Trump lawyer email: literally no difference between Robert Lee and George Washington

[Mormolyce]

Trump Lawyer Forwards Email Echoing Secessionist Rhetoric

WASHINGTON — President Trump’s personal lawyer on Wednesday forwarded an email to conservative journalists, government officials and friends that echoed secessionist Civil War propaganda and declared that the group Black Lives Matter “has been totally infiltrated by terrorist groups.”

The email forwarded by John Dowd, who is leading the president’s legal team, painted the Confederate general Robert E. Lee in glowing terms and equated the South’s rebellion to that of the American Revolution against England. Its subject line — “The Information that Validates President Trump on Charlottesville” — was a reference to comments Mr. Trump made earlier this week in the aftermath of protests in the Virginia college town.

“You cannot be against General Lee and be for General Washington,” the email reads, “there literally is no difference between the two men.”

The contents of the email are at the heart of a roiling controversy over race and history that turned deadly last weekend in Charlottesville, where white nationalist groups clashed with protesters over the planned removal of a statue of Lee. An Ohio man with ties to white nationalist groups drove his car through a crowd, killing one woman and injuring many others, authorities say.

In a fiery news conference on Tuesday, Mr. Trump blamed “both sides” for that violence. He said many of those who opposed the statue’s removal were good people protesting the loss of their culture, and he questioned whether taking down statues of Lee could lead to monuments of Washington also being removed.

His words were widely criticized in Washington but were praised by white supremacists, including a former Ku Klux Klan leader.

Mr. Dowd received the email on Tuesday night and forwarded it on Wednesday morning to more than two dozen recipients, including a senior official at the Department of Homeland Security, The Wall Street Journal editorial page and journalists at Fox News and The Washington Times. There is no evidence that any of the journalists used the contents of the email in their coverage. One of the recipients provided a copy to The New York Times.

A portion of the email that John Dowd, President Trump’s personal lawyer, forwarded to conservative journalists, government officials and friends.
“You’re sticking your nose in my personal email?” Mr. Dowd told The Times in a brief telephone interview. “People send me things. I forward them.” He then hung up.

The email’s author, Jerome Almon, runs several websites alleging government conspiracies and arguing that the F.B.I. has been infiltrated by Islamic terrorists. He once unsuccessfully sued the State Department for $900 million over claims of discrimination.

Mr. Almon’s email said that Black Lives Matter, a group that formed to protest the use of force by police against African-Americans, is being directed by terrorists. Mr. Almon blamed the group for deadly violence against police last year in Texas and Louisiana.

The email’s comparison of secessionists to the nation’s Founding Fathers echoes an early Confederate rallying cry, said Judith Giesberg, a Villanova University historian and editor of The Journal of the Civil War Era. Washington’s face appeared on Confederate money, she said, and secessionists were eager to place their rebellion in the context of the American Revolution.

“The first states to secede drew a straight line back to the Revolution,” she said in a telephone interview. “They said they were the inheritors of this revolutionary tradition that traces back to Washington.”

Mr. Almon listed several reasons Lee is no different from Washington. “Both rebelled against the ruling government,” the email reads, adding, “Both saved America.”

Mr. Almon, who is black, said in his email to Mr. Dowd that the protesters should “go back to the ghettos and do raise their children and rebuild places like Detroit.”

In a telephone interview, Mr. Almon said he sent the email to follow up on a phone call he had last week with Mr. Dowd. He said had called to offer damaging information about James B. Comey, the former F.B.I. director, and to provide other information about the Justice Department’s ongoing investigation into the Trump campaign.

Mr. Almon said he hoped Mr. Dowd would circulate his email.

“I was hoping it would get in the hands of President Trump — I quite frankly hope he would review it right now because his presidency is on the line,” Mr. Almon said in the interview. “I don’t believe the president is getting the correct advice or proper information. Someone reading what I sent to Dowd will view Robert E. Lee differently.”

There is no evidence that Mr. Dowd sent the email to Mr. Trump. Other recipients include Washington lawyers and members of Mr. Dowd’s family.

Mr. Dowd circulated the email hours after the White House issued its own talking points to Republicans defending the president.

“The president was entirely correct — both sides of the violence in Charlottesville acted inappropriately, and bear some responsibility,” the White House said. Those talking points, circulated on Tuesday night, did not address Mr. Trump’s comments about Lee and Washington.

The email that Mr. Dowd forwarded, however, issues a full-throated endorsement of those comments. It declared that Lee “saved America” by opting to surrender rather than launch guerrilla attacks in the final days of the Civil War.

Professor Giesberg said it is true that Lee rejected such tactics, but his decision did not save America.

“It’s like a history I don’t even recognize,” she said.

In an interview, Mr. Almon said he is not a Republican and that he does not reflexively support Mr. Trump.

“I’m against racism,” he said.

Mr. Almon said that he had also provided information about the F.B.I. to the office of Representative Devin Nunes of California, the Republican chairman of the House Intelligence Committee.

