Trump Chief Of Staff Crashes & Burns During ‘Meet The Press’ Sunday Show

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This weekend, acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney proved that the Trump administration remains feverishly committed to its lies, even as the American people suffer the consequences of what’s really unfolding. In discussion with NBC’s Meet the Press host Chuck Todd, he managed to lie about gun control efforts, immigration over the southern border, and even, perhaps most prominently, the nature of Russian efforts to interfere in the 2016 elections. All of the lies serve the broader purpose of propping up the Trump administration’s positions on these issues, and more specifically, supporting Donald Trump’s ego.

He lied to Todd at one point in reference to that Russian interference:

‘I think the bottom line — and this got lost again this week — is that it didn’t make any difference. You ask a lot of people, show me who you voted for and I’ll tell you how you feel about Russian interference — ‘

In other words, Mulvaney was saying that the notion that Russian interference was a threat is supposedly a very partisan issue. Todd cut in, pointing out that Mulvaney was completely ignoring the question the host had just asked, which was whether the president accepts the fact that the Russians interfered in the 2016 elections in the first place with the purpose of helping his presidential bid.

As the host put it:

‘You guys always try to change it to — oh, but no votes were changed. That’s not the point! Does he accept the fact that Russia interfered to benefit him?’

Mulvaney replied with another answer packed with beating around the bush and lies:

‘The short question is, yes, Russia did attempt to interfere in our elections — there’s no question. Let’s not lose sight of the fact that it was the previous administration that let that happen.’

That’s a bunch of garbage. Russia didn’t “attempt to interfere in our elections” — they did successfully interfere! Special Counsel Robert Mueller didn’t indict dozens of Russian operatives for the crime of almost interfering in the elections.

Mulvaney’s contention that their interference efforts had no effect is flatly wrong, considering simply the amount of campaign chatter that was driven by the emails which they stole from key Democrats and distributed. Donald Trump himself repeatedly discussed Wikileaks and the stolen emails throughout his rise to the presidency. The interference drove people’s voting patterns, even in spite of the lack of the Russian villains hiding in voting centers to swap ballots that Mulvaney implies would have to be there in order for a there to be a real threat.

His assertion that the Obama administration “let” what did occur unfold is similarly flatly false. Before the election, they attempted to bring a word of warning to the masses about what was going on, but Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) flatly refused to get on board, and considering the sensitivity of the issue, they were not willing to engage in the election with that public revelation without bipartisan support. Following the election — and following intelligence condemning the Russians continuing to accumulate — the Obama administration unveiled public information about the interference and hit Russians with sanctions, which the Trump team at the time sought to secretly tell Russia they’d lift.

Mulvaney wasn’t done with his lies at that point, also suggesting that Trump has been a beacon for sensible gun control when just earlier this year he pledged to veto an effort to expand background checks to all gun sales, which the vast majority of Americans support. The Trump official also suggested that current immigration at the southern border is something agencies have never seen before, despite levels remaining well below those of the early 2000s.

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