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New Reporting Has Some Questioning Accuracy of NY Times Rosenstein Story

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A New York Times story that claims Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein tried to convince FBI officials to wear a wire to secretly record President Trump, with the intention of using that audio to convince the Cabinet to invoke the 25th Amendment to remove him is being called into question.

Rosenstein’s alleged remarks came during a meeting that included then-Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe, and now-former FBI lawyer Lisa Page, among others. He allegedly also “made the remarks about secretly recording Mr. Trump and about the 25th Amendment in meetings and conversations with other Justice Department and F.B.I. officials,” The Times reported.

But according to NBC News, it is clear that Rosenstein was being sarcastic.

The New York Times offered various remembrances of the meeting, only once noting that one person had recorded the remarks as sarcastic. That detail does not figure prominently or equally in the Times reporting:

“A Justice Department spokeswoman also provided a statement from a person who was present when Mr. Rosenstein proposed wearing a wire. The person, who would not be named, acknowledged the remark but said Mr. Rosenstein made it sarcastically.”

The Washington Post, meanwhile, goes even further in calling the Times story into question, stating, “another person at the meeting, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations, insisted the recording comment was said in a moment of sarcasm, and that the 25th amendment was not discussed.”

“That person said the wire comment came in response to McCabe’s own pushing for the Justice Department to open an investigation into the president. To that, Rosenstein responded with what this person described as a sarcastic comment along the lines of, “What do you want to do, Andy, wire the president?”

Politico also reports the remark was sarcastic.

People close to Rosenstein said he likely made the comments described in the report in jest. One person who was in the room when Rosenstein suggested wearing a wire to record Trump said the remark was “sarcastic.”

“I remember this meeting and remember the wire comment. The statement was sarcastic and was never discussed with any intention of recording a conversation with the president,” the person said.

Former US Attorney Preet Bharara, who President Trump fired, weighs in:

Others have also questioned the thrust of the Times reporting:

 

 

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‘Garbage’: White House Reporters Slammed for Asking ‘Ridiculous’ Questions, From Tokyo Olympics to Sarah Sanders

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3 years ago

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January 26, 2021

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Now that regular, daily White House press briefings are being held again, many Americans are praising the tenor of press secretary Jen Psaki, who some say is eager to impart actual information. After four years of press secretaries attacking both the press corps and Democrats, the new tone in the briefing room is a welcome change for many.

But on social media some blasted several White House reporters for asking “ridiculous” questions, like this unidentified reporter who wanted to know how high up on President Joe Biden’s list of priorities is the Arkansas gubernatorial race, now that former Trump White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders has thrown her hat in the ring.

This media, culture, and communications professor weighed in:

That was not the only “ridiculous” question.

Here’s Fox News’ Peter Doocy, who appears to be trying to rack up a lot of attention for the conservative cable channel.

“The President said he ‘hopes’ the Senate can do the impeachment trial while working on the people’s business. What if they can’t?” he wanted to know, strongly suggesting the impeachment trial in the Senate is not the people’s business.

And Doocy also wanted to know President Biden’s thoughts about Florida Governor Ron DeSantis offering to host the Tokyo Olympics.

SiriusXMProgress host Joe Sudbay summed it all up:

 

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Boeing Fires CEO After a Year of Giant Setbacks and Fatalities

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4 years ago

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December 23, 2019

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Boeing CEO Dennis A. Muilenburg was fired on Monday after a tumultuous year that included twin crashes that plagued the entire company – and cost industry leaders millions in the process. In March 2019, the aircraft was grounded worldwide after a fatal crash on Ethiopian Airlines killed all 157 aboard, five months after a crash on Lion Air killed all 189 passengers and crew.

“The Board of Directors decided that a change in leadership was necessary to restore confidence in the Company moving forward as it works to repair relationships with regulators, customers, and all other stakeholders,” the company said in a statement.

Public trust is a must for the company if it plans to gain altitude with customers again. The company’s shares have fallen more than 20% since March 2019. Shares went up 3% following the announcement Monday.

Muilenburg is out immediately. He will be replaced by Boeing Chairman David Calhoun on January 13, 2020. In the interim, board member Lawrence Kellner will become Boeing’s nonexecutive chairman, effective immediately.