An email Mr. Almon provided to The Times showed that he had been in communication in March with Mr. Nunes’ office. There is no evidence that Mr. Nunes circulated that email.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/16/u...ttesville.html

This will go over well, I'm sure.

[Wyrt]

I see that Gorka is now the power behind the president.

[draynay]

Lee saved America by surrendering two years after the war was unwinnable, apparently.

[Edge-]

So...somehow the South saved the union...because they lost?

This is some seriously fucked up doublethink.

[Sunseeker]

So...somehow the South saved the union...because they lost?

This is some seriously fucked up doublethink.

There is no rational thought when it comes to modern support for the Confederacy. I've had rational conversations with perfectly normal people about perfectly rational subjects and then suddenly the Confederacy comes up and they lose their fucking mind.

[Pendulous]

I see that Gorka is now the power behind the president.

Bannon got bored and let someone else do it.

[Gestopft]

Shouldn't Trump be able to afford better legal representation?

[Wyrt]

Shouldn't Trump be able to afford better legal representation?

I don't think the question at this time is one of cost.

[Video Games]

Tim allen also asked today on twitter if we evolved from apes why are there still apes? What a time to be alive.

[Anevers]

Shouldn't Trump be able to afford better legal representation?

It's more of a matter who is willing to take on a man child for a client that won't listen.

[Masark]

Tim allen also asked today on twitter if we evolved from apes why are there still apes? What a time to be alive.

In the context of this thread, the appropriate response to that question is "If Americans are descended from Europeans, why are there still Europeans?".

[Video Games]

In the context of this thread, the appropriate response to that question is "If Americans are descended from Europeans, why are there still Europeans?".

Lol. Man, ever since friday night everything has been extra weird on the internet.

The actor Tim Allen? When did he drink the koolaid?

He use to do coke. But anyway, it's been a weird week.

[zorkuus]

Tim allen also asked today on twitter if we evolved from apes why are there still apes? What a time to be alive.

The actor Tim Allen? When did he drink the koolaid?

[Wyrt]

In the context of this thread, the appropriate response to that question is "If Americans are descended from Europeans, why are there still Europeans?".

This is a valid point. I am descended from Austrians and Irish and I know there are people claiming to be Austrian on this board, but how can that be if I descended from them? There's no one claiming to be Irish here, clearly a conspiracy!

[Mormolyce]

So...somehow the South saved the union...because they lost?

This is some seriously fucked up doublethink.

To be fair to Lee, according to the other thread he tried to repair the union afterwards by asking people not to build Confederate statues or use the Confederate flag, and in general "erase history".

Kek.

Shouldn't Trump be able to afford better legal representation?

Turns out he can't because of... everything he has ever done in his entire life.

Four top law firms turned down offers to represent Trump in the Russia investigation because they are concerned that the President won’t listen to them, and he won’t pay them.

Michael Isikoff of Yahoo News reported:
But a consistent theme, the sources said, was the concern about whether the president would accept the advice of his lawyers and refrain from public statements and tweets that have consistently undercut his position.

“The concerns were, ‘The guy won’t pay and he won’t listen,’” said one lawyer close to the White House who is familiar with some of the discussions between the firms and the administration, as well as deliberations within the firms themselves.

http://www.politicususa.com/2017/06/...stigation.html

Which is why he is represented by grade A ambulance chasers.

Tim allen also asked today on twitter if we evolved from apes why are there still apes? What a time to be alive.

*Ape grunt?*

Great to hear Tool Time is still going.

The actor Tim Allen? When did he drink the koolaid?

Apparently a while. The right tried to stir up a minor fracas a few months back when his show was cancelled.

[Skroe]

In the context of this thread, the appropriate response to that question is "If Americans are descended from Europeans, why are there still Europeans?".

*pins a medal of merit on*

[Felya]

Now that we have proof that celebrating the confederacy in any form makes people misunderstand history. Can we remove the idea of these monuments having historic value? If people confuse our adoration for Washington, with that of Lee, I think those statues are hurting people's understanding of history.

In fact, I cannot think of a country that has this much idolatry for a losing side of the civil war. Even in Iraq, the iconic image was of them pulling down a statue of Saddam, not US defending to preserve history. It's ludicrous...

- - - Updated - - -

The actor Tim Allen? When did he drink the koolaid?

Decades ago... he is blaming the cancellation of his current show on the liberal media trying to bury conservatives.

[Pannonian]

Yeah... he's tweeting again, the same bullshit.

Oh, and a new one: The beauty in the parks will be missed and can never be replaced.

[Belize]

Yeah... he's tweeting again, the same bullshit.

Oh, and a new one: The beauty in the parks will be missed and can never be replaced.

Maybe he'll order statues of him to be built.

Then the alt-right would have altars to worship Dear Leader.

[Pannonian]

Maybe he'll order statues of him to be built.

Then the alt-right would have altars to worship Dear Leader.

I would love to laugh, but in these days... it could happen. Or has anyone seen that shitshow on tuesday coming? (We all knew what he was thinking privately especially after Saturdays statement, but not that he'd escape his handlers... again!)