Donald Won’t Prosecute, “Thinly Thought”
Wednesday, November 23, 2016
Vol. 5, No. 328
In Transition: Breaking with his campaign threat and the chant of supporters who said “Lock her up!” Donald Trump said he will not push for further investigations of his former opponent.
Trump told a meeting of reporters and editors at the NY Times, “I don’t want to hurt the Clintons, I really don’t.’’ He went on, “She went through a lot and suffered greatly in many different ways, and I am not looking to hurt them at all. The campaign was vicious.”
Backing up a little bit, Trump cancelled that meeting with an angry Tweet yesterday morning and then put it back on his calendar.
In the exchange with Times editors and reporters, Trump said, again in conflict with his campaign promises, he would keep an “open mind” to staying within the Paris Climate Accord. Trump has called climate change a fraud.
He also defended his appointed strategist, Steve Bannon, who’s seen by many as a proponent of white nationalism and hate. “If I thought he was a racist or alt-right or any of the things, the terms we could use,” Trump said. “I wouldn’t even think about hiring him.”
The president-elect said he doesn’t think he has to divest his business holdings. “In theory I could run my business perfectly and then run the country perfectly.” Trump’s business has dealings with foreign governments and the US government as well.
Asked about a weekend meeting of white nationalists in Washington, DC who saluted “Hail Trump!” he said “I disavow and condemn them.”
Trump complained about some of the coverage he’s received from the paper, and despite labelling it the “failing NY Times” right through yesterday morning, he said, “I have great respect for The New York Times.” Coming back to the subject later he said, “I do read it. Unfortunately, I’d live about 20 years longer if I didn’t.”
Their Opinion: A Times editorial written after the meeting said it was shocking how “thinly thought through” most of Trump’s positions are. “Consider climate change,” the editorial says. “Mr. Trump said that he valued clean air and water, but that he hadn’t decided if combating climate change was worth the expense. ‘I have a totally open mind,’ he said, making a virtue of not knowing the issue.”
Self-Dealing: The Trump Foundation has admitted in filings to the IRS that it has committed “self-dealing,” using some of the foundation’s money to benefit the people who run it. The filing didn’t specify who benefitted, but the Washington Post reported during the campaign that it was Donald Trump.
Nation: The Dow Jones closed above 19,000 for the first time in its history yesterday. — Police are looking at speed as the cause of a Chattanooga school bus crash that killed five children Monday. — Former University of Cincinnati police officer Ray tensing will be retried in his killing of an unarmed black motorist. The jury in his first trial was unable to reach a verdict.
Heist: Paris seems to have a working jewel-heist gang. Two Qatari sisters were robbed of $5.3 million in jewelry Monday as they rode in a car between Paris’s two international airports. Reports say two masked men forced the sisters’ car to the side, tear gassed the driver, and took the women’s baggage containing the jewels.
Earlier this month two men tear gassed Bollywood actress Mallika Sherawat in an apartment-building hallway, but ran off when she and her boyfriend fought back. And of course, American celebutante Kim Kardashian was relieved of millions of dollars in jewelry in her hotel room in October.
Thrown for Loss: The NCAA vacated the University of Notre Dame’s football wins for the 2012 and 2013 seasons because a student trainer improperly helped players with their homework. The NCAA said, the former student trainer actually did course work for two athletes and that she “provided impermissible academic assistance to six additional football student-athletes in a total of 18 classes.”
The NCAA likes to pretend that college football players are students.
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