Category: Barack Obama

Former CIA chief says Trump should – be ashamed’

Former CIA Director John Brennan says President Donald Trump “should be ashamed of himself” for his behavior at CIA headquarters. The statement says Brennan “is deeply saddened and angered at Donald Trump’s despicable display of self-aggrandizement in front of CIA’s Memorial Wall of Agency heroes.

Studio 54 head speaks out after presidential pardon

The former owner of Manhattan’s iconic Studio 54 has spoken out for the first time since he was pardoned by Barack Obama this week. Ian Schrager served 20 months behind bars in 1981 after it was found he had been evading taxes with earnings from his world-famous disco club – which hosted almost every celebrity imaginable at some stage in the 1970s.

First family settles into White House life

The first family is also adjusting to life in their new roles as first lady, first sons, first daughters and first grandchildren. Following the inaugural ball festivities Friday night, Tiffany and boyfriend Ross Mechanic; Donald Jr., wife Vanessa and daughter Kai; and Eric and wife Lara split off from the presidential motorcade and headed to the Trump International Hotel DC, where they were spotted celebrating the day with a midnight balloon drop with friends and family.

Questions Over A Helluva of Transition, by Femi Mimiko

Eight years ago, as Barack Obama glided into the White House with some incredible 83% approval rating at home, and much excitement abroad, I made some projections in a piece titled ‘What Africa Expects From Obama.’ In the fullness of time, I intend to return to this same theme and attempt the semblance of a balance sheet on the Obama presidency from the point of view of Africa’s expectations and take-home.

Trump assures CIA of support

President Donald Trump visits the CIA headquarters in Langley, Va., where he told members of the intelligence community, “I am so behind you.” President Donald Trump visited the CIA’s headquarters in northern Virginia on Saturday afternoon, his first full day in office, making a gesture of goodwill after he criticized the intelligence community in the run-up to his inauguration.

Theresa May confirms she’ll meet Donald Trump on Friday

BREAKING: Theresa May confirms she’ll meet new US President Donald Trump for talks on Friday as she insists she ‘won’t be afraid’ to challenge his ‘unacceptable’ views Theresa May has confirmed she will meet new US President Donald Trump for talks at the White House on Friday. In a major victory for No 10 she will be the first world leader to visit President Trump in the White House and they will meet less than a week after his inauguration.

Repeal of Obamacare without a replacement would increase US debt

Here is the problem Republicans face with their opposition to the 2010 health-care law signed by President Barack Obama: Getting rid of it without approving a substitute would increase the federal debt, provide wealthy people with a tax cut and cause as many as 20 million Americans to lose their health care. Although Vice President Mike Pence told CNN last week that “step one is to repeal the taxes and the mandates” in the law known as Obamacare and “at the same time pass a replacement bill,” neither he nor congressional Republicans have provided specifics of a plan.

Mark Steyn On Obama’s Farewell: Even Fake News Could Be True About Obama

Obama? I’ve got nothing to add to what I’ve said these last eight years. But I’ll reprise one of my favorite details from his largely fictitious biography Courtesy of David Maraniss’ new book, we now know that yet another key prop of Barack Obama’s identity is false: His Kenyan grandfather was not brutally tortured or even non-brutally detained by his British colonial masters.

Sean Spicer delivers on Trump’s brand promise

White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer makes a statement to members of the media at the James Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House on Jan. 21. If only White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer had stuck with his strong material. In the beginning of his appearance at the White House briefing room on Saturday afternoon, Spicer took aim at Time magazine White House correspondent Zeke Miller.

Thousands of Jewish protesters join Womena s March targeting Trumpa s policies and rhetoric

Thousands of Jews joined an estimated hundreds of thousands of protesters in the Women’s March on Washington protesting newly installed President Donald Trump’s policies and rhetoric. The march Saturday, focusing on anticipated rollbacks in abortion rights under the new president and broader issues like discrimination against minorities and preserving former President Barack Obama’s health care reforms, included among its hundreds of official partners a number of Jewish groups.

Trump’s Inaugural TV Ratings Fall Short of Obama’s in 2009

Nearly 31 million people watched President Donald Trump’s inauguration, falling short of the audience that tuned in for Barack Obama eight years ago, according to Nielsen. Fox News topped all broadcast and cable networks with 8.4 million viewers for its coverage from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. It’s a sign that a Trump presidency may bode well for the channel, which is owned by Rupert Murdoch’s 21st Century Fox Inc. CNN averaged 2.5 million viewers, and MSNBC had 1.35 million viewers during the same eight-hour period.

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“That’s what you guys should be writing and covering,” new White House press secretary Sean Spicer angrily lectured reporters on Saturday during his first remarks from the podium of the press briefing room. He was referring to the delay in Senate confirmation for President Donald Trump’s pick to lead the CIA, Congressman Mike Pompeo, but the comment came after a long digression about how many people had shown up to watch Trump be sworn in as president.

