With a Vocabulary From ‘Goodfellas,’ Trump Evokes His Native New York
Since the news broke of Michael Cohen’s guilty plea, we received lots of questions from our readers. Adam Liptak, the Times’s Supreme Court reporter, answers them.Published OnAug. 23, 2018CreditCreditImage by Doug Mills/The New York Times
By Mark Landler
Aug. 23, 2018
WASHINGTON — For much of the 1980s and 1990s, “the Dapper Don” and “the Donald” vied for supremacy on the front pages of New York’s tabloids. The don, John J. Gotti, died in a federal prison in 2002, while Donald J. Trump went on to be president of the United States.
Now, as Mr. Trump faces his own mushrooming legal troubles, he has taken to using a vocabulary that sounds uncannily like that of Mr. Gotti and his fellow mobsters in the waning days of organized crime, when ambitious prosecutors like Rudolph W. Giuliani tried to turn witnesses against their bosses to win racketeering convictions.
“I know all about flipping,” Mr. Trump told Fox News this week. “For 30, 40 years I’ve been watching flippers. Everything’s wonderful and then they get 10 years in jail and they flip on whoever the next highest one is, or as high as you can go.”
Mr. Trump was referring to the decision by his former lawyer, Michael D. Cohen, to take a plea deal on fraud charges and admit to prosecutors that he paid off two women to clam up about the sexual affairs that they claimed to have had with Mr. Trump.
But the president was also evoking a bygone world — the outer boroughs of New York City, where he grew up — a place of leafy neighborhoods and working-class families, as well as its share of shady businessmen and mob-linked politicians. From an early age, Mr. Trump encountered these raffish types with their unscrupulous methods, unsavory connections and uncertain loyalties.
Mr. Trump is comfortable with the wiseguys-argot of that time and place, and he defaults to it whether he is describing his faithless lawyer or his fruitless efforts to discourage the F.B.I. director, James B. Comey, from investigating one of his senior advisers, Michael T. Flynn, over his connections to Russia.
“When I first heard that Trump said to Comey, ‘Let this go,’ it just rang such a bell with me,” said Nicholas Pileggi, an author who has chronicled the Mafia in books and films like “Goodfellas” and “Casino.” “Trump was surrounded by these people. Being raised in that environment, it was normalized to him.”
Mr. Pileggi traced the president’s language to the Madison Club, a Democratic Party machine in Brooklyn that helped his father, Fred Trump, win his first real estate deals in the 1930s. In those smoke-filled circles, favors were traded like cases of whiskey and loyalty mattered above all.
Mr. Trump honed his vocabulary over decades through his association with the lawyer Roy Cohn, who besides working for Senator Joseph McCarthy also represented Mafia bosses like Mr. Gotti, Tony Salerno and Carmine Galante. He also gravitated to colorful characters like Roger J. Stone Jr., the pinkie-ring-wearing political consultant, and Mr. Stone’s onetime partner, Paul Manafort, the former Trump campaign chairman who was convicted on Tuesday of eight counts of tax and bank fraud.
A Rockefeller Heir, G.O.P. Lawmakers: How a Suspected Russian Agent Tried to Make Contacts
“It’s the kind of subculture that most people avoid,” said Michael D’Antonio, one of Mr. Trump’s biographers. “You cross the street to get away from people like that. Donald brings them close. He’s most comfortable with them.”
Mr. Trump’s current lawyer, Mr. Giuliani, said that as a United States attorney for the Southern District of New York, he listened to 4,000 hours of taped conversations of Mafia suspects — a discipline that he claims makes him an expert in deciphering Mr. Trump’s intent in recorded exchanges with Mr. Cohen about paying off women. It has also steeped him in the language and folkways of the mob.
Who Said It: Trump or Gotti?
President Trump’s language has drawn comparisons to that of the Mafia boss John Gotti.
Aug. 24, 2018
Mr. Giuliani was an enthusiastic fan of “The Sopranos,” once joking that HBO set its celebrated series about an everyday mob family in New Jersey because he had done such a good job driving the Mafia out of New York.
During Mr. Giuliani’s days as a United States attorney, his office was labeled the “House of Pancakes” for the parade of suspects who “flipped” to try to reduce their prison sentences.
In his Fox interview, Mr. Trump expressed a fleeting moment of sympathy for Mr. Cohen’s desire to do likewise.
“If somebody defrauded a bank and he’s going to get 10 years in jail or 20 years in jail, but if you can say something bad about Donald Trump and you’ll go down to two years or three years, which is the deal he made,” the president said. “In all fairness to him, most people are going to do that.”
Still, Mr. Trump added, “it almost ought to be illegal.”
At other times, he has made clear that he views disloyalty pretty much the way Mr. Gotti would have viewed the decision of his underboss, Sammy Gravano, to cooperate with the government in 1991 and testify against him in the trial that sent him away for life.
Defending the White House counsel, Donald F. McGahn II, after a report in The New York Times that he had spent 30 hours speaking to the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, Mr. Trump wrote on Twitter that Mr. McGahn would never sell out his boss like a “John Dean type ‘RAT.’”
Mr. Dean, whose testimony as White House counsel about Watergate helped bring down President Richard M. Nixon, fired back. Mr. Trump, he tweeted, “thinks, acts and sounds like a mob boss.”
“There is nothing presidential about him or his actions,” Mr. Dean added.
Sometimes Mr. Trump’s gangland references can be baffling. This month, he defended Mr. Manafort by comparing him to Al Capone. Mr. Manafort, he suggested, was getting rougher treatment than Capone, whom the president called a “legendary mob boss, killer and ‘Public Enemy Number One.’”
