Donald Trump hints that he really is blackmailing Rand Paul

| 7:27 pm EDT April 24, 2018
Dear Palmer Report readers, we all understand the difficult era we're heading into. Major media outlets are caving to Trump already. Even the internet itself and publishing platforms may be at risk. But Palmer Report is nonetheless going to lead the fight. We're funding our 2025 operating expenses now, so we can keep publishing no matter what happens. I'm asking you to contribute if you can, because the stakes are just so high. You can donate here.

Yesterday, after Republican Senator Rand Paul suddenly flip flopped his vote on Donald Trump’s Mike Pompeo nomination without giving any reason, which wasn’t the first time Trump had gotten Paul to flip flop in this kind of manner, Palmer Report asked if Trump might be blackmailing him. Now Trump is hinting that he really did blackmail Rand Paul.

When we asked the question yesterday, we weren’t merely taking a stab in the dark. Russian hackers are confirmed to have targeted several prominent Democratic and Republican candidates in the 2016 presidential election, in order to clear a path for Donald Trump. Rand Paul was one of those presidential candidates, so it stands to reason that Russian hackers targeted him as well. Nothing was ever released about him, which would mean that any compromising material is still being held. If that’s not enough to convince you, take a listen to what Trump just said.

During a joint press conference today, a reporter asked Donald Trump about his troubled nomination of Ronny Jackson. Trump responded by bragging that he managed to pull off the Mike Pompeo nomination, even after the headcount made it look like it was going to fail. Trump said he called Rand Paul and was able to change his mind because “I knew things that nobody else knew.”

As is always the case with Donald Trump’s rambling word salad responses, there are a few different ways to interpret this remark. But the most straightforward is that Trump was able to get Rand Paul to flip flop on the Pompeo nomination because Trump knew all along that he could hold something over Paul’s head when the time came. If so, the “President” of the United States is using material stolen by Russian hackers to blackmail a U.S. Senator into changing his vote.