Financial

The Boston Globe, “Some customers vowed to boycott the family-owned company after learning last week that Linda Bean, the granddaughter and heir of company founder Leon Leonwood Bean and a longtime Republican activist, bankrolled a political action committee in her efforts to support Trump.” [3]

L.L. Bean tries to “back-track” allegations.

References:

1. Yahoo, January 10, 2017, Dylan Stableford – L.L. Bean rebuffs boycott over granddaughter’s big Trump donation
2. Grab Your Wallet – List of companies suggested to boycott
3. The Boston Globe – January 9, 2017, Megan Woolhouse – L.L. Bean pleads: Don’t boycott us over Trump donation

The Atlantic, “Civil-rights organizations balked when Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions, who was rejected for a federal judgeship in 1986 over allegations he made racist remarks, was chosen to succeed Loretta Lynch as attorney general. Sessions’s allies have sought to portray those criticisms as unfair, in part by pointing to his record of filing desegregation lawsuits as U.S. attorney in Alabama. … The Atlantic could not find evidence Sessions filed any new school desegregation lawsuits. Searches of the legal databases Westlaw and PACER found no evidence that any new school-desegregation lawsuits were filed in Alabama’s Southern District by Sessions between 1981, when Sessions became U.S. attorney in Alabama, and 1995, when he became Alabama attorney general, though it is possible that the records exist but are not in those databases. “[2]

References:

1. The Atlantic, December 7, 2016, Adam Serwer – Did Jeff Sessions Champion Desegregation? – Trump’s nominee for attorney general claims to have “filed 20 or 30” desegregation cases as U.S. attorney in Alabama, but there’s little evidence to support that.

On January 11, 2017, Trump “tries” to have a legitimate press conference which turned into a “circus”.

Redditor poloboi84 pointed out that a Doonesbury strip from a month ago predicted today’s #TrumpPressConference almost verbatim. pic.twitter.com/W7L7JW6p4D

— Andy Cole (@AndyCole84) January 11, 2017

These allegations “may” be true?

American Progress, “Given Trump’s reliance on Russian finance for his real estate deals, it was not surprising that he turned to Paul Manafort to serve as his de facto campaign manager during a significant stretch of the presidential race. Manafort is a lobbyist and mercenary political operative with a long and checkered past representing clients, many of whom are nefarious, for exorbitant sums, including important figures close to Putin.”[2]

CNN, “In a fiery exchange between CNN’s Anderson Cooper and Kellyanne Conway, the senior adviser to President-elect Donald Trump vehemently denied a report that intelligence officials presented Trump with claims of Russian efforts to compromise him.”[3]

References:

1. CNN Politics, January 11, 2017 – Trump shuts down CNN reporter – President-elect Donald Trump refused to take a question from CNN reporter Jim Acosta, calling him fake news.
2. American Progress, January 12, 2017 – Moscow on the Potomac – Trump’s Worrisome Ties to Russia
3. CNN, January 11, 2017, Leinz Vales – Anderson Cooper, Trump adviser clash over Russia report

American Progress, “President-elect Donald Trump has nominated Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions (R) to be the next U.S. attorney general—the person charged with enforcing the nation’s laws and constitutional rights. Sessions has a long history of opposing rights for people of color, women, and LGBTQ Americans. Here are five things you need to know about Sen. Sessions.”[1]

References:

American Progress,

The “Swamp” is becoming increasingly populated with a person who was at the center of foreclosures with OneWest Bank.

The Intercept, “OneWest Bank, which Donald Trump’s nominee for treasury secretary, Steven Mnuchin, ran from 2009 to 2015, repeatedly broke California’s foreclosure laws during that period, according to a previously undisclosed 2013 memo from top prosecutors in the state attorney general’s office.”[1]

Take a look at the actual MEMO (PDF) obtained by The Intercept

References:

1. The Intercept, January 3, 2017, David Dayen – Treasury Nominee Steve Mnuchin’s Bank Accused of “Widespread Misconduct” in Leaked Memo

Our Revolution, ‘Earlier this month [December 2016], we won a major victory in North Dakota when the government halted construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline. Native American activists and their allies joined together to stop this disastrous pipeline from contaminating tribal lands and water. Thanks to your support, Our Revolution raised more than $200,000 to support the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and collected nearly 250,000 petition signatures to oppose construction of the pipeline.”[1]

References:

1. Our Revolution, December 2016 – Empowering Tribal Nations

Our Revolution, “[In November], our political revolution defeated the Trans-Pacific Partnership. This was a central issue during Bernie’s presidential campaign, and our movement kept up the pressure until it was clear that this horrible trade deal would not come up for a vote during the lame duck session.
During the Democratic National Convention, more than 2,000 of us demonstrated in Philadelphia to show opposition to the TPP. And together we made more than 50,000 calls into Congress and sent 100,000 text messages to stop the TPP.”[1]

References:

1. Our Revolution, December 2016 – The Trans-Pacific Partnership

MSNBC, “The trouble, as Politico acknowledged soon after, is that Trump was pulling a scam he’s leaned on many times: those new jobs were announced months ago. The president-elect wanted credit for others’ work, hoping the public – and news organizations – wouldn’t notice.”[1]

References:

1. MSNBC, December 209, 2016, Steve Benen – Trump keeps pulling the same trick because it keeps working

Las Vegas Sun, “He has used legal means to refuse to pay his creditors the contractual amounts in his businesses. He has the right to do so, and it shows his disregard for people who work for a living even in the middle class. It appears that he will litigate a conflict that would be fiscally imprudent for his creditor to proceed through a trial, and therefore, will settle the claim for a small percentage of the amount due. Trump has the financial resources to do this (as do many other extremely wealthy individuals).”[1]

The Boston Globe, “Trump boasted of his prowess at a rally in Michigan on Aug. 11. “You have to be able to do certain things” if you want to be successful, he crowed. “[I] beat the hell out of people. . . . I know how to get things.””[2]

References:

1. Las Vegas Sun, September 11, 2016, Earle Malkin – Trump has a history of stepping on the little guy
2. The Boston Globe, August 25, 2015, Jeff Jacoby – Donald Trump is no champion of the little guy