George Conway exposes crucial flaw in Trump White House's 'personal time' claim

[justaprogressive]

During a press conference on Thursday, May 22, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told NBC News' Garrett Haake that President Donald Trump would be attending a political dinner "in his personal time" — noting that it was "not a White House dinner" and would not be "taking place here."

Leavitt's use of the term "personal time" got the attention of Never Trump conservatives, including attorney George Conway and The Bulwark's Tim Miller (a frequent guest on MSNBC and former GOP strategist).

On X, formerly Twitter, Miller posted, "President's don't get 'personal time.' There's not like a magic suit you wear when you are doing official business and one where you are just Donald from Queens."

Conway, in response to Miller's tweet, wrote, "Actually, it’s fine. If Trump is saying he's doing something on his 'personal time,' then obviously that means he's not acting within what the Supreme Court calls 'the outer perimeter of his official responsibility,' which, in turn, means he’s not immune from criminal prosecution."

https://www.alternet.org/george-conway-miller-trump-leavitt/

[sop]

1. Great observation: Trump's corruption during "personal time" means he's not immune from criminal prosecution.

[FadedMullet]

19. I get confused. Doesn't "personal time" also mean that he's not grifting based on his position, selling his influence...

...as president because he's not acting as President as he shows up, or doesn't show up as was the case, at this special dinner?

[malaise]

2. THIS

Rec

[usedtobedemgurl]

3. I said the exact thing, here, yesterday!

[momta]

9. I thought about this, too, when I heard her say that.

It's not rocket science. The corruption is just SO bad, they can't even think of good lies for it.

[usedtobedemgurl]

30. They are constantly confessing!

[UpInArms]

4. Time to put the freak in prison

Cuz you know he was grifting

[ms liberty]

5. Yes! They voluntarily named it personal. Many thanks to the top propaganda puppet herself

[Snoopy 7]

6. Personal Time?

If this was his personal time then why did he fly in on a Military Helicopter? Shouldn't he be using his "personal transportation"?

[homegirl]

16. I am consumed

with curiosity, What was the menu? What wines? Goody bags?

[OMGWTF]

20. "Walmart Steak" according to someone who attended (well done with catsup, no doubt).

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/influencer-who-attended-trump-s-memecoin-dinner-says-he-got-a-walmart-steak-and-no-access-to-the-president/ar-AA1FmsvQ?ocid=BingNewsSerp

I am betting the wine came out of a box and that there were no goodie bags.

[GiqueCee]

7. Good catch, George! nt

[Karadeniz]

8. Is he going to return all the lucre once hes on the prez time clock again? This is

ripe for a lawsuit.

[Miles Archer]

10. Leavitt already tried to nullify that kind of thinking

It was on DU yesterday, I believe, maybe the day before. But she said something along the lines of "Everything the president does is for the good of the country."

So what's really going on here is that they want it "both ways."

1). Everything Trump does is for the good of the country, a dog whistle to the SCOTUS re-affirming "official acts as president" that are immune from any laws

2). He's doing it on his personal time, just as his $3 million taxpayer funded golf weekends every week are his "personal time," so what he does on his time is his business, but he's still immune from any laws because John Roberts said so

[Uncle Joe]

11. I was wondering whether undermining the dollar qualifies as personal time or an official act?

Thanks for the thread justaprogressive

[MineralMan]

12. When I was in the USAF, we were reminded often that

we were on duty 24/7/365. I would think the Commander in Chief has the same hours we had.

[Ol Janx Spirit]

13. The fact that the Whitehouse felt compelled to even make this...

...ridiculously strained distinction just shows how much they know this is completely unethical, unamerican, and probably illegal. You have to say probably illegal because it really feels like there is a good chance that at least two SCOTUS justices were at the dinner...

Unfortunately, a far-too-large portion of the electorate knew exactly that this is what they would get--and welcomed it....

[flashman13]

14. Wow In a conversation yesterday I said the exact same thing as Conway.

It means that in a sane world Trump can be charged with bribery.

[PatrickforB]

15. This is only a 'crucial flaw' if the Dems have the cajones to act on it. And, I'm sorry, but I ain't seeing many

(on edit, I'm still donating to DU here - I'm not talking about that).

who do, besides AOC, Crockett, Hogg and some others, like Bennet.

We have to get rid of the institutionalist leadership and put people in there that actually want to work.

Because, silly me, I've WORKED for 40 years and contributed to Social Security and Medicare paycheck by paycheck by paycheck, and I'm not sure if Elon won't be allowed to STEAL this money. He's a fucking billionaire, and ALL of them are abnormal. They are distorted almost beyond being human by years of raw greed and lust for temporal power.

Hey, I have an idea. Let's go back in time to 2023. Biden says 'he won't run.' The Democrats have a primary and nominate a candidate who can win.

Hey, I have another idea. Let's go back to 2021, and appoint an Atty General that was actually dedicated to JUSTICE and holding Trump and his criminal coterie ACCOUNTABLE. Garland was a complete wet noodle who wasted his life force virtue-signalling by pretending to be scrupulously 'neutral and above politics.'

And now look what we have. Ever wonder what would happen if all of us stopped cooperating for a while? Stopped 'consuming' for a week or so?

