Sarah Sanders finally leaves White House, Trump distracts from Mueller's testimony

Sarah Sanders left her job as presidential press secretary last Friday, descending from a mountain of lies, says cartoonist David Fitzsimmons of the Arizona Daily Star.

Charles P. Pierce of Esquire called Sarah Huckabee Sanders "an embarrassingly bad liar and an embarrassingly arrogant countrified know-nothing for a criminal gang...."

Cartoonist Adam Zyglis of the Buffalo News: "I'm stepping down to spend more time with my family," Sanders said.

Pierce, the author of four books, condemned the "elite political media" for putting together farewell drinks for Sanders, whom he labeled as "an arrogant liar on behalf of a corrupt administration."

The decision by The New York Times International Edition to bar political cartoons left a bad taste in the mouths of cartoonist Christo Komarnitski of Bulgaria and many others. The decision came after The Times published a cartoon showing President Trump in a skullcap being led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who was depicted as a guide dog wearing a Star of David.

Jimmy Margulies, former editorial cartoonist for The Record of Woodland Park, notes President Trump is a master of distracting many Americans from Democrats' call for impeachment and the expected testimony of Robert Mueller -- delayed a week and now scheduled for July 24 -- who led the investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.

President Trump's threats to go to war with Iran, and his demilitarized zone photo op with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un have distracted Americans from Democrats' call for impeachment.

Cartoonist David Whamond lampoons "the game show president," who is eliminated when he fails to profess his innocence.

See more cartoons at PoliticalCartoons.com and at The Cagle Post.

-- VICTOR E. SASSON

Times backs Phil Murphy for governor, saying N.J. can't afford more chaotic rule

During one of their debates, Democrat Phil Murphy, left, grimaces at a statement from Republican Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno, who has been employing Trump-like lies and wild exaggerations during the election campaign to replace Governor Christie (AP Photo).

DO GOP LIES, VOTER APATHY

 POSE DANGER TO DEMOCRAT?

-- HACKENSACK, N.J.

By VICTOR E. SASSON

EDITOR

Next Tuesday, New Jersey voters get another chance to replace Governor Christie and Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno, who have done their best to sabotage the Affordable Care Act, hurt the environment and cripple mass transit.

Now, The New York Times has endorsed Democrat Phil Murphy over Guadagno, noting "that's not even a close call."

"There is only one choice on the ballot next week who guarantees voters an end to the Chris Christie era, and that's the Democratic candidate, Phil Murphy," according to The Times' Editorial Board.

"Mr. Murphy, who was ambassador to Germany during the Obama years, is running against Mr. Christie's loyal lieutenant governor, Kim Guadagno, whose agenda differs little from that of her boss.

"New Jersey can't afford another four years of Christie-inspired chaos.

"Indeed, Mr. Murphy would be taking on a formidable task. Eight years ago, Mr. Christie arrived promising to fix 'our broken state,' as he called it. Instead, he is leaving it even more damaged than he found it."

Times v. Record

The Times' Editorial Board on Monday was far less kind to Christie than The Record, my local daily newspaper, which also endorsed Murphy, but which backed the GOP bully in his successful 2013 re-election bid.

The Woodland Park daily actually praised Christie for his so-called bipartisan deals during his first term, conveniently ignoring the hundreds of vetoes or threats to veto Democratic initiatives on everything from a tax surcharge against millionaires to raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour.

The Record's editors also assigned Staff Writer Dustin Racioppi, who is assigned to cover Christie, as the main reporter on the election, and he doesn't seek comment from the Murphy campaign on the lies and distortion in GOP ads. 

For example, The Times editorial noted Murphy has pledged to provide a check on President Trump, "especially when it comes to the treatment of undocumented immigrants."

"Ms. Guadagno's campaign has met this pledge with a bitterly negative, fearmongering ad that accuses Mr. Murphy of welcoming in immigrants like one who murdered three people a decade ago."

The indictment

Here is The Times' Editorial Board indictment of the Christie years:

"Mr. Christie leaves behind an economy still struggling to recover a decade after the Great Recession. New Jersey's unemployment growth lags well behind the rate for the country.

