Trump first tweeted the claim in 2017 about Lori Klausutis, who worked in Scarborough’s Fort Walton Beach congressional office. She was found dead in the office in 2001. Scarborough served in the United States House of Representatives from 1995 to 2001 as a Republican for the 1st district of Florida.
Lori Klausutis
The coroner discovered an undiagnosed heart condition and reported that Klausutis passed out and hit her head as she fell. He said she was not struck by another person. Scarborough was in Washington, DC at the time of her death.
At the time of Trump’s comments, Scarborough was host of MSNBC’s Morning Joe alongside wife and co-host Mika Brzezinski, who was also personally targeted by Trump for “bleeding badly from a face-lift.”
So now that Matt Lauer is gone when will the Fake News practitioners at NBC be terminating the contract of Phil Griffin? And will they terminate low ratings Joe Scarborough based on the “unsolved mystery” that took place in Florida years ago? Investigate!
Trump renewed attacks in 2020 amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Concast” should open up a long overdue Florida Cold Case against Psycho Joe Scarborough. I know him and Crazy Mika well, used them beautifully in the last Election, dumped them nicely, and will state on the record that he is “nuts”. Besides, bad ratings! #OPENJOECOLDCASE
When will they open a Cold Case on the Psycho Joe Scarborough matter in Florida. Did he get away with murder? Some people think so. Why did he leave Congress so quietly and quickly? Isn’t it obvious? What’s happening now? A total nut job!
At the time of the May 4 tweet, nearly 70,000 Americans had died of COVID-19. At the time of his May 12 tweet, it had reached over 80,000.
Scarborough responded on his show, in which he called the comments “extraordinarily cruel” and likened the claims to the Seth Rich conspiracy theories.
Michael Cohen was Trump’s personal lawyer and fixer for over a decade. Cohen pleaded guilty to eight counts of campaign finance violations and tax evasion regarding a payment of $130,000 in hush money to Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 election, with whom Trump had an affair.
Michael Cohen / Wikipedia
Expenditures in defense of a candidate’s political outcome can be considered campaign contributions, subject to laws that bar corporate donations and establish donation limits. After acting as an intermediary for the payment to Stormy Daniels, Cohen filed fake invoices to Trump’s company.
As part of Robert Mueller’s Special Counsel investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections, Cohen’s home and office were raided in April 2018 by the FBI. In August 2018, Cohen pleaded guilty to 8 counts of tax evasion, bank fraud, and campaign finance violations. He later pleaded guilty to an additional count of lying to a Senate and House Intelligence Committees regarding the proposed Trump Hotel Moscow.
In February 2019, Cohen asserted that all he had done was at Trump’s direction. While his testimony was colored by his previous lie to Congress, Cohen claimed that he then only sought to tell the truth as he was no longer working to defend the President.
Last fall I pled guilty in federal court to felonies for the benefit of, at the direction of, and in coordination with Individual Number 1. And for the record, Individual Number 1 is President Donald J. Trump.
Cohen’s attorney, Lanny J. Davis, noted that Cohen had committed his felonies at the request of Trump to influence the election: “He stood up and testified under oath that Donald Trump directed him to commit a crime by making payments to two women for the principal purpose of influencing an election. If those payments were a crime for Michael Cohen, then why wouldn’t they be a crime for Donald Trump?”
Trump said he never directed Cohen to do anything illegal.
I never directed Michael Cohen to break the law. He was a lawyer and he is supposed to know the law. It is called “advice of counsel,” and a lawyer has great liability if a mistake is made. That is why they get paid. Despite that many campaign finance lawyers have strongly……
Rudy Giuliani, who was added to Trump’s legal team, admitted in a Fox News interview that Trump repaid the money to Cohen. However, he defended it by saying it wasn’t campaign money, and so there was no campaign finance law violation on Trump’s behalf. He also indicated that Trump was aware of the payment from the beginning, though Trump had repeatedly denied any knowledge of Stormy Daniels or the $130,000 in hush money.
It’s not campaign money. No campaign finance violations…[it was] funneled through a law firm, and the President repaid it.
…everybody was nervous about this from the very beginning. I wasn’t. I knew how much money Donald Trump put into that campaign. I said $130,000? You’re gonna do a couple checks for $130,000. When I heard Cohen’s retainer of $35,000, when he was doing no work for the President, I said that’s how he’s repaying, that’s how, how he’s repaying it. With a little profit and a little margin for paying taxes for Michael.
[Trump] didn’t know about the specifics of it.
