Blagojevich was convicted of a pay to play scheme where he tried to sell one of Illinois’ US Senate seats, and was sentenced to 14 years. Blagojevich, who had appeared on Celebrity Apprentice, had served 8 years.
Trump alleged that the sentence was unfair because of its length, and because the investigation was conducted under FBI leadership that also investigated Russian election interference, saying, “It was a prosecution by the same people — Comey, Fitzpatrick — the same group.”
JUST IN: Pres. Trump says he has commuted former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich's sentence, calling it a "tremendously powerful, ridiculous sentence," and claiming "it was a prosecution by the same people, Comey, Fitzpatrick, the same group." https://t.co/HH71d2cc41pic.twitter.com/03011c270V
In advance of Hurricane Dorian, a White House source to Axios claimed that Trump said, “I got it. I got it. Why don’t we nuke them?” The source said that everyone present was shocked by the suggestion.
Trump immediately called the report fake news, even though a senior White House official defended his suggestion by saying, “His goal — to keep a catastrophic hurricane from hitting the mainland — is not bad. His objective is not bad.”
Trump went on to suggest he’d not even heard of Axios, the outlet that broke the story, despite having had multiple interviews with them and tweeting their stories in the past.
The story by Axios that President Trump wanted to blow up large hurricanes with nuclear weapons prior to reaching shore is ridiculous. I never said this. Just more FAKE NEWS!
Axios (whatever that is) sat back and said GEEEEE, let’s see, what can we make up today to embarrass the President? Then they said, “why don’t we say he wants to bomb a hurricane, that should do it!” The media in our Country is totally out of control!
In an August, 2019 briefing on the approaching Hurricane Dorian, Trump claimed that Alabama would be affected:
And, I will say, the states — and it may get a little piece of a great place: It’s called Alabama. And Alabama could even be in for at least some very strong winds and something more than that, it could be. This just came up, unfortunately. It’s the size of — the storm that we’re talking about. So, for Alabama, just please be careful also.
The National Weather Service tweeted that this was in fact not the case. While 5 states declared national emergencies in advance of the hurricane, Alabama was not among them.
Alabama will NOT see any impacts from #Dorian. We repeat, no impacts from Hurricane #Dorian will be felt across Alabama. The system will remain too far east. #alwx
After multiple days of tweeting about how he was right, Trump displayed a hurricane map that appeared to be altered by Sharpie to extend the path into Alabama. It quickly became termed “Sharpiegate.”
Jonathan Ernst / Reuters
When questioned about this, Trump claimed he knew nothing about it.
REPORTER: That map you showed us today, it looked like it almost had like a Sharpie on it.
Two days later, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), an agency within the Department of Commerce, issued an unsigned statement siding with Trump’s claims about Alabama. Shortly after, the New York Times reported that US commerce secretary, Wilbur Ross, had threatened the head of the NOAA with firings unless they publicly supported Trump’s claims.
In June, 2020, the Department of Commerce’s inspector general released a report on the issue. It confirmed that “the Department and NOAA issued the Statement in response to a request by the White House then-acting Chief of Staff, Mick Mulvaney, to Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross.”
The inspector general’s report further concluded that “the Statement undercut the NWS’s forecasts and potentially undercut public trust in NOAA’s and the NWS’s science and the apolitical nature of that science.”
A separate report by the National Academy of Public Administration found that NOAA’s scientific integrity had been compromised “intentionally, knowingly, or in reckless disregard.”
In the book A Very Stable Genius, the two Washington Post and Pulitzer prize winning authors recount a meeting between Trump and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Trump remarked, “It’s not like you’ve got China on your border,” which prompted “shock and concern” from the PM, which turned to “resignation.” The border between India and China, called the Border of Actual Control, is over 2,500 miles long. The two countries have multiple border disputes and have engaged in three conflicts between 1962 and 1987.
Trump voiced criticism of the war before many other public officials of the time, however his frequently repeated claim that he opposed the war “from the beginning” is false.
Trump voiced support multiple times, even preceding the invasion, such as in his 2000 book “The America We Deserve” and a 2002 interview with Howard Stern in which he said, “Yeah, I guess so. I wish the first time it was done correctly.”
Trump first criticized the war in 2004, about a year after it began.
During that 2004 interview with Esquire, Trump remarked,
My life is seeing everything in terms of “How would I handle that?” Look at the war in Iraq and the mess that we’re in. I would never have handled it that way. Does anybody really believe that Iraq is going to be a wonderful democracy where people are going to run down to the voting box and gently put in their ballot and the winner is happily going to step up to lead the county? C’mon. Two minutes after we leave, there’s going to be a revolution, and the meanest, toughest, smartest, most vicious guy will take over. And he’ll have weapons of mass destruction, which Saddam didn’t have.
Trump also argued the point throughout the primary and Presidential debates.
His opponent, Hillary Clinton, expressed regret for her Senate vote for the Iraq War in a 2006 interview, saying, “Obviously, if we knew then what we know now, there wouldn’t have been a vote, and I certainly wouldn’t have voted for it.”
Trump made the announcement during the 2020 State of the Union address. Limbaugh, a far-right radio host, had recently been diagnosed with lung cancer.
Limbaugh is notorious for his wide array of conspiracy theories and other debunked claims, including the assertion that nicotine had been proven to not be harmful or addictive. He has also made remarks like that Columbus saved the Indians from themselves, that Obama was paying lesbians to become farmers in rural states, and called 12 year old Chelsea Clinton “a dog,” among various other racist remarks.
A former campaign official recalled, “If you’re the perpetrator of a cough or of a sneeze or any kind of thing that makes you look sick, you get that look. “You get the scowl.” When acting Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney started coughing during an interview, Trump said, “I don’t like that, you know. I don’t like that. If you’re going to cough, please, leave the room.”
Across multiple interviews with Howard Stern, he said he likes to wash his hands “as many times as possible,”
Trump has also said he likes fast food for it’s “cleanliness,” always uses a straw for his drink to avoid “contamination,” prefers steak well-done with ketchup, and uses utensils to eat fried chicken.
Eating steaks well-done is likely a component of Trump’s self-avowed germophobia. Eating steaks with ketchup is likely a component of Trump’s lack of taste.
Trump explained, “One bad hamburger, you can destroy McDonald’s. I’m a very clean person. I like cleanliness, and I think you’re better off going there than maybe someplace that you have no idea where the food’s coming from. It’s a certain standard.” Trump has openly called himself a germophobe, to which many of his odd diet choices have been attributed. For instance, he uses a straw for his drink to avoid contamination, prefers steak well-done with ketchup, and uses utensils to eat fried chicken.
In the book Fire and Fury, Trump’s fondness of fast food was attributed to a longstanding fear of being “poisoned.” The concern wasn’t limited to accidental food poisoning, as Trump long preferred fast food because “nobody knew he was coming and the food was safely premade.” His former campaign manager Cory Lewandowki said in the book Let Trump be Trump, “on Trump Force One there were four major food groups: McDonald’s, Kentucky Fried Chicken, pizza, and Diet Coke.”