"The state's credit rating has been downgraded 11 times in the Christie era, primarily because of the underfunded pension system. Schools, likewise, aren't fully funded.

"And traffic and public transit are a daily trial, thanks in part to Mr. Christie's shortsighted cancellation of a new rail tunnel under the Hudson.

"(A recent report estimated the average driver in the state spends an unnecessary $600 a year on lost time, car repairs and wasted fuel)."

'Christie's shadow'

The Times editorial said: 

"Ms. Guadagno's real problem, however, is that, as lieutenant governor, she served as Governor Christie's shadow."

She said she opposed the governor's decision to raise the gas tax, but The Times noted that was one of the things Christie "got right."

"New Jersey had among the lowest gas taxes in the nation, and those funds were desperately needed to fix dilapidated roads and NJ Transit."

Murphy's promises

Murphy spent 23 years at Goldman Sachs before he became campaign chairman of the Democratic Party.

Among his priorities, according to The Times, is using his expertise "to start restoring the pension system and improving its investments," fixing NJ Transit, raising the minimum wage, creating a public bank to offer low-interest loans to residents, and adjusting the tax codes to make the wealthy and big corporations pay higher taxes.

"Like former Gov. Jon Corzine, who also has Wall Street roots, Mr. Murphy has little political experience in the state," The Times noted.

"It is hard to see how new taxes or other revenue sources would pay for his high-end promises. Still, he is not Christie-lite."

"On the campaign trail, Mr. Murphy likes to say that he sees New Jersey as America's best opportunity for a turnaround. We agree and recommend Phil Murphy for governor."

Manafort indicted

Almost the entire front page of The Record today is devoted to the indictment of former Trump campaign chief Paul Manafort and Rick Gates, his associate; and the guilty plea entered by former foreign policy adviser George Papadopoulos (1A).

But the deadly dull banner headline -- "Mueller files criminal charges" -- merely confirms Saturday's Page 1 story that Mueller was going to file charges.

And it misses the biggest news, the guilty plea from Papadopoulos, who lied to the FBI about meeting with a Russian professor with Kremlin ties who promised "dirt" on Hillary Clinton.

If he makes a deal with prosecutors, he could agree to provide evidence and testify against other Trump associates or campaign officials or even Don Jr. and son-in-law Jared Kushner in the probe of Russian meddling in the 2016 election.

Update: Trump team scrambles, targets special counsel as impeachment looms

This cartoon is from Rick McKee of The Augusta Chronicle in Georgia. Millions of votes for Donald J. Trump -- racist, serial liar and tax dodger -- were motivated by complete hatred for Barack Obama, our first black president.

-- HACKENSACK, N.J.

Editor's note: This post has been updated with additional material from NewYorker.com, which called Donald J. Trump "a president who considers himself above the law." And son-in-law Jared Kushner faced the media and asserted, "I did not collude with Russia."

By VICTOR E. SASSON

EDITOR

As he begins his seventh month in the Oval Office, President Trump cannot legitimately claim to have signed a single major piece of legislation.

Instead, the Trump campaign team, his son and son-in-law, and his attorney general have been under scrutiny in the probe of Russian meddling in the Nov. 8 election.

Last week, Congress reached a deal on sweeping sanctions to punish Russia for election interference and aggression toward its neighbors, "creating a stark choice" for Trump, as The New York Times reported: 

"The new legislation sharply limits the president's ability to suspend or terminate the sanctions, which his administration abhors.

"With the investigation deepening into whether associates of Mr. Trump and his campaign conspired with Russia," the president "claimed he has the 'complete power to pardon' relatives, aides and possibly himself.

"But it is not clear whether a U.S. president can pardon himself. None has ever tried."

Trump made those comments in a Times interview, prompting The New Yorker magazine to say "the Times transcript shows a president who considers himself above the law, and who believes himself to be besieged by internal and external enemies."

And on Monday, Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner -- whose father, Charles, is a convicted felon -- testified in secret, then faced the media to declare, "I did not collude with Russia" at a June 2016 meeting a Kremlin-connected attorney set up with hopes of getting "dirt" on Democrat Hillary Clinton.

That reminded many observers of Richard Nixon's "I am not a crook" speech.