For pleading guilty to the following counts, Cohen was sentenced to 3 years in federal prison, along with fines, asset forfeiture, and disbarment:
5 counts of tax evasion
1 count of making false statements to a financial institution
1 count of willfully causing an unlawful corporate contribution
1 count of making an excessive campaign contribution at the request of a candidate or campaign
1 count of making false statements to a congressional committee
Michael Flynn is a retired United States Army Lieutenant General who served as National Security Advisor for Trump from January to February 2017.
Retired United States Army Lieutenant General Michael Flynn / Wikipedia
As part of the wider Mueller probe into Russian election interference, a phone call from 2016 was unearthed between Flynn and Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak. After speaking with Trump’s Presidential Transition Team, Flynn had reached out to Kislyak after Obama’s passing of Russian sanctions as punishment for 2016 election interference. Flynn urged Russia to refrain from retaliatory measures, as Trump was already President-elect and could eventually undo the sanctions. The following day, the Russian government announced they would not retaliate. Trump tweeted praise for the decision:
Great move on delay (by V. Putin) – I always knew he was very smart!
In his recounting of the phone call to the FBI, Flynn denied anything substantive was discussed, including sanctions. Nonetheless, Trump asked Flynn for his resignation in February 2017. He had served as National Security Advisor for a record 24 days.
Trump still defended Flynn, claiming that his lies to the FBI were not about anything illegal, and so he should not be prosecuted for them.
I had to fire General Flynn because he lied to the Vice President and the FBI. He has pled guilty to those lies. It is a shame because his actions during the transition were lawful. There was nothing to hide!
Flynn was charged with perjury for his false explanation to the FBI, and in December 2017, pleaded guilty.
Flynn had also failed to register as a foreign agent for lobbying work he had done on behalf of the Turkish government. Through his Flynn Intel Group Inc, an organization that provides intelligence services to businesses and governments, Flynn worked to defend Turkish hardliner President Recep Erdoğan from anti-government elements. He also failed to disclose income from Russian companies in his financial disclosure forms.
Trump had been warned about Flynn’s conflicts of interest at least 6 separate times, including by Obama during the post-election transition. Obama had himself fired Flynn in 2014.
Despite having pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI, sentencing was deferred multiple times until May 7, 2020, when the Justice Department announced that it would be dropping all charges. The explanation provided in the motion to dismiss was that “Mr. Flynn’s statements were never ‘material’ to any FBI investigation.”
Trump defended the move, claiming that Flynn, and by extension himself, had been unfairly targeted by the Obama administration:
He is an innocent man. He is a great gentleman. He was targeted by the Obama administration and he was targeted in order to try and take down a president and what they’ve done is a disgrace and I hope a big price is going to be paid. A big price should be paid. There’s never been anything like this in the history of our country. What they did, the Obama administration did, is unprecedented, never happened, a thing like this has never happened before in the history of our country. And I hope a lot of people are going to pay a big price, because they’re dishonest crooked people, and they’re scum. I say it a lot, they’re scum. …Treason, it’s treason.
Throughout Flynn’s legal troubles, Trump has repeatedly defended him over Twitter:
Mike Flynn should ask for immunity in that this is a witch hunt (excuse for big election loss), by media & Dems, of historic proportion!
So General Flynn lies to the FBI and his life is destroyed, while Crooked Hillary Clinton, on that now famous FBI holiday “interrogation” with no swearing in and no recording, lies many times…and nothing happens to her? Rigged system, or just a double standard?
For four months, Trump railed against Obama’s handling of Ebola during the 2014 crisis. Trump demanded that all travel from Western Africa be immediately halted, promising that the crisis will “ONLY GET WORSE.” Saying that the government’s handling of the crisis was “almost like he’s saying F-you to U.S. public,” he warned about how “All the governors are already backing off of the Ebola quarantines.”
There were 11 total American cases of Ebola, resulting in 2 deaths. Neither of those who died contracted Ebola from within the United States. The CDC announced the first diagnosis September 30, 2014, and the last infected person was released from the hospital November 11.
Ebola outbreak in the United States / Wikipedia
During his Presidency, Trump repeatedly downplayed the severity of COVID-19. His administration implemented limited travel bans that only extended to non-US citizens and residents, failed to implement travel checks and tracing for the disease, and continually pushed for states to reopen their economies. Trump claimed he had total authority over governors to make policy in their states.
Fox News also drew attention for the discrepancy between their reporting on the handling of Ebola under Obama and COVID-19 under Trump.
