Tag: john podesta

Erin Schaff/The New York Times WASHINGTON — Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, a leading candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination, disclosed 10 years of tax returns on Monday, providing a more detailed look at his finances than what he offered when he ran for the White House in 2016. He and his wife, Jane O’Meara Sanders, reported income that topped $1 million in 2016 and 2017, lifted by proceeds from his books. Mr. Sanders had about $393,000 in book income last year, and he and his wife reported giving nearly $19,000 to charity. “These tax returns show that our family has been fortunate,” Mr. Sanders said in a statement. At the time, Mr. Sanders said his wife did their taxes. “You’ll excuse us.” In that campaign, Mr. Sanders disclosed his tax return for only one year, 2014, which showed that he and his wife had an adjusted gross income of $205,271, largely from his Senate salary and Social Security benefits. (The editor in chief of ThinkProgress said in a statement that the site was an “editorially independent journalistic entity.”) [On Fox News, Mr. Sanders rejected the idea that his wealth was proof of the “American dream.”] Tax returns released by other Democratic presidential candidates have shown that they also earned more than a vast majority of American households in recent years. Their 2018 return indicated it was self-prepared. Mr. Sanders reported receiving about $840,000 in book income in 2016 and about $856,000 in 2017. “If you write a best-selling book, you can be a millionaire, too.”

When they raise their tariff from 10 percent to 25 percent then 40 percent, and they said to me, ‘We expected somebody would call and say, you can’t nobody called so we just left it.’” This is misleading. The Green New Deal is a proposal by liberal Democrats to combat climate change. The legislation calls for the expansion of renewable energy sources, which accounted for about 17.1 percent of electricity generated in the United States in 2018. What Was Said “So we fired Comey. Schumer who called for his resignation many times. What Was Said “We never have empty seats.” False. What Was Said “I flew to Iraq — first time I left the White House because I stayed in the White House for months and months because I wanted the Democrats to get back from their vacations from Hawaii and these other places.” False. Other claims Mr. Trump also made at least 9 other inaccurate claims that The Times has previously fact-checked: He understated the number of Electoral College votes Mrs. Clinton won as 223. He exaggerated the United States’ annual trade deficit with China as $500 billion. He falsely claimed just 3 percent of detained unauthorized immigrants “come back for a trial.” (About 72 percent showed up in the 2017 fiscal year.)

A liberal millionaire now running for Congress in Pennsylvania -- and railing against the influence of money in politics -- has a history of making large donations to former President Barack Obama's campaign and other efforts. Scott Wallace, grandson of a former vice president of Franklin Roosevelt -- who’s running as a Democrat in Pennsylvania's 1st Congressional District against Republican incumbent Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick -- gave more than $100,000 to Obama's 2008 presidential campaign and Presidential Inaugural Committee and also asked top administration official John Podesta to appoint him as U.S. Ambassador in South Africa. Wallace has made criticism of money in politics a campaign issue, saying money “corrupts” politics and slamming President Trump for giving access to wealthy donors. As he was donating to various Obama funds, Wallace also began his efforts to become the U.S. ambassador to South Africa, his so-called “second country,” where he lived for several years while overseeing the Wallace Global Fund’s projects in the country, by directly pushing a top Obama official to consider him for the role. "It has become my second country, and I would be deeply honored to be considered to represent President Obama as ambassador there." It has become my second country, and I would be deeply honored to be considered to represent President Obama as ambassador there,” he continued, openly offering his diplomatic services. - Scott Wallace The liberal millionaire returned to the issue a few weeks later, sending another email to Podesta, who spearheaded Obama’s transition team, saying he listed Podesta as a reference in an application to work in the administration. The Wallace campaign told Fox News that Wallace “would have been honored to join” the Obama administration and accused Fitzpatrick’s campaign of taking money special interests. “If you want to talk about a corrupting influence of money, let’s talk about how Brian Fitzpatrick took hundreds of thousands of dollars from oil and gas special interests and then voted to give them billions in tax breaks or how he has accepted thousands of dollars from corrupt Trump cronies and criminals like Elliott Broidy and Adam Kidan,” she added.

Hillary Clinton campaign chair John Podesta joins Ari Melber to discuss Trump’s Supreme Court nomination Brett Kavanaugh and the Mueller Russia probe. Podesta tells Ari Melber he would “rather be in this seat” than former Trump campaign chair Paul Manafort’s…

Footage from Trump’s rally in Tampa on Tuesday and a rally in Pennsylvania on Thursday shows attendees wearing T-shirts and carrying posters with the letter “Q” — a shorthand to identify followers of the conspiracy theory. Here’s what experts say you need to know about QAnon and why the conspiracy theory has spread. How did QAnon’s theories spread? Conspiracies take off because the world is complex and people like things to make sense, according to Brooke Binkowski, former managing editor at the fact-checking website Snopes.com, which frequently debunks online theories. But when theories explode on platforms with anonymous posters — like 4chan, one of the sites where QAnon started — Binkowski says they can be much harder to stop. Before their recent appearance at Trump rallies, QAnon conspiracy theorists have mostly stayed online – at the fringes of most mainstream message boards and social media platforms. That happened in December 2016, when a 28-year-old North Carolina man, who believed a conspiracy theory — one that is still spread by QAnon followers — showed up at a Washington, D.C. pizzeria where he believed children were being harbored because of baseless claims relating to Hillary Clinton’s, John Podesta. How can this kind of conspiracy theory be stopped? “People’s idea of what are acceptable political beliefs depends, to some extent, on what kind of cues they get from political elites. Trump is, by usual standards of U.S. politics, quite a conspiracy theorist.

Kevin Poulsen, reporter for the Daily Beast, talks with Rachel Maddow about his reporting that the Claire McCaskill campaign's 2018 operations have been targeted by Russian hackers using the same technique as was used against Hillary Clinton campaign chairman John…

(CNN)Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats raised the alarm on growing cyberattack threats against the United States, saying the situation is at a "critical point" and coming out forcefully against Russia. "The warning signs are there. Coats compared the "warning signs" to those the United States faced ahead of the September 11 terrorist attacks. "It was in the months prior to September 2001 when, according to then-CIA Director George Tenet, the system is blinking red. And here we are nearly two decades later, and I'm here to say, the warning lights are blinking red again," Coats said. Coats referred to the indictments and alluded to upcoming election threats, but said "focusing on the potential impact of these actions, on our midterm election, misses the more important point: These actions are persistent, they're pervasive, and they are meant to undermine America's democracy on a daily basis, regardless of whether it is election time or not. Russia actors and others are exploring vulnerabilities in our critical infrastructure as well." Coats added, "What's serious about the Russians is their intent. In his remarks, Coats pointed to the indictment as showing "exactly what they're trying to do or what they've done through their military intelligence relative to elections." While Coats will not be sitting down with Putin, he was asked Friday what his message to Putin would be if he was given the chance to speak with the Russian leader.

Clinton 2016 presidential campaign chairman John Podesta reacts to learning how Russian military operatives stole his emails in a cyber attack meant to hurt Clinton and help candidate Trump. » Subscribe to MSNBC: http://on.msnbc.com/SubscribeTomsnbc About: MSNBC is the premier destination…