFP/LE MONDE The sprawling Epstein case also has a lesser-known African dimension. In Côte d’Ivoire, several high-profile public figures were named in the three million documents published on January 30 by the US Department of Justice. Chief among them is Nina Keita, niece of the country’s president, Alassane Ouattara. The 44-year-old former model and one-time adviser to the budget minister, Abdourahmane Cissé (2014-2016), is married to Employment Minister Adama Kamara. Since 2019, she has been serving as the second-in-command at Gestoci, the public company managing Côte d’Ivoire’s oil funds, and is a key figure within the ruling circle in Abidjan. The extensive correspondence – hundreds of messages between 2011 and 2018 – between Keita and the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, who died in jail in New York in 2019, reveals a close friendship and a partnership that blurred boundaries, typical of the American financier. According to the documents, in 2011, Keita introduced her uncle, then newly elected president of Côte d’Ivoire, to Epstein in New …