His references are also unlikely to impress prosecutors like Mr. Mueller, for whom the mob is old hat. But they, too, have been struck by the parallels. Mr. Comey, in his recent book, “A Higher Loyalty,” likened his first meeting with the future president at Trump Tower in Manhattan to paying a call to a Mafia don.
“I thought of the New York Mafia social clubs, an image from my days as a Manhattan federal prosecutor in the 1980s and 1990s,” Mr. Comey said. “The Ravenite. The Palma Boys. Café Giardino. I couldn’t shake the picture. And looking back, it wasn’t as odd or dramatic as I thought at the time.”
Mr. Trump, he wrote, seemed to be trying to make Mr. Comey and his colleagues from the intelligence agencies “part of the same family.”
To Mr. D’Antonio, the president’s tough-guy language mostly sounds quaint — the vocabulary of a man who grew up with a comic-book view that real men wore fedoras and carried .38 revolvers.
“He thinks other people understand the ‘Guys and Dolls’ dialogue the way he does,” said Mr. D’Antonio, whose next book is about Vice President Mike Pence. “He doesn’t realize in 2018 that it sounds ridiculous to talk about rats.”
Monday, August 27, 2018
9 times John McCain defied Donald Trump - Independent
August 27, 2018.
9 times John McCain defied Donald Trump
Posted by Greg Evans in news
UPVOTE
Republican and former presidential candidate, Senator John McCain has died aged 81 after a long battle with brain cancer.
The six-term senator for Arizona and Vietnam veteran had been diagnosed with brain cancer in July 2017 but on Friday his family announced that he had decided to stop the medical treatment.
McCain's most notable moment in American politics was his 2008 presidential campaign, which he eventually lost to Barack Obama.
Despite this, he remained a key figure in Washington DC right up until December when he decided to step down because of his illness.
In recent years he won praise for being one of the most notable politicians in the US capital to speak against Donald Trump and some of the president's more controversial comments and policies.
Their war of words dates all the way back to 2015 when Trump announced his intentions to run for president in a speech where he called Mexican immigrants drug runners and 'rapists.'
Although Trump ran as Republican, McCain immediately put distance between himself and the current president by criticising his comments about Mexicans.
Speaking to MSNBC he said:
I just think that it is offensive to not only Hispanic citizenry, but other citizenry, but he's entitled to say what he wants to say.
But I guarantee you the overwhelming majority (in Arizona) ... do not agree with his attitude, that he has displayed, toward our Hispanic citizens. We love them.
McCain also criticised Trump's comments aimed at the parents of US Army Capt. Humayun Khan, who was killed during the Iraq War. after the spoke at the 2016 Democratic National Convention.
He said:
It is time for Donald Trump to set the example for our country and the future of the Republican Party.
While our Party has bestowed upon him the nomination, it is not accompanied by unfettered license to defame those who are the best among us... I'd like to say to Mr. and Mrs. Khan: thank you for immigrating to America.
We're a better country because of you. And you are certainly right; your son was the best of America, and the memory of his sacrifice will make us a better nation – and he will never be forgotten.
As a loyal Republican McCain did support Trump's bid for the presidency but he eventually withdrew his endorsement following the release of the Hollywood Access tapes.
After Trump's ascension to the White House, the two clashed on American foreign policy, especially with Trump's handling of other world leaders.
In a statement given in May 2017, McCain made reference to a phone call between Trump and Australian Malcolm Turnbull, which ended with Trump hanging up.
I realise that some of President Trump's actions and statements have unsettled America's friends.
They have unsettled many Americans as well.
A big talking point in the pair's rivalry was McCain's participation in the Vietnam war and Trump's lack thereof.
Trump repeatedly disparaged McCain's service during the conflict and claimed that he couldn't be classified as a 'war hero because he was captured' and had done little for veterans.
In an October 2017 interview with C-SPAN 3, McCain made a subtle jab at Trump by referencing the fact that Trump dodged the Vietnam draft because he was suffering from bone spurs and that wealthy American's were given an easy way out.
One aspect of the conflict, by the way, that I will never ever countenance is that we drafted the lowest income level of America and the highest income level found a doctor that would say that they had a bone spur.
That is wrong. That is wrong. If we’re going to ask every American to serve, every American should serve.
One of the most dramatic moments in McCain's later career came just days after he was diagnosed with brain cancer when he cast a 'no' vote in the 'skinny repeal' of the Affordable Care Act and effectively kept the law alive with his decision.
At the time he hoped for a return to a more compassionate form of politics.
I hope we can again rely on humility, on our need to cooperate, on our dependence on each other to learn how to trust each other again and by so doing better serve the people who elected us.
Stop listening to the bombastic loudmouths on the radio and television and the Internet. To hell with them.
They don’t want anything done for the public good. Our incapacity is their livelihood.
Another huge talking point was the potential collusion between the Trump election campaign and Russia, as well as Trump's apparent connection with Vladimir Putin.
Following Trump's meeting with the Russian leader in Vietnam in November 2017, McCain attacked Trump's 'America First' policy and claimed Putin did not have America's intentions at heart.
In a statement on his website, McCain wrote:
There's nothing 'America First' about taking the word of a KGB colonel over that of the American intelligence community.
Vladimir Putin does not have America's interests at heart. To believe otherwise is not only naive but also places our national security at risk.
McCain has also criticised the 'spurious, half-baked nationalism' which had begun to infect America under Trump and the administration's attempts to block themselves off from the rest of the world.
After accepting the Liberty Medal in October last year, McCain said:
To fear the world we have organised and led for three-quarters of a century, to abandon the ideals we have advanced around the globe, to refuse the obligations of international leadership and our duty to remain 'the last best hope of earth' for the sake of some half-baked, spurious nationalism cooked up by people who would rather find scapegoats than solve problems is as unpatriotic as an attachment to any other tired dogma of the past that Americans consigned to the ash heap of history.