Problem is we have been too arrogant for far too long. Oh, that can't ever happen here. And now we have the new Robber Barons who are just like the old ones who drove us into a Depression in 1929 with their uncontrolled greed.

Oh, and I have another idea: Let's go back in time to 1987, when Ronald Reagan killed the Fairness doctrine at the behest of operatives like Karl Rove, Dick Cheney and Don Rumsfeld. Instead of just allowing that to happen, along with cable deregulation, maybe the Dems of that time could have stood up to these Robber Barons THEN.

Because the Wall Street financiers and these billionaire parasites have played the long game quite well, and are now in the process of stripping our treasury of EVERYTHING and leaving us flapping in the wind.

I'm so fucking disgusted with the 'institutional' wing of the Democratic party I could spit tacks.

WHEN are we going to wake up?

Because if we don't, our spoiled people, our prideful and arrogant people will be deeply humbled. These wreckers are opening the way for pandemic, war and even famine to march across this once-great nation.

What kills me is I get 20 texts a day and dozens of emails from Dems and activists telling me to just give them money so they can keep 'fighting' for me. Sorry, gotta call bullshit on that. I'm not paying you any more to do the right thing, because my money didn't win for Harris, did it? We donated A BILLION DOLLARS to her campaign and 65 of the billionaire Robber Barons MATCHED that and Elon even positioned some satellites over the swing states, Republicans purged us from voter rolls, a bunch of us didn't bother to vote and young people 'broke for Trump.' Why? Can the institutionalists please look deep into their own actions and answer that please?

So quit ASKING ME FOR MONEY so you can continue to 'fight' for me and start really fighting for me. Start calling for massive civil disobedience. Start LEADING.

I know many of you will disagree, and so be it. Because we are doing the same old same old and expecting different results and our window of opportunity to preserve this republic is closing really fast. DO SOMETHING DIFFERENT, because keeping doing what hasn't worked for forty years ain't helping anybody except this new batch of Robber Barons.

"We are in the process of the second American Revolution, which will remain bloodless if the left allows it to be" was made by Kevin Roberts, the president of the Heritage Foundation. Do any of you still think these people were kidding? Because Charlie Koch is very much still in there slugging. He and his ilk are the authors of this and people much smarter and just as rich as these tech bro noveau-riche billionaires like Musk and Thiel have been behind this the whole time.

Every day, when I contemplate the descent of this once-great republic, I want to puke.

[h2ebits]

18. Well said. . . .thank you

I have been lurking for years on DU and finally contributed the other day to become a member, which I will continue to do moving forward.

I am so grateful that I found the DU website. The members are so articulate and on top of what is really happening. I am also very frustrated by the deep silence of the elected Democrats with the exception of a notable few.

Recently, I discovered Mary Geddry's substack. I'm sharing one of her articles here because, I believe, that it is correct. Let me know what you think after you read it, please. Here's the first paragraph:

"Richard Murphy, a British former chartered accountant and political economist who advises the Trades Union Congress on taxation and founded the Tax Justice Network, said it plainly: Trump is waging war, not on foreign enemies, but on America itself. His latest economic maneuvering isn’t mismanagement; it’s pillage. His $4 trillion tax scam, disguised as the “One Big Beautiful Bill,” is not meant to grow the economy. It’s meant to hollow it out, concentrating wealth in fewer hands, and then blaming the wreckage on the people already struggling to survive it."

https://marygeddry.substack.com/p/carpe-momentum-we-must-seize-this

[h2ebits]

17. Yes! George Conway knows his stuff. . . .

and I'm happy that he is on the side of democracy.

Thanks for posting this info because it made my day better knowing that there was some recourse possible in the corruption that is taking place right in front of our eyes.

[livetohike]

21. So that 3:00 am call comes in and he is "off the

clock” with his personal time. He wants a 9:00 -5:00 job and every weekend off. Hopefully, more Democratic leaders will point this out as just another failure to lead.

[flvegan]

22. Crucial flaw? Trump can't tell time. n/t

[SunSeeker]

23. Yup. But he'll pardon himself on the way out. We'll see if SCOTUS lets him. nt

[Martin68]

24. Interesting point. His corruption gets so prolific and convoluted it gets harder to conceal.

[Maru Kitteh]

25. Miller posted, "President's don't get 'personal time.'

Please tell me he didn’t.




Presidents is the proper plural form.

[JustAnotherGen]

26. Nothing will come of it for Trump

The thug gets away with everything.

[RockRaven]

27. The flaw in that logic is that it relies upon the most corrupt AND inconsistent SCOTUS

in our lifetimes being scrupulously consistent and honorable. That shit is laughable.

[Cha]

28. TY Kick for Conway!

TY

[calimary]

29. SHEESH - "his personal time"???

Does that mean when he’s taking his precious fucking lazy-ass “personal time”, and expects not to have to do any “presidentin’,” can we step in and undo some of the damage he just did? Roll back some sneaky shit? Cancel some plans he was expecting to put into place? How could we use that?

Take ALL the “personal time” you want, donald. Take a week - or better yet a month - OR MORE - off. We’ll take it from here.