Siege
Siege
Trump Under Fire
by Michael Wolff
Book Report by Bobby Everett Smith
Spoiler Alert
August 31, 2020
Copyright © 2020 Bobby Everett Smith
All rights reserved.
Distributed by Britain Street Consulting, Inc.
This e-book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
Siege
Trump Under Fire
by Michael Wolff
Book Report by Bobby Everett Smith
Spoiler Alert
August 31, 2020
Setting
The White House, Washington, D.C.
This book written by Michael Wolff describes the administration of Donald Trump, 45th President.
Characters (Wikipedia.org)
Donald J. Trump 45th and current President of the United States
John Bolton, National Security Advisor under President Trump. Author of White House Memoir–The Room Where It Happened
Michael Flynn (born December 24, 1958) is a retired United States Army lieutenant general who was the 24th National Security Advisor[1] until his forced resignation. Flynn’s military career included counterterrorism strategy and dismantling insurgent networks in the Middle East wars.
H. R. McMaster (born July 24, 1962) is a retired United States Army lieutenant general who served as the 25th United States National Security Advisor under Donald Trump.
Reinhold “Reince” Priebus (born March 18, 1972) is an American lawyer and politician who served as White House Chief of Staff for President Donald Trump from January 20, 2017 until July 31, 2017. He also served as the chairman of the Republican National Committee (RNC) from 2011 to 2017.
John Kelly (born May 11, 1950) is a retired U.S. Marine Corps general who served as the White House Chief of Staff for President Donald Trump from July 31, 2017, to January 2, 2019. He had previously served as Secretary of Homeland Security in the Trump administration.
“Ivanka” Trump (born October 30, 1981) serves President Trump since 2017 as advisor. The daughter and second child of President Trump and his first wife, Ivana, she is the first Jewish member of a first family, having converted before marrying her husband, Jared Kushner.
Lawrence Kudlow (born August 20, 1947) is the Director of the United States National Economic Council. He assumed that role in 2018 after previous employment as a financial analyst and a television financial news host.
Gina Haspel is an American intelligence officer serving as Director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) since 2018. She is the first woman to hold the post on a permanent basis and was previously the Deputy Director under Mike Pompeo.
“Jack” Keane (born February 1, 1943) is a retired American four-star general, former Vice Chief of Staff of the United States Army. He is a national security analyst, primarily on Fox News.
Steven Mnuchin (born December 21, 1962) is an American investment banker, movie producer, and public official who is serving as the 77th United States secretary of the treasury as part of the Cabinet of Donald Trump.
Michael Pence (born June 7, 1959) is an American politician and lawyer serving as the 48th vice president of the United States since 2017. He previously was the governor of Indiana from 2013 to 2017 and a member of the United States House of Representatives from 2001 to 2013
Shinzō Abe (born 21 September 1954) is a Japanese politician who has served as Prime Minister of Japan and President of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) since 2012. He previously served as Chief Cabinet Secretary from 2005 to 2006, and as Prime Minister from 2006 to 2007. He is the longest-serving Prime Minister in Japanese history
Nikki Haley (born January 20, 1972) is an American politician, diplomat, businesswoman, and author who served as the Governor of South Carolina from 2011 to 2017 and as the 29th United States Ambassador to the United Nations from 2017 to 2018. A member of the Republican Party, Haley was the first female governor of South Carolina and the first female Indian American governor elected in the United States
Daniel Coats (born May 16, 1943) is an American politician and former diplomat. From 2017 to 2019, he served as the Director of National Intelligence in the Trump administration. He served as a United States Senator from Indiana from 1989 to 1999 and again from 2011 to 2017. He was the United States Ambassador to Germany from 2001 to 2005, and a member of the United States House of Representatives from 1981 to 1989. Coats served on the United States Senate Select Committee on Intelligence while in the U.S. Senate.
Angela Merkel (born 17 July 1954) is a German politician who has been Chancellor of Germany since 2005. She served as the Leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) from 2000 to 2018. Merkel has been widely described as the de facto leader of the European Union, the most powerful woman in the world, and by some commentators as the “leader of the free world”
Kim Jong-un (born 8 January 1982) is a North Korean politician serving as Supreme Leader of North Korea since 2011 and the leader of the Workers’ Party of Korea since 2012. He is the second child of Kim Jong-il (1941–2011), who was North Korea’s second Supreme Leader from 1994 to 2011, and Ko Yong-hui (1952–2004
Barack Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician and attorney who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Barack Obama was the first African American president of the United States. He previously served as a U.S. senator from Illinois from 2005 to 2008 and an Illinois state senator from 1997 to 2004
Moon Jae-In (born January 24, 1953) is the current President of South Korea, having taken office in 2017. He previously served as chief of staff to then-president Roh Moo-hyun (2007–2008), leader of the Democratic Party of Korea (2015–2016) and a member of the 19th National Assembly (2012–2016).