An incomplete list of Trump’s tweets about Obama’s handling of Ebola follows:
Ebola patient will be brought to the U.S. in a few days – now I know for sure that our leaders are incompetent. KEEP THEM OUT OF HERE!
In a 2004 interview, Trump said he identified more with Democrats because he believed that the economy does better under their leadership.
I’ve been around for a long time and it just seems that the economy does better under the Democrats than the Republicans.
Before the COVID-19 pandemic, Trump blamed Obama, Democratic presidential candidates, and the federal reserve for economic problems during his tenure.
….ever. Had to rebuild our military, which was totally depleted. Fed Rate UP, taxes and regulations WAY DOWN. If Dems won in 2016, the USA would be in big economic (Depression?) & military trouble right now. THE BEST IS YET TO COME. KEEP AMERICA GREAT!
I think the financial markets are very upset when they look at the Democrat candidates on that stage making fools out of themselves.
The Fed was not good, as far as I’m concerned, and that was a big blip that should not have taken place, should not have happened…that was just killer when they raised the rate, it was just a big mistake, and they admit to it.
At an Alabama rally on September 23, 2017, Trump explained how he wanted to see NFL players fired for protesting the US flag and national anthem.
Wouldn’t you love to see one of these NFL owners, when someone disrespects our flag to say, ‘get that son of a bitch off the field right now. Out. He’s fired. He’s fired!
Trump’s remarks came after dozens of players across the regular and preseasons took a knee during the national anthem. They had joined Colin Kaepernick in protest the season prior, who was not on an NFL roster at the time of Trump’s remarks.
Kaepernick explained that the reason for his protest was because he was “not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color.” He was advised to take a knee by NFL player and former US Army Green Beret Nate Boyer, who considered it a form of protest most respectful to other service members.
Oct. 2, 2016: Left to right, San Francisco 49ers outside linebacker Eli Harold, quarterback Colin Kaepernick, and safety Eric Reid kneel during the national anthem. AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez
Trump praised a later NFL ban on kneeling players, suggesting such protests were un-American:
You have to stand proudly for the national anthem or you shouldn’t be playing, you shouldn’t be there, maybe you shouldn’t be in the country.
The remark came after Trump said he would “totally destroy” North Korea if the US had to defend itself, and referred to North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un as “rocket man,” in a speech to the United Nations.
Kim Jong-un issued a retort on North Korean state media in which he called Trump a “mentally deranged dotard.”
The statement continued, saying Trump was “unfit to hold the prerogative of supreme command of a country,” and was “a rogue and a gangster fond of playing with fire.”
When relations between the US and North Korea again started to worsen in 2019, the latter threatened the resumption of such insults.
Dotage is defined by Merriam-Websters as “a state or period of senile decay marked by decline of mental poise and alertness.”
On April 15, 2019, the Notre-Dame cathedral in Paris caught fire during a restoration effort. Its spire, originally built in the 13th century and recreated in the 19th century, toppled through the roof. The cathedral, a national icon, is visited by 12 million people annually.
Brian Kinney/Shutterstock, Christophe Petit Tesson, Pool via AP
In response, the French national civil security force explained that such an action could destroy the entire cathedral.
Hundreds of firemen of the Paris Fire Brigade are doing everything they can to bring the terrible #NotreDame fire under control. All means are being used, except for water-bombing aircrafts which, if used, could lead to the collapse of the entire structure of the cathedral.
In later remarks, Trump lamented the damage with sincerity:
It’s one of the great treasures of the world…That is a part of our growing up, it’s a part of our culture, it’s a part of our lives. That’s a truly great cathedral. I’ve been there and I’ve seen it, and there’s no cathedral, I think I can probably say there’s no cathedral in the world like it. It’s a terrible scene.
French President Macron called for the restoration of the cathedral to be completed within five years, though efforts were halted amid the COVID-19 pandemic, and concerns linger about the remaining structure’s integrity.
During an April 23 press conference, Trump suggested investigating if light, whether ultraviolet or “just very powerful light,” and injecting disinfectant, may be remedies to COVID-19.
So I asked Bill a question some of you are thinking of if you’re into that world, which I find to be pretty interesting. So, supposing we hit the body with a tremendous, whether its ultraviolet or just very powerful light, and I think you said, that hasn’t been checked but you’re gonna test it. And then I said, supposing it brought the light inside the body, which you can either do either through the skin or some other way, and I think you said you’re gonna test that too, sounds interesting.