Trump inauguration draws nearly 31 mln U.S. television viewers

Nearly 31 million viewers watched live U.S. television coverage of Donald Trump’s presidential inauguration, far fewer than tuned in to Barack Obama’s first swearing-in, but otherwise the biggest such audience since Ronald Reagan entered office, ratings firm Nielsen reported on Saturday. The tally for Trump – 30.6 million viewers on 12 broadcast and cable networks that aired live coverage from about 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. EST – surpassed the TV audiences measured for his two most recent Republican predecessors – both inaugurations of George W. Bush and the one of his father, George H.W. Bush.

Factbox – Women stage marches in cities across North America

Hundreds of thousands of women, supported by a smaller number of men, gathered in dozens of cities across North America on Saturday to march in opposition to U.S. President Donald Trump the day after the maverick Republican took office. [L1N1FB0BM] Here is a look at how the crowds of protesters, many wearing the marches’ signature pink hats, shaped up in some of the largest cities in North America: Organizers of the march in the nation’s capital had told police they expected 200,000 people to attend, but reporters covering the event said it appeared bigger than that, with a dense crowd stretching for about a mile through the heart of the capital.

Last of Osama bin Laden’s documents released by Obama White House

The White House this week quietly released the last of the documents it obtained during the raid that killed Osama bin Laden nearly six years after the former Al Qaeda leader was killed inside his compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan. The Office of the Director of National Intelligence published declassified versions of 49 of bin Laden ‘s documents Thursday, Barack Obama ‘s last full day as president, rounding out his administration by recalling a highlight of his tenure in office.

How do we stop all the fake news?

I have tried to dial back my knee-jerk tendency to zip off letters to the editor. However, I have to release some of the pressure caused by this whirlwind of opinions President Donald Trump is generating in my head.

Indiana residents hope Pence keeps their interests in mind

When Fort Wayne needed expensive airport improvements, its mayor contacted an influential Indiana native – then-Vice President Dan Quayle – to help secure federal funding. Now that former Indiana Gov. Mike Pence is the new vice president, residents are hopeful his home state could again reap some benefits.

Trump’s cake

President Trump, left, and Vice President Pence, right, are helped by Coast Guard Petty Officer 2nd Class Matthew Babot, center, as they cut a cake at the Salute To Our Armed Services Inaugural Ball on Friday. Amid the glitz of President Trump’s inaugural festivities, one item stood out in particular late Friday night: a spectacular nine-tier cake that the new president and Vice President Pence cut into with a sword .

More

A day after the National Park Service retweeted some unflattering posts about President Donald Trump, The Washington Post reports the Department of the Interior has been banned from tweeting by the new administration. The posts in questions were sent out by the official Twitter account for the National Park Service and were related to a picture comparing the inauguration attendance between Trump and former President Barack Obama.

Women descend on Washington to protest Trump’s agenda

Women of all generations streamed on to the National Mall Saturday morning, gathering for the Women’s March on Washington to push back on the Republican agenda and offer a sharp rebuke of President Donald Trump’s history of derogatory comments about women. After a day of grandeur, pomp and circumstance for Trump, buses and planes of protesters arrived in the nation’s capital Friday night and Saturday morning.

Pen is put to paper on filling Cabinet, repealing health law

Later, with a swift stroke of a pen, Trump signed an executive order on the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act that his spokesman, Sean Spicer, said would require government agencies to “ease the burden of the law.” The order declares that Trump’s administration will seek the “prompt repeal” of the law and that the government should prepare to “afford the states more flexibility and control to create a more free and open healthcare market.”

President Trump

From the West Front of the Capitol as rain began to fall, Trump presented a vision of a nation afflicted by division and dislocation, exploited and forgotten by Washington elites and diminished around the world. His arrival, he promised, would finally turn it around.

Trump’s Pledge of Quick Action Stymied by Cabinet-in-Waiting

U.S. President Donald Trump formally signs his cabinet nominations into law during the 58th presidential inauguration in Washington, D.C. on Jan. 20. President Donald Trump vowed to bring swift change to Washington in a fiery inaugural address, yet that promise is colliding with the reality that only two members of his Cabinet cleared the Senate by the end of his first day in office.  Unlike his successors Barack Obama and George W. Bush — who each had seven of their cabinet members confirmed on Inauguration Day — Trump saw votes only for Defense Secretary James Mattis and Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly.

Celebration and chaos collide as Trump becomes president

The nation’s stark divide was on full display in Washington Friday as Donald Trump became America’s 45th president amid joyous roars of support and eruptions of chaos throughout the city, including the removal of a half-dozen protesters who tried to disrupt the swearing-in ceremony. Less than two miles from where Trump and former president Barack Obama joined hundreds of other elected officials at the west front of the U.S. Capitol, anarchists armed with crowbars and hammers marched through the city’s streets, toppling over news boxes, smashing bus-stop glass, vandalizing businesses, spray-painting buildings and, in one case, bashing in the windows of a black limousine.

Melania Trump wears sky-blue cashmere Ralph Lauren ensemble

Incoming first lady Melania Trump wore a sky-blue cashmere jacket and mock turtleneck dress by Ralph Lauren, the brand that designed so many Hillary Clinton pantsuits, on Inauguration Day. “It was important to us to uphold and celebrate the tradition of creating iconic American style for this moment,” Lauren’s company said in a statement.