James Mattis (born September 8, 1950) is a retired United States Marine Corps general who served as the 26th US secretary of defense from January 2017 through January 2019. During his 44 years in the Marine Corps, he commanded forces in the Persian Gulf War, the War in Afghanistan, and the Iraq War
Mark Milley (born June 18, 1958) is a United States Army general and the 20th Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. As Chairman, he is the highest-ranking and most senior military officer in the United States Armed Forces. He previously served as 39th Chief of Staff of the Army
Stephen Miller (born August 23, 1985) is an American government official who serves as a senior advisor for policy to President Donald Trump. His politics have been described as far right and anti-immigration. He was previously the communications director for then-Senator Jeff Sessions
John “Mick” Mulvaney (born July 21, 1967) is an American politician who served in President Donald Trump’s cabinet as Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), as well as acting White House Chief of Staff until 2020. He previously served as the acting Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) from November 2017 to December 2018
Stephanie Grisham[1] ( born July 23, 1976) is an American White House official who served as the 30th White House press secretary and as White House communications director from July 2019 to April 2020. During her time as the White House Press Secretary she did not hold a briefing. She has served as Chief of Staff and Press Secretary for the First Lady of the United States, Melania Trump since 2020, and previously as Press Secretary from 2017 to 2019
James “Rick” Perry (born March 4, 1950) is an American politician who served as the 14th United States Secretary of Energy from 2017 to 2019. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as the Governor of Texas from 2000 to 2015. He left office on December 1, 2019.
Wilbur Ross Jr. (born November 28, 1937) is an American investor and businessman serving, since 2017, as the 39th United States Secretary of Commerce. A member of the Republican Party
Adil Abdul-Mahdi al-Muntafiki (born 1 January 1942) is an Iraqi politician who served as Prime Minister of Iraq from October 2018 until May 2020. Abdul-Mahdi is an economist and was one of the vice presidents of Iraq from 2005 to 2011. He formerly served as minister of finance in the Interim government and Oil Minister from 2014 to 2016
Michael Cohen (born August 25, 1966) is an American disbarred lawyer who served as an attorney for U.S. President Donald Trump from 2006–2018. Cohen was a vice-president of The Trump Organization, and the personal counsel to Trump, and was often described by media as Trump’s “fixer” He served as co-president of Trump Entertainment and was a board member of the Eric Trump Foundation, a children’s health charity. From 2017 to 2018, Cohen was deputy finance chairman of the Republican National Committee.
Patrick Shanahan (born June 27, 1962) is a former United States federal government official who served as acting U.S. Secretary of Defense in 2019. President Donald Trump appointed Shanahan to the role after the resignation of Retired General James N. Mattis. Shanahan served as Deputy Secretary of Defense from 2017 to 2019. He previously spent 30 years at Boeing in a variety of roles.
John Kerry (born December 11, 1943) is an American politician and diplomat who served as the 68th United States Secretary of State from 2013 to 2017. An attorney, anti-war activist, and former naval officer, Kerry served as a United States Senator from Massachusetts from 1985 to 2013. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the party’s unsuccessful nominee for President of the United States in the 2004 election
Mark Esper (born April 26, 1964) is the 27th and current United States secretary of defense, and a former U.S. Army officer and defense contractor lobbyist. He previously served as the 23rd United States secretary of the Army from 2017 to 2019
Mitchell McConnell Jr. (born February 20, 1942) is an American politician serving as Kentucky’s senior United States senator and as Senate Majority Leader. McConnell is the second Kentuckian to serve as a party leader in the Senate, the longest-serving U.S. senator for Kentucky in history, and the longest-serving leader of U.S. Senate Republicans in history
Michael Eisenberg (October 12, 1942) is an American financier and investor who is the United States Ambassador to Italy. He is known for co-founding and heading private equity firm Granite Capital International Group L.P, serving as the Chairman of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey at the time of the September 11, 2001 attack of the World Trade Center, which the Port Authority operated
Benjamin Netanyahu (born 21 October 1949) is an Israeli politician serving as Prime Minister of Israel since 2009, and previously from 1996 to 1999. Netanyahu is also the Chairman of the Likud – National Liberal Movement. He is the longest-serving Prime Minister in Israeli history and the first to be born in Israel after the establishment of the state
Rudolph Giuliani (born May 28, 1944), is an American attorney and politician. He led the 1980s federal prosecution of New York City mafia bosses and led the city’s civic cleanup as its mayor from 1994 to 2001. In 2017, Donald Trump appointed him cybersecurity advisor. In 2018, he joined Trump’s personal legal team, Giuliani has been a Republican since the 1980s, the US Associate Attorney General from 1981 to 1983, he was the US Attorney for the Southern District of New York from 1983 to 1989.
Randal Paul (born January 7, 1963) is an American politician and physician serving as the junior United States Senator from Kentucky since 2011. He is a son of former U.S. Representative Ron Paul of Texas who was a presidential candidate in 1988, 2008, and 2012
Thomas Cotton (born May 13, 1977) is an American politician. A member of the Republican Party, he served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 2013 to 2015 and has served as the junior United States Senator from Arkansas since 2015.
Edward Cruz (born December 22, 1970) is an American politician and attorney serving as the junior United States Senator for Texas since 2013. He was the runner-up for the Republican presidential nomination in the 2016 election
Charles Martin Kupperman[1] (born November 9, 1950) was the United States Deputy National Security Advisor for President Donald Trump, a position he held from January to September 2019. He also was the acting United States National Security Advisor for eight days in September 2019 between John Bolton and Robert C. O’Brien
Volodymyr Zelensky[a] (born 25 January 1978) is the 6th and current president of Ukraine. Before entering politics, he was a comedian, actor, screenwriter, film producer, and director
George Soros, (born August 12, 1930) is a Hungarian-American billionaire investor and philanthropist. As of May 2020, he had a net worth of $8.3 billion, having donated more than $32 billion to the Open Society Foundations
Gordon Sondland (born July 16, 1957) is an American diplomat and businessperson. He served as the United States Ambassador to the European Union from 2018 to 2020. Sondland is also the founder and former chairman of Provenance Hotels. In November 2019, Sondland testified as a witness at the impeachment inquiry against Donald Trump. He was fired by Trump on February 7, 2020, two days after the conclusion of Trump’s impeachment trial.