And I then I see the disinfectant, where it knocks it out in one minute, and is there a way you can do something like that by injection inside, or almost a cleaning. Because you see it gets in the lungs, and it does a tremendous number on the lungs. So it’d be interesting to check that. So you’re going to have to use medical doctors, but it sounds interesting to me, so we’ll see. But the whole concept of the light, the way it goes in one minute, that’s pretty powerful.
Dr. Deborah Birx, Coronavirus Response Coordinator for the White House COVID-19 task force, was on camera during the remarks.
At the time of his remarks, the United States had over 860,000 cases and 50,000 deaths.
Trump later claimed that his remarks were sarcastic:
I was asking a question sarcastically to reporters like you just to see what would happen.
Multiple reports followed of people ingesting bleach and other chemicals to combat the virus. The Republican Governor of Maryland and Democratic Governor of Michigan noted that they’d received hundreds of calls asking about whether it was safe to do so, though Trump said he couldn’t imagine why.
As the COVID-19 pandemic began, Trump went from “It’s going to be just fine” to “I’ve felt it was a pandemic long before it was called a pandemic” in 56 days. As with that first timeline, COVID-19 case numbers for this post are taken from https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/, and there may be a lag between Trump’s statements and the day’s reported numbers.
Mar. 18 – 10,091 total US cases, 171 deaths.
It’s not racist at all. No. Not at all. It comes from China. That’s why. It comes from China. I want to be accurate.
Mar. 19 – 14,896 cases, 240 deaths. Trump promotes unproven drug treatments, falsely claiming that it has been approved by the FDA for COVID-19.
And we’re going to be able to make that drug available almost immediately, and that’s where the FDA has been so great. They – they’ve gone through the approval process. It’s been approved.
America’s Private Sector is stepping up to help us be STRONG! Many of the Nation’s distillers, large and small, are producing and donating hand sanitizer to help fight #COVID19. THANK YOU! https://t.co/bcjKA9Janw
Mar. 20 – 20,873 cases, 310 deaths. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo orders all non-essential businesses to keep their workers home. Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker issues a “stay-at-home” order. Indiana, Ohio, Louisiana, and others follow.
Mar. 21 – 25,969 cases, 376 deaths.
HYDROXYCHLOROQUINE & AZITHROMYCIN, taken together, have a real chance to be one of the biggest game changers in the history of medicine. The FDA has moved mountains – Thank You! Hopefully they will BOTH (H works better with A, International Journal of Antimicrobial Agents)…..
You look at automobile accidents, which are far greater than any numbers we’re talking about. That doesn’t mean we’re going to tell everybody no more driving of cars. So we have to do things to get our country open.
Mar. 24 – 58,021 cases, 962 deaths.
Ultimately the goal is to ease the guidelines…Easter is our timeline, what a great timeline that would be.
Mar. 25 – 71,638 cases, 1,269 deaths. 3.3 million Americans file for unemployment.
Mar. 26 – 89,513 cases, 1,629 deaths. The United States now leads the world in confirmed COVID-19 cases.
Our country has to go back. Our country is based on that. And I think it’s going to happen pretty quickly. A lot of progress is made, but we’ve got to get back to work.
Mar. 27 – 108,537 cases, 2,131 deaths.
You call it a germ, you can call it a flu, you can call it a virus. You know, you can call it many different names. I’m not sure anybody even knows what it is.
Mar. 28 – 127,827 cases, 2,781 deaths.
On the recommendation of the White House CoronaVirus Task Force, and upon consultation with the Governor’s of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, I have asked the @CDCgov to issue a strong Travel Advisory, to be administered by the Governors, in consultation with the….
Because the “Ratings” of my News Conferences etc. are so high, “Bachelor finale, Monday Night Football type numbers” according to the @nytimes, the Lamestream Media is going CRAZY. “Trump is reaching too many people, we must stop him.” said one lunatic. See you at 5:00 P.M.!
“President Trump is a ratings hit. Since reviving the daily White House briefing Mr. Trump and his coronavirus updates have attracted an average audience of 8.5 million on cable news, roughly the viewership of the season finale of ‘The Bachelor.’ Numbers are continuing to rise…
Mar. 30 – 171,640 cases, 3,150 deaths. American deaths from COVID-19 surpass 9/11.
Apr. 1 – 224,651 cases, 6,465 deaths.
Did you know I was number one on Facebook?
Apr. 2 – 255,276 cases, 7,676 deaths. Global cases reaches 1 million. Another 6.6 million Americans file for unemployment.
