Longtime Trump ally and personal attorney Michael Cohen has refused congressional requests to provide “information and testimony” pertinent to their investigations into Russia’s interference in the 2016 election, ABC News reported Tuesday.

“I declined the invitation to participate as the request was poorly phrased, overly broad and not capable of being answered,” Cohen told ABC via email of the requests for his contacts with Kremlin-linked officials.



http://talkingpointsmemo.com/dc/michael-cohen-refuses-congress-requests-contacts-russia-investigation

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) called it “stunning” that former FBI Director James Comey would publicly discussed his findings in the Hillary Clinton email probe as a result of Russian intelligence that Comey knew to be false.

“I can’t imagine a scenario where it’s OK for the FBI director to jump in the middle of an election based on a fake email generated by the Russians and not tell the Congress,” Graham said Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union.”


http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/graham-stunning-comey-fake-intelligence-russia-clinton-emails

Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA), the chair of the House Intelligence Committee, offered a different explanation for his decision to step aside from the panel’s investigation of Russian interference in the U.S. election at a fundraiser in California in early April, the day after he stepped down from the probe.

He also hinted that he was eager to return to the probe, which he painted as an attempt by Democrats to explain away Hillary Clinton’s election loss.

Nunes told attendees at the Tulare County Lincoln Dinner that he stepped aside in order to protect vulnerable Republican House members from facing questions about his actions from the media, according to a video of the event published by the Los Angeles Times on Tuesday. The video was provided to the newspaper by someone who attended the event and filmed part of Nunes’ remarks.


http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/devin-nunes-russia-probe-protect-republicans



I guess when this character, runs to the white house as a lap dog of classified information and then spews misinformation, and tries to deflect from there party act of TREASON, his only excuse is to blame democrats for the republican's act of TREASON, go figure.

Our party didn't commit TREASON Nunes, your's did

UPDATE: Texas Rep. Cesar Blanco (D) posted audio of a phone call to his Twitter account late Monday night, in which a man is heard making racist remarks and saying he “stands with” Rinaldi.

WARNING: This video contains foul language.


https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2017/05/29/a-texas-republican-called-ice-on-protesters-then-lawmakers-started-to-scuffle/?utm_term=.fe8895599f77


https://www.texastribune.org/2017/05/29/protesters-disrupt-house-proceedings-raise-opposition-sanctuary-cities/


http://crooksandliars.com/2017/05/death-and-deportation-threats-all-hell

THE MORNING PLUM:

We now have our first clear evidence that President Trump’s threats to blow up Obamacare — whether or not he actually intends to make good on them — are going to hurt a lot of people here in the real world. In Trump’s mind, these threats are supposed to force Democrats to make a deal on repeal, but minimal logic reveals that this is extremely far-fetched — meaning the only impact his threats will likely have is a destructive one, for no evident purpose whatsoever.

Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina has announced that it intends to try to raise premiums by 22.9 percent next year. The company says it would have tried to raise them by only 8.8 percent, but it is going for the larger increase because the Trump administration has not said whether it will continue paying the law’s so-called “cost-sharing reductions” (CSRs) to insurance companies, which subsidize out-of-pocket costs for lower-income people who get insurance on the individual markets. Democrats in Congress want to appropriate money to cover these subsidies, but Republicans have not done so.


https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2017/05/26/trumps-latest-tantrum-will-hurt-hundreds-of-thousands-of-people-heres-how/?utm_term=.810859174ac5

Department of Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly on Sunday said he does not “see any big issue” with reports that senior White House adviser Jared Kushner, who is President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, sought to set up backchannel communications with the Kremlin before Trump’s inauguration.

“I know Jared. He’s a great guy, decent guy. His number one interest, really, is the nation, so you know there’s a lot of different ways to communicate, backchannel, publicly with other countries,” Kelly told Chuck Todd on NBC News’ “Meet the Press.”

He said Kushner made those efforts “before the government was in place during the transition period, I think, from what I understand.”


http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/john-kelly-jared-kushner-moscow-backchannel

If you happen to have any Donald Trump memorabilia you should be very aware that it’s worth a lot of money. The New York Post is reporting that there’s a huge market for items with Trump’s signature and pictures of the man himself. The items can go upward from $800 to $12,000. Now, there’s a new item that could soon become a collector’s item.


https://wearemitu.com/comedy/a-mexican-lawyer-created-trump-toilet-paper-and-proceeds-will-go-to-help-deportees/

The escalating crisis surrounding the Russia investigation (with reports last night on FBI interest in Jared Kushner) looks like good news for somebody in the White House: Steve Bannon.

Nine sources in the West Wing and within Trump's close orbit said the Russia situation is Bannon's shot at redemption. He's being described as a "wartime consigliere" relishing a fight against the "deep state," media, Democrats and investigators.

https://www.axios.com/bannon-back-to-fight-russia-probe-2422102907.html

More than 35 years after he left office in disgrace, a stash of recordings has been made public confirming the popular view of Richard Nixon as a lying, venal, foul-mouthed, paranoid conspirator.

In the 198 hours of recordings and 90,000 pages of documents released by the Nixon Presidential Library, the late president discusses his 1972 election landslide, the Vietnam peace talks and "Christmas bombing" campaign. But mostly he urges staff to use all means necessary to discredit opponents.

"Never forget," he tells national security advisers Henry Kissinger and Alexander Haig in a conversation on December 14 1972, "the press is the enemy, the press is the enemy. The establishment is the enemy, the professors are the enemy, the professors are the enemy. Write that on a blackboard 100 times."

But Nixon was also obsessed with his predecessors, instructing his chief of staff Bob Haldeman in July 1971 to organise a covert raid of a Washington thinktank to uncover information it might have about John F Kennedy.


https://www.theguardian.com/world/2008/dec/04/richard-nixon-recordings

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) appears to be a pretty good shot ― and a horrible comedian.

A Texas Tribune reporter snapped a photo of Abbott showing off his target sheet on Friday, after which the governor “jokingly” pointed to the bullet holes and threatened the media.

“I’m gonna carry this around in case I see any reporters,” Abbott said, according to reporter Patrick Svitek.


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/texas-governor-greg-abbott-jokes-about-shooting-reporters_us_59284da3e4b0df57cbfb53c8?0sf&ncid=inblnkushpmg00000009