Middle name is 'Liar'
  
Meanwhile, the resignation of press secretary Sean Spicer led The New Yorker to pen this headline:

"SEAN SPICER WILL BE

 REMEMBERED FOR HIS LIES"

"His tantrums, ill-fitting suits and mispronunciations turned him into a pop-culture sensation," the magazine said about Spicer in an apparent reference to Melissa McCarthy's impersonations on "Saturday Night Live."

"His lies and defense of lies will be his legacy," The New Yorker concluded.

Trump's lies

That would likely be what many reporters will say about Trump, if he carries out a threat to fire Special Counsel Robert Mueller, and faces impeachment proceedings.

Last week, both The Times and Washington Post published articles cataloging all of Trump's lies.

In TRUMP'S LIES, The Times said:

"Many Americans have become accustomed to President Trump’s lies. But as regular as they have become, the country should not allow itself to become numb to them. So we have cataloged nearly every outright lie he has told publicly since taking the oath of office. Updated July 21: The president is still lying, so we've added to this list, and provided links to the facts in each case."

Business deals

Mueller, a registered Republican and former FBI director, has defied Trump by starting to investigate business transactions by family and friends -- a new direction for the Russia probe the president considers improper.

Finally, the president also is upset with Attorney General Jeff Sessions for recusing himself from the Russia investigation shortly after he was confirmed by the U.S. Senate.

In tweets this morning, @realDonaldTrump questioned why Sessions hasn't done more to investigate alleged "crimes" committed by Clinton, and those who have leaked information to the media.

Sunday's Record

Shame on The Record's John Cichowski and the paper's Editorial Page editor for resuscitating the old lie about mass transit -- that it's "too expensive" (Sunday's 1A and 2O).

Expanding train service into Manhattan will cut pollution, slow climate change, ease traffic congestion, reduce premature deaths from auto emissions and boost workers' productivity.

When you figure in all the benefits, as well as the money that will be saved, expanding mass transit isn't "too expensive" -- it's essential -- and it's bewildering to read these veteran journalists' excuses for a Page 1 column and an editorial in the Woodland Park daily.

At one point, the demented Cichowski refered to residents of the "New York-New Jersey region" as "Northeasterners" (1A).

Then, the Road Warrior columnist really blew it when he asserted the $235 million Amtrak project to double passenger rail capacity is "the kind of heart-stopping government expense" that prompts people to move out of pricey New York and New Jersey.

But that's nonsense. For ages, higher taxes -- not expensive projects -- have been blamed for the alleged exodus.

Menendez brief

Also on Sunday, Washington Correspondent Herb Jackson had yet another story on Sen. Bob Menendez's defense strategy more than two years after he was indicted on federal corruption charges (1A).

Jackson should ask Menendez how many tens of thousands of dollars in legal fees he's spent so far to delay his trial.

And readers should ask Editor Richard A. Green why he has run so many stories and wasted so much space in the downsized paper, putting the senator in the best light possible.

That's a job for his defense attorneys, not a supposedly objective newspaper.

Major error

The Record also commited a major error on Sunday's Page 4A by running a dated caption under a photo of Dr. Salomen Melgen, the senator's longtime friend, and not reporting the eye doctor was found guilty on April 28 of defrauding Medicare of more than $90 million. 

Melgen is scheduled to be tried a second time with Menendez -- unless he agrees to testify against the senator in a bid for leniency.

The senator is accused of trading political favors for free trips on the doctor's private jet, lavish vacations to his resort in the Dominican Republic and a stay at a 5-star hotel in Paris.

Road kill

On Saturday, The Record finally ran a story identifying the man killed 12 days earlier by a pickup truck in a shopping center on South River Street in Hackensack (Local front).

The awkward headline:

"Killed pedestrian is identified"

Staff Writer Rodrigo Torrejon cited all of the obstacles the paper faced in identifying Percy Rengifo, 63, a native of Peru who was run down on July 10 after purchasing a six-pack of beer.

In the lead paragraph, Torrejon says the victim "was a cook who loved to talk to people about food."

Later in the story, the reporter said that as a cook, Rengifo would wear "Crocs designed for food service," but he never reports where Rengifo worked.