As his health deteriorated, one of McCain's last acts of defiance against Trump was to declare that he doesn't want the president anywhere near his funeral.
In a New York Times feature from May, representatives reportedly told the White House that they would rather have vice president John McCain in attendance at the service, which is due to be held in Washington's National Cathedral.
Despite their long-running rivalry, Trump, as well as other US politicians have paid their respects to McCain who died in the late hours of Saturday evening.
Donald J. Trump
✔
@realDonaldTrump
My deepest sympathies and respect go out to the family of Senator John McCain. Our hearts and prayers are with you!
10:44 AM - Aug 26, 2018
Barack Obama
✔
@BarackObama
Our statement on the passing of Senator John McCain:
11:09 AM - Aug 26, 2018
815K
191K people are talking about this
Twitter Ads info and privacy
View image on Twitter
View image on Twitter
Sarah Palin
✔
@SarahPalinUSA
Replying to @SarahPalinUSA
John McCain was my friend. I will remember the good times. My family and I send prayers for Cindy and the McCain family.
- Sarah Palin and family
10:57 AM - Aug 26, 2018
Hillary Clinton
✔
@HillaryClinton
.@SenJohnMcCain lived a life of service to his country, from his heroism in the Navy to 35 years in Congress. He was a tough politician, a trusted colleague, and there will simply never be another like him. My thoughts and prayers are with Cindy and his entire family.
12:11 PM - Aug 26, 2018
9 times John McCain defied Donald Trump
Posted by Greg Evans in news
UPVOTE
Republican and former presidential candidate, Senator John McCain has died aged 81 after a long battle with brain cancer.
The six-term senator for Arizona and Vietnam veteran had been diagnosed with brain cancer in July 2017 but on Friday his family announced that he had decided to stop the medical treatment.
McCain's most notable moment in American politics was his 2008 presidential campaign, which he eventually lost to Barack Obama.
Despite this, he remained a key figure in Washington DC right up until December when he decided to step down because of his illness.
In recent years he won praise for being one of the most notable politicians in the US capital to speak against Donald Trump and some of the president's more controversial comments and policies.
Their war of words dates all the way back to 2015 when Trump announced his intentions to run for president in a speech where he called Mexican immigrants drug runners and 'rapists.'
Although Trump ran as Republican, McCain immediately put distance between himself and the current president by criticising his comments about Mexicans.
Speaking to MSNBC he said:
I just think that it is offensive to not only Hispanic citizenry, but other citizenry, but he's entitled to say what he wants to say.
But I guarantee you the overwhelming majority (in Arizona) ... do not agree with his attitude, that he has displayed, toward our Hispanic citizens. We love them.
McCain also criticised Trump's comments aimed at the parents of US Army Capt. Humayun Khan, who was killed during the Iraq War. after the spoke at the 2016 Democratic National Convention.
He said:
It is time for Donald Trump to set the example for our country and the future of the Republican Party.
While our Party has bestowed upon him the nomination, it is not accompanied by unfettered license to defame those who are the best among us... I'd like to say to Mr. and Mrs. Khan: thank you for immigrating to America.
We're a better country because of you. And you are certainly right; your son was the best of America, and the memory of his sacrifice will make us a better nation – and he will never be forgotten.
As a loyal Republican McCain did support Trump's bid for the presidency but he eventually withdrew his endorsement following the release of the Hollywood Access tapes.
After Trump's ascension to the White House, the two clashed on American foreign policy, especially with Trump's handling of other world leaders.
In a statement given in May 2017, McCain made reference to a phone call between Trump and Australian Malcolm Turnbull, which ended with Trump hanging up.
I realise that some of President Trump's actions and statements have unsettled America's friends.
They have unsettled many Americans as well.
A big talking point in the pair's rivalry was McCain's participation in the Vietnam war and Trump's lack thereof.
Trump repeatedly disparaged McCain's service during the conflict and claimed that he couldn't be classified as a 'war hero because he was captured' and had done little for veterans.
In an October 2017 interview with C-SPAN 3, McCain made a subtle jab at Trump by referencing the fact that Trump dodged the Vietnam draft because he was suffering from bone spurs and that wealthy American's were given an easy way out.
One aspect of the conflict, by the way, that I will never ever countenance is that we drafted the lowest income level of America and the highest income level found a doctor that would say that they had a bone spur.
That is wrong. That is wrong. If we’re going to ask every American to serve, every American should serve.
One of the most dramatic moments in McCain's later career came just days after he was diagnosed with brain cancer when he cast a 'no' vote in the 'skinny repeal' of the Affordable Care Act and effectively kept the law alive with his decision.
At the time he hoped for a return to a more compassionate form of politics.
I hope we can again rely on humility, on our need to cooperate, on our dependence on each other to learn how to trust each other again and by so doing better serve the people who elected us.
Stop listening to the bombastic loudmouths on the radio and television and the Internet. To hell with them.
They don’t want anything done for the public good. Our incapacity is their livelihood.
Another huge talking point was the potential collusion between the Trump election campaign and Russia, as well as Trump's apparent connection with Vladimir Putin.
Following Trump's meeting with the Russian leader in Vietnam in November 2017, McCain attacked Trump's 'America First' policy and claimed Putin did not have America's intentions at heart.
In a statement on his website, McCain wrote:
There's nothing 'America First' about taking the word of a KGB colonel over that of the American intelligence community.
Vladimir Putin does not have America's interests at heart. To believe otherwise is not only naive but also places our national security at risk.