Apr. 4 – 322,790 cases, 10,537 deaths. More American deaths than those from Operation Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom (Afghanistan) combined.
I may take [hydroxychloroquine]. I’ll have to ask my doctors about that. But I may take it.
Maybe we could allow special, for churches, maybe we could talk about it. Maybe we could allow them, with great separation outside, on Easter Sunday. I don’t know, it’s something we should talk about.
Trump has no idea how coronavirus is transmitted from person to person and therefore doesn't get why packed churches amid a pandemic is a bad idea. This clip of him talking about how he considered an Easter exemption from social distancing shows it. pic.twitter.com/G4LXzNIGKf
Apr. 6 – 381,262 cases, 13,488 deaths. Trump interjects during a question for Dr. Fauci about hydroxychloroquine.
I answered this 15 times. You don’t have to answer.
Apr. 7 – 415,992 cases, 15,755 deaths. Trump echoes past claims of fraud with mail-in voting.
Mail-in voting is horrible, it’s corrupt…sure I could vote by mail, because I’m allowed to.
Trump falsely claims in a Hannity interview that the US is not experiencing a shortage of beds and ventilators.
The good thing is that the number of beds needed, I think we were right about that. I was right. My group was right.
I just saw on your show and a couple of other people just reported back to me that everyone is in great shape from the standpoint of ventilators, which are very hard, because they’re expensive and they’re big and like — it’s, you know — it’s — and they’re very high-tech.
Apr. 8 – 448,806 cases, 17,966 deaths. Trump threatens to halt WHO funding.
They really called every aspect of it wrong…recently social media said they seem to be very China-centric.
Apr. 9 – 482,724 cases, 20,113 deaths. An additional 6.6 million Americans file for unemployment. The Federal Reserve announces a stimulus of $2,300,000,000,000 ($2.3 trillion).
This is a very brilliant enemy. You know, it’s a brilliant enemy. They develop drugs like the antibiotics. You see it. Antibiotics used to solve every problem. Now one of the biggest problems the world has is the germ has gotten so brilliant that the antibiotic can’t keep up with it… We’re fighting – not only is it hidden, but it’s very smart, okay? It’s invisible and it’s hidden, but it’s – it’s very smart.
Apr. 11 – 546,923 cases, 24,460 deaths. The United States now leads the world in COVID-19 deaths. Reports surface of Trump asking Dr. Fauci, “Why don’t we let this wash over the country?”
So now the Fake News @nytimes is tracing the CoronaVirus origins back to Europe, NOT China. This is a first! I wonder what the Failing New York Times got for this one? Are there any NAMED sources? They were recently thrown out of China like dogs, and obviously want back in. Sad!
Great businessman & philanthropist Bernie Marcus, Co-Founder of Home Depot, said that Congress was too distracted by the (phony) Impeachment Witch Hunt when they should have been investigating CoronaVirus when it first appeared in China. Media played a big roll also!@dcexaminer
Apr. 13 – 600,825 cases, 27,963 deaths. Trump plays video in White House briefing room titled “The media minimized the risk from the start.” He claims total authority over state governors.
Well I have the ultimate authority. President of the United States has the authority to do what the President has the authority to do, which is very powerful.
Trump spars with a reporter over a gap in actions taken February.
You’re so disgraceful. It’s so disgraceful the way you say that…nobody thought we should do it, and when I did it, you know what we did? You know what we did? What do you do when you have no case in the whole United States…zero cases zero deaths on January 17. …we did a lot. Look, look, you know you’re a fake, you know that, your whole network is fake.
Apr. 14 – 629,827 cases, 30,592 deaths. Trump halts US funding to the WHO.
Apr. 16 – 691,619 cases, 35,537 deaths. Another 5.2 million Americans file for unemployment, totaling approximately 22 million. Trump declines to speak out against protests in Michigan and other states against closures and social distancing.
There’s death and there’s problems in staying at home, too. It’s not just isn’t it wonderful to stay at home. They’re having – they’re suffering. This country wasn’t built on that principle, it was built on an exact opposite principle, actually. And I watched in one particular state where they were, they want to get back, the want to get back… I think they listen to me, they seem to be protesters that like me, and respect this opinion, and my opinion is the same as all the governors. They all want to open.
Apr. 17 – 724,900 cases, 38,134 deaths. Trump tweets in response to reports of protests against state closures, even citing the 2nd Amendment, though he has suggested taking guns without due process.
