President Donald .'Does the so-called 'Senior Administration Official' really exist, or is it just the Failing New York Times with another phony source?' Trump tweeted hours after the newspaper published a brutal opinion essay written by one of his staffers
'If the GUTLESS anonymous person does indeed exist, the Times must, for National Security purposes, turn him/her over to government at once!' An hour earlier, Trump tweeted a single word: 'TREASON?' The op-ed describes the president as 'impetuous, adversarial, petty and ineffective' and says the author is part of an organized 'resistance' whose goal is 'to preserve our democratic institutions while thwarting [President] Trump's more misguided impulses until he is out of office
'During a White House event with a group of sheriffs, Trump called the op-ed 'gutless' and suggested the writer is 'probably
failing and probably here for all the wrong reasons.'Separately, White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said in a statement that the essay was 'pathetic, reckless, and selfish' and challenged the Times to 'issue an apology
''This is just another example of the liberal media's concerted effort to discredit the President,' she said
Sanders said the unidentified writer chose 'to deceive, rather than support, the duly elected President of the United States
He is not putting country first, but putting himself and his ego ahead of the will of the American people
This coward should do the right thing and resign.' But Trump focused equally on the 'dishonest media' – specifically the Times, a paper he claims is 'failing' despite its steady growth in subscribers since he took office
'The New York Times is failing. If I weren't here, I believe The New York Times probably wouldn't even exist,' he said, later adding: 'They don't like Donald Trump and I don't like them because they're very dishonest people
' The Times described Wednesday's move as 'rare,' leaving open the possibility that its editorial board has masked the names of op-ed writers in the past
The identity of the mystery scribe, Washington's new 'Deep Throat,' will become the stuff of cocktail party chatter and Twitterati sleuths for weeks
But in a tweet the Times described the person as a male, saying 'he and others' are working together behind the scenes of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue
A Times spokeswoman later told Business Insider that the pronoun was a mistake that shouldn't be read as a tip-off
'Senior opinion editors know the identity of the official, as we pointed out in our editor's note,' Danielle Ha said in an email
'The tweet was drafted by someone who is not aware of the author's identity, including the gender, so the use of 'he' was an error
'Online chatter Wednesday quickly focused on Vice President Mike Pence as armchair language analysts focused on one line describing the late Sen
John McCain as 'a lodestar for restoring honor to public life and our national dialogue
'That word – lodestar – is a favorite of the vice president. But a senior White House official told DailyMail
com that suspicion is not focused on him or anyone in his office following a frank discussion among the VP's senior staff
The official suspects 'lodestar' was purposely included in the op-ed to throw journalists off the scent
RELATED ARTICLES Previous 1 Next Trump slams Woodward's book as a 'fraud' and labels him a
Trump says an assassination attempt on Syrian dictator. Share this article Share In an online introduction, the Times says the author's 'identity is known to us' and the person's 'job would be jeopardized by its disclosure
We believe publishing this essay anonymously is the only way to deliver an important perspective to our readers
'The essay describes a 'quiet resistance' that by its nature has remained secret but isn't designed to bring Trump down – only to curb his worst impulses
'Ours is not the popular 'resistance' of the left,' the author writes. 'We want the administration to succeed and think that many of its policies have already made America safer and more prosperous
''But we believe our first duty is to this country, and the president continues to act in a manner that is detrimental to the health of our republic
'So rather than risk the invocation of the Constitution's 25th Amendment, the prescribed route for removing a president, he boasts that 'we will do what we can to steer the administration in the right direction until – one way or another – it's over
' Highlights: The most searing quotes in Bob Woodward's book WHAT THEY SAID ABOUT TRUMP:JOHN KELLY, CHIEF OF STAFF: 'He's an idiot
