Here’s your dose of “What the Fuck Is Going On” news (2/10/2017 Edition)
After a federal appeals court has refusing to reinstate Trump’s ban on travelers from seven predominantly Muslim nations, Trump quickly tweeted that he will be taking the matter to court again. Today the White House announced that they are no longer going to take the matter to court, then later they said they were again considering it, and now they’ve announced that they are going to outright issue a new travel ban executive order. (source)
U.S. Department of Homeland Security internal reports show that Trump border wall is now estimated to cost 21.6 billion dollars to make. This price is much higher than the figures the GOP and Trump have been throwing around. (source)
White House press secretary Sean Spicer refused to rule out the possibility of Sarah Palin serving as the next ambassador to Canada. The position has been unoccupied since the former ambassador, Bruce Heyman, resigned. (source)
Tom Price has been confirmed as Health Secretary with the final vote being 52-47. Price is noted for being a fierce opponent of the Affordable Care Act and his ethics have been brought into question. In his time in Congress, Price wrote legislation on health care issues, he also bought and sold health care stocks whose value was affected by the legislation he was working on. (source)
In a meeting with senators, Trump was supposed to be having a bipartisan discussion on his Supreme Court pick, Neil Gorsuch. Instead Trump went on a rant that he would have won New Hampshire if it wasn’t for (the continually debunked) voter fraud. He also claimed that former Sen. Kelly Ayotte would have won her re-election if not for all the people voting illegally in her state. (source)
In his phone call with President Xi Jinping of China, Trump agreed to honor the “one China policy.” This comes quickly after Trump told the President of Taiwan that the U.S. did not have to stick to the policy. (source)
Elliott Abrams was cut from the list of contenders to be Secretary of State Rex Tillerson’s deputy. He was the most likely contender for the position until Trump personally intervened due to Abrams’ criticism of him from last May. (source)
Hary Tanoesoedibjo, an Indonesian business partner with the Trump Organization gave an interview bragging about his access to the U.S. president. He bragged about being able to have access to Trump, his children, and how he’s personally set up meetings with Trump and Indonesian politicians. This obviously raised some concerns in regards to “conflict of interest” and Tanoesoedibjo quickly denied ever saying these things. However, the journalists who gave the interview were able to prove he did make these comments through recording and transcript of the interview. (source)
President Bashar al-Assad of Syria gave an interview today where he stated he could see him and Trump working out together. Assad also denied the reports that he had Syrian prisoners hanged without trial - something he called “fake news.” He also spoke about his support of Trump’s travel ban saying that some Syrians are terrorists, he also supported the idea of U.S troops coming into Syria to help fight terrorists. Interesting to note however, that Assad and his government labels those who are opposed to his rule as terrorists. (source) (source)
National security adviser Michael Flynn appears to have discussed the sanctions against Russia with the Russian ambassador, Sergey Kislyak, despite stating before that he did not discuss the sanctions. Kislyak confirmed that he had communicated with Flynn by text message, by phone and in person, but declined to say whether they had discussed sanctions. Flynn’s contact is now being investigated. (source)
Trump signed an executive order changing the order of succession in the Department of Justice. The executive order spells out who will act as the nation’s highest law enforcement officer if the attorney general dies. He signed this order quietly and it has so far been the only one to not be signed in a public ceremony. (source)
A lobbying firm working for Saudi Arabia paid for a room at Donald Trump’s Washington hotel after Inauguration Day, marking the first publicly known payment on behalf of a foreign government to a Trump property since he became president. The Emoluments Clause of the Constitution prohibits U.S. officials from receiving payments from foreign governments. The stay raises question on whether this represents a violation of the foreign emoluments clause. (source)
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