McCain has also criticised the 'spurious, half-baked nationalism' which had begun to infect America under Trump and the administration's attempts to block themselves off from the rest of the world.
After accepting the Liberty Medal in October last year, McCain said:
To fear the world we have organised and led for three-quarters of a century, to abandon the ideals we have advanced around the globe, to refuse the obligations of international leadership and our duty to remain 'the last best hope of earth' for the sake of some half-baked, spurious nationalism cooked up by people who would rather find scapegoats than solve problems is as unpatriotic as an attachment to any other tired dogma of the past that Americans consigned to the ash heap of history.
As his health deteriorated, one of McCain's last acts of defiance against Trump was to declare that he doesn't want the president anywhere near his funeral.
In a New York Times feature from May, representatives reportedly told the White House that they would rather have vice president John McCain in attendance at the service, which is due to be held in Washington's National Cathedral.
Despite their long-running rivalry, Trump, as well as other US politicians have paid their respects to McCain who died in the late hours of Saturday evening.
Donald J. Trump
✔
@realDonaldTrump
My deepest sympathies and respect go out to the family of Senator John McCain. Our hearts and prayers are with you!
10:44 AM - Aug 26, 2018
Barack Obama
✔
@BarackObama
Our statement on the passing of Senator John McCain:
11:09 AM - Aug 26, 2018
815K
191K people are talking about this
Twitter Ads info and privacy
View image on Twitter
View image on Twitter
Sarah Palin
✔
@SarahPalinUSA
Replying to @SarahPalinUSA
John McCain was my friend. I will remember the good times. My family and I send prayers for Cindy and the McCain family.
- Sarah Palin and family
10:57 AM - Aug 26, 2018
Hillary Clinton
✔
@HillaryClinton
.@SenJohnMcCain lived a life of service to his country, from his heroism in the Navy to 35 years in Congress. He was a tough politician, a trusted colleague, and there will simply never be another like him. My thoughts and prayers are with Cindy and his entire family.
12:11 PM - Aug 26, 2018
McCain requested Obama and George W. Bush deliver eulogies at funeral - CBS News
August 26, 2018, 10:38 AM
McCain requested Obama and George W. Bush deliver eulogies at funeral
Last Updated Aug 27, 2018 12:49 AM EDT
John McCain requested that former Presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush deliver eulogies at his funeral, CBS News has confirmed. McCain, who had been suffering from an aggressive form of brain cancer, died Saturday at the age of 81 at home in Arizona. Both Mr. Obama and Mr. Bush will deliver their remarks during a service at the National Cathedral.
Former Vice President Joe Biden will speak at a separate service honoring the senator in Arizona.
McCain had long feuded with President Trump and, according to The Associated Press, two White House officials said McCain's family had asked, before the senator's death, that Mr. Trump not attend the funeral services. Vice President Pence is likely to attend, said the officials, who spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity.
The New York Times says, "Mr. McCain quietly declared before his death that he did not want Mr. Trump to take part in his funeral."
According to Gov. Doug Ducey, McCain will lie in state at the Arizona Capitol on Wednesday, his birthday, before his body will be brought to Washington to lie in state at the U.S. Capitol.
Doug Ducey
✔
@dougducey
Senator #JohnMcCain will lie in state here at the Arizona Capitol this Wednesday -- his birthday. This is a rare and distinct occurrence for a truly special man. John McCain is Arizona, and we will honor his life every way we can.
3:06 AM - Aug 27, 2018
The senator asked that he be buried at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, near the grave of a long time friend, something he told Lesley Stahl on "60 Minutes" in September 2017.
"I want, when I leave, that the ceremony is at the Naval Academy. And we just have a couple of people that stand up and say, 'This guy, he served his country,'" McCain said.
Mr. Obama, who defeated McCain in 2008 presidential race, issued a statement shortly after McCain's death saying that "we shared, for all our differences, a fidelity to something higher — the ideals for which generations of Americans and immigrants alike have fought, marched, and sacrificed."
"Few of us have been tested the way John once was, or required to show the kind of courage that he did," Mr. Obama continued. "But all of us can aspire to the courage to put the greater good above our own. At John's best, he showed us what that means. And for that, we are all in his debt."
John McCain remembered: Obama, family and more pay tribute
Mr. Bush, who defeated McCain for the GOP nomination in 2000, issued a statement hailing McCain as a "a man of deep conviction and a patriot of the highest order."
"Some lives are so vivid, it is difficult to imagine them ended," Mr. Bush said. "Some voices are so vibrant, it is hard to think of them stilled."
McCain requested Obama and George W. Bush deliver eulogies at funeral
Last Updated Aug 27, 2018 12:49 AM EDT
John McCain requested that former Presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush deliver eulogies at his funeral, CBS News has confirmed. McCain, who had been suffering from an aggressive form of brain cancer, died Saturday at the age of 81 at home in Arizona. Both Mr. Obama and Mr. Bush will deliver their remarks during a service at the National Cathedral.
Former Vice President Joe Biden will speak at a separate service honoring the senator in Arizona.
McCain had long feuded with President Trump and, according to The Associated Press, two White House officials said McCain's family had asked, before the senator's death, that Mr. Trump not attend the funeral services. Vice President Pence is likely to attend, said the officials, who spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity.
The New York Times says, "Mr. McCain quietly declared before his death that he did not want Mr. Trump to take part in his funeral."
According to Gov. Doug Ducey, McCain will lie in state at the Arizona Capitol on Wednesday, his birthday, before his body will be brought to Washington to lie in state at the U.S. Capitol.