Robert Swan Mueller III (born August 7, 1944) is an American lawyer and government official who served as the sixth Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) from 2001 to 2013. A graduate of Princeton University and New York University, Mueller served as a Marine Corps officer during the Vietnam War, receiving a Bronze Star for heroism and a Purple Heart. Mueller is a registered Republican, and was appointed and reappointed to Senate-confirmed positions by presidents George H. W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama
Mitchell McConnell Jr. (born February 20, 1942) is an American politician serving as Kentucky’s senior United States senator and as Senate Majority Leader. McConnell is the second Kentuckian to serve as a party leader in the Senate, the longest-serving U.S. senator for Kentucky in history, and the longest-serving leader of U.S. Senate Republicans in history
Rod Jay Rosenstein (born January 13, 1965) is an American attorney who served as the 37th United States Deputy Attorney General from April 2017 until May 2019. Prior to his appointment, he served as a United States Attorney for the District of Maryland. At the time of his confirmation as Deputy Attorney General in April 2017, he was the nation’s longest-serving U.S. Attorney. Rosenstein had also been nominated to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit in 2007, but his nomination was never considered by the U.S. Senate
Michael Dean Cohen (born August 25, 1966) is an American disbarred lawyer who served as an attorney for U.S. President Donald Trump from 2006–2018. Cohen was a vice-president of The Trump Organization, and the personal counsel to Trump, and was often described by media as Trump’s “fixer”. He served as co-president of Trump Entertainment and was a board member of the Eric Trump Foundation, a children’s health charity. From 2017 to 2018, Cohen was deputy finance chairman of the Republican National Committee
Kellyanne Elizabeth Conway (born January 20, 1967) is an American pollster, political consultant, and pundit who serves as counselor to the president in the administration of U.S. president Donald Trump. She was previously Trump’s campaign manager, having been appointed in August 2016; Conway is the first woman to have run a successful U.S. presidential campaign.[1] She has previously held roles as campaign manager and strategist in the Republican Party, and was formerly president and CEO of The Polling Company / Woman Trend
Marla Maples was born on October 27, 1963, in Cohutta, Georgia. Her mother, Ann Locklear Maples (1940–2014), was a homemaker and model, and her father, Stanley Edward Maples, a real estate developer, county commissioner, singer, songwriter
Corey R. Lewandowski (born September 18, 1973) is an American political operative, lobbyist and political commentator. He was a political commentator for One America News Network (OANN), Fox News and CNN, as well as a campaign manager of Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign for President of the United States from January 2015 to June 2016
Roger Jason Stone (born August 27, 1952) is an American conservative political consultant, lobbyist, and convicted felon. In November 2019, subsequent to the Mueller report and Special Counsel investigation, he was convicted on seven counts, including witness tampering and lying to investigators. On February 20, 2020, he was sentenced to 40 months in federal prison. The sentence was commuted by President Donald Trump on July 10, 2020
Henry Alfred Kissinger (born May 27, 1923) is an American politician, diplomat, and geopolitical consultant who served as United States Secretary of State and National Security Advisor. A Jewish refugee who fled Nazi Germany with his family in 1938, he became National Security Advisor in 1969 and U.S. Secretary of State in 1973. For his actions negotiating a ceasefire in Vietnam, Kissinger received the 1973 Nobel Peace Prize under controversial circumstances
Stephen Allen Schwarzman (born February 14, 1947) is an American businessman, investor, and philanthropist. He is the chairman and CEO of The Blackstone Group, a global private equity firm he established in 1985 with former chairman and CEO of Lehman Brothers and US Secretary of Commerce Peter G. Peterson. His personal fortune is estimated at $17.2 billion as of October 2019.[1] As of 2019, Forbes ranked Schwarzman at 100th on its World’s Billionaires List. Schwarzman briefly served as Chairman of President Donald Trump’s Strategic and Policy Forum.
Peter Kent Navarro (born July 15, 1949) is an American economist and author. He serves in the Trump administration as the Assistant to the President, Director of Trade and Manufacturing Policy, and the national Defense Production Act policy coordinator. He previously served as a Deputy Assistant to the President and Director of the White House National Trade Council, a newly created entity in the executive branch of the U.S. government, until it was folded into the Office of Trade and Manufacturing Policy, a new role established by executive order in April 2017.[1][2] He is also a professor emeritus of economics and public policy at the Paul Merage School of Business, University of California, Irvine, and the author of Death by China, among other publications.[3] Navarro ran unsuccessfully for office in San Diego, California, five times
Keith Rupert Murdoch, (born 11 March 1931) is an Australian-born American media mogul who founded News Corp.[3] He is the son of Keith Murdoch, one time senior executive of Australia’s Herald & Weekly Times publishing company.
Robert Emmet Lighthizer (born October 11, 1947) is an American attorney and government official who is the current United States Trade Representative.
Chris Christie (born September 6, 1962) is an American politician, commentator, lobbyist and former federal prosecutor who served as the 55th Governor of New Jersey from 2010 to 2018. Christie was born in Newark, New Jersey and raised in Livingston, New Jersey.
