Miami Herald | President Trump returns to Mar-A-Lago Friday Miami Herald President Donald Trump returns to South Florida again Friday and will stay at his Mar-A-Lago estate in Palm Beach. Trump arrived in Orlando at 1:08 p.m. and was greeted by Gov. Rick Scott. U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio and Education Secretary Betty DeVos were ... |
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President Trump returns to Mar-A-Lago Friday - Miami Herald
New York Times | How Alec Baldwin Gets Into Character as Donald Trump New York Times Alec Baldwin told Jimmy Kimmel that he was winging it the first time he impersonated Donald Trump on Saturday Night Live. Credit ABC. Welcome to Best of Late Night, a rundown that lets you sleep and lets us get paid to watch comedy. What do you ... Watch Alec Baldwin Reveal the Key to Donald Trump Impression on 'Kimmel' Donald Trump Writes an SNL Episode Alec Baldwin Is Writing an Entire Book as Donald Trump |
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How Alec Baldwin Gets Into Character as Donald Trump - New York Times
Many of those in the media gave a hand to President Donald Trump for his recent address to Congress. The only problem is he mightve needed two hands.
Jimmy Fallon talked about Trumps speech in his opening monologue on Wednesday, saying that since the president didnt trash the media or brag about winning the election, It was the first time people playing a Trump drinking game ended up sober.
Too bad for Trump, a more presidential tone didnt save him from making one terrible, horrible, no-good mistake: He used two hands to drink a glass of water.
And just like that, Trump handed perfect material to the internet on a silver platter.
The sad thing, that was actually a shot glass, Fallon joked.
Its no secret the presidents hands are not known to be yuuuge, but is it fair to make fun of Trump for double-fisting one drink?
NBC
(OMG, he double-fisted one drink).
At this point, Trumps hands have become legend.The Hollywood Reporter even did research to prove the presidents hands were actually smaller than average.They did research, people!
While body-shaming people is not cool, poking fun at the presidents hands seems relatively innocuous compared to the numerous reports of Trump mocking people for their looks and, in some cases, disabilities.
Sure, using two hands to hold a drink gives it more stability. And if you got them, why not use them?
But for a guy who has seemed especially sensitive to such jokes, this was the worst mistake he couldve made, hands down.
(Seriously, dude, put your hands down.)
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Donald Trump Made The Worst Mistake During His Speech To Congress - Huffington Post
Three weeks before Election Day, Donald Trump Jr. left the campaign trail and the country to speak at a private dinner in Paris organized by an obscure pro-Russia group that promotes Kremlin foreign policy initiatives and has since nominated Russian President Vladimir Putin for the Nobel Peace Prize.
A key organizer of the event later told reporters she flew to Moscow to brief a senior Russian official about the session.
The White House referred question about the Presidents son to the Trump Organization. A spokeswoman for Trump business did not respond to questions from ABC News about why Trump, junior flew to France for the session during a critical phase of the Presidential campaign or who arranged for him to attend, whether he was paid, what was discussed, and if anyone vetted the group before he went.
The group sponsoring the session, the Center of Political and Foreign Affairs (CPFA), was founded by a wealthy French businessman and his partner, who are reported to have made major investments in Russia.
They are openly linked with the Russians, said Renaud Girard, a French opinion writer who served as moderator of the session Trump attended. They dont hide it at all.
Thirty people joined the Trump family scion for the private Oct. 11 gathering at the Ritz Hotel, according to Girard.
The younger Trumps appearance briefly made news after the event, including in a Wall Street Journal report that quoted one of the hosts, Randa Kassis. Kassis told the newspaper she traveled to Moscow shortly after the U.S. election and discussed details of the Trump dinner with Mikhail Bogdanov, the deputy head of Russias foreign ministry.
Congressional sources told ABC News Trump Juniors jaunt to Paris remains one of a number of episodes some confirmed and others unproven that have fueled suspicions about the possibility that there was communication between the Trump team and the Russian government during the closing months of the 2016 presidential campaign.