Doug Ducey
✔
@dougducey
Senator #JohnMcCain will lie in state here at the Arizona Capitol this Wednesday -- his birthday. This is a rare and distinct occurrence for a truly special man. John McCain is Arizona, and we will honor his life every way we can.
3:06 AM - Aug 27, 2018
The senator asked that he be buried at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, near the grave of a long time friend, something he told Lesley Stahl on "60 Minutes" in September 2017.
"I want, when I leave, that the ceremony is at the Naval Academy. And we just have a couple of people that stand up and say, 'This guy, he served his country,'" McCain said.
Mr. Obama, who defeated McCain in 2008 presidential race, issued a statement shortly after McCain's death saying that "we shared, for all our differences, a fidelity to something higher — the ideals for which generations of Americans and immigrants alike have fought, marched, and sacrificed."
"Few of us have been tested the way John once was, or required to show the kind of courage that he did," Mr. Obama continued. "But all of us can aspire to the courage to put the greater good above our own. At John's best, he showed us what that means. And for that, we are all in his debt."
John McCain remembered: Obama, family and more pay tribute
Mr. Bush, who defeated McCain for the GOP nomination in 2000, issued a statement hailing McCain as a "a man of deep conviction and a patriot of the highest order."
"Some lives are so vivid, it is difficult to imagine them ended," Mr. Bush said. "Some voices are so vibrant, it is hard to think of them stilled."
Pope keeps silent on abuse claim letter at end of Irish visit - BBC News
August 27, 2018.
Pope keeps silent on abuse claim letter at end of Irish visit
Pope Francis addressed journalists on his flight back from Dublin to Rome
Pope Francis has refused to respond to claims by a former Vatican diplomat who has called on him to resign.
Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano also accused the Pope of covering up reports of sexual abuse by a US cardinal.
The pontiff was asked about the accusations by reporters on his flight back to Rome after this weekend's Papal visit to Ireland.
He said he would not say a single word in response to the 11-page letter from Archbishop Vigano.
"I will say sincerely that I must say this, to you," he said, when asked by a journalist about the letter, "and all of you who are interested: Read the document carefully and judge it for yourselves.
"I will not say one word on this. I think the statement speaks for itself."
In pictures: Pope in Ireland
What happened to Catholic Ireland?
How Ireland received a penitent Pope
The timing of the letter, released as the Pope addressed sexual abuse by priests during his visit to Ireland, has raised questions about whether Pope Francis is facing a coordinated attack from traditionalists within the Catholic hierarchy.
"You have sufficient journalistic capacity to draw conclusions," Pope Francis told the reporters on board his plane.
"When a little time has passed and you have the conclusions, perhaps I will talk," he added.
What does Archbishop Vigano allege?
He says the pontiff knew about allegations of sex abuse by a prominent US cardinal for five years before accepting his resignation last month.
Archbishop Vigano says he told Pope Francis in 2013 that Cardinal Theodore McCarrick had faced extensive accusations of sexually abusing lower-ranking seminarians and priests.
The Pope "knew from at least June 23 2013 that McCarrick was a serial predator"., wrote Archbishop Vigano, adding that "he knew that he was a corrupt man, he covered for him to the bitter end".
Protesters in Dublin expressed anger at the Pope
"Pope Francis must be the first to set a good example for cardinals and bishops who covered up McCarrick's abuses and resign along with all of them," the letter says.
However, Archbishop Vigano has not produced any written or other evidence to verify his alleged 2013 conversation with the Pope.
He served as the Vatican's envoy in Washington from 2011 until 2016.
He also says he wrote a memo to senior figures in the Vatican as early as 2006, warning that Theodore McCarrick was suspected of abusing adults at a seminary while he was a bishop in New Jersey between 1981 and 2001.
McCarrick, now 88, resigned in disgrace in July.
A public challenge to the Pope
By Martin Bashir, BBC Religion editor
The timing of Archbishop Vigano's letter has been described by a Vatican source as "suspicious" and may have been part of an orchestrated attack from those within senior levels of the Church who have opposed Pope Francis from the moment he was elected in 2013.
The Pope's informal leadership, baptising a baby on the street and even marrying a couple during a flight, has concerned some traditionalists and his document about the family - Amoris Laetitia - provoked four cardinals to release a series of queries that became known as "dubia".
Archbishop Vigano is known to be an ally of the so called dubia cardinals, who have publicly challenged Pope Francis to correct his teaching on family life - and have suggested that there may be occasions when a Pope should be challenged and disobeyed.
The Pope's decision not to offer any comment about Archbishop Vigano's document is in keeping with his desire to avoid public spats with senior clerics. But his silent treatment of Archbishop Vigano's letter, on the Papal plane, told its own story.
How did the Pope address sexual abuse during his visit to Ireland?
At a Mass on Sunday in Dublin's Phoenix Park, the culmination of his two-day visit to Ireland, Pope Francis begged forgiveness for the "abuses in Ireland, abuses of power, conscience and sexual abuses" perpetrated by Church leaders.
Earlier, he said no-one could fail to be moved by stories of those who "suffered abuse, were robbed of their innocence and left scarred by painful memories", and reiterated his wish to see justice served.
Pope Francis
✔
@Pontifex
I ask our Blessed Mother to intercede for the healing of the survivors of abuse and to confirm every member of our Christian family in the resolve never again to permit these situations to occur.
9:30 PM - Aug 26, 2018
Pope Francis used the penitential rite of the Mass to list a litany of different types of abuse and mistreatment inflicted on Irish people by Church figures, and the cover-ups of sex crimes.
On each occasion he asked for forgiveness, the congregation - estimated by the Vatican to number 300,000 - applauded.
What allegations has the Church in Ireland faced?