Benjamin Netanyahu (born 21 October 1949) is an Israeli politician serving as Prime Minister of Israel since 2009, and previously from 1996 to 1999. Netanyahu is also the Chairman of the Likud – National Liberal Movement. He is the longest-serving Prime Minister in Israeli history[4][5] and the first to be born in Israel after the establishment of the state.
James Brien Comey Jr. (born December 14, 1960) is an American lawyer who was the 7th director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) from 2013 until his dismissal in May 2017 Comey had been a registered Republican for most of his adult life
Sean Patrick Hannity (born December 30, 1961) is an American talk show host and conservative[3] political commentator. Hannity is the host of The Sean Hannity Show, a nationally syndicated talk radio show. He also hosts a commentary program, Hannity, on Fox News. Hannity worked as a general contractor and volunteered as a talk show host at UC Santa Barbara in 1989. He later joined WVNN in Athens, Alabama and shortly afterward, WGST in Atlanta. After leaving WGST, he worked at WABC in New York until 2013. Since 2014, Hannity has worked at WOR
Brexit (a portmanteau of “British” and “exit”) is the withdrawal of the United Kingdom (UK) from the European Union (EU)
Paul John Manafort Jr. (born April 1, 1949) is an American lobbyist, political consultant, lawyer, and convicted felon of tax and bank fraud A long-time Republican Party campaign consultant, he chaired the Trump Presidential campaign team from June to August 2016. Manafort served as an adviser to the U.S. presidential campaigns of Republicans Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush, and Bob Dole. Manafort often lobbied on behalf of foreign leaders such as former President of Ukraine Viktor Yanukovych,
John Owen Brennan (born September 22, 1955) is a former American intelligence officer who served as the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) from March 2013 to January 2017. He served as chief counterterrorism advisor to U.S. President Barack Obama, with the title Deputy National Security Advisor for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism, and Assistant to the President Previously, he advised Obama on foreign policy and intelligence issues during the 2008 election campaign and presidential transition.[6] Brennan withdrew his name from consideration for Director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) during the first Obama administration over concerns about his support, after defending on TV the transferring of terror suspects to countries where they might be tortured while serving under President George W. Bush. Instead, Brennan was appointed Deputy National Security Advisor, a position which did not require Senate confirmation.
David Jay Pecke (born September 24, 1951) was the CEO of American Media. He is the publisher of Men’s Fitness, Muscle and Fitness, Flex, Fit Pregnancy, Shape and Star. He was also the publisher of National Enquirer, Sun, Weekly World News, and Globe.
Allen Howard Weisselberg (born August 15, 1947) is the chief financial officer (CFO) of The Trump Organization. Weisselberg also serves as a co-trustee of a trust set up in 2017 by Donald Trump before Trump’s inauguration as President of the United States.
Donald Francis McGahn II (born June 16, 1968) is an American lawyer who served as White House Counsel for U.S. President Donald Trump, from the day of Trump’s inauguration through October 17, 2018, when McGahn resigned. Previously, McGahn served on the Federal Election Commission for over five years. In November 2019, McGahn received a court order to testify before the U.S House of Representatives. In August 2020, the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled 7-2 that the House can sue him to comply.
Jamal Ahmad Khashoggi (October 2018) was a Saudi Arabian dissident, author, columnist for The Washington Post, and a general manager and editor-in-chief of Al-Arab News Channel who was assassinated at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on 2 October 2018 by agents of the Saudi government. He also served as editor for the Saudi Arabian newspaper Al Watan, turning it into a platform for Saudi progressives
Tucker Carlson (born May 16, 1969) is an American television presenter, political commentator, author, and columnist who has hosted the nightly political talk show Tucker Carlson Tonight on Fox News since 2016.
Sheldon Adelson (born August 4, 1933) is an American businessman, investor, philanthropist and political donor. He is the founder, chairman and chief executive officer of Las Vegas Sands Corporation, which owns the Marina Bay Sands in Singapore, and the parent company of Venetian Macao Limited, which operates The Venetian Resort Hotel Casino and the Sands Expo and Convention Center. He owns the Israeli daily newspaper Israel Hayom, Makor Rishon and the American daily newspaper Las Vegas Review-Journal. Adelson, a philanthropist and donor to a variety of causes, created the Adelson Foundation in 2007 at the behest of his wife, Miriam. He made the largest single donation to any U.S. presidential inauguration when he gave the Trump inaugural committee US$5 million
Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) is a United States immigration policy that allows some individuals with unlawful presence in the United States after being brought to the country as children to receive a renewable two-year period of deferred action from deportation and become eligible for a work permit in the U.S. To be eligible for the program, recipients cannot have felonies or serious misdemeanors on their records. Unlike the proposed DREAM Act, DACA does not provide a path to citizenship for recipients The policy, an executive branch memorandum, was announced by President Barack Obama on June 15, 2012. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) began accepting applications for the program on August 15, 2012
Louis Carl Dobbs (born September 24, 1945) is an American television commentator, opponent of immigration, conspiracy theorist,[1][2][3][4][5] radio show host, and the anchor of Lou Dobbs Tonight on Fox Business Network
William Pelham Barr (born May 23, 1950) is an American attorney and is the two-time and current United States Attorney General. He served as the 77th Attorney General from 1991 to 1993 during the George H. W. Bush administration, and returned to the post as the 85th AG in February 2019 during the Donald Trump administration
Executive Summary
Siege, Trump Under Fire describes the president’s impulsive management style that has led to the chaos in the White House for the first three years of his presidency. While Trump claims to be a superior businessman, his administration has been riddled with high job turnover and indecision within his cabinet. Trump believes he is invincible but that only adds to his vulnerability.
