- Trump’s state of the union address contained numerous lies, but I wanted to focus on one in particular as it is so egregious. For years now, the president has been claiming that Democrats are trying to destroy healthcare while he and the Republicans are protecting patients with pre-existing conditions. The Department of Justice is currently arguing in the court system for undoing the only legal requirement that insurance companies cover pre-existing conditions. Trump has not taken ANY other actions. His repeated claim has no basis in reality. It’s pure fiction.
- Susan Collins joined Lamar Alexander in justifying their impeachment votes by saying what the president did was wrong, but he likely learned a lesson from the process and would not do it again. The president has responded to their claims and said he did nothing wrong.
- The Department of Justice is finally reviewing a criminal referral that claims Erik Prince lied to congress. Note that this does not mean a criminal investigation has started. This is a preliminary step to determine whether to open one. The Mueller report revealed that Prince lied to congress multiple times.
- One of Ukrainian president Zelensky’s advisers told him to offer to help build a Trump Tower in Ukraine in order to help relations between the two countries. Trump currently operates businesses involved with dozens of foreign governments.
- The president is now claiming the Mutual Legal Assistance treaty REQUIRED him to report the Bidens to Ukraine. This was oddly never mentioned by his defense team, perhaps because the treaty does not do this.
- The Treasury Department is turning over financial documents about Hunter Biden to Senate investigators. Throughout all of the Ukraine scandal process there has not been so much as an allegation of a criminal act from Hunter Biden. The same Treasury Department is currently fighting turning over Trump’s tax records which the law explicitly requires them to give to Congress.
- Trump supporting trolls purposefully clogged the phone lines for the Iowa caucus to report results. This is not the first time Republicans have used a tactic like this. Multiple people were convicted for jamming Democratic phone lines during the 2002 election in New Hampshire. (This connection was sourced from The Rachel Maddow Show)
- Attorney General Barr is calling for the United States to purchase private companies in order to gain access to their cellular technology.
- The White House may be firing Lt. Col. Vindman in retaliation for his testimony against Donald Trump.
- At the National Prayer Breakfast, the president opened by saying he disagreed with the concept of loving your enemies and setting aside contempt for people who disagree with you. He attacked Mitt Romney and Nancy Pelosi, saying the former was using his faith as a justification for a vote he knew was wrong and saying the latter is lying about praying for him. Despite having support of an overwhelming percentage of white evangelicals, the president has said in the past that he’s never sought forgiveness for any sins
- In an hour-long unhinged rant from the White House, the president attacked Democrats, the FBI, and said the investigation into his campaign was “bullshit.” He said Comey was a sleazebag, that Pelosi, a lifelong Catholic, does not pray, and he attacked purple heart recipient Lt. Col. Vindman for testifying against him. In commenting about Steve Scalise’s 2017 shooting, he said most wives would not care their husbands were in the hospital. This was not the first time the president has shown he does not understand the concept of empathy, which he doesn’t personally experience.