The Irish Catholic Church has been rocked by revelations of paedophile priests, sexual abuse in Catholic-run orphanages, and the exploitation of women in mother-and-baby homes.
During the first day of his trip, Pope Francis met eight survivors of sexual abuse, reportedly telling them he viewed clerical sex abuse as "filth".
The Pope must "get his head around" abuse victims' pain, says Father Patrick McCafferty
The Taoiseach (Prime Minister) Leo Varadkar delivered a strong warning to the Pope to take action against clergy involved in child abuse and in keeping it secret.
Meanwhile in Tuam, County Galway, about 1,000 people gathered for a silent vigil to remember the Tuam Babies.
The Tuam home was one of 10 institutions to which about 35,000 unmarried pregnant women are thought to have been sent.
Large crowds also attended a Stand4Truth event in Dublin to show solidarity with victims of clerical sex abuse.
How did the Pope respond to the Irish PM?
Returning from Dublin, Pope Francis was asked for his views on what Leo Varadkar, a gay man, had said about modern Ireland recognising that families came in "many forms", including those run by same-sex partners.
Ireland voted for constitutional change on same sex-marriage in 2015 and voted overwhelmingly to overturn its strict abortion law in May.
The Pope said that fathers who saw that a son or daughter had "homosexual tendencies" should not condemn but give them space and seek dialogue.
"There are many things to do with psychiatry, to see how things are," he said, although the age of the child was important.
"But I'll never say that silence is a remedy. To ignore a son or daughter with homosexual tendencies is a lack of paternity and maternity."
Pope keeps silent on abuse claim letter at end of Irish visit
Pope Francis addressed journalists on his flight back from Dublin to Rome
Pope Francis has refused to respond to claims by a former Vatican diplomat who has called on him to resign.
Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano also accused the Pope of covering up reports of sexual abuse by a US cardinal.
The pontiff was asked about the accusations by reporters on his flight back to Rome after this weekend's Papal visit to Ireland.
He said he would not say a single word in response to the 11-page letter from Archbishop Vigano.
"I will say sincerely that I must say this, to you," he said, when asked by a journalist about the letter, "and all of you who are interested: Read the document carefully and judge it for yourselves.
"I will not say one word on this. I think the statement speaks for itself."
In pictures: Pope in Ireland
What happened to Catholic Ireland?
How Ireland received a penitent Pope
The timing of the letter, released as the Pope addressed sexual abuse by priests during his visit to Ireland, has raised questions about whether Pope Francis is facing a coordinated attack from traditionalists within the Catholic hierarchy.
"You have sufficient journalistic capacity to draw conclusions," Pope Francis told the reporters on board his plane.
"When a little time has passed and you have the conclusions, perhaps I will talk," he added.
What does Archbishop Vigano allege?
He says the pontiff knew about allegations of sex abuse by a prominent US cardinal for five years before accepting his resignation last month.
Archbishop Vigano says he told Pope Francis in 2013 that Cardinal Theodore McCarrick had faced extensive accusations of sexually abusing lower-ranking seminarians and priests.
The Pope "knew from at least June 23 2013 that McCarrick was a serial predator"., wrote Archbishop Vigano, adding that "he knew that he was a corrupt man, he covered for him to the bitter end".
Protesters in Dublin expressed anger at the Pope
"Pope Francis must be the first to set a good example for cardinals and bishops who covered up McCarrick's abuses and resign along with all of them," the letter says.
However, Archbishop Vigano has not produced any written or other evidence to verify his alleged 2013 conversation with the Pope.
He served as the Vatican's envoy in Washington from 2011 until 2016.
He also says he wrote a memo to senior figures in the Vatican as early as 2006, warning that Theodore McCarrick was suspected of abusing adults at a seminary while he was a bishop in New Jersey between 1981 and 2001.
McCarrick, now 88, resigned in disgrace in July.
A public challenge to the Pope
By Martin Bashir, BBC Religion editor
The timing of Archbishop Vigano's letter has been described by a Vatican source as "suspicious" and may have been part of an orchestrated attack from those within senior levels of the Church who have opposed Pope Francis from the moment he was elected in 2013.
The Pope's informal leadership, baptising a baby on the street and even marrying a couple during a flight, has concerned some traditionalists and his document about the family - Amoris Laetitia - provoked four cardinals to release a series of queries that became known as "dubia".
Archbishop Vigano is known to be an ally of the so called dubia cardinals, who have publicly challenged Pope Francis to correct his teaching on family life - and have suggested that there may be occasions when a Pope should be challenged and disobeyed.
The Pope's decision not to offer any comment about Archbishop Vigano's document is in keeping with his desire to avoid public spats with senior clerics. But his silent treatment of Archbishop Vigano's letter, on the Papal plane, told its own story.
How did the Pope address sexual abuse during his visit to Ireland?
At a Mass on Sunday in Dublin's Phoenix Park, the culmination of his two-day visit to Ireland, Pope Francis begged forgiveness for the "abuses in Ireland, abuses of power, conscience and sexual abuses" perpetrated by Church leaders.
Earlier, he said no-one could fail to be moved by stories of those who "suffered abuse, were robbed of their innocence and left scarred by painful memories", and reiterated his wish to see justice served.
Pope Francis
✔
@Pontifex
I ask our Blessed Mother to intercede for the healing of the survivors of abuse and to confirm every member of our Christian family in the resolve never again to permit these situations to occur.
9:30 PM - Aug 26, 2018
Pope Francis used the penitential rite of the Mass to list a litany of different types of abuse and mistreatment inflicted on Irish people by Church figures, and the cover-ups of sex crimes.
On each occasion he asked for forgiveness, the congregation - estimated by the Vatican to number 300,000 - applauded.