Wolff describes Trump as a raging, self-destructive inferno and the most divisive leader in American history.
Siege begins in February 2018, Trump’s second year in office. Trump’s own white house staff has begun to turn against him. Chaos reigns. Some from his own base have found him to be impulsive and undependable, hopelessly distracted and in over his head. Some describe him as mentally unstable.
Trump described his own performance, “I’m good at the game. Maybe I’m the best. Really I could be the best. I am the best. I am very good, very cool.”
My late March 2018, John Kelly, Trump’s second Chief of Staff, was in bitter disagreement about how to run the government. Trump ignored him; Kelly sulked. Jared and Ivanka operated at will in the West Wing of the White House. The Mueller team pursued the Special Investigation of the Russian Collusion in the 2016 election. Paul Ryan resigned as Speaker of the House, and the FBI raided the personal residence of Trump’s personal attorney, Michael Cohen, looking for evidence for the Mueller investigation.
Impeachment due to the Mueller investigation was a possibility and according to Stephen Bannon, to be embraced not to be avoided. Bannon was certain that the president would be acquitted in the Senate even if impeached in the House.
Trump was accused of colluding with the Russians to help him get elected president in 2016. Robert Mueller was appointed by Rob Rosenstein of the Department of Justice to lead an independent investigation to discover if there were grounds for impeachment. Mueller had a distinguished record as a U. S. Marine and Director of the FBI. He was recognized by the press as singularly qualified to lead a fair and accurate investigation.
Trump called the investigation a Hoax, a witch hunt and various other derogatory names. He had the right to fire the private investigator, but he reluctantly agreed that firing Mueller would not be politically advantageous to him. He thought many times that he should go ahead and fire him but he always backed down.
For the mid-term elections, Fox News was the first network to announce that Democrats had won control of the House with all of the subpoena, oversight and investigative authority that went with it. Trump was slow to believe it. The Senate remained in Republican control with Mitch McConnell the majority leader from Kentucky. Bannon predicted Trump would be impeached by the House and convicted by the Senate leaving him far short of one term in office.
The president’s extreme mood swings were alarming for almost everyone in the White House. After the election, his rages were greater, and his coherence more in question. Hannity told Bannon that Trump seemed totally crazy. Ivanka and Jared spent even more time with Trump at this point to their personal advantage. They came to be the power behind the throne.
In December, without Department of Defense review or approval, announced that the U.S. had defeated ISIS. Trump also announced that he was withdrawing all U.S. troops from Syria. Mattis resigned.
Trump with the support of Ann Coulter, Fox News, continued to advocate for funding the Wall. On December 21, the government shutdown. On January 16, Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House disinvited Trump from making the State of the Union address. On January 25, the shutdown ended the longest shutdown in American history.
On February 14, Bill Barr was sworn in as Attorney General. The next day Trump declared a national emergency.
On March 5, Robert Mueller spelled out the conclusions of his investigation and report to Bill Barr. Mueller reminded his staff that they were a Special Counsel not an independent counsel; they reported to the Justice Department and as such, the conclusions of the report went to the Attorney General, Bill Barr. The Special Counsel’s office confirmed that it would issue no new indictments. Barr wrote a letter to Congress stating that he would send a summary of the report to Congress, possibly within 48 hours.
In a four page letter to Congress, Barr stated that the Special Counsel had found no evidence of conspiracy to influence the 2016 election and he continued the Special Counsel had left it to the Attorney General to determine if there had been any obstruction of justice. Donald Trump had once again slipped his pursuers.
Trump proclaimed his complete and total exoneration. He was soon on the phone seeking congratulations and congratulating himself. “I am the man,” he said. “Never, never, never, give in. I am fearless and they know that. It scared the shit out of them.”
“Of Robert Mueller, he said, “what an asshole.”
Once again, Trump had dodged a potential death blow. His exoneration changed very little because he was still guilty of being Donald Trump. It would lead him again and again to the brink of destruction. His escape, such as it was, would be brief.
David Jay Pecker[3] (born September 24, 1951) was the CEO of American Media. He is the publisher of Men’s Fitness, Muscle and Fitness, Flex, Fit Pregnancy, Shape and Star. He was also the publisher of National Enquirer, Sun, Weekly World News, and Globe.
Allen Howard Weisselberg (born August 15, 1947) is the chief financial officer (CFO) of The Trump Organization. Weisselberg also serves as a co-trustee of a trust set up in 2017 by Donald Trump before Trump’s inauguration as President of the United States.
Donald Francis McGahn II (/dɒn məˈɡæn/; born June 16, 1968) is an American lawyer who served as White House Counsel for U.S. President Donald Trump, from the day of Trump’s inauguration through October 17, 2018, when McGahn resigned. Previously, McGahn served on the Federal Election Commission for over five years. In November 2019, McGahn received a court order to testify before the U.S House of Representatives. In August 2020, the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled 7-2 that the House can sue him to comply.
