Trump, Unprompted, Tells GOP Donors He Doesn’t Like Having Women Pee on Him

In this golden age of true-crime programming, most people are well aware of the fact that if you’ve done something you don’t want anyone to know about, whether it’s illegal or just embarrassing, you don‘t proceed to bring it up unprompted to a room full of people, which would obviously be a blatant tip-off. Killed your neighbor with a shovel? You don’t show up to the block party and announce, “I did not murder Jerry and bury him in my backyard this morning.” Went to a housewarming party and on the way to the bathroom made a pit stop in the host’s bedroom, tried on all their clothes, and then rolled around under their covers? You don’t rejoin the group and declare, “You know what I definitely did not just do?”

We mention this because someone—let’s call him Donald Trump—is apparently unaware of this well-known rule. Per The Washington Post:

In a private speech at [a Republican donor] retreat Thursday, Trump cast himself as the GOP’s savior, saying he had brought the party back from the brink of disaster and helped Republicans hold seats on Capitol Hill—failing to mention that the party lost the White House and control of both the House and Senate under his presidency. “It was a dying party, I’ll be honest. Now we have a very lively party,” he said, to a room of senators, donors and lobbyists, according to a recording of the event obtained by The Washington Post, before boasting of all the endorsements and telephone town halls he had done in the 2020 cycle.

In Trump’s address, one of the final events of the retreat, the former president focused on re-litigating grievances he has retained since leaving office…. Unprompted, he brought up an unsubstantiated claim he had interactions with prostitutes in Moscow before he ran for president. “I’m not into golden showers,” he told the crowd. “You know the great thing, our great first lady—‘That one,’ she said, ‘I don’t believe that one.’”

Trump, of course, was referring to allegations in the Steele dossier, opposition research compiled by a British former intelligence officer that claimed, among other things, there was video footage of prostitutes urinating in front of Trump in a Moscow hotel room in 2013, and which was debunked by Robert Mueller.

Which makes it curious that, years later, he still feels the need to insist to people, who probably haven’t thought about the alleged pee tape in quite some time, that he doesn’t like golden showers. Also curious is the fact that while Trump claimed on Thursday that Melania didn’t believe “that one,” according to former FBI director James Comey, Trump had been extremely concerned his wife would think the allegations were true.

As Comey told George Stephanopoulos re: Trump’s insistence the FBI investigate the tape he swore didn’t exist:

He said, “If there’s even a one percent chance my wife thinks that’s true, that’s terrible.” And I remember thinking, how could your wife think there’s a one percent chance you were with prostitutes peeing on each other? I’m a flawed human being, but there is literally zero chance that my wife would think that was true. So what kind of marriage to what kind of man does your wife think there’s only a 99 percent chance you didn’t do that?

Pressed by Stephanopolous as to whether he believed Trump’s denials about having ever taken part in a golden shower situation, Comey responded, “I honestly never thought these words would come out of my mouth, but I don’t know whether the current President of the United States was with prostitutes peeing on each other in Moscow in 2013. It’s possible, but I don’t know.”

Anyway, Trump insists golden showers are not his thing, and if we can’t trust him to tell the truth, who can we trust?

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The Justice Department says it will take Texas abortion ban to the Supreme Court

Unfortunately, that means going before the same conservatives who gave Texas the greenlight last month to effectively outlaw abortions at six weeks. Per CNN:

The Department of Justice will ask the Supreme Court to step in and block a controversial Texas law that bars most abortions after six weeks of pregnancy while legal challenges play out, a department spokesperson said Friday. The petition will once again place the justices in the center of a firestorm created by the law that bars abortions before most women even know they are pregnant. DOJ did not say when it will formally petition the court.

As the justices consider the law again, they will review the record detailing how the law has impacted women and clinics on the ground over the past six weeks. In sworn declarations, abortion providers say that it has had a chilling effect because staff are “plagued by fear and instability,” and they “remain seriously concerned that even providing abortions in compliance with S.B. 8 will draw lawsuits from anti-abortion vigilantes or others seeking financial gain” under the law’s provision, which offers up to $10,000 in damages.

Providers in neighboring states said under oath that they have been overwhelmed with patients traveling from Texas seeking an abortion. When Judge Robert Pitman of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas temporarily blocked the law last week he said that from the moment it went into effect, “women have been unlawfully prevented from exercising control over their lives in ways that are protected by the Constitution.”

In a warning seen as a direct shot at the Supreme Court, Pitman wrote in his decision: “other courts may find a way to avoid this conclusion is theirs to decide; this Court will not sanction one more day of the offensive deprivation of such an important right.” (Shortly thereafter, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals stayed Pitman’s ruling, allowing the law to remain in effect.)

In December, the Supreme Court will also hear a case involving a Mississippi law that bans abortions at 15 weeks, which, depending on how it’s decided, could overturn Roe v. Wade.

Queen Elizabeth suggests world leaders pull their thumbs out of their asses on climate change

Less talk, more action! Per The Washington Post:

Britain’s monarch has hit out at world leaders who “talk” but they “don’t do” on climate change—remarks that have been interpreted as expressing a degree of exasperation at possible no-shows for the upcoming COP26 climate conference in Glasgow. Her remarks weren’t meant for public consumption—this is the queen, after all, an expert at giving nothing away—but were picked up on a microphone. During the opening of the Welsh Parliament in Cardiff on Thursday, the queen was talking to her daughter-in-law, Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall, and Elin Jones, the parliament’s president officer. Her comments were picked up on a live stream, and although parts are inaudible, she can be heard talking about the climate conference.

“Extraordinary, isn’t it? I’ve been hearing all about COP,” the queen said, according to video and audio recordings analyzed by the Daily Mirror. “Still don’t know who is coming…We only know about people who are not coming…It’s really irritating when they talk, but they don’t do.”

Jones then replied: “Exactly. It’s a time for doing…and watching your grandson on the television this morning saying there’s no point going to space, we need to save the Earth.”

“Yes, I read about it,” the queen said, smiling broadly.

On Thursday, Prince William castigated the world’s billionaires for spending their money pretending to be astronauts rather than putting it to work on planet Earth. “We need some of the world’s greatest brains and minds fixed on trying to repair this planet, not trying to find the next place to go and live,” he said in an interview with the BBC. “I think that ultimately is what sold it for me—that really is quite crucial to be focusing on this [planet] rather than giving up and heading out into space to try and think of solutions for the future.”

Elsewhere!

FDA panel endorses broad use of Johnson & Johnson booster shot (Politico)

Italy begins enforcing strict workplace vaccine mandate (The Washington Post)

Biden gives some clues on potential compromises to his social safety net plan (CNN)

Capitol Police officer charged with obstructing Jan. 6 investigation (Politico)

Trump’s Kids Went Into a Terrible Deal With Their Dad. They Might All Get Bailed Out (Forbes)

Ex-FBI leader Andrew McCabe wins back pension in Justice Dept. settlement after he was fired under Trump (The Washington Post)

Apple fires employee who raised awareness of workplace misconduct allegations at the company (The Washington Post)

Trump allies eye election law push should he be reelected (Politico)

Tennessee town listed for $725,000 (UPI)

New Zealand council ends contract with wizard after two decades of service (Guardian)

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