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  #51  
Old 02-16-2018, 01:22 PM
Chicks Chicks is offline
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More than 40 percent of Trump’s first Cabinet-level picks have faced ethical or other controversies

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/...controversies/

President Trump came to Washington promising to “drain the swamp.” But after less than 13 months, more than 40 percent of the people he originally picked for Cabinet-level jobs have faced ethical or other controversies. The list has grown quickly in recent weeks.

Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin and Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt are that latest to have their questionable travel practices probed. The Washington Post reported Wednesday that an inspector general's report determined Shulkin and top aides doctored an email and otherwise misled it about expenses for a controversial 10-day European trip Shulkin took with his wife. The Post also reported Sunday that Pruitt has spent hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars on first-class travel; since then his agency has said it obtained a waiver for him to fly first-class for security reasons.

The two of them join three other Cabinet-level officials who have faced ethical questions over their travels. Four other initial Cabinet-level picks have also been confronted with ethical or personal controversies — including in recent weeks now-Chief of Staff John F. Kelly (an original Cabinet pick) and Health and Human Services Secretary Ben Carson.


In total now, nine out of the 22 people Trump initially picked for Cabinet-level posts have found themselves facing scrutiny over their actions.

Here's a quick summary:

Travel (5):

Shulkin
Pruitt
Former Health and Human Services secretary Tom Price: Resigned over frequent use of charter flights

Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke: Mixing official travel with political events
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin: Requesting a military jet to fly him and his wife to Europe for their honeymoon, a trip to Fort Knox where the couple viewed the solar eclipse

False statements (2):

Kelly (who was initially Trump's Homeland Security secretary): His handling of the Rob Porter scandal including reportedly telling staff to spread falsehoods, making false statements about a congresswoman

Attorney General Jeff Sessions: Recused himself from the Russia investigation amid controversy over whether he lied about contacts with Russians during the 2016 campaign

Personal controversies (2):

Labor secretary nominee Andrew Puzder: Withdrew over concerns about past employment of an undocumented housekeeper and later-recanted domestic violence accusations from an ex-wife

Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson: Disregarded department lawyers' warnings about letting his son organize a “listening tour,” which officials warned might have been used to advance his children's business dealings
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  #52  
Old 02-22-2018, 06:39 PM
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  #53  
Old 02-27-2018, 11:23 PM
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Four Commerce Department appointees lose their posts after problems in background checks

Quote:
Four Commerce Department political appointees working on interim security clearances lost their jobs Tuesday because of problems in their background checks, the latest fallout from the intensifying public scrutiny on administration officials working without permanent clearances.

The department determined that the four appointees — including one who worked for the agency for nearly a year and served for several months as a senior adviser to Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross — should not be given access to classified information, according to multiple officials who requested anonymity to discuss personnel matters.

Commerce Department officials declined to comment on any terminations or resignations related to security clearance problems.
Does this count as draining the swamp? Would be great if Ryan or McConnell would chime in.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/polit...=.e02cf60b4508
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  #54  
Old 02-28-2018, 02:27 AM
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bobabode bobabode is offline
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'The Deep State Takes Out the White House’s Dark Clown Prince'

(Jared Kushner had a very bad terrible no good day. Couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy.)

If you’ve ever filled out a form SF-86 for a U.S. government security clearance, you’ll know the hassle of dealing with the sheer volume of information it entails. Listing contacts, personal, financial, and travel information in enormous, painstaking detail isn’t trivial, and even small errors will get the form kicked back to you or your clearance rejected. Applicants are required to spell out in great detail the specifics of foreign travel and overseas contacts.

Investigators need to know where you’ve made your money and to whom you have debts.
I did it in my early twenties when my life was relatively uncomplicated, and it was still a pain in the ass. It’s not easy, and it’s not supposed to be.

It’s even harder when you’re a corrupt, entitled snake who repeatedly lies about your finances to federal investigators and serves as a living, breathing poster child for privileged venality. It’s even harder when you’ve rather clumsily attempted to use both your familial relationship and proximity to the president of the United States to save your family’s failing real estate empire.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-de...rince?ref=home

I love it when a conservative pundit gets up a good head of steam and lets it rip like there's no tomorrow.
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  #55  
Old 02-28-2018, 06:31 AM
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Lauren Duca
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Can't believe they're treating Jared Kushner like this after all that peace he brought to the Middle East
2:35 PM · Feb 27, 2018

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  #56  
Old 02-28-2018, 06:53 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by bobabode View Post
'The Deep State Takes Out the White House’s Dark Clown Prince'

(Jared Kushner had a very bad terrible no good day. Couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy.)...
The stench of his venality and desperation hangs around him like stripper perfume, cloying and obvious. Jared all but hiked up his sassy pink petticoats while whistling “Hey, sailor!” to the Chinese, Israeli, Arab, and Russian investors he begged to invest in his failing 666 Fifth Avenue white elephant.


Bada bing!
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  #57  
Old 02-28-2018, 07:14 AM
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(CNN) - During closed-door testimony that stretched roughly nine hours Tuesday, White House communications director Hope Hicks was pressed about whether she had ever lied for President Donald Trump -- and acknowledged she has had to tell what amounted to white lies, according to a source with direct knowledge of her testimony.

https://www.cnn.com/2018/02/26/polit...tee/index.html

I guess it's part of the job description for Trump's staff - lie as needed to protect the Dotard.
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  #58  
Old 02-28-2018, 08:08 AM
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The US Department of Housing and Urban Development (Hud) has agreed to spend $165,000 on “lounge furniture” for its Washington headquarters, in addition to a $31,000 dining set purchased for housing secretary Ben Carson’s office.

The revelations on Tuesday of Carson’s expensive decor spending come as Donald Trump’s administration has proposed a cut of $6.8bn to Hud’s annual budget, or roughly 14% of its total spending, which would lead to reductions in programs aimed at poor and homeless Americans.


https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/...e-table-bought
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  #59  
Old 02-28-2018, 08:35 AM
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Why does he need a dinning set in his office, anyway. 😟
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  #60  
Old 02-28-2018, 09:17 AM
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Why does he need a dinning set in his office, anyway. 😟
Reports are that Carson's wife pressure HUD employees to find ways around the law.
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