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Washington (CNN)New White House chief of staff John Kelly was so upset with how President Donald Trump handled the firing of FBI Director James Comey that Kelly called Comey afterward and said he was considering resigning, according to two sources familiar with a conversation between Kelly and Comey.
Comey, who took Kelly's call while traveling back from Los Angeles to Washington, responded to Kelly by telling him not to resign, one of the sources said.The sources said Comey and Kelly are not close friends but that they had a professional relationship and a deep mutual respect for each other.
“There are some things that don’t have much humor, particularly in the environment we have today,” said Darrel Stephens, a former Charlotte police chief and now executive director of the Major Cities Chiefs Association. “Even if it’s an attempt at humor, it sends the wrong message.”Since Trump’s speech, law enforcement leaders have been discussing the remarks and have “universally” expressed “disbelief and disappointment” in the comments, said Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo.“Words matter,” Acevedo said Monday. “Perception matters. … It doesn’t matter if he was joking. The president sets the tone, and when you joke about mistreatment of prisoners, that’s not a laughing matter.”
Within hours, the Suffolk County Police Department released a statement disavowing Trump’s comments and saying its officials “do not and will not tolerate ‘rough[ing]’ up prisoners.” The International Association of Chiefs of Police issued a statement of its own after the speech that did not mention Trump by name but emphasized the importance of officers treating “all individuals, whether they are a complainant, suspect, or defendant, with dignity and respect.”In the hours and days that followed, police officials from California to Florida and from Texas to Maryland pushed back against Trump’s comments. J. Thomas Manger, the Montgomery County police chief and president of the Major Cities Chiefs Association, released a statement saying “our job got tougher” due to Trump’s remarks.
“This is the President of the United States,” Charles H. Ramsey, a former police chief in the District and Philadelphia, told CNN on Monday. “He’s commander in chief, not a stand-up comic.”New York Police Commissioner James O’Neill released a statement saying that suggesting “officers apply any standard in the use of force other than what is reasonable and necessary is irresponsible, unprofessional and sends the wrong message to law enforcement as well as the public.” The Chicago police superintendent, Eddie Johnson, said in a statement that it went against his department’s values not to treat people “with dignity and respect.”Richard Ross, commissioner of the Philadelphia Police Department, posted in a message on Twitter that his agency “does not condone the mistreatment of prisoners.” Charlie Beck, the Los Angeles police chief, tweeted that if an officer breaks the law “it serves only to undermine the hard work and sacrifice they make to keep this city safe.”
The Washington Post reported Monday night that the president himself was responsible for the drafting of Donald Trump Jr.'s misleading statement after the New York Times revealed that the younger Trump had arranged a meeting with a Russian lawyer in June 2016. Sources say White House advisers had decided to be transparent about the meeting, but the president changed the game plan at the last minute to misleadingly suggest that the meeting was about adoption. The full truth soon came out that the meeting was arranged to discuss compromising information, supposedly from the Russian government, about Hillary Clinton.
Here's what Sekulow said on NBC's “Meet the Press” on July 16 (emphasis added):CHUCK TODD: You were very careful to say the president didn’t draft the statement. That isn’t what I asked. Did the president get a heads-up on the statement? Did he sign off on the statement? Was he asked to read the statement before it was given to the New York Times on Air Force One?SEKULOW: No, I mean, I can’t say whether the president was told the statement was going to be coming from his son on that. I didn’t have that conversation and let me say this — but I do want to be clear — that the president was not involved in the drafting of the statement and did not issue the statement. It came from Donald Trump Jr. So that’s what I can tell you because that’s what we know. And Donald Trump Jr. has said the same thing. That it was, in fact, from him and I believe it was his lawyer was in consultation — I’m sure his lawyer was in consultation.And here's Sekulow again on ABC's “Good Morning America” four days prior, on July 12:GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: That does raise another set of questions. Because the New York Times is reporting this morning the president's signed off on the initial statement on Saturday on the initial statement from Don Jr. on Saturday, but didn't mention the emails, didn't really go into any great detail on the meeting, in fact, was misleading about the meeting. So the president signed off on that statement. Does he feel he was misled by his son and by Jared Kushner if, indeed, they didn't tell him about these emails that they both received?EKULOW: The president didn't sign off on anything. He was coming back from the G-20 [summit], the statement that was released on Saturday, was released by Donald Trump Jr. and, I'm sure, in consultation with his lawyers. The president wasn't involved in that.STEPHANOPOULOS: Well the New York Times says that he was involved in it, that several people on the plane were involved in it as well. So you're disputing ...SEKULOW: That's incorrect.STEPHANOPOULOS: … that account from the New York Times.SEKULOW: Yes.
But these statements are about as contradictory as it gets, when compared to The Post's new report. What's remarkable is that, as Stephanopoulos noted, the New York Times had reported at the time, on July 11, that the president himself approved the statement. “Ultimately, the people said, the president signed off on a statement from Donald Trump Jr. for the Times,” it wrote.
The NY Post's "Survivor: White House" cover is only 4 days old — and 2 people have already been voted off#Resist
Elect a reality TV star to the president and what else would you get?
Chatting with some members before a recent round of golf, he explained his frequent appearances: "That White House is a real dump."
.... what the madness, abnormality or whatever you want to call it emanating from the White House does draw attention to is the real problem in American politics – the Republicans are no longer a political party but a political faction, a much more dangerous thing.The danger of factions was recognised at the foundation of the United States. In The Federalist Number 10, a highly influential essay on political theory published in 1787, James Madison defined faction as “a number of citizens, whether amounting to a minority or majority of the whole, who are united and actuated by some common impulse of passion, or of interest, adverse to the rights of other citizens, or to the permanent and aggregate interests of the community”.Madison understood the most dangerous thing that can happen in a society is for a group and its political representatives to act as if their view alone represents the nation. This leads them to think that they alone are the nation and the views of those who disagree with them not worthy of consideration.Republican factionalism has led their elected representatives in Congress to upend existing constitutional customs as thoroughly as Trump has destroyed the existing norms of presidential conduct. They have defamed the design of Madison and Thomas Jefferson by refusing to co-operate with the Democrats in any meaningful way. In fact, the idea of a pluralist society is anathema to them and they have been trying to crush it for decades.