It's pointless to try to convince him of anything. He's gone off the rails. We're in Crazytown
I don't even know why any of us are here. This is the worst job I've ever had.'JAMES MATTIS, DEFENSE SECRETARY: 'Fifth- or sixth-grader'REX TILLERSON, FORMER SECRETARY OF STATE: 'He's a f***ing moron
'JOHN DOWN, FORMER PERSONAL ATTORNEY: 'F***ing liar.'JOHN DOWD ON HOW TRANSCRIPT OF A MUELLER INTERVIEW WOULD BE DESCRIBED BY FOREIGN LEADERS: 'I told you he was an idiot
I told you he was a goddamn dumbbell. What are we dealing with this idiot for?'GARY COHN, FORMER CHIEF ECONOMIC ADVISER: 'A professional liar' ROB PORTER, FORMER STAFF SECRETARY WHO QUIT WHEN BOTH EX-WIVES ACCUSED HIM OF ABUSE: 'A third of my job was trying to react to some of the really dangerous ideas that he had and try to give him reasons to believe that maybe they weren't such good ideas
'WHAT THEY SAID TO EACH OTHER:STEVE BANNON TO IVANKA TRUMP: 'You're nothing but a f***ing staffer! You walk around this place and act like you're on charge, and you're not
You're on staff!'IVANKA TRUMP TO STEVE BANNON: 'I'm not a staffer! I'll never be a staffer
I'm the first daughter and I'm never going to be a staffer!'JOHN KELLY TO GARY COHN: 'If that was me, I would have taken that resignation letter and shoved it up his a** six different times
'DOWD TO ROBERT MUELLER: 'He just made something up. That's his nature.' WHAT TRUMP SAID ABOUT THEM:BARACK OBAMA: 'Weak d**k' RUDY GIULIANI, PERSONAL ATTORNEY: 'Rudy, you're a baby
I've never seen a worse defense of me in my life. They took your diaper off right there
You're like a little baby that needed to be changed. When are you going to be a man?' WILBUR ROSS, COMMERCE SECRETARY: 'I don't trust you
I don't want you doing any more negotiations. You're past your prime.' H.R McMASTER, FORMER NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: 'Dresses like a beer salesman
'REINCE PRIEBUS, FORMER CHIEF OF STAFF: 'Like a little rat. He just scurries around
'AFTER EGYPTIAN PRESIDENT FATAH AL-SISSI ASKED IF HE WAS GOING TO BE AROUND: 'Like a kick in the nuts
'BASHAR AL-ASSAD, SYRIAN DICTATOR: 'Let's f***ing kill him! Let's go in. Let's kill the f***ing lot of them
'The nameless internal Trump critic bashes the president's 'amorality,' and claims he has no 'first principles that guide his decision making' and no affinity for typical Republican ideals
And Trump's 'impetuous, adversarial, petty and ineffective' management style, the writer claims, has brought disaster most of the time – and most Cabinet officials 'are working to insulate their operations from his whims
''Meetings with him veer off topic and off the rails, he engages in repetitive rants, and his impulsiveness results in half-baked, ill-informed and occasionally reckless decisions that have to be walked back,' he continues
Unlike The Washington Post, the stated policy that guides the Times in its decisions about publishing op-eds does not exclude anonymous essays
The West Wing has been buffeted from one incoming missile to the next in recent days; the biggest recent salvo has been journalist Bob Woodward's book 'Fear,' which caught the Trump administration flat-footed when excerpts first emerged Tuesday
That book, too, reveals at least one episode of a senior Trump adviser going behind his back to prevent him from making a catastrophic mistake
Former chief economic advisor Gary Cohn, Woodward writes, once tried to prevent a trade disaster when Trump asked for paperwork pulling the U
S. out of a bilateral agreement with South Korea.He 'stole a letter off Trump's desk,' Woodward writes, specifically to prevent the president from signing it
And Cohn told others he did it 'to protect the country'. The president has branded Woodward's book a 'fraud' and a work of fiction
WHAT DOES THE 25TH AMENDMENT MEAN? AND CAN CABINET REALLY TOPPLE TRUMP? The anonymous New York Times op-ed by a 'senior Trump official' says that there were 'early whispers within the Cabinet of invoking the 25th Amendment'
The 25th Amendment deals with presidential authority in the event of death or removal from office, and was ratified in 1967
What does the 25th Amendment say?It is in four sections. The first states clearly that the vice president becomes president if the president dies or resigns (or is fired) - something which the original Constitution did not clearly state
Section 2 states that if the vice president dies or resigns - or is fired - both the House and the Senate have to confirm the new vice president
Section 3 makes clear that the president can temporarily give their powers to the vice president and reclaim them when capable of discharging them
