Friday, November 24, 2017

Trump’s penchant for deception is infecting his team: Here are 15 huge lies told by administration officials

Trump’s penchant for deception is infecting his team: Here are 15 huge lies told by administration officials

"From the exaggerated estimates of his inaugural crowd to the unraveling of claims that his campaign never dealt with Russia, Donald Trump's presidency has been a mosaic of untruths, half-truths and distortions. And they are not just his own, which are legion. Many belong to people inside his political orbit. From Cabinet secretaries to White House aides to campaign advisers — even family members — they are all knitted together by the common thread of deception. The fog is so thick inside the Trump White House that it could be cited for violating clean air standards. Some of the falsehoods are causing headaches for the perpetrators as Justice Department and congressional investigators probe Russia's meddling in the 2016 election and whether Trump or his team assisted. Attorney General Jeff Sessions, for instance, has faced repeated questioning on Capitol Hill about his contacts with Russians, which were more numerous than he first allowed; his latest confrontation with lawmakers came this week. And Trump White House aide Jared Kushner was taken to task by senators on Thursday for repeatedly failing to disclose communications about WikiLeaks, which published hacked emails of Democratic leaders last year, and a "Russian backdoor overture." The motives behind some of the misrepresentations are petty. Does the fact that Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross lied about his wealth and instead of qualifying as a billionaire, he's merely a millionaire many times over, shake the foundations of democracy? Not really. But Sessions' serial evasions about his role in the Russia scandal possibly do."