Jamal Ahmad Khashoggi (– 2 October 2018) was a Saudi Arabian dissident, author, columnist for The Washington Post, and a general manager and editor-in-chief of Al-Arab News Channel who was assassinated at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on 2 October 2018 by agents of the Saudi government.[5][6][7][8] He also served as editor for the Saudi Arabian newspaper Al Watan, turning it into a platform for Saudi progressives
Tucker Carlson[2] (born May 16, 1969)[3] is an American television presenter, political commentator, author, and columnist who has hosted the nightly political talk show Tucker Carlson Tonight on Fox News since 2016.
Sheldon Gary Adelson (/ˈædəlsən/; born August 4, 1933) is an American businessman, investor, philanthropist and political donor. He is the founder, chairman and chief executive officer of Las Vegas Sands Corporation, which owns the Marina Bay Sands in Singapore, and the parent company of Venetian Macao Limited, which operates The Venetian Resort Hotel Casino and the Sands Expo and Convention Center. He owns the Israeli daily newspaper Israel Hayom, Makor Rishon and the American daily newspaper Las Vegas Review-Journal.[2][3] Adelson, a philanthropist and donor to a variety of causes, created the Adelson Foundation in 2007 at the behest of his wife, Miriam. He made the largest single donation to any U.S. presidential inauguration when he gave the Trump inaugural committee US$5 million
Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) is a United States immigration policy that allows some individuals with unlawful presence in the United States after being brought to the country as children to receive a renewable two-year period of deferred action from deportation and become eligible for a work permit in the U.S. To be eligible for the program, recipients cannot have felonies or serious misdemeanors on their records. Unlike the proposed DREAM Act, DACA does not provide a path to citizenship for recipients.[1][2] The policy, an executive branch memorandum, was announced by President Barack Obama on June 15, 2012. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) began accepting applications for the program on August 15, 2012
Louis Carl Dobbs (born September 24, 1945) is an American television commentator, opponent of immigration, conspiracy theorist,[1][2][3][4][5] radio show host, and the anchor of Lou Dobbs Tonight on Fox Business Network
William Pelham Barr (born May 23, 1950) is an American attorney and is the two-time and current United States Attorney General. He served as the 77th Attorney General from 1991 to 1993 during the George H. W. Bush administration, and returned to the post as the 85th AG in February 2019 during the Donald Trump administration
Summary of Siege, Trump Under Fire
Michael Wolff, author of Fire and Fury a story about Trump’s early days as 45th president of the United States, has now written Siege, Trump Under Fire describing the president’s impulsive management style that has led to the chaos in the White House for the first two years of Trump’s presidency.
While Trump claims to be a superior businessman, his administration has been riddled with high job turnover and indecision within his cabinet. Trump believes he is invincible but that only adds to vulnerability.
Wolff describes Trump as a raging, self-destructive inferno and the most divisive leader in American history.
This book begins in February 2018, Trump’s second year in office. Trump’s own white house staff has begun to turn against him. Chaos reigns. Some from his own base have found him to be impulsive and undependable, hopelessly distracted and in over his head. Some describe him as mentally unstable.
Experience and knowledge about their field of expertise has not been a requirement for job seekers, instead loyalty and the willingness to lie for the president when necessary have been the most important criteria when looking for executives to fill the president’s cabinet. Success in staying in office required that staff members exude praise and express their personal loyalty to the president, not necessarily the Constitution. They are required to tell the president what he wants to hear not what he needs to hear.
Trump described his own performance, “I’m good at the game. Maybe I’m the best. Really I could be the best. I am the best. I am very good, very cool.”
The Wall
Trump had promised during the 2016 campaign to protect American’s southern border with a wall, which was in his second year the most concrete manifestation of his policy, attitude, and personality. Democrats were opposed to funding the wall and even some Republicans opposed building it.
Funding the wall became entangled in the budgetary process in the Spring of 2018. Fox News anchors pressed the president to insist on getting the funding approved and threatened the shut down of the government if the funding was not approved. Trump vacillated back and forth as to whether or not to sign the funding bill. On the final oscillation before shutdown deadline arrived, Trump caved and signed he appropriations bill vowing never to sign another such bill without funding for the wall.
My late March 2018, John Kelly, Trump’s second Chief of Staff, were in bitter disagreements about how to run the government. Trump ignored him; Kelly sulked. Jared and Ivanka operated at will in the West Wing of the White House. The Mueller team pursued the Special Investigation of the Russian Collusion in the 2016 election. Paul Ryan resigned as Speaker of the House, and the FBI raid the personal residence of Trump’s personal attorney, Michael Cohen, looking for evidence for the Mueller investigation.
Impeachment due to the Mueller investigation was a possibility and according to Stephen Bannon, to be embraced not to be avoided. Bannon was certain that the president would be acquitted in the Senate even if impeached in the House.
Trump Lawyers
To Trump it was obvious that DOJ and FBI worked for him. They are under his direction and control. “I am the boss,” Trump said. Comey, Mueller, Rosenstein, and McCabe were part of a club and they were against the president, he thought. The FBI had even raided the home of his private attorney. How could they not be against him? Publicly, Trump claimed that the raid on Cohen’s home had nothing to do with him.
Comey published his book, A Higher Loyalty in April 2018. Trump lawyers came and went; Dowd resigned, Ty Cobb replaced him but Trump still did not like him. He liked Stormy Daniels attorney, Michael Avenatti. He was a killer and also good on TV. “Get me a star” Trump demanded. “Let’s get Dershowitz, the most famous lawyer in the country.”
Over dinner, Dershowitz asked for a million-dollar retainer. That ended the discussion.
