Donald Trump and the White House remained publicly quiet over the weekend despite swelling numbers of COVID-19 diagnoses. Within the walls of the building, however, a very loud conversation reportedly took place between Trump, his aides and conspiracy theorist Sidney Powell. Powell, the lawyer for pardoned Trump campaign surrogate Michael Flynn, has continued to spread unfounded conspiracy theories regarding the legitimacy of the 2020 election.
CNN reports that when questioned about the White House meeting, Powell first denied meeting with the President before giving a “None of your business” answer. Sources within the White House, however, confirm that Powell did meet with Flynn, along with other top aides. The New York Times adds that “Powell was at the White House for a meeting that became raucous and involved people shouting at each other at times, according to one of the people briefed on what took place. Ms. Powell’s client, retired Lt. Gen. Michael T. Flynn, the former national security adviser whom the president recently pardoned, was also there, two of the people briefed on the meeting said. Some senior administration officials drifted in and out of the meeting.”
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CNN has also uncovered the reason for the meeting. Correspondent Maggie Haberman tweeted that Powell was “Pitching an executive order on seizing voting machines to examine them, per a person with knowledge of the meeting. Unclear if POTUS is planning to go along with it. Would it be legally viable? White House counsel already told him it wouldn’t be. But Powell/Flynn others are telling him what he wants to hear right now. And if he went ahead with it, it would be destabilizing in a new way. Hearing from multiple people Powell did not meet with the president tonight. She was talking to others in White House. Worth noting that people can’t just walk into the White House, they have to be cleared to come in.”
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Confirming what @JDiamond1 saw, that Sidney Powell was back in the White House tonight. She was once again pitching an executive order on seizing voting machines to examine them, per a person with knowledge of the meeting. Unclear if POTUS is planning to go along with it.
— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) December 21, 2020
Would it be legally viable? White House counsel already told him it wouldn’t be. But Powell/Flynn others are telling him what he wants to hear right now. And if he went ahead with it, it would be destabilizing in a new way.
— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) December 21, 2020
Meanwhile, Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani released a statement on Sunday which reads, in part, “Sidney Powell is practicing law on her own. She is not a member of the Trump Legal Team. She is also not a lawyer for the President in his personal capacity.”
Hearing from multiple people Powell did not meet with the president tonight. She was talking to others in White House. Worth noting that people can’t just walk into the White House, they have to be cleared to come in.
— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) December 21, 2020
Powell has yet to offer any evidence to support her claims of election rigging. Donald Trump continues to assert that he won the 2020 Presidential Election, despite offering no evidence or proof of vote tampering. Trump also took no action over the weekend despite an explosion of COVID-19 cases, tense and ongoing budget talks over a COVID-19 relief bill, and the revelation by the UK of a mutated strain of COVID-19 that is 70 times more transmittable than the initial strain.
Mister P
The sooner we are rid of the whole bunch of psychotic and corrupt lunatics the better the country and the world will be.
There is no telling how low the orange fool will go.
Bengali
This time of year, more than ever, it’s time to cleanse our lives of those Trump supporters who are friends and family. It’s not about political differences. Not Republican vs. Democrat. It’s about the warped morals and lack of decency that resides in each and ever person who supports Trump and his Klan. I’ve personally let each contact I have who is a Trump supporter that our friendship is terminated and that I will never forgive them for being part of the sellout of the United States of America.
I leave you with wishes for health and happiness (and productive cleansing of Trump supporters) from your life.
jerkinns
Bengali, that’s tough, considering almost half of the voting population of the US is morally warped (which is really, really disturbing)
Openminded
Bengali, are you serious? Flip this around and see how you would feel if your family and friends had said, “Being Gay isn’t real, gay’s are bad character, etc., let’s banish these people who think differently from us out of our lives”. I’m not saying support Trump allies, but we all have differing opinions on something and to purge everyone from your life who thinks differently than you is narrow minded and will only leave you lonely. Besides, everyone who voted for Trump doesn’t necessary like HIM, they like the Republican ideas more than the Democrat ideas. In reality, both parties have their outstanding good points along with some fairly crappy ones. Anyone that is being truly honest realizes that neither party should be throwing stones.