The announcement comes after Boeing announced their decision to suspend production of their deadly 737 Max airplanes indefinitely.

“Our first priority is safety, and we have set no timeframe for when the work will be completed,” the agency said in a statement. “We expect that Boeing will support that process by focusing on the quality and timeliness of data submittals for FAA review, as well as being transparent in its relationship with the FAA as safety regulator.”

Here is the text of Smith’s note to employees:

Colleagues, This morning, Boeing announced leadership changes made by our Board of Directors:

Dave Calhoun, currently Chairman of the Board, will become Chief Executive Officer of Boeing on January 13, 2020.

Larry Kellner, currently a Board director, will become Chairman of the Board effective immediately.

Dennis Muilenburg has resigned from his positions as CEO and Board director effective immediately.

I will serve as interim CEO during the brief transition period as Dave Calhoun prepares to assume leadership of the company.

The Board determined that a change in leadership was necessary to restore confidence in the company moving forward and that we will proceed with a renewed commitment to full transparency, including effective and proactive communications with the FAA, other global regulators and our customers.

On a personal note, I want to extend my deep gratitude to Dennis for his deep and abiding commitment to Boeing as CEO over these past four years, and for his nearly 35 years of service to the company. Dennis gave his all to the company under extraordinarily difficult circumstances. I look forward to working closely with Dave Calhoun, whom I have known for a very long time.

Dave and I share a mutual respect for one another, and I know we will work well together as we chart a new direction for Boeing. This has obviously been a difficult time for our company, and our people have pulled together in extraordinary ways. Over the next few weeks as we transition to new leadership, I am committed to ensuring above all that we meet the needs of our stakeholders – especially our regulators, customers and employees – with transparency and humility.

I am confident in our new leadership and I believe in our team — we have a plan in place, and it is very important that all of us remain focused on the tasks at hand. While this has been an extremely difficult year for all of us at Boeing, I firmly believe we are taking the right steps to reinforce the best in our values and to put the Company on the right path for a strong future. While today brings important changes for our company, I am also reminded of the many things that will remain exactly the same.

We will continue to operate according to our purpose and values in service of our customers, business partners, regulators, and other stakeholders. I want to thank you for going above and beyond expectations during what has been an extremely challenging year. I hope you are able to enjoy some time with loved ones and friends during these holidays. I am so proud to work alongside you all as part of this great company.

Greg

This past weekend, Boeing suffered a major embarrassment with its Starliner space capsule when the autonomous flight control system fired at the wrong time shortly after launch, putting Starliner in the wrong orbit. According to CNBC, “a planned docking with the International Space Station to deliver supplies had to be aborted. The craft did safely return to Earth on Sunday.”

Image via MSNBC screengrab.

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Sesame Street Deletes Tweet – Issues New, Updated Statement on Bert and Ernie

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6 years ago

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September 19, 2018

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On Tuesday the folks behind “Sesame Street” responded to an interview with a former writer who said its iconic characters, Bert and Ernie, are gay. Or, more specifically, Mark Saltzman said he had always “felt” they were gay when he was writing their lines.

Sesame Workshop issued a bungled, glib, and illogical statement claiming that “they remain puppets, and do not have a sexual orientation.”

Here’s a screenshot from the Internet Archive:

NCRM published a piece in response, reminding Sesame Workshop that some Sesame Street characters do have a sexual orientation.

“For example,” we wrote, “Clementine is Forgetful Jones’ girlfriend. And Ingrid and Humphrey are married hoteliers. Also, Mae, Elmo’s mother, is married to Louie.”

Sesame Workshop has now deleted their tweet and come out with a new, revised, updated statement as to why Bert and Ernie are not gay.

At least this time their reasoning is sound and makes sense. Also, it’s far less condescending, so that’s a plus. (And we’d like to think we had something to do with it.)

Meanwhile, Saltzman has clarified his remarks.

“As a writer, you just bring what you know into your work,” he told The New York Times. “Somehow, in the uproar, that turned into Bert and Ernie being gay. There is a difference.”

Of course, Sesame Street does need LGBTQ characters. What’s taking so long?

Image by See-Ming Lee via Flickr and a CC license

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