Rudy Guiliani was desperate to get back to center-stage and he made contact with Trump who liked him and appreciated his loyalty. Never mind dementia and too much alcohol. Rudy was hired and he stepped down from him job at his practice and took on responsibility as Trump’s full-time personal attorney.
Mike Pence, as Vice President, was subservient and extravagantly appreciative of the president. Those were both traits the president wanted but the more Pence performed as the White House sycophant, the more suspicious of his motives, the president became. Trump heard and believed that Pence was the stupidest man in Congress before taking the job as Vice President.
Trump did not like the Vice President’s wife either. “She gives me the creeps,” Trump said.
The Mueller Investigation
Trump was accused of colluding with the Russians to help him get elected president in 2016. Robert Mueller was appointed by Rob Rosenstein of the Department of Justice to lead an independent investigation to discover if there were grounds for impeachment. Mueller had a distinguished record as a U. S. Marine and Director of the FBI. He was recognized by the press as singularly qualified to lead a fair and accurate investigation.
Trump called the investigation a Hoax, a witch hunt and various other derogatory names. He had the right to fire the private investigator, but he reluctantly agreed that firing Mueller would not be politically advantageous to him. He thought many times that he should go ahead and fire him but he always backed down.
Midterm Elections
Kushner along with other senior Republican members urged the president to stay as far away as possible from the mid-term elections where it was thought the House if not the Senate might have a good chance to flip Democratic.
Trump did not like the House—too many members; he could not remember their names and he became quickly bored when discussing the mid-terms with respect to the House. Th Senate was not in question in the mid-terms so they got most of his interest. Never mind that a Democratic House could lead to his impeachment; the Senate would always be there to deny any verdict that would evicgt him from office.
Jared Kushner, the president’s son in law and husband of Ivanka Trump, wanted a big role in the White House. He had no experience in government and little knowledge of the governmental process. He sought out Henry Kissinger for a mentor and used him extravagantly to get going during the first two years of the president’s tenure. Kushner became a major advisor to the president, who appointed him to come up with a solution for the middle-east peace plan.
Kushner’s father, Charlie, was in prison for real estate fraud and his son sought to get him a pardon. Trump did not like Charlie and would not budge on that issue but he did agree to pardons for such people as Sheriff Araipo of Arizona. Trump learned quickly that the ability to pardon was one of his strongest tools and was practically ironclad with limitations applying to only state charges.
Tillerson, the first Secretary of State under Trump came to detest Kushner for meddling, leaking, and his personal agenda. Kushner soon presented himself to foreign investors who wanted to see the president as the most efficient point of contact and he was not above compensation for that efficiency. Through Kushner, one could get a direct line of contact with the new president.
Kushner and his wife, Ivanka, soon let it be known that in addition to helping Donald with his presidential execution, they also had an ambition for the White House itself. During lunch, Kushner told his father-in-law that he should take a completely different approach with North Korea, advise that led to Trump’s one on one meeting with Kim Jong-un.
The Singapore meeting between the two world leaders, was the result of that lunch. Trump arrived in Singapore virtually unprepared for the meeting which had given the North Korean leader the recognition it desired but had never been able to attain from any other American president. Pompeo told reporters that the president was well prepared for the meeting with the North Korean Chairman.
Trump wanted and expected complete denuclearization by the North Koreans. It was highly unlikely to happen. Trump could not be briefed, according to Stephen Bannon, because he could not understand the briefing. The State Department officials and other advisors just gave up trying.
Trump appeared to have lost any logical or structured organization to foreign policy with his Kim Jong-Un discussions. He also lost Jim Mattis, the Secretary of Defense, “the last bridge to establishment thinking in the White House.”
The Influence of Fox News and Sean Hannity
Hannity, one of the richest men in television news, was Trump’s most influential advisor. Trump and Hannity talked daily, and Hannity soon became the primary advisor to the president. Fox News became the Trump Brand as the entire network focused on the Trump message. The Fox news staff became tied to the Trump news not the other way around. All the anchors on the network realized that if Trump went down, they would go down with him. Fox was the Trump network.
Rupert Murdoch, the Fox News owner, believed that Trump was a charlatan and that Hannity and Trump were tabloid caricatures. Murdoch did not like being tied to Trump for his network success. Trump began to tear apart the Murdoch family.
Hannity remained the Fox rating star. Hannity and Bannon began to doubt the president’s sticking power especially with respect to the immigration issue. Hannity’s status began to thin in Mid-June. Trump turned on him. Ivanka convinced her father that immigration is the issue that made Trump president and was likely the issue that would keep him in the White House. Trump began to believe that Hannity had struck him with a raw deal.
Sooner or later, Trump showed anyone who displayed too much devotion with contempt. Hating himself, he begins to hate anyone who shows him too much love. Bannon said, if you seem to respect him he thinks he’s put something over on you and you, therefore, are the fool. Trump demanded sycophancy from his staff members and then shamed them for their weakness.
Karl Rove, the Bush political advisor, identified Hannity as Trump’s resident genius. Trump had ended up with someone even stupider than he was. The frequent debate: who was stupider, Hannity or Trump?
On June 27, Justice Kennedy resigned from the Supreme Court giving Trump another opening on the Supreme Court. Hannity became an annoyance as Trump began to prepare for the announcement of a new conservative judge. Somebody should tell Hannity, Trump said.
In the summer, Trump attended a summit in Europe where his goal was to undermine NATO and persuade its members to contribute a larger share of expenses of the organization, at least two per cent each of their GDP, something that few of them had been doing under Obama and other presidents.
