TRUMP’S CLAIM OF “BEST EVER CABINET” IS FULL OF LIARS

…Attorney General, William Barr, just one of Trump’s team that has an issue with telling the truth

It’s as though, to be a team member, you are required to lie

A lot of noise is properly being made about the current Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo,as to  when he played dumb about knowing anything about Trump’s phone call to the new President of the Ukraine.  It took a week and a half for Pompeo to admit that he actually was one of the supposed 12 individuals that were listening in on the conversation.

The point I am going to make with the following is that this habit of lying to the American Public is just one common trait of the president, and a number of the members of Trump’s cabinet. 

Just look at the following truths regarding Trump’s team:

• Commerce Secretary, Wilbur Ross:

In his March 2018 testimony, the Commerce Secretary said that the: “Department of Justice, as you know, initiated the request for inclusion of the citizenship question.”

• But the truth is that The Washington Post reported months later that Ross’s efforts to add the citizenship question dated back to early 2017.  Actually, he started trying to add the question as soon as he joined Trump’s Cabinet, which was months before the Justice Department made the formal request.

The Commerce Department has explained that these were normal behind-the-scenes discussions before a formal request was made.  However, Ross made sure it sound like this wasn’t his idea, even as he was clearly pushing hard for it.  

• Attorney General William Barr:

In separate testimonies, the Attorney General claimed ignorance about how special counsel Robert Mueller’s team viewed Barr’s misleading summary of the Mueller report. In a House hearing, Rep. Charlie Crist (D-Fla.) referenced reports that: “members of the special counsel’s team are frustrated at some level with the limited information included in your March 24th letter.”  Crist asked whether he knew what they were referencing, Barr said: “No, I don’t. I think — I think — I suspect that they probably wanted more put out.”

• However, Mueller had sent Barr a letter two weeks earlier stating that Barr’s summary “did not fully capture the context, nature and substance of this office’s work and conclusions.”

Barr was asked about the “members” of Mueller’s team and not Mueller specifically, so Barr might have been technically true.  But to say he was unaware of the crux of these criticisms was disingenuous at best.

• Former Attorney General, Jeff Sessions:

During his confirmation hearing for attorney general, Jeff Sessions denied he had been in contact with Russians in 2016. “I have been called a surrogate at a time or two in that [2016] campaign, and I didn’t have…. did not have communications with the Russians,” he said. He narrowed the claim later to say, “I never met with any Russian officials to discuss the issues of the campaign.”

• Neither statement turned out to be true. Sessions had spoken with then-Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak twice in 2016. And phone intercepts later showed the two did discuss campaign-related matters..

• Vice president, Mike Pence:

After Trump fired FBI Director James Comey in May 2017, Vice President Pence joined White House spokespeople in denying that it had to do with the Russia investigation. “That’s not what….let me be clear with you….that was not what this is about,” he said May 10, repeating, “That’s not what this is about.”

• One day later, Trump went on NBC News and declared, “When I decided to just do it, I said to myself — I said, ‘You know, this Russia thing with Trump and Russia is a made-up story.’ ”

After it was reported that then-national security adviser Michael Flynn had spoken with Kislyak during the transition period, possibly in violation of US law against non-government officials conducting diplomacy, VP Pence stated they hadn’t discussed the Obama administration’s new sanctions. “They did not discuss anything having to do with the United States’ decision to expel diplomats or impose censure against Russia.” He repeated that the talks “had nothing whatsoever to do with those sanctions.”

• They did discuss, as The Post reported.  Flynn had explained (rather dubiously) that he didn’t consider the things they were talking about to be “sanctions” per se. Flynn was forced out after Pence and others accused him of lying to them about the discussions.

• Former National Security Adviser, H. R. McMaster:

After The Post reported that Trump had disclosed highly classified information to Kislyak and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in the Oval Office, Mike Flynn’s replacement as national security adviser, H.R. McMaster, was dispatched to deny it. “The story that came out tonight, as reported, is false,” McMaster said. He added that “at no time were intelligence sources or methods discussed.”

• However, the White House has never disputed the specifics, and the Mueller report noted that former White House press secretary Sean Spicer told Mueller’s team that “he would have been told to ‘clean it up’ if the reporting on the meeting with the Russian foreign minister was inaccurate, but he was never told to correct the reporting.”

McMaster’s denial was broad, so it could have been technically accurate if any part of the story was wrong, but it was certainly intended to cast doubt on the central claim.

• Former Homeland Security Secretary, Kirstjen Nielsen:

“We do not have a policy of separating families at the border. Period,” then-Homeland Security Secretary tweeted June 17, 2018.

“This misreporting by Members, press & advocacy groups must stop. It is irresponsible and unproductive. As I have said many times before, if you are seeking asylum for your family, there is no reason to break the law and illegally cross between ports of entry.”

• An inspector general’s report made clear that the separations were a direct result of a decision by the Trump administration. “The Zero Tolerance Policy, however, fundamentally changed DHS’ approach to immigration enforcement. In early May 2018, DHS determined that the policy would cover alien adults arriving illegally in the United States with minor children. Because minor children cannot be held in criminal custody with an adult, alien adults who entered the United States illegally would have to be separated from any accompanying minor children when the adults were referred for criminal prosecution.”

It might have been technically true that the policy didn’t say, “We will separate families,” but it was inherent in the decision. And the now-acting DHS secretary Kevin McAleenan has made clear that officials knew that was the case.

• Former White House Chief-of-Staff, John Kelly:

Then-White House Chief of Staff claimed in October 2017 that Rep. Frederica S. Wilson (D-Fla.) boasted about winning money from the Obama administration for a building at a 2015 dedication for the building. Kelly said Wilson had “talked about how she was instrumental in getting the funding for that building, and how she took care of her constituents because she got the money, and she just called up President Obama, and on that phone call, he gave the money, the $20 million,” Kelly said. He accused her of being the latest in a “long tradition of empty barrels making the most noise.”

• Video later surfaced of the actual building dedication showing the congresswoman saying no such thing. Even though Kelly had lied, Kelly to this date has failed to apologize.  Kelly has suggested that Wilson had made the comments in a separate, private discussion, but as with Trump’s statements, Kelly failed to elaborate or offer proof of his explanation..

• Environmental Protection Agency-Administrator, Scott Pruitt:

When asked about large, controversial raises given to two top Environmental Protection Agency staffers, the then-Administrator Pruitt suggested that he hadn’t been involved. “I found out this yesterday and I corrected the action, and we are in the process of finding out how it took place and correcting that going forward,” he told Fox News’ Ed Henry.

•  Sources later told The Post that Pruitt had endorsed the idea of the raises a month earlier, even though he hadn’t carried them out himself.

These are only some of the basics of what Trump’s “Den of Liars” has said or done that was incorrect. 

But if this what has been found out, what is it that we don’t know?

I’m not sure I even want to know.  I just want them all to be replaced by people that have more respect for telling the truth.

Copyright G. Ater 2019