What allegations has the Church in Ireland faced?
The Irish Catholic Church has been rocked by revelations of paedophile priests, sexual abuse in Catholic-run orphanages, and the exploitation of women in mother-and-baby homes.
During the first day of his trip, Pope Francis met eight survivors of sexual abuse, reportedly telling them he viewed clerical sex abuse as "filth".
The Pope must "get his head around" abuse victims' pain, says Father Patrick McCafferty
The Taoiseach (Prime Minister) Leo Varadkar delivered a strong warning to the Pope to take action against clergy involved in child abuse and in keeping it secret.
Meanwhile in Tuam, County Galway, about 1,000 people gathered for a silent vigil to remember the Tuam Babies.
The Tuam home was one of 10 institutions to which about 35,000 unmarried pregnant women are thought to have been sent.
Large crowds also attended a Stand4Truth event in Dublin to show solidarity with victims of clerical sex abuse.
How did the Pope respond to the Irish PM?
Returning from Dublin, Pope Francis was asked for his views on what Leo Varadkar, a gay man, had said about modern Ireland recognising that families came in "many forms", including those run by same-sex partners.
Ireland voted for constitutional change on same sex-marriage in 2015 and voted overwhelmingly to overturn its strict abortion law in May.
The Pope said that fathers who saw that a son or daughter had "homosexual tendencies" should not condemn but give them space and seek dialogue.
"There are many things to do with psychiatry, to see how things are," he said, although the age of the child was important.
"But I'll never say that silence is a remedy. To ignore a son or daughter with homosexual tendencies is a lack of paternity and maternity."
Myanmar military leaders must face genocide charges, says UN - BBC News
August 27, 2018.
Myanmar military leaders must face genocide charges, says UN
At least 700,000 Rohingya have fled Myanmar in the past year - rights groups say thousands more have died
A UN report has said top military figures in Myanmar must be investigated for genocide in Rakhine state and crimes against humanity in other areas.
The report, based on hundreds of interviews, is the strongest condemnation from the UN so far of violence against the Rohingya.
The army's tactics are "consistently and grossly disproportionate to actual security threats", it says.
It names six senior military figures it believes should go on trial.
It is also fiercely critical of Myanmar's de facto leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, for failing to intervene to stop the violence.
The report calls for the case to be referred to the International Criminal Court (ICC).
Why the word 'genocide' is used so carefully
Could Aung San Suu Kyi face Rohingya genocide charges?
Genocide hate speech 'persists on Facebook'
Seeing through the official story in Myanmar
The government has consistently said its operations targeted militant or insurgent threats.
But the report says the crimes it has documented are "shocking for the level of denial, normalcy and impunity that is attached to them".
"Military necessity would never justify killing indiscriminately, gang raping women, assaulting children, and burning entire villages."
'A searing indictment'
Jonathan Head, BBC Southeast Asia correspondent
Genocide is the most serious charge that can be made against a government, and is rarely proposed by UN investigators.
That this report finds sufficient evidence to warrant investigation and prosecution of the senior commanders in the Myanmar armed forces is a searing indictment, which will be impossible for members of the international community to ignore.
However taking Myanmar to the ICC, as recommended by the report, is difficult. It is not a signatory to the Rome Statute that established the court, so a referral to the ICC would need the backing permanent five Security Council members - and China is unlikely to agree.
The report suggests instead the establishment of a special independent body by the UN, as happened with Syria, to conduct an investigation in support of war crimes and genocide prosecutions.
The government of Myanmar has until now rejected numerous investigations alleging massive atrocities by its military. This one will be much harder to dismiss.
What crimes does the UN allege?
The UN's Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar was set up in March 2017 to investigate widespread allegations of human rights abuses in Myanmar, particularly in Rakhine state.
Media captionRohingya girls in danger: The stories of three young women
It began before the military started a large scale operation in Rakhine in August 2017, after deadly attacks by Rohingya militants.
At least 700,000 Rohingya fled Myanmar in the subsequent violence.
The situation was a "catastrophe looming for decades" says the report, and the result of "severe, systemic and institutionalised oppression from birth to death".
The crimes documented in Kachin, Shan and Rakhine include murder, imprisonment, torture, rape, sexual slavery, persecution and enslavement that "undoubtedly amount to the gravest crimes under international law".
Hundreds of thousands of Rohingya people are now living in refugee camps like this one in Bangladesh
In Rakhine state, the report also found elements of extermination and deportation "similar in nature, gravity and scope to those that have allowed genocide intent to be established in other contexts".
The UN mission did not have access to Myanmar for its report but says it relied on such sources as eyewitness interviews, satellite imagery, photographs and videos.
What you need to know about the Rohingya crisis
Who are the Rohingya group behind attacks?
Rallies mark year since Rohingya crackdown
Who does the UN blame?
The UN mission names army officials who it says bear the greatest responsibility. They include Commander-in-Chief Ming Aung Hlaing and his deputy.
Myanmar's army is accused of a systematic campaign of ethnic cleansing
The military is described as being virtually above the law.
Under the constitution civilian authorities have little control over the military, but the document says that "through their acts and omissions, the civilian authorities have contributed to the commission of atrocity crimes".
Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung Sang Suu Kyi "has not used her de facto position as Head of Government, nor her moral authority, to stem or prevent the unfolding events in Rakhine".
Commander-in-chief Min Aung Hlaing, shaking hands with Aung San Suu Kyi
The report says that some abuses were also committed by armed ethnic groups in Kachin and Shan state, and by the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (Arsa) in Rakhine.
The mission said it would release a more detailed report on 18 September.
Rohingya militants 'massacred Hindus'
Hatred and despair in an ancient kingdom
Myanmar conflict: The view from Yangon
What has been happening?