Cam
This is the continuation of the Republican plan, and it’s why the Republicans on the Supreme Court voted to destroy the Voting rights Act. Republican’s do not care about American democracy, they will do whatever illegal action they can to hold power and keep lining their pockets with our tax dollars.
marshal phillips
Trump & Team are just Sore Losers.
AxelDC
American Fascism
Essie
I don’t know what seizing the voting machines will do for him. Even if he overturns Georgia, he would still lack enough Electoral votes to win. Personally, I think he will try to declare Martial Law . . . but the Army will not go along with it. The top general has already said as much. And, if he does, Congress needs to step in and declare him mentally incompetent . . . because he is!!
We still have about 30 days to go, right?? A mentally ill person can do a lot of damage in that time, especially with people around him like Powell and Flynn. Most of the sane ones appear to be gone.
rand503
IT will do a lot, actually. They will simply say that the machines were tampered, defective, or sabotaged. Evidence? We don’t need no stinking evidence! And they will will certainly sabotage the machines themselves if they need to.
I wouldn’t turn them over for anything. AT best, they should be reviewed by an independent team and everything documented.
Joshooeerr
Yes, this is all about the perceptions of the faithful. The more Trump continues to stir the pot, the more inclined they will be to follow him to the ends of the earth, believing they have been robbed, no matter the complete lack of evidence. This will be the basis for Trump 2024 (probably with a different Trump, blessed by DJT), and it will continue to plague the Republican Party and American politics for years or decades to come. You don’t get rid of this kind of madness overnight. I still wouldn’t be at all surprised if Trump also attempts some kind of coup between now and Jan 20. It will be half-assed and demented, but it will still play into the myth of him as some kind of warrior king, battling against entrenched forces.
LMG
With a name like Sydney no wonder she’s f**ked up. Someone should wash her mouth out with bleach, then put duct tape over her mouth, and throw her in a padded cell with two Lesbians. Post a sign outside saying: “Pay no attention to the braying sound you hear inside.”
Kangol2
Sydney’s a beautiful name. It’s the name of Australia’s major city, and a number of notable people over the years. It’s also androgynous, so anyone of any gender can bear it. Don’t smear the name because she bears it. (My name isn’t Sydney, BTW.)
And please don’t inflict this hateful, batsh!t crazy woman on lesbians!
squish
Cuomo (and queerty) are stating the transmissibility wrong. The transmissibility of the strain in the UK is potentially “seventy percent greater” than the other strains.
That is not the same as 70 times.
“70 percent more” means 170%, which is 1.7 times higher.
Please correct your article so it doesn’t spread misinformation.
Openminded
Rock Star, glad there is someone else here that can do math. This mistaken 70X statement almost makes 70% more sound like a good thing.
Prax07
Sorry but Sydney has a face only a fist could love.
loren_1955
Getting this crime family out of the White House is not happening soon enough. Destabilizing country and the economy to the end. A traitor to the country and citizens.
Gadfeal
Why isn’t there any form of intervention by the legal professions, and the Bar associations to strip lawyers of their memberships or credentials if they explicitly show either mental or moral turpitude in a way that damages either clients or contravenes the law?
Giuliani, Barr and this individual would have been subject to legal bodies’ sanction in many (?most) other democratic systems. Maybe it’s a result of fervently viewing an 18th Century legal document as immutable, and, unlike most democratic countries, the US cannot change its Constitution with the times as the bar is now infeasible (75% of States ratification – a process that last took 200 years for an Amendment’s ratification). Amendments are thus limited to very minor “tweaks” in the increasingly difficult quest to update the 250 year old document.
The US Constitution was designed when the US was a Colony with a mere 300 thousand or so eligible voters and 13 States. Has any law not been regularly updated in 250 years?