In Europe, Trump and Queen Elizabeth met alone in Windsor Castle.
Vladimir Putin
Robert Mueller indicted 12 Russians for hacking Democrats in the 2016 campaign.
Putin and Trump met privately for two hours with no one else present except two translators.
“The press conference was ranked as one of the most damaging and devastating performances by any president ever.”
Trump was obsequious, deferential, and servile—Manchurian candidate stuff with Trump under the thumb of his handler.” Putin offered to let the 12 indicted spies be questioned if Trump would allow him to question American citizens. Trump seemed to accept the suggestion positively.
Trump had been outplayed by a master, Bannon summarized. Putin is a badass.
In a post-meeting interview and in a makeshift studio, Trump, Melania, Shine, Kelly, Hannity, Carlson, and Kelly. Trump seemed to miss the importance of the meeting. Trump refused to talk to anyone about the contents of his meeting with Putin.
Members of the U.S. government knew nothing; members of the Russian government knew everything. According to Wolff, it was almost impossible to overstate the importance of the rising panic in the Republican party. It only got worse when Trump invited Putin to the White House.
Mattis was furious and threatened to resign as Secretary of Defense. On July 20, the president headed to Bedminster for a game of golf and declared that the Russian interference with the 2016 election was nothing but a Democratic Hoax. An exploratory Republican Party Committee began to investigate the President’s chances for impeachment and or his reelection in the 2020 campaign.
The National Enquirer
AMI is the owner of the tabloid magazine, The National Enquirer, and Dylan Howard is the Editor of The National Enquirer. David Pecker was the CEO of AMI. The publication was known as the biggest scandal sheet in the American press. Trump invited Howand and Pecker to the White House for dinner. The executives of the publication agreed with Trump that his presence on the cover of the magazine increased sales by 15 to 20 per cent more than any other celebrity.
AMI payed Karen McDougal $150,000 to keep quiet about an affair with Trump. AMI never received the money back from Trump. Stormy Daniels, a porn star received $130,000 for her silence about her affair with Trump. Daniel using attorney Avenatti sued Trump for the $130,000. Michael Cohen, the president’s lawyer, pleaded guilty to tax evasion. Chohen implicated Trump in campaign fraud. The Southern District of New York assumed jurisdiction over the Trump money trail and they overtook The Mueller Team in importance as to prosecution of Donald Trump for campaign and money irregularities.
Trump could probably get away with these charges because he is the president. Nobody else could get away with it.
New York Times Essay on President Trump
On September 5, 2019, the New York Times published an anonymous essay about the president. He was erratic, unfocused, impetuous, likely not of sound mind. He shows little regard for Republican Conservative principles—free minds, free markets, and free people. At worst, he has attacked these principles outright. Parts of the Executive Branch are trying to undermined Trump’s will and practices. One part of the government was in open rebellion against the other.
Epilog
October 9, 2019 Niki Haley resigned from her position as Ambassador to the United Nations effective December 31. Haley had announced that she had advocated new sanctions against Russia, but Trump let it be known that he did not approve of criticism of his relationship with Russia. Nobody could talk back to the president—in any sense.
For the mid-term elections, Fox News was the first network to announce that Democrats had won control of the House with all the subpoena, oversight and investigative authority that went with it. Trump was slow to believe it. The Senate remained in Republican control with Mitch McConnell the majority leader from Kentucky. Bannon predicted Trump would be impeached by the House and convicted by the Senate leaving him far short of one term in office.
The president’s extreme mood swings were alarming for almost everyone in the White House. After the election, his rages were greater, and his coherence more in question. Hannity told Bannon that Trump seemed totally crazy. Ivanka and Jared spent even more time with Trump at this point to their personal advantage. They came to be the power behind the throne.
In December, without Department of Defense review or approval, announced that the U.S. had defeated ISIS. Trump also announced that he was withdrawing all U.S. troops from Syria. Mattis resigned.
Trump with the support of Ann Coulter, Fox News, continued to advocate for funding the Wall. On December 21, the government shutdown. On January 16, Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House disinvited Trump from making the State of the Union address. On January 25, the shutdown ended the longest shutdown in American history.
On February 14, Bill Barr was sworn in as Attorney General. The next day Trump declared a national emergency.
On March 5, Robert Mueller spelled out the conclusions of his investigation and report to Bill Barr. Mueller reminded his staff that they were a Special Counsel not an independent counsel; they reported to the Justice Department and as such, the conclusions of the report went to the Attorney General, Bill Barr. The Special Counsel’s office confirmed that it would issue no new indictments. Barr wrote a letter to Congress stating that he would send a summary of the report to Congress, possibly within 48 hours.
In a four page letter to Congress, Barr stated that the Special Counsel had found no evidence of conspiracy to influence the 2016 election and he continued the Special Counsel had left it to the Attorney General to determine if there had been any obstruction of justice. Donald Trump had once again slipped his pursuers.
Trump proclaimed his complete and total exoneration. He was soon on the phone seeking congratulations and congratulating himself. “I am the man,” he said. “Never, never, never, give in. I am fearless and they know that. It scared the shit out of them.”
“Of Robert Mueller, he said, “what an asshole.”
Once again, Trump had dodged a potential death blow. His exoneration changed very little because he was still guilty of being Donald Trump. It would lead him again and again to the brink of destruction. His escape, such as it was, would be brief.
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