But it is Section 4 which is at the heart of the op-ed's claims.It sets out how the president can be removed from office if he (or she) is incapacitated and does not leave of his own accord
It says that the vice president and 'a majority of either the principal officers of the executive departments or of such other body as Congress may by law provide' must write to both the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House that 'the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office'
That act immediately makes the vice president the acting president.But it also allows the president to contest the claim, and if he does, the ball is back in the vice president's and executive's court
They have four days to repeat their claim to the Senate and the House that the president is incapable of holding office
Congress then has two days to convene - unless it is already in session - and within 21 days has to vote on whether the president is incapacitated
If it does, he is not removed from office, but his powers are all held by the acting president unless or until he resigns, or Congress votes that he is capable of holding office
What would happen to trigger the 25th Amendment?There is no precedent for its use so much of what could happen is unclear but the most likely scenario is that the vice president would need at least eight Cabinet members to back him in a claim that Trump is incapable
A total of 15 Cabinet members - not the whole Cabinet - are designated as 'principal officers of the executive departments'
So Mike Pence would need eight of those to agree. Currently the 15 are: Mike Pompeo, Secretary of State; Steven Mnuchin, Secretary of the Treasury; James Mattis, Secretary of Defense; Jeff Sessions, Attorney General; Ryan Zinke, Secretary of the Interior; Sunny Perdue, Secretary of Agriculture; Wilbur Ross, Secretary of Commerce; Alexander Acosta, Secretary of Labor; Alex Azar, Secretary of Health and Human Services; Elaine Chao, Secretary of Transportation; Rick Perry, Secretary of Energy; Betsy DeVos, Secretary of Education; Robert Wilkie, Secretary of Veterans Affairs; Kirstjen Nielsen, Secretary of Homeland Security
If Pence and eight of the 15 agree, they will write a formal letter to both Orrin Hatch, the most senior senator, who is President pro tempore, and to Paul Ryan, the Speaker, declaring Trump incapacitated
That would make Pence acting president as soon as it was sent.What if Trump does not agree?If Trump claims he is capable of holding office, a crisis ensues: he has to write to Hatch and Ryan within four days - a move which would prompt Congress into up to 21 days of debate in both houses
At the end of the debate both houses have to reach two-thirds majorities agreeing with Pence and his gang of assassins for the acting president to keep office
If either house fails to reach the two-thirds majority, Trump resumes power.Is there another way of removing him?Yes - but only with Mike Pence on board
The amendment says that if the vice president and a majority of 'such other body as Congress may by law provide' agree the president is incapacitated, the process can be put in motion
That means that Congress could set up a commission of fitness or a committee to assess Trump's capacity and give it the legal power to enact the 25th Amendment's Section 4 alongside Pence
That would itself be fraught, but a Democratic House and Senate could create the body with a simple majority
Could Trump fire Pence if he rebelled?In principle, yes, he could. But the 25th Amendment has a poison pill - that both houses of Congress have to approve a new vice president
If Pence and a Congressionally-created body seemed on the way to declaring Trump incapacitated, Trump would be up against the same Congress which created the body to get a new and loyal vice president confirmed
Is there any precedent for this?Essentially, no. Section 3, the voluntary relinquishment of power, has been invoked by Jimmy Carter alone
Section 4 has never been invoked, although there are claims that Ronald Reagan's outgoing chief of staff Donald Regan told his successor, Howard Baker, that he should be prepared to invoke it because Reagan was' inattentive and inept' and 'lazy'
But the PBS documentary American Experience recounted how the new chief of staff and his team met Reagan and after watching him closely at their first meeting for signs of incapacity and decided he was in perfect command of himself
For more infomation >> Anonymous op-ed blasts President Trump - Duration: 2:52. 
No comments:
Post a Comment