Openminded
The American legal system was designed by itself and for itself and I don’t see it ever changing. There are frivolous lawsuits filed daily that shouldn’t be allowed so there is really no way to cherry pick what Trump’s team is doing now. Any attempts to remodel the legal process immediately has the lawyers and judges (previous lawyers) jumping up and spouting how we don’t want to go back to lynch mobs where people were hanged before the full facts came out. The legal system proudly holds on to the mantra that every man shall have his day in court, it just doesn’t include that that man can keep coming back to court as often as he wishes and clog the system up, nor does it mention that it can take years of prep before that single day arrives.
Sister Bertha Bedderthanyu
I am wondering not if but what do they have on Giuliani where he MUST get this election overturned at all costs. He is reminding me of an Underdog cartoon episode where Simon Bar Sinister goes back in time trying to stop Thanksgiving and come back to present day to overthrow the government with twelve soldiers and two tanks and declare himself emperor. Ol’ Simon failed too. lol
Kangol2
@SisterBertha, news broke tonight that Ghouliani is yet again under investigation by the Special District of New York prosecutors, very likely linked to his close work and association with Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman, both of whom are in custody and pending trial, I believe. Ghouls also has ties to a number of other figures who have been under investigation or, like Andrey Derkach, under sanction by the Treasury Department. He is a sleazemeister and knows that if he can keep Don the Con in office, the heat stays off of him. Then again, Don the Con has discussed pardoning him, so he always has that out. But will Don the Con resign the day before Inauguration Day so that Pence can pardon all of them?
barryaksarben
T R E A S O N. from Trump . Just as so many of us thought it would come to
Rock Star
Per your article, “and the revelation by the UK of a mutated strain of COVID-19 that is 70 times more transmittable than the initial strain.”
OMG it’s bad enough without you getting it wrong. It’s 70% more not 70 times more. Please correct this immediately. OMG. Have a nice gay.
UncleFloppy
Frankly, I’m seriously afraid of what kind of shit the orange turd is going to try to pull during his remaining 29 days in office. Without a doubt there will be more bad behavior to come before the nightmare is over.
Sister Bertha Bedderthanyu
Barr has stopped dead short of saying “this guy is planning a coup and you ALL had better pay attention”. I can’t for the life of me see any general ordering troops to deploy on the streets and take over the airwaves (Five Days in May starring Kirk Douglas and Burt Lancaster) but you never know. He (Trump) ordered the bombing of Iran’s nuclear facilities after he lost the election and his generals refused to do it because of the fallout and Iran’s retaliation that was sure to come.
Were I in a position of power I would demand that heads roll if Trump does not leave that office on inauguration day and I would begin with her followed by Giuliani for keeping this lie afloat. Even Fox News isn’t buying this.
Kangol2
Tellingly, Pennsylvania prosecutors have identified several cases of alleged voting fraud, and at least two were by Republicans.
Today the Philadelphia Inquirer reported that a Don the Con supporter in Delaware County, Bruce Bartman, reportedly applied for absentee ballots in the names of his deceased mother and deceased mother-in-law, and then voted as “Elizabeth Bartman,” in order to “further the campaign of Donald Trump.” He is currently being prosecuted for “two felony counts of perjury, as well as one count of unlawful voting for successfully casting an absentee ballot for President Donald Trump in the name of Elizabeth Bartman, his long-dead mother,” and is out on $100,000 bail.
Also, another Don the Con supporter in Chester County, Ralph Thurman, is a registered Republican who voted twice on Election, once for himself and once in his son’s name. Thurman was busted shortly after the election and is being prosecuted.
As usual, Don the Con and the GOP are projecting about vote fraud, because they know that between fraud, voter suppression, aid from Russia, etc., they tried their damnedest to steal the presidential election to keep the wannabe tyrant in power and even still, thanks to 81 million voters, they failed. Don the Con lost. Now it’s time for him to pack and leave on January 21, if not before (25th Amendment time!).
LumpyPillows
I’m amazed that some of them are actually pushing back against treason.