In France and in Washington diplomatic circles, those familiar with the French think tank circuit told ABC News they had never heard of the Center of Political and Foreign Affairs (CPFA), which organized the dinner. The organization has no fixed address and neither of the founders, Fabian Baussart and Kassis, responded to calls and emails seeking an interview.
I have been dealing with French think tanks and research institutes for 35 years and Ive never heard of it, said Daniel S. Hamilton, the executive director of the Center for Transatlantic Relations at the Johns Hopkins Schools of Advanced International Studies. That tells you something.
Marie Mendras, a political scientist in the field of Russian and post-Soviet studies at the Paris School of International Affairs, said she was reluctant to weigh in. I can only say that Fabien Baussart is known in France for his close Kremlin and Russian business connections, she said in an email exchange.
No one involved with CPFA would respond to phone calls or questions. And unlike in the U.S., France does not require non profit organizations to make information about their financing publicly available. Hamilton was one of several experts who noted that the Russian government is believed to have spent considerable money to fuel the European think tank and opinion circuit, though they were all equally explicit to note that they did not know if there was any connection between those Russian activities and CPFA.
Money plays a big role here through front organizations, he said. But its hard to ever know.
Published reports in French newspapers and intelligence journals indicate that both Baussart and Kassis have frequently touted their Russian ties. News reports in France described Baussart as a former lobbyist for Russian oligarchs in France. A news service called Intelligence Online reported that Baussart organized efforts to lobby the French authorities and, in particular, the French intelligence services.
Kassis is described in French news reports as a Syrian-born activist who has sought Russian support for her position on Syria. She has posted photos online showing her in meetings with senior Kremlin officials. Just this week, a report by the English-language Russian web site Sputinik News said Kassis was in Geneva and told reporters she was meeting with Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov.
Last September, the CPFA attempted to raise its profile by organizing what it described as peace talks between Armenia and Azerbaijan, two former Soviet republics with a long-simmering, frozen conflict born out of the collapse of the Soviet Union. Those countries signed a truce in 1994, according to the BBC, but sporadic fighting has persisted.
The organization invited former U.S. diplomat James Rubin, at the time a strong supporter of Hillary Clintons, and a British politician and former diplomat who served as Leader of the Liberal Democrats, Paddy Ashdown to help facilitate the talks. But the weekend was canceled. Rubin instead flew to France and joined the group for one of their salon-style dinners. Rubin declined comment.
Ashdown told ABC News he initially accepted the invitation, but then became suspicious of the organizers and backed out.
It was clearly an attempt to instrumentalise me for their own very dubious purposes. I told them I wasnt born yesterday and that the Serbs used to try that and didnt succeed, and they were probably cleverer, Ashdown said in an email. Result: the engagement was cancelled along with the peace talks.
Others who have attended the dinners, Girard said, are former U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan, and the organization website also shows a visit from the former head of British intelligence, Richard Dearlove. Neither replied to emails seeking comment.
One dignitary who spoke to the group told ABC News he was hired through a speakers bureau and was paid well in excess of the typical fee an amount in the tens of thousands of dollars. He asked not to be quoted by name because he did not wish to stoke any ill will with Kassis and Baussart.
Girard said that on the evening Trump Jr. attended, the guests included ambassadors to France, lawyers, bankers and business executives. Conversation at the dinner was cordial and focused on a range of international affairs. Girard said the gathering occurred at a time when most of the media had dismissed Trumps chances of winning the American election as highly unlikely. The one thing that amazed me was that he was confident that his father would win, Girard said.
ABC News' Paul Blake and Cho Park contributed to this report from New York City.
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For Donald Trump Jr., lingering questions about meeting with pro-Russia group - ABC News
New York Times | Ever a Showman, Donald Trump Keeps Washington Guessing New York Times If nothing else, Donald Trump the showman kept the attention right where he wanted it squarely on himself. By the time he took the rostrum in the House chamber on Tuesday night for the functional equivalent of a State of the Union address, he had ... Donald Trump's Congress speech (full text) Donald Trump Teases Immigration Shock, Backs Off in Speech If Donald Trump Listens to Paul Ryan, It Will Kill His Political Future |
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Ever a Showman, Donald Trump Keeps Washington Guessing - New York Times