The Rohingya are one of many ethnic minorities in Myanmar and make up the largest percentage of the country's Muslims. The government, however, sees them as illegal immigrants from neighbouring Bangladesh and denies them citizenship.
The military launched its latest crackdown after militants from Arsa attacked police posts in August 2017, killing several policemen.
Here's one woman's story
The UN has previously described the military offensive in Rakhine as a "textbook example of ethnic cleansing" and refugees who have fled the violence have told horrific stories of sexual violence and torture.
According to the medical charity MSF, at least 6,700 Rohingya, including at least 730 children under the age of five, were killed in the first month after the violence broke out.
The army exonerated itself in an investigation in 2017.
Rights groups like Amnesty International have long called for top officials to be tried for crimes against humanity over the Rohingya crisis.
Myanmar military leaders must face genocide charges, says UN
At least 700,000 Rohingya have fled Myanmar in the past year - rights groups say thousands more have died
A UN report has said top military figures in Myanmar must be investigated for genocide in Rakhine state and crimes against humanity in other areas.
The report, based on hundreds of interviews, is the strongest condemnation from the UN so far of violence against the Rohingya.
The army's tactics are "consistently and grossly disproportionate to actual security threats", it says.
It names six senior military figures it believes should go on trial.
It is also fiercely critical of Myanmar's de facto leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, for failing to intervene to stop the violence.
The report calls for the case to be referred to the International Criminal Court (ICC).
Why the word 'genocide' is used so carefully
Could Aung San Suu Kyi face Rohingya genocide charges?
Genocide hate speech 'persists on Facebook'
Seeing through the official story in Myanmar
The government has consistently said its operations targeted militant or insurgent threats.
But the report says the crimes it has documented are "shocking for the level of denial, normalcy and impunity that is attached to them".
"Military necessity would never justify killing indiscriminately, gang raping women, assaulting children, and burning entire villages."
'A searing indictment'
Jonathan Head, BBC Southeast Asia correspondent
Genocide is the most serious charge that can be made against a government, and is rarely proposed by UN investigators.
That this report finds sufficient evidence to warrant investigation and prosecution of the senior commanders in the Myanmar armed forces is a searing indictment, which will be impossible for members of the international community to ignore.
However taking Myanmar to the ICC, as recommended by the report, is difficult. It is not a signatory to the Rome Statute that established the court, so a referral to the ICC would need the backing permanent five Security Council members - and China is unlikely to agree.
The report suggests instead the establishment of a special independent body by the UN, as happened with Syria, to conduct an investigation in support of war crimes and genocide prosecutions.
The government of Myanmar has until now rejected numerous investigations alleging massive atrocities by its military. This one will be much harder to dismiss.
What crimes does the UN allege?
The UN's Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar was set up in March 2017 to investigate widespread allegations of human rights abuses in Myanmar, particularly in Rakhine state.
Media captionRohingya girls in danger: The stories of three young women
It began before the military started a large scale operation in Rakhine in August 2017, after deadly attacks by Rohingya militants.
At least 700,000 Rohingya fled Myanmar in the subsequent violence.
The situation was a "catastrophe looming for decades" says the report, and the result of "severe, systemic and institutionalised oppression from birth to death".
The crimes documented in Kachin, Shan and Rakhine include murder, imprisonment, torture, rape, sexual slavery, persecution and enslavement that "undoubtedly amount to the gravest crimes under international law".
Hundreds of thousands of Rohingya people are now living in refugee camps like this one in Bangladesh
In Rakhine state, the report also found elements of extermination and deportation "similar in nature, gravity and scope to those that have allowed genocide intent to be established in other contexts".
The UN mission did not have access to Myanmar for its report but says it relied on such sources as eyewitness interviews, satellite imagery, photographs and videos.
What you need to know about the Rohingya crisis
Who are the Rohingya group behind attacks?
Rallies mark year since Rohingya crackdown
Who does the UN blame?
The UN mission names army officials who it says bear the greatest responsibility. They include Commander-in-Chief Ming Aung Hlaing and his deputy.
Myanmar's army is accused of a systematic campaign of ethnic cleansing
The military is described as being virtually above the law.
Under the constitution civilian authorities have little control over the military, but the document says that "through their acts and omissions, the civilian authorities have contributed to the commission of atrocity crimes".
Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung Sang Suu Kyi "has not used her de facto position as Head of Government, nor her moral authority, to stem or prevent the unfolding events in Rakhine".
Commander-in-chief Min Aung Hlaing, shaking hands with Aung San Suu Kyi
The report says that some abuses were also committed by armed ethnic groups in Kachin and Shan state, and by the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (Arsa) in Rakhine.
The mission said it would release a more detailed report on 18 September.
Rohingya militants 'massacred Hindus'
Hatred and despair in an ancient kingdom
Myanmar conflict: The view from Yangon
What has been happening?
The Rohingya are one of many ethnic minorities in Myanmar and make up the largest percentage of the country's Muslims. The government, however, sees them as illegal immigrants from neighbouring Bangladesh and denies them citizenship.
The military launched its latest crackdown after militants from Arsa attacked police posts in August 2017, killing several policemen.
Here's one woman's story
The UN has previously described the military offensive in Rakhine as a "textbook example of ethnic cleansing" and refugees who have fled the violence have told horrific stories of sexual violence and torture.
According to the medical charity MSF, at least 6,700 Rohingya, including at least 730 children under the age of five, were killed in the first month after the violence broke out.
The army exonerated itself in an investigation in 2017.
Rights groups like Amnesty International have long called for top officials to be tried for crimes against humanity over the Rohingya crisis.
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