• State propaganda declared insufficiently enthusiastic about regime.
—@coreypein
Trump's pissed off at Voice Of America, the United States of America's official government publication. Must be because the great news reporters at VOA like Steve Herman are doing their jobs.
Yes, impeached president Donald John Trump is at it again with attacks on great American institutions, and our constitutional protections granting Americans freedom of the press.
Trump is now threatening to forcibly call Congress back from their pandemic time-out, and appoint his own candidate as head of the agency that oversees VOA.
This is pretty weird behavior from someone who has such a cozy relationship with America's foreign enemies. Curious.
From VOA's Steve Herman:
WHITE HOUSE - U.S. President Donald Trump is threatening to adjourn Congress because lawmakers have not approved his candidates for senior posts in his administration, including his nominee to run the independent agency overseeing the Voice of America.
“I have very strong power,” Trump declared Wednesday, referencing language in the second article of the U.S. Constitution that allows a president “on extraordinary occasions” to adjourn either or both chambers of Congress.
"The Senate should either fulfill its duty and vote on my nominees or it should formally adjourn so I can make recess appointments," Trump said. "We have a tremendous number of people that have to come into government. And now more so than ever before because of the virus and the problem.”
The Constitution requires nominees to a number of senior administration posts to be confirmed by a majority vote in the Senate. However, on occasions when Congress is not in session, the president may make a “recess appointment,” which expires if the candidate has not been confirmed by the end of the next full session.
No president has ever exercised the specific authority to dissolve Congress in Article II, Section 3 of the Constitution.
"Perhaps it’s never been done before, nobody’s even sure if it has," Trump said during a Rose Garden briefing on the coronavirus pandemic. "But we’re going to do it. We need these people here. We need people for this crisis, and we don’t want to play any more political games.”
Trump's claim to have the executive power to forcibly call back Congress from their pandemic recess is likely bullshit.
Read the rest of Steve Herman's report:
Trump Threatens to Force Congress to Adjourn Over Stalled Nominees
[April 15, 2020 09:24 PM]
State propaganda declared insufficiently enthusiastic about regime. https://t.co/ly6ttHDjGK
— Corey Pein
(@coreypein) April 16, 2020
[via mediagazer]
PHOTO - VOA contributor Greta Van Susteren interviews President Donald Trump in Singapore, Aug 12, 2018. (White House photo by Shealah Craighead, PUBLIC DOMAIN)
